How Do I Start This Thing?

Beginnings are hard.

I’ve been asked by so many people (family, friends, acquaintances, the drive-through worker at my local Dunkin Donuts) to write a blog about my husband and my experience of moving to Portugal with our two kids.  In the three weeks between when we officially received our visas and when we got on the plane, I was too swamped with stress, projects and logistics to have the luxury of sitting down to write.  I kept putting it off.  “When we get to Portugal, I’ll start the blog officially!” was something I found myself saying a lot.  

And now I’m here, with writer’s block because so much has happened so quickly.

Have you ever jumped into cold water?  In my experience, you gasp and shiver and flail about.  You don’t really have time to process or make a speech about how you feel because you’re just focused on getting out of that water as soon as possible.  Emotionally and psychologically, I feel as though I’ve cannonballed through a thin layer of ice and am thrashing around in the coldest water I’ve ever felt, trying to make sense of everything.  This is not conducive to writer’s block.

So, for this first post, I’m just going to lay out the facts about us and our move. 

My husband, Jack, and I have been together since 2018 and have two kids–a boy (T), who is three, and a girl (F), who just turned one.  We started planning the move to Portugal in November, 2024.  We had thrown around the idea of moving to Europe before, but never with a destination in mind.  The more we researched, the more intriguing the thought of living in Portugal became.  We had a lot of long talks with each other, trusted friends, and professionals who have also moved to Portugal.  I was actually in the hospital for premature labor with our daughter F during one memorable Zoom call with a relocation expert!  At some point, Jack looked at me and said, “Are we actually doing this?  Are we crazy, or does this make sense?”  And I replied, “Yup, I think we’re doing it.”

It was quite a process getting our visas.  Nobody said moving internationally was easy!  There were definitely many times when we doubted ourselves.  Specifically, our trip to San Francisco to submit our applications was a nightmare–downright cursed, if you talk to Jack!  And after all that stress, there was half a year’s worth of complete silence from the issuing embassy (partly because the submitting agency had apparently ‘mislaid’ our paperwork for a while). 

We got our visas, at last, on February 2, 2026, and got on the plane to Porto, Portugal on February 25.  Our adventure of traveling with three adults, two children under the age of four, three cats of varying ages, nine checked suitcases, one carry-on, five personal items, and our wagon-stroller (plus two car seats) will have to be saved for another time, when I’m ready to revisit the crippling anxiety of it all.

And now we’re here, in Viana do Castelo, Portugal, a small seaside town near the Spanish border, where river Lima meets the Atlantic ocean.  We’re renting a small house with views from every window.  From the back of our house and courtyard, we look up at houses stacked up towards the ridge that towers above us.  From the juliet balconies at the front of our house, we can see rows of red-tiled houses, ending at the river Lima.  It’s all absurdly beautiful.

We’ve been here for two weeks.  It seems like a long time for how much we’ve learned, adjusted, and adapted.  

Now, I’d like to hear from you!  Please comment down below.  What questions do you have about living in Portugal so far, the overall process, traveling with pets?  If I get enough questions, I’d be happy to put together a Q&A post answering them (and hopefully breaking the spell of writer’s block that has beset me).

Ciao!