A Book Launch: 101 Tips For Moving To Portugal: And Once You Arrive

The cat is finally out of the bag! We’re launching a book. Our e-book 101 Tips For Moving To Portugal: And Once You Arrive is officially published and ready for the world.

We are beyond thrilled to make our e-book available on Amazon.com (and the other Amazons around the world).

Official Book Launch

When we reached our one-year anniversary of living in Portugal we knew we had to compile all of our knowledge about how we moved to Portugal to help others who are looking to do the same. Over the last several weeks we’ve received many, many texts, calls, messages, and emails from many, many people who have expressed interest in moving abroad and wanting to learn just how they can do it.

A lot of people have told us that we have inspired them to consider moving abroad. Some people are looking for safer places in the world to live and raise their families, and some have dreamed of living in Europe all their lives. Whatever the reasons – we’d like to help. The tips in this e-book are designed to make you really think about why you’re considering a move in the first place and then create a list of things you’ll need to do once you’ve made this life-changing decision.

We’ve Done It And You Can Too

Long-time readers know that we are beyond happy that we made the choice to move to Portugal. At the same time, we understand that it is a complicated and immense decision to make. It’s one that should be considered and pondered in depth. You will find that we say over and over again in the book, and in all our articles, that you MUST do your own research. No book, Facebook group, or even best friend can make the decision to move for you. Not to mention all the other decisions that come along after that big decision is made.

We don’t have all the answers but we do have the experience of successfully moving here (during the pandemic) and living in Portugal for over a year. We’ve worked through the bureaucracy of becoming residents, exchanging driver’s licenses (it’s a process!), getting healthcare, shopping, and setting up a new household with our two cats in Portugal.

Here are just some of the topics we cover in the book are:

• Deciding To Move To Portugal
• How To Get Started
• Where To Live
• How To Get Rid of Your “Stuff”
• Taking Your Pets
• Banking and Finances
• Getting Adjusted

These are a few of the areas that we’ve gone through ourselves and explain in tips designed to make it easier for those who follow us. We are sharing our first-hand experiences, the good and the bad in our just-released ebook.

Can A U.S. Citizen Move to Portugal?

The short answer is, it depends. You’ll need to investigate what path is right for you. There are many different types of visas and application processes to consider. The rules of the road change frequently on visa availability and what you need to qualify.

Many people do the entire immigration process themselves and some hire firms to help expedite the process. In the end, it’s up to you. Our ebook will provide our first-hand experiences on what it’s like to go through the process and what it’s like once you get here and set up your own home.

Can I Just Move to Portugal?

It seems that every day there’s another article in a major newspaper talking about the “droves” of Americans moving to Portugal. While there are Americans here and more and more are considering moving abroad, we’re here to tell you there are not as many American immigrants as there are Brazilians or folks from the UK.

We tell people that the very first thing they need to do when considering a move to Portugal is – VISIT! Sure, there are some people who are so anxious to move abroad that they arrive for the first time never having set foot on Portuguese soil. They have rented a place and sometimes even purchased one only seeing it through the lens of a remote real estate agent. This may in fact work for some people but for us, we needed several trips here to discover the differences between the regions, the weather, and the landscapes. We needed to see it, smell it, taste it, and feel it ourselves before making the decision to move.

In our ebook, we’ll walk you through what we did and provide practical tips to make your process an even better one. We want you to learn from our mistakes and not make them yourselves.

Is Portugal Safe?

Portugal is consistently ranked as one of the safest countries in the world. We are part of the LGBTQ+ community. We spend a lot of time researching places we visit and, of course, places we considered living to be sure we would be welcome, safe, and comfortable. In Portugal, we have found a diverse community that accepts us for who we are. We don’t typically walk around waving a pride flag every day (unless it’s Pride month) but we aren’t shy to introduce each other as spouses (esposas). This means a lot to us.

We know that no place is perfect. But we walk around in our community of Cascais and Estoril at all hours and feel very safe. We’ve even been in Lisbon after midnight and never felt afraid or threatened. I can’t say the same about walking the streets in Chicago at night years ago. The big difference in Portugal is that there is no gun culture here. People who own guns here are in law enforcement or hunters. There is a rigorous application process for getting and keeping a gun. You rarely hear of a gun incident in Portugal.

That’s not to say that there isn’t crime here. Watch your handbags and wallets in the larger cities. Pick pockets are notorious, but aren’t they in other major cities in the world, too? There are criminals and bad people too, but they are definitely a small minority. My 50+ years of living in Chicago taught me my street smarts and I still look around cautiously and defensively. I guess that is just me. When someone leaves all their stuff out at a cafe or restaurant to run to the restroom, I’m looking around for them and keeping a safe eye out on their behalf. Yes, people will leave their purses, backpacks, and even laptops out on the table unattended. No one grabs anything. That takes some getting used to but it’s a good thing.

Let Us Help You

When you purchase our e-book you’ll get our hard-earned advice. We’ll answer many of the questions that are swirling around in your mind and possibly overwhelming you. The book also includes a terrific resource section full of folks and services we have used and would recommend.

If you are thinking about moving to Portugal (or any other country) we hope you’ll buy our book. If you like it and it helps you, please leave a review so others can benefit from it too.

This book launch is just the beginning of our journey.  We will keep learning and sharing more about living abroad so stay tuned for more information, events, and tools we will be developing and sharing.

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