01:47.76
Josh
All right? We good ross. Okay, awesome. Ross. Thank you so much for for joining me here. 1 of the most fascinating things as I've gotten to know you and your wife one of the most fascinating things I've found is.

01:51.11
Ross
We're good and now set.

01:59.97
Ross
Yeah, she.

02:05.14
Josh
How much you want to assimilate into Portugal. So let's start at the very beginning and tell us what compelled you to pick up your life and and move from the us to Portugal.

02:17.67
Ross
Um, yeah, good question because I was thinking about that and looking at the at the questions that you sent and you know one of the things is that since about 2010 we have wanted to move to Europe um. We were looking at well we actually Canada as well. French quebec so french french canadian area and France was big on our list and after spending a lot of time there. What we what we came to realize is that we wanted a lifestyle that allowed us to. Feel more part of it and I mean just like the the idea of going to the grocery store on a daily basis living living closer to the community walking that's one of the big things for us was not having to own a vehicle. Um and living in Europe. We felt really accommodated that and just the idea that after we looked at it and in portug moving to portugal was that we could actually afford to live here on our retirement income and live very well. Um and that meant not. Necessarily living an american lifestyle but adjusting and looking at how we could assimilate into the portuguese lifestyle and what that looked like and what that meant cost wise for us on a daily basis and it has it has just been It has been great.

03:46.98
Josh
Awesome! Well yeah, the the assimilation side of things when people do assimilate to Portugal. They're able to cut their costs down. So like you said you're able to really really stretch. Whatever sort of retirement funds. You have stretch it out. Let's.

03:49.25
Ross
Up in.

04:05.60
Josh
Add a little more context to this what state are you from.

04:05.97
Ross
Oh my gosh. So the last state we were in was Texas and before that was California we're originally from St Louis Missouri we've lived in we had a farm for 12 years in northeasting kingdom of Vermont we lived.

04:09.86
Josh
Okay, okay.

04:21.84
Josh
She.

04:24.75
Ross
We lived in Portland Maine for 8 years we lived in Colorado we lived in New Hampshire we lived in Minnesota I think that's so so we have a broad sense of of the United States I think

04:32.91
Josh
Um, okay.

04:36.91
Josh
Yeah, it sounds like it and and you felt that you haven't been able to find a place where you could cut the the car cord if you will You could you know, get out of having to use the the car on the on a daily basis and you found cost of living in any of those places to just be.

04:47.46
Ross
Um.

04:56.67
Josh
Maybe too much considering what your retirement income is.

05:00.61
Ross
Um, I would say yes and no Portland Maine is what really.

05:03.37
Josh
Um, okay.

05:28.60
Josh
Um, and.

06:10.55
Josh
Okay, and you were in Texas right before you moved what were you doing there? Ah okay.

06:19.81
danmetiv
Guys I got to put a stop to us unfortunately Ross we're getting an error from your mic right now and it says our recording for you has stopped. That's not your fault at all and are you seeing.

06:22.19
Josh
Um, sure.

06:31.40
Josh
Yeah I saw that his video flashed and and we lost you for a second and then you pop back up again.

06:37.43
danmetiv
And we've got backup recordings but now the alert is saying we're not recording you at all Ross I'm going to have you log out of this conversation and log back in. We'll see if that take care of the problem. Sorry about that.

07:00.86
Josh
Yeah, slow down.

07:01.75
danmetiv
Yeah, if the vpn is going to add and a complexity so we might as well go as local as possible and I appreciate you being our guinea pig here man we haven't done this ah with a third party in another country. So thank you.

07:07.70
Josh
Yeah.

07:17.33
Josh
Are you.

07:19.21
danmetiv
Ah, all right? Well we ruled that out is the issue. Yeah, let's have you log out and log back in. Thank you.

07:32.91
Josh
And I'll just pick back up with ah with that same question.

07:36.51
danmetiv
Love it and like I said we do have a backup that records this whole thing like a Zoom call as well. So we'll have something that we can use but it's not ah that that backup recording is all 3 of us on one track. Um, so there'll be a.

07:41.86
Josh
Um, okay.

07:47.73
Josh
Um, best quality. Yeah, okay, that's good.

07:53.94
danmetiv
Ah, a change so that error was removed for Ross Ross is yeah, looks like a clean bill of health now.

07:59.00
Ross
testing 3 testing 1 2 3 okay

08:04.10
Josh
I we'll just pick back up with that same question. Yeah, okay I'll ask it again. Okay, okay so you were in Texas right before you moved what were you doing there.

08:12.39
Ross
Yeah, okay, thanks that.

08:21.60
Ross
We were actually living grandparents and we had actually moved from Portland Maine to California to living grandparents for our youngest daughter and and son-in law for the arrival of their first child. Our second grandson. And we had made that decision years ago that if any of our kids ever asked excuse me, we would go in a heartbeat and it was definitely a lot different for us. We were very isolated just for the fact that you can't walk anywhere to go do anything. Yes, we could walk around the block and stuff like that.

