Finding Home Abroad: From Virginia to Vila de Conde with Bill
Hello, and welcome, my emerging expat. You're tuned in to let's move to Portugal. I'm producer Dan, and I have the distinct honor of bringing you YouTube travelers and our resident Portugal experts, expats everywhere's Josh and Caitlin. Each week, they'll inspire, they'll educate, and they'll accompany you on your journey to Portuguese residents. This week on let's move to Portugal.
Producer Dan:Join us as we chat with Bill, a Virginian who's made his home in the charming town of Vila de Conde. Dive into his journey of cultural immersion, the joys of local living, and the profound impact of expat life.
Josh:Hey, expats and travelers. Welcome back to Expats Everywhere Presents. Let's move to Portugal. This is season 2, episode 22. Kaylee, how we doing?
Kalie:I'm good. You looked at me like I was supposed to, you know, jump in there with Let's Move to Portugal, so I didn't know if I was supposed to jump in there earlier. No. I didn't know what
Josh:you were doing. Pause.
Kalie:Oh oh, the dramatic. Yeah. So dramatic. You don't because people don't know what they're listening to. Right?
Josh:No. Well, I would hope they do. Okay. Kaley did mention, about me looking at her, and if you can't see us and you can only hear us, but you'd like to see us, you can actually check that out on YouTube. We've created a separate YouTube channel.
Josh:You should just be able to find it by searching Expats Everywhere podcast, and it should come up. But if not, you can just type in the whole name of the show, and it'll come up.
Kalie:Because YouTube's trying to get into the podcast in a little bit. Right?
Josh:Well, they are, but, obviously, that channel is it's very new. I think we only have, like, 6 or 7 episodes of the podcast loaded despite the fact that, as you know, we have all sorts of podcast episodes on here. We're in the season 2.
Kalie:Right. So growing that, I guess, if you want if you wanna actually watch us,
Bill:watch
Kalie:us talk.
Josh:Yeah. Yep. Exactly. Growing that and, yeah, having some fun with it just like we had this week. Fun.
Kalie:Fun? What did we do this week that was fun?
Josh:Well, we started something that I think is gonna be quite challenging and maybe less fun, which is a video about the Portuguese minimum wage. And, essentially, we're doing a social experiment trying to live off of Portuguese minimum wage. We are 5 days into it so far and finding it socially challenging.
Kalie:Yes. Because as you know, listener, we like to go out a lot socially with friends. So now we have to be very particular about where we go. So there is that. It seems like you can still it's still okay, but you have to just, be more aware.
Kalie:That's what I've noticed is more aware of what I'm spending money on.
Josh:Yeah. Definitely. Yeah. I mean, it's a budget. It's a strict budget.
Kalie:Because it's different than we recently finished logging our cost
Kalie:of living. But when we do that,
Kalie:we don't alter anything. We just live our
Josh:normal lives. Moderates. Right?
Kalie:Yeah. I mean, I don't think I'm spending money on something or I shouldn't buy buy this because we're tracking it. We just track how we would normally live. I just have to remember to record that we're doing it, right, if I'm buying something.
Bill:Oh.
Kalie:But that's just kind of a this is what we spend our money on, and then we see what it's
Josh:This is the lifestyle we
Bill:live, and
Josh:this is how much it costs.
Kalie:And that's the total. Whereas this one is different because you're you definitely have to be more aware of the budget.
Josh:Yep. Absolutely. Shifting gears, we have gotten a little bit more news on vertical community venture. And if you're not sure what that is, that's essentially where we have bought a property here in Portugal, and we are in the process of renovating it, and the units have been sold to people already, viewers, community members, which is cool. And, yeah.
Josh:So where are we at with that? We have gotten the permission to set the crane, demolitions going on, and we will be over there maybe on Thursday this week to record.
Kalie:Yes. Some stuff.
Josh:So the first video is gonna come out. I don't wanna say soon, but, like, we're still probably a couple weeks away from having enough real content for that first episode.
Kalie:Yeah. I feel like we've been saying it's coming out soon.
Josh:I know. But it's because we've had, like, admin delays.
Bill:Right.
Josh:Like like government licensing and stuff like that just delay it a bit.
Kalie:So nothing really to record, honestly?
Josh:No. I mean, like a lot of projects here in Portugal, the the properties and the construction zones just kind of, like, sit there for months because they're like, people are just waiting on licensing to get started.
Kalie:Yes. But it's looking good. Demo, the crane, they're gonna block the road. They're gonna have a police officer. All that fun stuff has been scheduled.
Kalie:Yeah. So we can get in there. I need to pick more lemons.
Josh:Before the lemon tree
Kalie:The lemon tree. I keep I know I keep thinking, oh, the lemon tree's almost gone. So, just pick more lemons to have those because that's been amazing. Yeah. But, yeah, that's mainly the update.
Kalie:Probably won't be much more of an update in the next couple weeks until we actually see how demo is going and then, the crane.
