Author Archives: Phil Gold

Well, we did it! We are now in our new Lisboa apartment for a full week, and loving it. The move itself was remarkably trouble-free. The moving team was supposed to be at the Porto apartment on the 12th at 8:30 AM. This being Portugal, I expected that meant sometime before 10:00, but to myContinue reading “A successful move”

We managed to get some things checked off the list this week towards the move to Lisboa. We drove down Monday morning with a carload of breakables. We’ve got movers who will be lifting and loading on 12 August, but since we had to be at the apartment for a series of appointments, Kristie wantedContinue reading “More milestones on the journey”

One of our major motivating factors in deciding to move to Europe was our love of traveling. We always envisioned regular excursions from our home base. There were so many places we wanted to see, but trips from the US had to be huge, concentrated affairs – but if we LIVED in Europe, nothing wasContinue reading “Roman Ruin Road Trip”

Let me start by warning you – this is a very long post, and the story is not in fact completely over. With that said … The Portuguese people are well aware of the fact that navigating their governmental and regulatory systems can be difficult. They will freely admit that there are too many differentContinue reading “The worst of all bureaucracies”

We took a lightning road trip to Lisboa Wednesday – three hours down, three hours back – to sign the contract and pick up some of the keys to the new apartment! The signing took place in the office of the attorney who represents the owner, who will also be our official contact for anyContinue reading “The new apartment is officially ours”

During our apartment hunt, we actually had a hard time deciding between attempted apartment number two and the place we are destined for. This place had some great features such as air conditioning, parking, and a terrific location across the street from the Fundação Gulbenkian gardens. The kitchen is a good size – bigger thanContinue reading “All systems go!”

Renting an apartment here is not as simple as saying, “Yep, looks good, I’ll take it.” You have to submit a written offer, which includes your proposed term of lease, monthly rate, proposed amount of deposit, and any repairs which need to be done before your move-in. You also have to provide tax records andContinue reading “Bumps Along the Rental Road”

An unexpected place where you’ll find some fairly significant cultural differences between the US and Portugal is in the rental of apartments. Portugal doesn’t have the same mindset about property ownership that you find in the US. The idea of owning your own home has been sold as part of the American Dream and encouragedContinue reading “Differences in Style: Renting in Portugal vs. the US”

One of the big differences in life in the US vs. Portugal is in medical services. Some things are a lot of hassle here – probably the worst thing is dealing with the National Health Service. It’s complicated to get signed up, it takes forever to be assigned a doctor (I’ve been waiting six months),Continue reading “Healthcare: You win some, you lose some”