08:53.89
Josh
Um, three.

08:58.25
Ross
But if you needed to do anything you needed to jump in a car and same thing with Texas we were all working at home and we were all confined during covid which brought this discussion up about where would you like to live next. All of our kids and our and our son-in-laws are all world travelers. So we we had this deep discussion that's got what got us on to looking at Portugal. They bought a house in Texas because of the pricing was good at that time and like I said they could work from home. And our other daughter and son-in-law live in Austin Texas so we all moved there and that's where we were last before we applied we were in the process of getting ready to apply for our d 7 which also made it a lot better because we were able to apply through the Dc office being in Texas.

09:40.91
Josh
Nice.

09:45.12
Ross
Otherwise we'd have to go go through San Francisco so I

09:45.71
Josh
Okay, nice. So this is starting to put some of the puzzle pieces together you you recognize that you wanted a life that was was car-free and you were able to kind of get a little more entrenched in the culture you had traveled and explored parts of Canada and saw.

09:59.15
Ross
Definitely.

10:03.94
Josh
Ah, definitely parts of of Quebec that feel european so you're like an eye on Europe sitting around at home because of covid I totally understanding where all of this is coming from. Um so who did you move with tell us about that.

10:11.90
Ross
Definitely.

10:17.16
Ross
Um, well my ah my wife Kathleen who I'd call my adventure queen because that's one of the things we focus on is that.

10:28.92
Ross
About always being on an adventure especially when things get tough. We'll look at each other. So Okay so what adventure are we on right now you know and it it keeps us it keeps us focused on on living living a a fun life. Even if it's going near the grocery Store. You know it's like hey it can be adventure looking for stuff there, especially moving to another country because a lot of things are different.

10:47.59
Josh
Absolutely okay, so speaking of moving to another country you looked at Canada you also took a deep dive into portugal which is where you eventually moved anywhere else that you you thought of considered and you know seriously. Spain maybe? okay.

11:08.65
Ross
Um, France was actually the top on our list. Um that we actually did two exploratories there. We live in Britain for a month went there and in Dino and then also nice. We spent a month there just to kind of check out to see how how it felt.

11:13.51
Josh

11:25.98
Ross
Um, Spain wasn't really on the list but I don't think it would be a place that we would not go to. We walked the the Camille France in 2012 starting in France and all the way across Spain like five hundred miles and so we got to experience. Ah, talking to a lot of spaniards and we also got to experience a lot of the small hill towns as we walked so it was quite an experience as well. So again that that helped reinforce our desire to to come back to.

11:46.12
Josh
And.

12:03.50
Ross
Europe you know our our all of our relatives left Europe to come to the United States and so this was us getting the sense of hey maybe it's time to go back. You know and see what that's all about. So.

12:11.00
Josh
Okay, and you you had seen France you had seen Spain from doing the camino. How about Portugal had you been to portugal before. Ok so then my portugal.

12:22.37
Ross
Um, we had never been here. We can we came sight on scene. We had some friends in California that are looking at moving here as well and we started.

12:37.51
Ross
Researching that from what they said so we started watching your videos. We started watching our rich journey and we started watching lisbon diaries and what stood out to us was a lot of the key points about the quality of life. Health care cost of living education. Um, and the people particularly in Portugal portugal everybody we heard talked about how wonderful the people in Portugal are and that has that has not been wrong. Um.

13:12.81
Josh
Um, awesome.

13:15.81
Ross
I have I have an error message on my screen. It says have you run out of free disk space to save. Oh it's probably because I'm saving that doesn't sound right? I'll just exit.

13:19.57
danmetiv
I'm not seeing that what error are you getting.

13:27.78
danmetiv
It is going to save locally. Okay.

13:33.12
Ross
Um, just texting out. Okay.

13:36.31
Josh
Good. Okay.

13:37.43
danmetiv
Cool all right? Yeah I got a clean bill of health for you over here. So.

13:40.89
Ross
Um, I'm good.

13:41.65
Josh
Okay, great. What was the process like for you to get your visa and move and let's start with the visa first and if you can give us some dates because I know things have changed since you moved they've changed since we've moved so what was it like.

13:43.45
Ross
All right.

13:53.48
Ross
Me. Um, I would say it was it was relatively simple. Um, you know first getting all the the pieces together like getting the fingerprints getting finding travel insurance.

14:03.15
Josh
Um.

14:13.24
Ross
And finding a place to live because right at that time that was changing from like three months to six months to having a twelve month lease fortunately at the time there were a lot. There were a lot of apartments available and and I worked that I worked the hell out of idealist up.

14:15.24
Josh
Um, yeah.