Josh:Yeah. I mean, that's kind of the update on what's happening in the world of expats everywhere, and we're excited about this week's interview, because it is a it it's a different one where we dive into a bit more, which is essentially a Portuguese city town. I think Vila de Conde would be similar to maybe many coastal cities in Portugal.
Kalie:Right. Mhmm.
Josh:Wouldn't you wouldn't you say that?
Kalie:Like, as that more as a town.
Josh:Right? Yeah. For sure.
Kalie:But, yes, coastal, I mean, it's connected to Porto by metro, which is really nice. Yeah. But it's its own town. I mean, I don't know if you live there how often you're really coming into Porto. I mean, if you like
Josh:Bill and I talk about that.
Kalie:Oh, do you? We do.
Josh:Yeah. Yeah. Because he used to live in Porto, and then he decided to to, I guess, change it up a bit. The the
Bill:pace of life, if you
Kalie:wanted to change
Josh:up. We talk about cost of living, but I don't think that that was necessarily a major factor.
Kalie:Right.
Josh:But it does seem like like Vodacone is cheaper.
Kalie:Right. But he was he just looking for a bit more of, like, charm?
Josh:You'll have to find out.
Bill:I have
Kalie:I have not listened to this, I guess. I'm interested.
Josh:No. Yeah. He was he was definitely looking at the charm and kind of the different lifestyle. We talk about the the dog culture there, getting involved in the local community, what the expat scene is like, how much of an expat scene is there compared to, compared to Porto, which is a much larger city.
Kalie:Yes.
Josh:And has much more going on. We get into like language barrier and social integration, like how to actually get kinda stuck in. We've actually spoken to several people more recently about their move from whether it be, like, just US straight over to Portugal into a smaller place, like, smaller town or people that have moved from the likes of of Lisbon, Algarve, and Porto into smaller towns where there's less,
Bill:English Yeah.
Josh:And what that's been like because it's different.
Kalie:Yeah. It's definitely different. I think it's hard if you've just moved directly from your home country into one of those smaller locations. We know some adaptation. So sometimes it's easier to do a bigger city first and then move into the smaller once you, kinda get your feet wet.
Kalie:But Bill's been here for a little bit, so he was ready for something that was not as big as Porto. Right? And he was he was okay with that, or does he struggle with the language too? I guess, you guys talked about it.
Josh:Well, we we no. We do talk about it. There are some struggles, but I think he's very willing to overcome those things. And, also, like, he's not struggling with it. You know what I mean?
Josh:Yeah.
Kalie:But he knows the struggle.
Josh:With the language barrier. Right?
Kalie:But that's good. That's the that's the mindset you have to have. Right? I mean, it's not going to be easy, but you can overcome it. Right?
Josh:Yeah. Yeah. For sure. And we do talk about the importance of engaging in the community, around you, especially when you're in these smaller towns, and then also embracing local culture. Again, especially when you're in these smaller towns.
Josh:I mean, you should do it anywhere and and everywhere, but I think it's even more important when you're in a smaller place because like our friends that that moved kind of close to, Tirso Santa Tirso. We were just talking yesterday about how basically everyone speaks just Portuguese, and and they're speaking Portuguese with them, and they haven't yet learned our American friends haven't yet learned Portuguese, and it's kind of giving them a kick up the backside. Mhmm. Like, now we have a real reason to learn Portuguese because we want to know our neighbors better.
Kalie:Yeah. Have a relationship with them. Have a local place that you go to and can communicate.
Josh:Yeah. So it's huge. Yeah. Listen. We wanna encourage you.
Josh:If you have any questions or you wanna share your own experiences, reach out to us. Reach out to us, podcast@expensevore.com. Drop us a question if you've got it. We'll try to get that stuff answered either in a bigger q and a or even asking the question to the next guest that comes up. And if you're living here in Portugal and wanna be on the show, we could set up a chat, a quick chat to see if, you'd be right for an episode.
Josh:So reach out to us at podcast at expats everywhere.com, and we'll see what's what.
Kalie:And with that, let's chat with Bill.
Josh:Let's go. Well, Bill, it is nice to be able to sit down and have this chat with you about, Portugal and Villa de Conde as it's a place that Kaylee and I are looking to highlight pretty soon with a video on YouTube. So how's everything in Villa de Conde these days?
Bill:Oh, it's it's a it's a great little place. Nice. Nice little town. So, yeah, I like it a lot, and it's, you know, it's very accessible to Porto, which is a great a great thing. You know, you can go to Porto for lunch or for the afternoon or you know, it's it's about 55 minutes by train.
Bill:You might save another 10 minutes if you get the express train.
Josh:Okay.
Bill:The express metro. But, yeah, it's, yeah, it's a it's a nice little place. I can't wait for you guys to visit. Yeah.
Josh:Oh, we're excited. Yeah. Yeah. We're definitely excited. So let's back up, and let's talk about, how you moved to Portugal, where you where you came from.
