Me as a Portuguese businessman

This is going to be another one of those articles where I expose uncertainties, so it’s going to be a little hard to write. I like to think of myself as a great planner. I do lots of research, and I try to take my time with important decisions – plus, I always have atContinue reading “Me as a Portuguese businessman”

Unexpected complications for finance

I was aware at some level that the European Union had different rules around privacy and security than the US. I’ve been reading news articles for years that talked about how the EU was introducing this measure to protect users from data mining, or that new requirement to prevent access to their personal or financialContinue reading “Unexpected complications for finance”

First week in Porto, Part II

When we last saw our plucky protagonists, they had passed out back at the hotel after an overly busy, overly ambitious day of trying to do everything at once. WEDNESDAY, we set some simpler goals for ourselves. Our biggest mission for the day was to take the metro from our stop (Marquês, pronounced “MARKsh”) downContinue reading “First week in Porto, Part II”

The first week in Porto

So, moving is always a big deal, right? Imagine that multiplied by a factor of I-don’t-know-how-much … that’s what moving internationally is. I started to try and do a day-by-day breakdown of everything we accomplished in week one, but as I was getting it all written down, I realized how much we overdid it. Basically,Continue reading “The first week in Porto”

Takin’ care of business, Lisboa style

We devoted our first few days in Portugal to financial and business matters, although we did take time for some great food and wine and to connect with friends. As I’ve mentioned in earlier episodes, I’m moving my consulting company to a Portuguese business. This company is the catch-all for my LinkedIn class authoring andContinue reading “Takin’ care of business, Lisboa style”

The complications of Coronavirus Travel

I’ll start with the good stuff: we are in Portugal, staying at a lovely hotel in Lisboa. We arrived when we planned, and our luggage miraculously made it, too (more on that in a bit)! Travel started at 3:00 AM PST on Monday the 20th. Originally the flight had a 10:30 AM departure, but thatContinue reading “The complications of Coronavirus Travel”

Details, details, details

I’m a pretty good planner and organizer. I actually enjoy it. My normal mode of operation is to have as much stuff planned ahead as I can, typically with at least two contingency plans if things don’t work out or circumstances change. I’m also an early planner. Our social calendar typically has things scheduled weeksContinue reading “Details, details, details”