14:23.69
Josh
That's right.

14:31.00
Ross
And made kind of you know it was great because there was a lot to work with and then the idealista is in my simplest understanding like a listing agent for properties that are being either being sold or leased.

14:31.70
Josh
What is ideal list of.

14:42.43
Josh
Um, yeah.

14:47.27
Ross
And so you can put your parameters in there like the size of an apartment a 1 ne-bedroom a 2 wo-bedroom studio price range some of the stuff for us was like making sure we had a balcony making sure we had a washing machine. And making sure we had a lift because we wanted an elevator because we wanted to be up on an upper floor. So and then we did everything on our own that way we contacted the Landlord we did a lot of translation back and forth online with the lease and finally got to a place that we felt.

15:03.91
Josh
In.

15:20.80
Ross
Relatively comfortable with even though you're working with somebody that you've never met and they're on the other side of the the pond but it all worked out so getting the pieces together and understanding making sure you had had everything that was asked of you to submit.

15:25.42
Josh
Um, yeah.

15:40.18
Ross
Filling out some of the forms for the portuguese government and but once we submitted I think we submitted on the first of December of 2021 and we had our approval I think December Twentieth no no

15:53.22
Josh
Um, so you're coming up on a year um you're coming up on a year yeah okay great

15:58.25
Ross
To ten twenty oh we're coming up on a year here yeah Yeah right but the visa was approved in like twenty days and and it it was. It was fast and then it was like okay this is real. It's time to go and.

16:09.43
Josh
Yeah, how long how long did it. It take you from deciding and then getting your visa application and everything submitted like so putting everything together you said? okay I'm going. Ah, we're going to take that first step with the visa application. How long did that take you because I mean.

16:21.15
Ross
Yeah, yeah, ah.

16:25.98
Josh
Some people it takes fourteen days other people it takes months.

16:27.17
Ross
5 oh I would say from the time we decided it and we said okay, we're gonna start doing this I think that's about the time we arrived in Texas so we start putting things together. So I'd say bitten.

16:35.80
Josh
Um.

16:45.36
Ross
We spent probably like four months putting you know pulling the pieces together and researching what you know what we wanted the different like the insurance. A lot of people you know the insurance you looked at was pricey was like twelve fourteen hundred dollars for the 2 of us and and we were. We're both over 70

16:45.55
Josh
Um, okay.

16:53.00
Josh
Yep.

16:58.60
Josh
Um, yeah.

17:03.75
Ross
We get ready to do this so that is another wrinkle but then I found and it wasn't talked about much aaxa out of Belgium and it would and they specifically focus on the visa process and it was like $340 for the 2 of us for six months and they didn't throw in all the bells and whistles like lost luggage and.

17:08.52
Josh
Um, okay.

17:23.68
Ross
Delayed trip. My visa card took care of that and so I recommend them all the time to people that are looking for the quote unquote travel insurance. But so so yeah.

17:29.54
Josh
Yeah, so so it was travel insurance and not international medical coverage. Yep.

17:36.94
Ross
Right? It was the it was the coverage that the visa was the D seven Visa process was looking for it covered those bases. It had all of that. Yeah, it had all those those pieces.

17:39.81
Josh
Cool and it it had repatriation. Yeah cool. Awesome.

17:50.80
danmetiv
And were were there any? Um, what? what resources helped you fill out the the visa itself I mean you had that four month ah time when you're getting all your pieces together were there any resources that you found helpful in that process.

18:05.70
Ross
Yes, 1 in particular was Josh and Kaylee they have their course on putting the your visa material together and submitting for for your visa um, and there there's some this crazy couple that thing.

18:11.86
danmetiv
Who who are who are they I've never heard of them. Yeah, yeah.

18:21.63
Ross
Took their kid and traveled across the world and yeah, um, it's what they do and also um, our rich journey which is another husband and wife team they focus more on the financial aspect of life. But.

18:25.22
Josh
It's what we do.

18:26.88
danmetiv
Ah.

18:34.76
Josh
Yeah.

18:39.34
Ross
They chose portugal as well and were and were was a good balance. It was kind of like a a good check between what we were hearing from different people Josh and Kaylee expats everywhere really lined up in step with our rich journey and vice versa. So.

18:54.37
danmetiv
Nice.

18:55.95
Ross
That was assuring. Yeah, thank you.

18:56.59
Josh
Yeah, and and our lifestyles are really different as well. I mean we're we're frugal at least I'm frugal very much like am on is I don't know Christina very well. But ah Caylee's is much less frugal than me although she's changing.

19:07.95
Ross
Um, see.

19:13.22
Josh
Thankfully um, but but no I mean we we don't we live a good lifestyle here but we don't spend extravagantly for sure Now we do spend on travel. We're we're addicted to both travel and and soccer football. We spend way too much money on that. Um, okay so let's talk a bit about.