Josh:Where did you move from? Let's start out there.
Bill:Well, I, I lived most of my life in, Virginia Beach, Virginia, but I was living in Atlanta right before I moved here. I was, living with my sister. She had just recently lost her husband, and I moved, you know, I was retired. So I moved down there to to to be with her. And so, we visited my sister and I visited in, 2019.
Bill:We made a couple of trips, actually, And my heritage is Portuguese. My my grandparents were from the Azores. So I'd always had I had that little bit of Portuguese, you know, behind me, and Sure. I was I was pretty close to it. I'd never met my grandfather, but, my grandmother and I were were kinda close.
Bill:And she was a a lovely little old Portuguese lady. So but, anyway, so I had that heritage there, and they, they came to the US around 1900, you know, when that big wave of immigrants hit back then. And they settled in Massachusetts. But, anyway, my dad was in the navy, so we moved around a little bit, not not too much. Settled in Virginia.
Bill:And so, anyway, after the trip in 2019, I just I fell in love with Porto. I mean, I like Lisbon a lot, but I just I just fell in love with it. It's the greatest place. I'll never forget the first time the first time we stayed in Gaia, in a hotel in Gaia. And the first time the trip over the the, the Dom Luis bridge
Josh:Yes. Ah, magic.
Bill:Yes. It choked up. Because it was it was just gorgeous, just beautiful. And I thought, well, maybe someday I'll decide to live here or whatever. So I worked on it a little bit and decided, yeah.
Bill:Why not? You know? My sister wanted to to, she wanted they had a pretty big house. She wanted to get rid of that just to you know? She's she's retired as well.
Bill:So I thought, well, you know, she can move into an apartment, and I can move to Portugal.
Josh:Okay.
Bill:It's not what happened. So
Josh:Very nice. Well, it's exciting for me to talk to a fellow Virginian even though we're on different different sides of the state. But,
Bill:I didn't know you're from Virginia.
Josh:Yeah. I'm from Bristol.
Bill:Oh, yeah. Okay.
Josh:Yeah. The southwest part. So we're definitely, like, as far apart as as one could be in the same state.
Bill:Much so. Yeah. That's like different country out there.
Josh:That's so true. That's so true. It absolutely is. Topography is very different, but also kind of the the way of life is different as well. But Virginians, nonetheless.
Bill:Yes. Okay.
Josh:It's very interesting to hear that that you had this you had this Portuguese connection, and you got drawn back. But you got drawn back to the mainland, not to to the
Bill:islands. So I had thought about possibly living at the Azores, but, you know, living on an island is is sometimes it's just not that
Josh:Romantic?
Bill:Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Just just Practical. Things are more expensive, and, you know, you really you have to get on a boat or a plane to go anywhere if you wanna go anywhere.
Bill:So Yeah. I do enjoy the mainland, and I'd I'd again, I'd like I like Porto and and.
Josh:Nice. Well, you've you've been here for over 2 years. So what are some things that you had to adjust to, moving from the US to Portugal?
Bill:Well, I guess the first big thing is the language.
Josh:Okay.
Bill:Still not wonderful at. I'm I'm learning, but it's it's going slow. It's hard to learn. It's very hard. I'm not a big social person, so, you know, I don't.
Bill:I can I can get away with not having a lot of friends? Although, I have made friends here, very, very close, good friends. And they've helped me a lot, you know, assimilate into the culture. But it's just, well, yeah, the biggest thing of the is the language and just and just the people. You know, the people are very friendly, but they for a while, the 1st year I was here, they can look at you and they can tell, okay.
Bill:This guy's not from you. Uh-huh. He's he's we don't know if he's from the US or from, you know, the UK or whatever. We know he's not from here. So that was a little a little odd.
Bill:And they they weren't they weren't discriminatory in any way. You know? They didn't, they didn't give you the the side eye or anything, but they can just they could just tell.
Josh:And and you feel that, though. Right.
Bill:Do I stick out that much, or Right. What am I doing? So but other than that, it's it's been it's been great. You know? People are very, very friendly.
Josh:Did you feel did you feel that feeling more in Vila de Con compared to Porto and Gaia?
Bill:Yes. Yes. I did. I did because it's a smaller place.
Josh:Exactly. Okay. Yeah. That's what that's kinda what I wanted
Bill:to get at. Think there were a lot there's a lot a lot more expats in Porto because it's a bigger place, obviously. Yeah. Yeah. But yeah.
Bill:But I still felt real real warm. There's a great little expat group here that meets every weekend. Okay. I go occasionally. I don't go I don't go very often, but they're very welcoming.
Bill:You know, they they plan events, and there's a a a Facebook page that they're very, very active in. There's a WhatsApp chat group that's very active.
Josh:What's the name of the Facebook group?
Bill:It's called Villa DuPont Community Meetups.
Josh:Okay. And is it is it mainly Americans, or is it all national?
