Finally On Board

 Finally, about a month ago we received our long stay visas for Portugal and were able to travel to our new home.

The Visa that they put into your passport

Because we were not able to make application in March, some of our documents went out of date. So, in September, when the process opened up in Washington DC (the embassy which covers our location), we had to re-apply for certain documents, notably the FBI report. This report can be obtained overnight, via a $50 fingerprint charge at a capable USPS branch and a nominal fee online at the FBI. This will net you an emailed copy of your report and you can request a mailed copy, at the same time. Currently some of the embassies are accepting the mailed FBI report, unopened. However another method is to get this emailed report printed out and sent into the State Department for apostille. This can take from 6-8 weeks, depending upon their work load. Again - Covid plays a part.

We were able to use the mailed version of the FBI report from our online application and when we mailed off our packet, including all necessary documentation, we received approval from the embassy in about 3 weeks. We were told to expect a 60 day turnaround, so you can see that this was a much better result than expected. 

We did use a company who helped us with the application. It would have been possible without that, but the support I received for the money was well worth it. Our contact suggested several things which were not published on the VFS website. VFS is the agency responsible for collecting and forwarding the application to the embassy. So, using our agent's suggestions allowed us to send in an application that was more complete than I would have made using the VFS guidelines. The service, provided by Relocate to Portugal was under $600 for both of us - a fee I was happy to pay.

So, about a month ago, my wife and I travelled to Portugal, to start the next phase of our lives. My wife travelled directly from Miami to Lisbon, via TAP Airlines and I followed a week later, having returned to Macon to sell our last remaining vehicle and flying out on United Airlines to take advantage of a flight I had paid for and cancelled due to Covid restrictions. So here it is the end of November and we have been in our house for several weeks, now.

Our long stay visa will be good until we have our appointment with SEF, the agency responsible for immigration. At that time, if we receive approval, we will get a residency card for either 1 to 2 years, renewable for another period of time. After 5 years of residency, we can apply for permanent resident status.

We hope to be able to share some of our journey to this wonderful new country.

McDonald's In Portugal

Before we leave Porto, I wanted to share with you two beautiful structures that Denise visited. One of those is the McDonald's of Porto. But this is not just any MickyD's. This is reportedly the most beautiful of all. Mirror mirror on the wall... and you know the rest. So here are a few photos that she took. The entry above. I don't know what is going on with that, honestly. I look more like the McDonald's you would see in Berlin, but the inside is all Portugal.

Since this is mostly a photo post, I will also share the photos she took at the railway station in Porto. This is where she caught the train to Aveiro. Notice the elaborate tile work. This is a hallmark of Portuguese architecture.

Well, now we can continue to Aveiro.

Arrival in Porto

Douro River at the foot of my street

Normally, Denise would be writing this, since she is the one who actually made the trip. But with the current quarantine in place, I've got time on my hands. So, I am writing this from our conversations and the photos she sent. Of course, she is in quarantine, as well, in Portugal, but I am getting it done first. Early bird... worm and all, you know.

Bridge to North Porto

Porto is the 2nd largest city in Portugal, located in the north. Pronounced "Portoo" (words ending in "o" usually take a long "u" sound), this picturesque city rises from the river running through it, and sports a more modern side, north of the river (modern being a relative term, as Porto is one of the oldest European cities), and an older section on  the southern bank of the river. Denise was able to get an Airbnb in the historic district. The plan was to spend a few days decompressing from the flight, see a few sights in the town, and then start journeying south to look at some of the properties we had earmarked as a potential new home. Porto was a little rich for our blood, but a wonderful place to visit.

On the bridge over the Douro

With all of the beauty, however, Porto is not a city for the faint of heart. No, there is no danger there, at all. But there are hills, and steep streets, and stairways to get you up to another level of the city. Denise stayed in a beautiful apartment with 4 flights of narrow stairs to walk up. It was then we learned to check the particulars of any Airbnb, to see if stairs were involved. But those few things aside, the city is spectacular.

River view from balcony

When she first arrived, the Uber driver left her off at the top of the street where her lodgings were located. As she walked down this street, she could see the river ahead, and as she approached her destination, there was loud opera streaming from one of the windows upstairs. It was like the opening of some romantic movie.

She even had a little view of the Douro River from the tiny balcony in her apartment. It was a short walk down to the riverfront, where there were cafes and restaurants, she would enjoy during the next few days. The dinner below, included wine, cheesecake dessert, coffee and all the food you see for a little over $10. These are grilled sardines, which is very common in Portugal. As a seafaring people, Denise would enjoy many meals with salmon and many other types of fish.

My 9.50€ meal

Later, when Denise arrives in Aveiro, which is the city closes to our new house, I will post a photo of a local grocery retailer (much like any large U.S. food chain), and when you see the wide variety of fresh fish on ice, you will not believe your eyes, but that is for later. For now, feast your eyes on this repast.