19:14.91
danmetiv
Ah.

19:25.38
Ross
Um, and.

19:32.92
Josh
Shipping and logistics did you actually ship anything and what did you do with your material possessions if you needed to leave stuff behind okay same with us. Yep.

19:42.86
Ross
We we shipped nothing we had. We arrived with like 4 suitcases and a couple of carryons. Um, and I think my recommendation to anybody would be to downsize as much as possible.

19:55.32
Josh
And you move.

19:59.15
Ross
Yeah, and we we got a furnish department So a lot of things that we knew we would need were already here but at the same time. Um I think not bringing much with you frees you up the more stuff you have tends to tie you down, especially if you know we figured.

20:18.28
Josh
And if.

20:19.16
Ross
Porto would be where we want to live a but we're starting to explore now other cities and who knows if we want to go live somewhere else for a year I don't want to have to be dragging a whole houseload of of things with me. Um, so that.

20:30.27
Josh
This right.

20:35.81
Ross
That is our approach I Just think it made the process for us a lot simpler and somewhere in my head I feel like if you bring everything that you own from home. What you're gonna tend to do is recreate home here rather than saying oh I need to go down to my local hardware person and. Ask them about oh I need this in the apartment or connect with you know there's several places that you can get towels and sheets and blankets and if you need something like that it it helps you ah helps you familiarize yourself with your your neighbors and your local business people. And at the same time it supports the the neighborhood the economy.

21:13.78
Josh
Yeah I mean I think this just highlights how much you care to assimilate and we know some people in a lot of the countries that we've lived we know we know the type of person that wants to kind of recreate home there and. It can. It can be a little dangerous doing that it can be dangerous because you're living in a different place. Um, there are certain things that you might want at home as creature comforts but just trying to transplant life. It. It can be dangerous doing that. So kudos to you guys for assimilating so well.

21:29.91
Ross
Um, yeah.

21:43.66
Ross
So 1 1 simple thing that I brought up a few times with people is that Kathleen. My wife is a tremendous cook she lives anyway and when we had the farm in Vermont. Of course we raised chickens dock skis. But. You know we had it all and we did a lot of our own processing and so portugal being a big soup country. She's you know, got into making the soup center here and she was in the store looking for.

22:06.40
Josh
And.

22:16.22
Ross
She got in the habit once we were in in not on the farm anymore looking for the tetra packs of chicken stock. You gonna find that here What you're gonna find is you're gonna find a package of chicken feet chicken Gizzards Wings chicken parts. That's your stock you take that home and you.

22:18.87
Josh
So.

22:35.35
Ross
You make your chicken stock out of that. Yeah I mean today we just picked up a whole package of chicken feet and chicken feet make the best chicken stock and yeah, and so that's ah ah you know when you're looking at oh I got to recreate home and people oh I can't find chicken stock. Well yeah, you can find it.

22:40.00
Josh
Good collagen.

22:54.65
Ross
But just not in the form that you're used to sure.

22:55.29
Josh
Right on? Yeah, ah, let's switch gears and let's talk about um finances. How do you guys support yourself financially here.

23:04.18
Ross
We have our social security and a pension from one of the companies I had worked for and that so far we have some other we have some other savings and investment and stuff. But we have focused on just using that that comes in and.

23:06.40
Josh
Okay.

23:14.60
Josh
It.

23:23.92
Ross
So far. Our monthly budget has ranged from our monthly expenses have gone in between 1800 to two Thousand Euros a month. That's everything that's housing that's wifi phones electricity water life and our.

23:31.49
Josh
Um, and that's with housing. Okay.

23:43.19
Ross
Health insurance groceries dining out household items and miscellaneous that doesn't include travel I've separated that out just to see how that works in particular, we went back to the to the us in September um, that trip to.

23:46.14
Josh
Awesome.

23:55.58
Josh
Yeah.

24:03.10
Ross
The total cost for that including like what we weren't spending here was about $3000 so and one of the things we found out when we went back is how how expensive food is and wine. but but yeah, yeah but our our budget.

24:04.59
Josh
Okay.

24:10.94
Josh
But we get. We'll get to wine in a minute.

24:15.14
danmetiv

24:20.24
Josh
Awesome.

24:20.78
Ross
Has stayed close to eighteen hundred Euros a month and it it'll bump up just depending on if we go out to eat a few more times you know up to ah around two thousand months so so very affordable and that that includes transportation too like the metro and.

24:36.92
Josh
What are some some money saving tips that you have for people because I think for for me I think 18 is a great number to be at um I personally.

24:37.58
Ross
And the box and stuff.

24:48.15
Ross
Um.

24:51.50
Ross
Um, right right.