Bill:No. There's people from all over the world. Okay. Lots a lot from the UK as you would expect because Sure. I think I think UK is, the the biggest expats community Number 1.
Bill:Portugal, isn't it? Yeah. Yeah. Wow. That's a big response.
Josh:Yeah. I think it's, like, British and, Brazilian. Yeah. Yeah. Brazil.
Josh:Biggest foreign populations. Yeah.
Bill:Yeah. There's there's a few people from Brazil as well.
Josh:Okay. In in the group?
Bill:Yes. Yeah.
Josh:And is the group speaking in English or Portuguese?
Bill:Oh, in English.
Josh:In English. Okay. So the Brazilians
Bill:There's a couple of, sponsors that are from Ville DuPont. Okay. They speak English, but but they do speak Portuguese. Cool.
Josh:Very cool. So earlier you said that that language was the the tricky part for you, adapting to to this move. Are you actively learning Portuguese? And if so, can you give the listener any tips?
Bill:Well, yeah, I subscribe to an online platform. It's called Portuguese with Anita.
Josh:Okay.
Bill:And you go on you know, you buy the courses. They send you all the courses, and you go through them at your own pace. Yep. Which for me, I'm kind of a procrastinator. So it's good that they're there because I can go to it any time.
Bill:Yeah. But, yeah, that I think that platform was good. Now I have some other friends that live in Porto, and they suggested another one. And I cannot think of
Josh:Probably Mia's. Esmaresh. And what? Mia. Mia's academy.
Bill:Could be. It could be.
Josh:Or maybe Portuguese with Carla. Because there's there's a few, I guess, that that Kaylee and I, have experience with and recommend. Portuguese with Carla is who we personally use. We've also we've also studied, Mia's courses. Mia's great for people who live in Porto specifically because she's from here and has that accent.
Josh:So Oh, really? It's better in that regard. Let's see. Then there's Leo, Portuguese with Leo, and he is a content creator based in Lisbon. And he has
Bill:a lot of he has a
Josh:lot of stuff on YouTube that is fun with pronunciation differences, cultural differences between Brazil and Portugal, historical things as well. But he delivers all of his content in Portuguese compared to the other teachers that are English first, easing their students into Portuguese. So I think people need to be more like intermediate to understand his videos.
Bill:Oh, I see. Yeah.
Josh:Okay. Good. So you've you've been doing online learning and then being able to take that Portuguese that you've learned into cafes and restaurants and shops?
Bill:Very, yeah, very little. I'm still a little you know, I'm I'm a little leery to speak it.
Josh:Templates?
Bill:I do have several phrases down. You know? Okay. A lot of the basics. Okay.
Bill:But it's it's, yeah, it's coming along. And, you know, of course, I'm gonna have to do something soon. You know, you have to speak, take take that test to, when you get your permanent residency.
Josh:For for citizenship. Right? The a 2? Yeah.
Bill:Yeah. Okay. Okay.
Josh:Good. Why did so why did you choose Vila Du Can specifically? Was there was there a draw there? Because you said that you traveled to port you love Porto. You traveled there in in Gaia.
Josh:So why Villotecan a little further out from Porto?
Bill:Well, it's it's a bit of a story. When I first moved, you know, when I got my d seven visa, the first apartment I had was in Campania.
Josh:Okay. And it
Bill:was nice. It was it was a cute little place. It was a studio. So there's there's so many Facebook groups, you know, that will help you with the move. That was really invaluable for me.
Bill:There's the Americans and Friends, PT. That's a that's a great group. And, of course, your content helped me a lot. I started watching you guys, you know, 6, 7, 8 months before I moved. Okay.
Bill:I'm still in Atlanta. Thank you. But, but, anyway, there's, there's all these little groups, and I moved without anything. I had 3 suitcases. I didn't bring any furniture.
Bill:I didn't bring any pots and pans, dishes, or anything. So I had nothing when I got here. The apartment was furnished, very basic furnished. So what I did, I contacted, there was a person advertising on one of these, I think, Porto Expats or one of those Facebook groups
Josh:Yes.
Bill:Saying she will you know, for a small fee, she'll take you shopping. And she had a friend that had a car, and they will you know, you buy all your stuff, and she'll drive you home. So I thought, well, that that sounds good. Yeah. So I met those 2 ladies, Helen and Helena.
Bill:And Helena actually lived in Villa DuPont, and they had both experienced Villa DuPont. So we talked, you know, the first time we met, and, you know, we we went to Ikea, and I bought all this stuff. And on the way home, you know, we had a nice chat, and they said, well, really, you should try to come to Villa Duca. I think you'll really like it. It's not as big as Porto, but it's very quiet.
Bill:So a month later so my sister visited for the first time since I lived here, and we called up Helen and Helena and said, you know, we'd like to take you to lunch in Villa Du Conte, so we're gonna take the train up there. And they said, come on Friday because there's the the big the big Mercado is here on on Friday. That's the one that goes all around. So we came up. We had lunch.