The city sports aerial gondolas, taking you from one end of the city to the next, a very welcome service, in view of the climbs that would be necessary without them.

Cabled Gondola system over Porto

Anyway, after a few days of sightseeing, and in Porto this means walking up and down steep streets and stairs, she made plans to travel to Aveiro, where we had planned to start our search for a new home.Taking a train for 1 hour trip to Aveiro, Denise arrived in what is termed the "Venice of Portugal", due to it's canal system running through the city, with gondolas for tourists to enjoy. These are gondolas on the water, not in the air.

That will be our next stop.

Finding A New Home in Portugal

Our Little House on Lake Wildwood

This will be an introduction to our journey to find a new home in Portugal. After spending 8 lovely years in Uruguay, and returning to the United States we moved to Macon, GA, found a house on a small private lake and made this house everything we could ever want, planning on staying here for the rest of our lives. What could ever cause us to want to move from here?

Another look at the lake

It turns out that fully retiring here might be impossible. That realization was brought about because the company that I work for (a national home improvement store) eliminated my position, leaving me jobless. This caused us to re-evaluate whether we could survive where we lived on Social Security and some other small income. It was going to be close, and would depend on being able to find part time work, and Denise's health insurance remaining at the current rate, two things would could change in an instant.

The lake as seen from the deck

So, several months ago we began exploring our options (again) and after looking at several countries, found that Portugal seemed to suit our needs, and yes, even our desires. In keeping with our usual manner of doing things, the decision to leave our home in Georgia and travel to another country and start all over.... took less than 3 months. Prior to that time, before I was fired, we were set to stay in Macon.

But Portugal was not our first choice. In fact, Ecuador came up on our radar, and for several months, that was our prime destination. It has a pleasant climate (in the highlands), a dollar economy and a very economical way of life. We searched and planned and Denise was about to go on a "fishing" expedition, when the government changed some of its gas subsidy policies, and an indigenous population rose up in protest, shutting off all major roads in the country. The government was forced to leave the capital and the protests continued for weeks until the changes were rescinded. Life went back to normal, and I am sure Ecuador is a great place to retire. But we had glimpsed that a portion of the population that was not happy about foreign intervention, and decided we didn't need that. So the search continued.

France, Spain and Italy were on our list of places we would like to live, but eventually we found that the income requirements were too stringent for us to qualify, leaving us with Portugal, which was more reasonable in its guidelines for residency. And we were looking for a permanent place to live. After all, you can't wander all your life. You have to settle down at some point... and this is the point for us.

Just in case you didn't know Portugal's location

So now we get to Portugal. We read and studied and read some more. We had spent about 3 months in Portugal about 40 years ago. Of course, things would have changed a lot, but we did have good memories of that time. The more we read, the more we liked. We viewed YouTube videos and joined several faceBook groups, and about 3 months after deciding to leave, settled on Portugal.

But where in Portugal. While it is a small country, it offers many different exciting destinations and a wide variety of opportunities. When we moved to Uruguay in 2008, we just up and moved, lock stock and barrel, without ever visiting the country and found a home there. We decided to be a little more responsible, this time. We planned on having Denise travel there, find a house for us, before moving. Admittedly, this is still only a few months after deciding to move, but for us this was responsible.

In January of this year, Denise left for Portugal, leaving me to take care of the house and animals. She would be traveling all over Portugal looking for a place to live. I am not sure I got the best of that deal.

Our new house in Ilhavo, Portugal

So here is where it gets a little crazy. Denise flies into Porto, the 2nd largest city in Portugal. She stays a few days, there, to get herself situated. Four days later, she takes a train to Aveiro, a cute little town near the coast, with a huge lagoon on one side and little canals running through the town. She arrives on Sunday night. Monday morning she contacts a real estate agent to look at a house that we had viewed online. It was located within walking distance of services, 15 minutes from beautiful beaches and 15 minutes from Aveiro. It was a house that caught our eye, since we had decided that we should get a house closer to town. After all we are getting older.

That day, Denise saw the house and stayed around to look at the little town. She went home, called me and told me that she thinks that she found the house for us. I agreed and the next day she called the agent, had him present an offer, and within a week, she had signed a contract of sale made a deposit on the house, to be concluded in 30 days.

Our neighborhood

I told you it was a little crazy. She is in the country less than a week, makes an offer on the one and only house she looked at, and at this moment, we own that house. So I guess that our efforts to appear responsible are out the door. Now, I would not ever recommend this way of doing things. You should visit a country over time. Several visits. You should then, if you so decide, come and rent for a year or two and then possibly, just possibly buy a place, if you are so inclined. Anyway, that is the way you should do it.

During the 30 days, while Denise was waiting for the house to close, she traveled around Portugal, staying for a week, each in Coimbra, Tomar and Lisbon. I will share some of her experiences and photos in the next few posts. But for now, our time in Macon is limited. Onwards to Portugal.