24:59.22
Ross
I think we're fortunate in that our rent is 600 alive and um and we don't we we got that a year ago and it's going to go up to six fifty in February which still is working. But. We have a very small place I think we have like three hundred and fifty Square feet here so our place is small in but that's just the 2 of us and and when you look at the portuguese culture in in my short experience most of the. They spend a lot of time outside especially when the weatherside you know when when a family go gets together for dinner. They'll go to their local restaurant and either sit outside or inside a group of of 8 ten fourteen people and I think that's part of the culture too. Not necessarily gather at home but to go out and get together. So like I said one of the we had a couple of key items. 1 is ah a balcony and it overlooks the process here where we get to experience ah life in the neighborhood. Every single day and sometimes late to the evening but but.

26:12.57
danmetiv
That sounds beautiful Josh I'm getting the same air from you. It's been going on for a minute I don't know if you're seeing it on your side. But yeah, let's ah, give you a log out login. Thank you.

26:19.89
Ross
Yeah I'm seeing it too. Yeah.

26:30.30
danmetiv
Yeah Ross thanks for continuing on with the the answer there I think ah this will sound great once everything is edited down.

26:37.75
Ross
Okay, yeah, let me know if I'm need to go in a different way or if I'm talking too much but I know you can edit. So thank thank you.

26:41.58
danmetiv
I think you're doing I hope so no I think you're doing great man I appreciate it Josh I got a green light from you. So thank you.

26:49.39
Josh
We good? Okay, all right, You're welcome.

26:53.88
Ross
Um, come back.

26:59.86
Josh
Um, we good to keep you going so in your opinion. What is a realistic budget for for someone that's moving over to portugal.

27:08.11
Ross
Um, oh um.

27:13.59
Ross
With thinking of of cost of housing right now I I still think you'd be good somewhere maybe around 2200 ah imported right? and I've been I have several I have searches going on like in Vinna du Costello and I braga.

27:19.74
Josh
Um, in Porto.

27:30.83
Ross
Just to see what you know just to see what pops up and ah there is not as many as when we were searching back in November October November of 2021 but they're still there. You'll want won't come up for like six hundred Euros or whatever.

27:42.80
Josh
Yeah.

27:49.45
Ross
1 bedroom in a relatively good location in town. So I think they're there I one of my guesses is that with covid coming out of covid landlords and property owners are trying to adjust to either losing money during that time and trying to make up for it. Trying to figure out what the market will bear at the moment. Yeah yeah.

28:09.16
Josh
Um, right? yeah because demand is up for sure. Um, it's interesting that you brought up Vinna Costello and Braga because those are 2 cities up in the north that are are really starting to get some eyes on it I mean brag has already had eyeballs on it.

28:21.85
Ross
Um, yeah.

28:26.88
Josh
Braga has has won awards over the past few years in terms of being like a medium size or small city that is is extremely livable. A lot of foreigners by percentage I think are flocking there. It's massively popular among brazilians and.

28:36.54
Ross
No.

28:43.55
Josh
Inventory is very low because of that you can still buy properties there but renting is difficult vienna du Costello on the other hand I think is is maybe the hidden gem of the north um, tell let's talk about vinna du costello.

28:44.92
Ross
Right.

28:53.88
Ross
It's it's you've oh go ahead? Yeah I mean we just got back from. We went there for my my birthday. In fact, we're getting ready to do a post about being to castello as well because it's like it's like a storybook but but but very livable I mean. There's 3 grocery stores that are all within like we were we so we stayed at an airbnb on the processa process day republic right in the middle of town. You're like you're like 5 minutes from the train station 6 minutes from the bus terminal. Um, we never made it up.

29:19.40
Josh
Um, yeah.

29:29.31
Ross
Up the hill to some I can't think of the name of it a big touch. Yeah, the the funicular the el it was broke so it was probably a good thing. We spent a lot of time bright in town. Twisty windny windy streets very quaint, extremely friendly.

29:32.12
Josh
Um, the church. The monastery or whatever. Yeah.

29:48.29
Ross
And everybody we we talked with you know in in great. What I call mom and pop patderias cafes where you know a good protua played to the day for like four fifty Euros I had my you um molayish molash plate of gizzards.

29:48.63
Josh
Um.

30:05.96
Josh
And.

30:07.49
Ross
I love chicken giards and we went at this 1 place and this plate came out the the guy next to us said I'll have that and um, so but and there's there's pretty good green space there too down along the the river and the ocean is um is um from where we were in the center of town.

30:23.95
Josh
Um, the amp. Um, that's right.

30:26.80
Ross
It's just a mile walk away now some people go oh my God You know that's a long way. No, it's not. It's a very easy walk and you ride on the beach. Yeah, so.

30:33.48
Josh
Pleasant walk ah Vienna de costello completely took us aback. Um, we we had heard things about it then we finally visited and I was thinking man this this town has got it all it.

30:40.86
Ross
Um, yeah.