Bill:I really liked it. Elena said, I have an apartment if you, you know, if you ever wanna talk about something like that, and I thought, well, yeah. We'll see. You know? So not long after that, I got a an email from my landlord in in Campania, in Porto.
Josh:Yep. And
Bill:he said, I'm selling all my properties. Of course, I'll honor your lease, which was till the end of 2022, December 2022. He said, but, you know, I just want you to know, my real estate lady is probably gonna be showing you the apartment. I said, fine. Not not a problem.
Bill:Anyway, long story short or long story long, Helena, the lady of the ludukan, her apartment came available in in June. Okay. And so I I approached my landlord. It turns out that the person that that did buy my my, apartment in in Campania, he wanted to he was gonna live there himself. Originally, they thought they'd probably get investors, but this guy wanted to wanted to move.
Bill:So I called my landlord, and I said, look. You know, I have an opportunity to move to to Ville DuPont. If you can refund my deposit, I'll move, you know, in to me a little more. So Yeah. It worked out for both of us.
Josh:Great.
Bill:Yeah. Yeah. So the place here in Vodacont is really nice.
Josh:I mean So how long have you been there?
Bill:It'll be a year
Josh:and a half.
Bill:Years and July. Okay. About a year and a half. Yeah. Okay.
Josh:Yeah. Nice. It is really
Bill:it's centrally located. I don't have a car. I don't need one. Everything you need is is the ability to go on either here. And I and I have private, health insurance.
Bill:I haven't joined the public system yet.
Josh:Okay.
Bill:My hospital is in Polowo. So I do, you know, I do have to go up there. But everything else is is in Ville Du Conte, Big grocery stores. You know, there's an auction. There's a a continent, PingoDoce.
Bill:You know, all of them are here. Shopping is great. There's a, you know, restaurants are good. Yeah. So, yeah, it's great.
Bill:It's a great little place.
Josh:Which is the private hospital that you go to in Pavo da Barzin?
Bill:Hospital Daloge.
Josh:Daloge. That's right. Okay.
Bill:Yeah. Yeah. Okay. And it's good. It's good.
Bill:I I I like my doctor. I like her.
Josh:Good. Okay. So settling into Villa de Cones, what have you found that maybe is a little lacking compared to what you had when you were living in Campania, living closer to the city of Porto?
Bill:Well, the, the restaurants aren't quite as diverse.
Josh:Okay. That's nice.
Bill:Nice restaurants here, but, there there was just so many more in in, in Campana, in Porto. Yeah. The shopping, there's no big, huge shopping centers. There is a a fashion outlet.
Josh:Right.
Bill:It's not far from here. It's it's not bad. You know? It's it's it's mostly clothes. There's not much else there.
Bill:The shopping in Porto was an idea. You know? Nord Nord Shopping
Josh:Yes.
Bill:That place is great. I mean, that food court Yeah. But, yeah, that's that's about it. It's not quite as diverse. But, again, like I said, you hop on the metro, and you're in Porto in 45, 50 minutes.
Josh:Okay. So kind of staying a bit on the topic of, of restaurant diversity, have you seen more popping up? Because what we've noticed in the past, like, 2 years in in Porto alone, I guess since you moved really, has been an explosion of of restaurants. Like, the restaurant scene here has gone crazy. Yeah.
Josh:In a good way. Like, there's a lot more diversity. Whereas when we first moved, we had 1 or 2, maybe 3 options of different types of ethnic cuisines And now, like, we're approaching the fours, fives, and sixes where you can be a little more discerning about, you know, where you wanna go eat. Yeah. It's it's wild.
Bill:Yeah. That is good. That's great.
Josh:Great. So have you seen, like, a little more diversity that's happening pushing into the Villa de Conde
Bill:Mhmm. Out from Portland? Not that many places have opened up since I've been here.
Josh:Okay.
Bill:Now it's most it's a lot of locals. You know, small mom and pop places, which is good. And there's the Very good. Trusquiana, right around the corner, and that's that's real Portuguese. That's, it's only takeaway, but that's fine.
Bill:Okay. And it's very reasonably priced. Oh my god. They're, you know
Josh:How how much can you, how much is a meal there?
Bill:About €5.
Josh:Okay.
Bill:Yep. Yeah.
Josh:Like a meal now.
Bill:It's it's it's like a buffet. So if you want 2 different things, the cheapest one that you can get you can get a, a quarter of a of a dose or a half dose or a full dose. But the the cheapest one is €5. Okay. Even if you even if you do 2 2 different, meals, it'll last you 2 or 3 meals.
Bill:You know what I mean? Right. There's so much. They give you a huge portion.
Josh:Right. Okay. So I'm I'm assuming that when when you say a dose, we're talking about a portion of food. And I'm assuming that if it's like most places in Portugal, a dose is good for 2 people at least. Okay.
Bill:Yes.
Josh:And a maya dose or a half of a dose is is one person. Yeah. Yeah. And then a a quarter would be if you have a small appetite. Right?
Bill:Well, no. Actually well, no. The quarter
Josh:is enough.
Bill:Quarter will last a a good a good portion. It's it's a pretty good size. Okay. Yeah.
Josh:Is it, is it, like, rice, fried potatoes, roasted potatoes, and a medium?
Bill:They have they have fried fish every day. And the the fish, you get French fries and rice with it. Then they have duck rice, and they have, I can't think of the name of the stew with the with the pork belly in it, and the it's got beans.
Josh:Is it called Verdes? Is it green?
Bill:No. No. No. It's not it's not the the green soup.
Josh:Okay.
Bill:I can't think of the name of it, but they have that. And there's, you know, there's like 5 different items. And then of course they have the the puny, puny chicken as well.
Josh:Nice. Okay. Good. I wanna ask you a bit about prices. Obviously, you've only had to you've only had to move there once, but I'm curious if you've had your eye on the the market in general.
Josh:Like, what are, rental prices like there? Have you seen a big increase since you've moved?
Bill:You know, I really haven't been in the market at all Okay. Because I I I love my place. Mhmm. Now there seems to be a lot of of newer places, especially down by the, when you get out to the to the ocean. Yes.
Bill:There's a lot of high rises up there, and I imagine they're condos.
Josh:Okay.
Bill:So instead of, you know, instead of apartments. Now I don't know what the apartment market is like. I pay €500 Okay. Which I think is a good deal. Okay.
Josh:I was
Bill:paying 600 in Porto, but that place was tiny. It was it was a studio.
Josh:Yeah.
Bill:So here I have I mean, it's a big, you know, living area, nice kitchen. There's a little back, patio. But, yeah, I really couldn't tell you so much about, you know, about other, other places.
Josh:Okay.
Bill:I'm I'm sure there are some. Not not certainly not as many as in Bordeaux.
Josh:Do you have any plans to purchase property at any point?
Bill:No. I don't believe so. I don't think I will. So Something really exceptional happens, you know, or something falls in my lap.
Josh:Okay.
Bill:No. I'm happy just renting.
Josh:Okay. So no no property purchase, no getting a car. You wanna just kinda keep things as minimal as possible. Exactly. Exactly.
Josh:Okay. Good. Alright. Very nice. And, any anything that you would recommend people in particular to integrate, Better into a smaller place like like Voluticonde because, like you said, there's not as many foreigners that are there, as many, expats, if you will.
Josh:So what are some ways that people can really integrate better into one of these smaller places?
Bill:Well, I would say if you have if you if you like going out at night, your options obviously are not as, not as good here in Ville Du Conte. Okay. Although during the summertime, especially during Sao Joao, the whole month of June, there are concerts they set up a temporary stage down by the on the river, and there are concerts there several times a week. Now they start late. Yep.
Bill:Just like everything else in in Portugal. These concerts don't start 11. 30 at night.
Josh:10:30. Yeah. Yeah. Okay.
Bill:But they're pretty pretty diverse. They have they have a good a good range of people. So I will say that they do have they're that's that's pretty good if you'd like to go out at night. But the, the crowd here is not quite as as young. I mean, obviously, the the social scene is just not not like it is in Bordeaux.
Bill:So I I don't care anything about that. My my social days are, yeah, that ship at sale. So so I it doesn't matter to me. I'm I'm I'm in, you know, 8 o'clock at night. That's it.
Bill:Although, you can still you know, it's a it's a nice walk around town even, you know, in in the dark. It is nice.
Josh:Okay. Well, what do you do with your spare time?
Bill:I have a dog. Okay. So I take her out a lot, and I just like to walk to the beach. It's only 15 minutes now out to the beach. There's a, a neighborhood just north of here, just south of Povilwa called Cachinas.
Josh:Okay.
Bill:And that's that's always nice. There are a lot of restaurants up that way, more so than the the part of town that I'm in. I'm down south by the river. So then the farther north you go, of course, you're gonna get into Poivoa, and there's lots there's quite a few restaurants in Poevo. But the Cachinas is a nice little in between neighborhood.
Bill:It's very residential. So there's probably more rental properties up that way. So I'd like to go up there. You know, I'll get on the train and go to Porto occasionally. But for for the most part, I just I stick pretty close to home.
Bill:I don't have a very exciting life. But that's why I'm glad I'm in I'm in Portugal because I could just join. I mean, you know yourself, you take a walk around town, and it's like, you know, you find something new every time you go for a walk. Right. You you you you discover something new.
Bill:So Very cool. Yeah. I think it's a great place for a retired guy like me. I'm 71. You know, I just I I have Social Security income from the US.
Bill:It's very reasonable here. As you know, prices are cheap. Food is cheap and and good.
Josh:Yes.
Bill:Yeah. So I didn't I, you know, I I like it a lot better than than than Porto. Although I love Porto. Don't get me wrong.