30:50.90
Josh
the the 1 thing ah which differentiates it for me from Porto is is the size I prefer like a a nice medium-s size city I don't like the the size and the energy of lisbon and I've found I've found actually over the past few years I've been drawn more to these smaller.

30:56.81
Ross
A.

31:07.21
Ross
Right.

31:08.95
Josh
Places these medium-sized cities. Let's say but vianardo Costello has has got it all. It doesn't get international acts. So if you're into the music scene or you're into like major sports that's going to be lacking. However, you do have the ability to get down to porto pretty easily get over to braga.

31:17.31
Ross
Right? true.

31:26.67
Ross
Up to Spain. Yes, you can get the high speed train out of valenza to to Madrid so and I think we just felt like there was a a very good.

31:27.99
Josh
Go up North you're you're actually closer to the Spanish border. So that's awesome, right.

31:38.60
Josh
Yep.

31:46.74
Ross
Range of of culture and entertainment there. It was's my my my daughters and son-inlaws gave me ah you know some birthday money to to spend there and then they also treated us to the Airbnb which was nice but there's a Michelin star restaurant. Um.

31:51.16
Josh
Um.

32:02.83
Josh
There is.

32:04.37
Ross
Right? there by the by the fort. It was excellent and it still wasn't that private kathleen and I went there. We we had the catch of the day I think we had sea bass grilled and we had a nice bottle of wine. We had dessert. We had their oh their fish soup is supposed to be to die for. We had that it is. And it was like I was it like 97 year olds for the 2 of us. Yeah, so I mean so it wasn't like crazy stupid like in the states it probably would have been about two fifty for for the 2 of us so was very like oh this is pretty pretty nice.

32:25.90
Josh
Oh wow.

32:39.67
Josh
We we went by there as well and I I Just you know I had to turn my head because I do love food but I don't love high prices I was like oh can't do that? Um, okay.

32:43.10
Ross
Right? Yeah, yeah, well like I said I I said it was a gift we I probably wouldn't be either I've been over at oh O to burno. Yeah, we did go there.

32:56.70
Josh
Yeah, yeah, exactly exactly the the $1 sign on the ah the tripvisor. Okay so we're actually getting into kind of some lifestyle stuff so we talked about you living on 1800 let's

33:02.40
Ross
Yeah.

33:11.44
Ross
Yeah.

33:12.18
Josh
Pick a round number here Two Thousand Euros what kind of lifestyle can someone live on that budget.

33:15.93
Ross
But for us, we feel very comfortable I mean the lifestyle for us is the fact that we're out walking every day when and we we grocery shop about every 2 days and so the lifestyle it's a switching in lifestyle it's not getting in the car and.

33:26.91
Josh
Ah.

33:35.60
Josh
Are death.

33:35.79
Ross
And running someplace. Um, we experienced this which I was like lead up to here in Portland Maine where you actually start to recognize and get to know the people in your community. So like if you're living in Portug you're not gonna live in all of portu your living's gonna take place.

33:53.11
Josh
That's right.

33:54.46
Ross
And about a 10 to 15 minute walk radius and and to me that's a good thing because you start seeing same faces I mean we know our butcher will wave high to him. He's got somebody working for him. The guy's name is veto. We see him all over the neighborhood and he'll always you know he's always like hi.

33:58.34
Josh
Um.

34:11.35
Ross
We've got some friends down on the business owners down on seda fata that we may be just out for a walk and we'll stop in and say hi and we just didn't you don't get that in this even in the neighborhoods in the United States like in California people come home. They go inside.

34:28.26
Josh
A.

34:30.50
Ross
They're not out. They're not out walking around. You don't see anybody but this lifestyle for us that is probably the most healthy lifestyle that we could could have is that something that gets us outside walking around the community connecting with. People we know when we got back from a recent trip. We stopped by Atasska which is a restaurant down here in our processa. It's our our local. We know the waiters and I said to Kathleen? let's go over and just get a get a drink real quick. Before long we had a plate of food in front of so walked in and and pedro and Fernando are are hugging me where you been you know? and um, it's it's just to have that connection with with people with.

35:16.45
Josh
Um, present.

35:24.30
Ross
Within a ten month period is priceless and so that's that's the lifestyle we we have been shooting for is to be part of the neighborhood.

35:34.90
Josh
Amazing. So that.

35:35.20
danmetiv
And in that ah excuse me Josh in in that. How's your understanding and mastery of the language and how was it when you showed up and how is it now.

35:43.15
Ross
I I think I think my french is better than my portunese it we we were working on our language with an online course working on that when we went back to the states for a month it really put us behind but what we're doing right now. We've got some other expats that we meet with that. We're going to join together into this course that's given at the local high school that we're gonna we're gonna buckle down and learn the language. And that's also for the residency permit of Josh. It's the final residence of citizenship. Thank you but I will say that one of the things that does complicate it is that the the younger um the younger people here all speak english.