Josh:Yeah. Okay. Well, tell me a little bit about dog culture because you have a dog. What's what size dog are we talking about?
Bill:She's a, she's £22.
Josh:Okay.
Bill:Yeah. It was an interesting it was an interesting thing to get her over here because she came with me from the US. Okay. Let's talk about that. She's a pug in a beagle, mitts.
Bill:She's a puggle. Ah, so she has
Josh:that short snout.
Bill:Yeah. That snout.
Josh:Yeah. That can be a problem.
Bill:Yeah. Yeah. It was a problem. Yeah. Okay.
Bill:No no airline will fly them in the hold of the plane because Yeah.
Josh:Yeah.
Bill:She was a little too big to fly in the cabin. So my only option was a a pet relocation service
Josh:Okay.
Bill:Which was pretty pricey, actually.
Josh:Do you mind telling us how much?
Bill:It was right at $3,000.
Josh:Okay. And what did that service include?
Bill:Well, it depends on what you want them to do. If you want them to arrange for all the paperwork, if you want them to pick up your pet at your house and return them to your to your new house. I I didn't have a a pet carrier, so I had to purchase one of those from them. Okay. So it could have been a little bit less expensive.
Bill:And another thing too that I did to save a little bit of money was, she came into Lisbon, and they wanted it was a bit another $1,000,000 for them to drive her to Porto. So I just arranged for, another guy I found on Facebook, really nice guy from Angola. We drove we drove down to get her in in to Lisbon. Okay. Yeah.
Bill:So that was good. But, anyway, yeah, dog culture is is a little odd. She's kinda feisty sometimes. She's a little she likes to bark. You know?
Bill:Okay. She she'll bark at other dogs, and people here don't seem to mind it. You know? Because when I when she will bark at somebody, the the occasional, person, you know, I'll tell her, no, Rosie. No.
Bill:Don't don't do that. And they're all like, oh. It's fine. I'm fine. Yeah.
Bill:They don't care.
Josh:Yeah.
Bill:But it's but it's yeah. She likes it here. She loves it. I mean, the the the smells you know, there's there's so much more to sniff here than what there was in the US.
Josh:Do you take her to restaurants often?
Bill:Outside.
Josh:Yeah.
Bill:Only outside. Actually, I don't I don't take her because, like I said, she gets excited when she sees other dogs.
Josh:Okay.
Bill:And I, there was one occasion of about 6 months ago where I was having coffee, And I had tied her her leash to the table, the the legs of the table, and she saw another dog and she, you know, lunged and food went everywhere.
Josh:Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I've I've seen that before.
Bill:Yeah.
Josh:Okay. So so you have
Bill:I mean, any place outside, she's they're they're they love it.
Josh:Yeah. And I was gonna kind of ask about that. So you've you've at least noticed or been aware because usually when you're a pet owner, you're aware of, like, the accommodations that places will give to pets even if you're not taking your dog there. I mean, certainly, Kaylee and I, are like that. So most places that you go to, are pet friendly and you see other people bring in their their dogs and
Bill:Oh, yeah. Yeah. And you guys have dogs too, don't you?
Josh:Well, we did. So he he he passed away, over, yeah, over Christmas break, unfortunately.
Bill:Oh, I'm sorry to hear that.
Josh:No. Thank you. But but, yes, we're gonna be we're gonna be dog free for a bit. But yeah.
Bill:Yeah. Yeah.
Josh:Okay. Yeah. So have you noticed that people in Villa de Cones, pick up after their dogs? Because that's been a problem that we have noticed personally in Porto, where you'll see maybe you don't see people not picking it up, but you see the aftermath of
Bill:of a dog. Yes. Yes. Yeah. I I always pick up after her after her.
Bill:Now if she's going on grass or in a in a garden area,
Josh:you
Bill:know, that's that's just a grassy area, sometimes I won't do that because I've actually been I actually had somebody tell me one time. I did pick it up in a bag. And, you know, those bags are gonna sit in a landfill for who knows how long.
Josh:There's that problem. Yeah.
Bill:No. You you have to do it. I will do it, especially if it's on a sidewalk or where somebody's going to possibly step in it.
Josh:Sure.
Bill:And, obviously, I'll pick it up. But I had this one lady just read me the riot act for picking up on on a on a grassy spot. Well Yeah. Okay. I won't do that anymore.
Josh:Okay.
Bill:That's Yeah. Most people do pick up, but like you said, you can there's the aftermath. You can see it.
Josh:Yeah. Well, I mean, I think that certainly during during tourist season, it makes it pretty treacherous when people that don't realize that that this is a little bit of a problem in in our kind of collective culture here in Portugal Yeah. As they're walking around looking at all the buildings, and they're stepping in
Bill:Yeah. Dog poo. Yeah. Okay. Okay.
Josh:But, I mean, you wouldn't really have that many tourists out in in Villa de Cones unless people are going out there for for the beach, I guess.