36:27.41
Josh
Um, citizenship. Yeah.

36:37.00
Josh
Um, know what you're going to say Yeah yeah Spanish French english.

36:39.56
Ross
And some of them like our several of our friends speak 3 4 4 languages ah the the yeah french the the ah young lady that waits on us at ah Monica at our hardware store. She speaks spanish french port no. Yeah french english and she's learning german so of course she is that is she says well I love languages I said yeah, you just you just trying to embarrass me even more. But so so having you know, um.

37:00.30
Josh
Of course she is.

37:06.18
Josh
Rub it in.

37:14.26
Ross
I think one of the key elements is being able to when you go into a shop and this is what its custom and in France that when time you enter a shop or a cafe or whatever you always you always say monjo. You just don't go in and start looking at stuff you always greet. The the shopkeeper and and you say orvois just say goodbye when you leave same thing works here. You know you say boilla you know you pick up a you know a few things like Taysia or atlog see later or you know as long as as.

37:31.27
Josh
Um, from there.

37:33.91
Josh
That.

37:50.58
Ross
As long as you show interest in the the people that you're you're approaching or that you're doing business with they are the same way they're they're like lifelong friends so call me anymore.

38:00.49
Josh
Well, a key thing that I wanted to touch on before we we dipped into language there is going back to this idea of assimilation your idea of of what lifestyle is has. Less to do with things that you can buy and experiences that you can buy but more about relationships that you can have and relationships you can have with other people relationships that you can have with your wife relationships that you can have with your health by walking around more and and being more physically Active. So I think that's.

38:21.16
Ross
Yes.

38:35.53
Josh
Massive I think it's It's a kind of a paradigm shift I Think for many Americans who consider moving here who want to move here. That's brilliant. You can find you can you can find peanut butter it will it'll it'll be different. It'll be different. Don't worry Americans we find our peanut butter here.

38:42.61
Ross
Um I can't find peanut butter. Are you can find it right? Yeah, yeah, oh work.

38:45.79
danmetiv
Ah.

38:54.88
Josh
Speaking of peanut butter food and beverage scene in Porto you guys? love ah eating out and trying different places so tell us about the the food and Bev in Porto.

39:06.16
Ross
Definitely um again, we stay pretty pretty within the neighborhood and like I I think was our second nigh second here we were down at a place just a couple of blocks down process 63 I think it is.

39:13.60
Josh
Yep.

39:22.33
Ross
We started talking to the the 2 young men that were waiting on us. Of course they spoke english and they introduced us to white port which I had never had and you know and then they said oh if you want some other you know some experience some good authentic portuguese food. They listed several places off for us.

39:29.72
Josh
Okay, yeah.

39:40.83
Ross
But they're all right here in the area. Um, and then our own exploration is um I think it's It's what what? Ah what? what do Portuguese people eat.

39:41.42
Josh
Um.

39:55.45
Josh
Are.

39:56.79
Ross
What are the foods here. So like we asked our friend clariurse down at patio Das Maria who said where do we get trepash. Where do we get? We're brokencanly find that and she said go to orapi do it's over by salanto station. We had to make we had to get a table reserve a table for lunch. Not because they're snooty just because they're they're busy and it was amazing and so we've gotten recommendations recommendations on other restaurants like from laice that we've got gone to several times all so I think for us it was searching out. Um.

40:19.59
Josh
Um, yeah.

40:35.24
Ross
Some of the Portuguese dishes and finding those restaurants. There's another one on over by you guys called a Tunas and and they have well I call it's like the the shank of of pork that they bring out in their brown casserole with potatoes and carrots in cabbage.

40:43.97
Josh
Um, ah.

40:50.43
Josh
Um.

40:54.50
Ross
And everybody like it's ah it's family dining. You know it's and and the fact that you can get a bottle of wine. A nice bottle of wine at a restaurant for like 6 euros seven year olds and in it and it go really well with with the meal.

41:10.74
Josh
Um.

41:13.24
Josh
And and to give people an indication if you're if you're listening and you you need to capture a visual of the types of places that we're talking about these are more mom and pop places. These are not places that have branding and marketing.

41:14.12
Ross
So I.

41:27.23
Ross
Right.

41:28.99
Josh
You would probably walk by these places and not realize they are serving up Fantastic food at very Portuguese prices. Not international prices not city prices. So I think that's important. Ah so you you talked about attunas. The.

41:40.38
Ross
Um, yeah, yeah, I'll see we haven been there. We have been there that I think we're getting together for lunch.

41:45.55
Josh
The the one that we like in our neighborhood is ubaraku. So if you haven't if you haven't been there. You got to go to Baraku for sure.