Bill:Down toward the beach in the summertime, there's a lot of French people. I know.
Josh:Okay.
Bill:But, yeah, there's not a lot of tourists. Nothing like Bordeaux. Nothing at all.
Josh:Okay. Tell us about what summers are like there. How how busy does it get? How much does the volume of people change?
Bill:It really doesn't change much at all, especially, like I said, I'm about a 15 minute walk from the beach, so I don't notice anybody. Now what what I do notice here is we're on the the, the Camino the Camino de Santiago. Yes. That runs right in front of my front door. Cool.
Bill:I do see a lot of, of pilgrims.
Josh:Pilgrims. Yeah.
Bill:Yeah. Mhmm. So you do see a lot of those, and they're from all over the world. Okay. Other than that, there's really not that much of a change in in, season to season here.
Josh:Well, what's the winter like? Not in terms of of volume of people, but just like, what's the weather like? Is it is it decent? Is it depressing? How's it feel?
Bill:It's similar to Porto. Okay. It's probably a little bit cooler here. There is there is a pretty good breeze that blows most of the time. Okay.
Bill:But, you know, it's rainy and damp.
Josh:Yeah. But Any of those problems seep into the house?
Bill:The summers are a little bit cooler than they they they are in Porto. Okay. It's a little bit 55, 10 degrees maybe.
Josh:Okay. Okay. Do you have any of those, moisture issues in your apartment? And if so, what do
Bill:you do about that? Yeah. Unfortunately. Yeah. But I have a a cleaning lady that comes in every every 2 weeks.
Josh:Okay.
Bill:And my landlady lives upstairs. So she keeps pretty good, you know, a pretty good eye on everything. Good. Yeah. It does get a does get that black mold around them, you know, in some of the corners and
Josh:Yes.
Bill:Sometimes in in the ceiling, But they take pretty good care of it.
Josh:How much does it cost, for someone to clean?
Bill:She is €7 an hour, and she takes 2 hours.
Josh:Okay.
Bill:And I give her 15, you know, just round up. Round up. Yeah. Yeah. €15 every other week.
Bill:Hey. Works for
Josh:me. Yeah. Absolutely.
Bill:That is not bad at all.
Josh:And that sounds like a a a pretty common rate that we hear. I mean, we've we've heard of people that work for 5 as well.
Bill:But I
Josh:think whenever we've paid, we've paid, you know, around, yeah, 30 for 4 hours. Yeah. So 7:50. Yeah. Yeah.
Josh:Okay. Nice. Okay. So we've kind of touched on the living in Vila de Conde aspects, but, let's go a little broader and just tell us, like, kind of what is living in Portugal been like for you, and is it a place that you see yourself, being in for many, many years to come?
Bill:Yes. Definitely. Yes. I don't, for a lot of reasons, I I don't see myself going back to the US. Okay.
Bill:You know? I I, I I don't have I'm not married. I don't have any children, but, of course, my sister, and I've got lots of cousins and a big extended family. But, no. I don't I don't wanna go back there.
Bill:And a a a big part of it well, there's a couple of things. Obviously, politics are just crazies. But another thing too is the is the, the cost of living. Oh my gosh. It's so expensive there.
Bill:And you need a car when I mean, almost anywhere you you live, you have to have a you're gonna have to have a car. Yeah. And that's another huge expense. Yes. So no.
Bill:But no. I I and I like I like Portugal. The people here are just they're friendly. They're accommodating. They're very helpful.
Bill:My landlady upstairs, she's helped me so much with just, you know, just everyday little things. You know, she'll she she took me to, she introduced me to the to the expat group. She took me, you know, the finances. We we have to go there for this. Yeah.
Bill:She's real. She's just a sweetheart. Yeah.
Josh:Good. What expats have where we believe that living abroad transforms lives, how has living abroad transformed your life?
Bill:I've I've slowed down a lot since I've been here and just noticed people, the the the good in people. You know? Just and and, of course, it's a completely different culture. Every you know, the little old Portuguese guys that sit out in front of the bars and, you know, they'll they'll have their little drinks in the morning. Yes.
Bill:Just everything like that. And and and, you know, the families, yeah, that's another big thing too. There's a big, huge park not far from here. And on Sundays, when the weather's nice, there's just families everywhere. And, you know, moms and dads, little kids, and I don't know.
Bill:Maybe it was just me, but I didn't notice that that much in the US. I mean, I just didn't get out that much maybe. Or Okay. You know, you you're in a car. Every time you go out, you you get in your car to drive 2 miles.
Bill:Yeah. That's another thing here. It's walking, and I'm I you know, it's great exercise. And, you know, the the walking culture and coffee culture. Yeah.
Bill:I I just really love it. I I really, really like it.
Josh:Awesome. Well, Bill, thank you so much for taking time to talk to us about Fillet of Collins in Portugal as well. We appreciate your time.
Bill:My pleasure. My pleasure. It's nice talking to you.