41:55.84
Ross
Next week or sometime and we're we're taking you to I'm gonna say door nineteen port porto just how you say 19 my Mike but it's right here down the street just now right? and sendra is the owner and it it.

42:01.48
Josh
Um, somewhere new.

42:07.21
Josh
Um, this love? Yeah, okay.

42:11.78
Ross
You know we've been in there several times. It's nice to walk in and she goes oh good to see you and she has very good. We took a friend there the other day for lunch. We all got the pratia and wine came with it. We got a bottle of wine.

42:24.93
Josh
Um.

42:27.69
Ross
To continue and we all had dessert. It was like twenty Eight Euros for the 3 of us and yeah, so and again, it's she has maybe 8 tables in there. You know, very intimate. Yeah.

42:32.25
Josh
Um, Wow Well okay.

42:39.85
Josh
Um, oh okay, yep, that absolutely Well, if someone's considering moving abroad. What would be your best advice to them.

42:49.40
Ross
Ah, the first thing would be to look at downsizing. Um, then figure out what climate you like now for us this area which has a change of seasons. Basically for us.

42:51.29
Josh
Um, okay.

43:00.90
Josh
Um.

43:06.92
Ross
From the different places we've lived where it gets hot in the summer and gets cold in winter this is like moving into a place that basically has spring and fall which is great and it gets wet which is great. We fell in love with galicia when we walked the camino and through Spain and this. Those 2 areas overlap because it's a lot of the same cultural input into this area so we like that we're not like big beach people. We don't necessarily need to have it warm all the time. So I would say figure out what climate you like generally.

43:29.70
Josh
Yeah.

43:44.31
Ross
And then zero in on that. Um, if somebody's doing a scouting trip I would say plant your some plant yourself in a place for a month and travel out from there. But use that thirty days to attempt to get to know your neighborhood to see if you can get to a place where somebody that you go in to see calls you by your first name. Um, but yeah I think the first big thing is releasing a lot of stuff. Fortunately for us, we still do have some things photo albums odds and ends we did we did narrow it down lot. But that's with our kids we got a spot that they had that we could put stuff. Um, and so each time our plans each time we go back will get rid of a few more things but we're we're pretty. We're pretty down basic right now. So I think shutting yourself of all of the items that you've collected over a period of time is a good place to start and and then deciding what kind of climate you like and like you and you talked about too. Do you like a small town.

44:46.69
Josh
Nice.

44:54.86
Ross
Do do you like a bigger city you mentioned Braga Braga is is great and it's but it's in the middle of the country. So it's going to get warmer there during the summer brag braga has the highest percentage of air conditioning in homes and all of port portugal. Ah read that somewhere.

45:04.36
Josh
Yeah, yeah.

45:12.74
Josh
Fun fact.

45:14.51
Ross
But that but then like vianna du Costello it's on the it's on the ocean so you do get that that nice ocean breeze in the evening and such so anyway vegetarians.

45:23.44
Josh
Yeah, absolutely who is portugal not for you think? Okay, overall yeah.

45:32.98
Ross
Ah, well, that's we've had a couple of people that we've yeah where that we've talked to that that I say I don't know why you're coming here because there's there's good meat and but I think portugal. Ah.

45:50.32
Ross
And I think moving to any country like here in Europe right? Portugal is not for the non-adventurous I think but putting yourself in a place of of learning which means they'll do a lot more listening and a place of.

45:57.62
Josh
Um, if.

46:09.67
Ross
Having the people in your new Community New country. Be your teachers and I think that it's portugal's for somebody that wants to have a brand new adventure and wants to learn a lot of new things.

46:28.60
Josh
Um, and it expats everywhere. We believe that living abroad transforms lives So how has living abroad transformed your life.

46:35.65
Ross
Um, for us. It's finally transformation would be experience a dream. We've had for a long time. Um on a another level I think transforming.

46:44.46
Josh
Um.

46:51.81
Ross
My life and I'm feeling like I'm connecting with my ancestors not that they're from portugal most of mine came from Germany but to connect with the fact that when they when they moved to the us most of them had a few bucks in their pocket that may be a suitcase full of clothes. And so in some way that's what we've done by coming back to the old country is that we came with minimal minimal material items and a budget that we wanted to stick with so we could feel comfortable with where we're living.

47:11.64
Josh
Um.

47:29.54
Ross
And so it's kind of a reverse immigration. So to me That's one of the things that has transforming and and living in a place that every every time you turn left or right it's like history. Not only physical history but the history of people. Staring you right in the face and I I'll never get over that that will always be something that you know you need so man How long has this wall been here how you know how many people have put their hand on this wall that have you know that's been here for centuries for for millennium. And to me that that just gets you know, but there's nothing to me That's more exciting than either trying to imagine that or now being part of it. You're welcome. Thank you But appreciated the opportunity.

48:17.20
Josh
Amazing Ross! Thank you so much for joining us.