I have really been enjoying the Portuguese food. A meal in a local restaurant often costs about 6 Euro (less than $7) and that usually includes a glass of wine.

After living in the desert for so many years more than 1,000 miles from the ocean I chose fish as often as I can.

However, I really miss vegetables. At local restaurants you get huge portions of fish or grilled meat, often served with French fries and rice. The pastries here are yummy, but you rarely see overweight people. They keep active.

Another thing, when I went to use the ladies bathroom at Oriente train station in Lisbon, I noticed there was no toilet seat and no TP. The seat wasn’t such a problem and luckily, I had some kleenex in my pocket. When I came out to wash my hands, I noticed the next woman pulling a yard of TP off a big roll beside the wash basins before she went into the stall. Guess I’ll have to learn!

I found it, the house of my dreams!

After days of house hunting, seeing all manner of abandoned houses in the Alentejo and around Tomar in Central Portugal, I saw this beautifully restored old stone cottage and felt that surge of lust. Could this really be mine? It has two large bedrooms, one with bathroom en suite, another bathroom, a large modern kitchen with cupboards and surfaces I could never afford in the US, a cosy living room and a view to die for.

Edgar Ferraz of Chavetejo, a real estate agency in Tomar, showed me this gorgeous place and I was immediately smitten. Compared to the dark poky rooms of all the other houses I had looked at, this place was spacious and light. The builder who has restored it has left areas of exposed stone which gives it a rustic and cosy feel. The white plastered walls and laminate floors looked clean and modern. I could see my furniture in the rooms and my artwork on the walls.

The cosy living room nook showing the exposed stonework and a former fireplace. It will have a wood burning stove for heating.

Buying a house in Portugal is a very different process from the US. I worked with the estate agent to haggle over the price and what the builder would provide. The renovations were not quite complete when I saw it. After several emails, the owner agreed to an offer of 115,000 euros, a little less than what I netted from the sale of my condo in Albuquerque, NM in April.

The next step is to hire a lawyer who will do all the work to check the plans, deed, boundaries, whether there are any liens etc. The sort of details that are normally dealt with in the disclosure documents that the seller must provide in the US. I found a lawyer through recommendations on the Facebook group “I Love Tomar” which many expats, mostly British, belong to. This Facebook group has been very useful. You can post questions and get advice from people who have been through the process and those who have been living in Portugal for years.

Once the lawyer has done all the research, he will prepare a promissory contract at which point I will have to put down a roughly 10 percent deposit. Stay tuned!

I’ve looked at ten houses so far, five near the coast in the Alentejo region south of Lisbon and five near the Central Portuguese town of Tomar.

It’s been an adventure. Although you can find a house for $90,000 to $100,000 or even less, those I’ve seen need a lot of work. Often they have been empty for several years. The rooms are small and dark, typically to keep out the heat. Some I’ve looked at have nothing in the kitchen except holes in the wall where you would put the plumbing for the sink and water heater.

Many houses have orange and olive trees on the land. However, the “yard” around several houses I’ve looked at is a jungle that would take months of work.

One house I looked at had a warehouse attached where the family crushed grapes and made their own wine. Sadly it was in very poor condition.

House prices in the Alentejo area are generally higher than around Tomar, probably because it is closer to the Algarve region, popular as a vacation spot.

I’m realizing I will have to spend more than I originally anticipated to get something that I can move into without facing months of camping out and dealing with builders and plumbers.

I’m now experiencing “international house-hunters” first hand on the limited budget of a retired journalist. It is full of surprises, some disappointments and hard decisions – and I’ve only just started!

At the moment I’m staying with Simone, a Dutch woman whom I worked for last summer during my two-month research trip to Portugal. She lives in the countryside about five miles from Grandola. It’s a farming town about an hour from Lisbon on the direct train route to Faro in the Algarve region popular with vacationers from Northern Europe.

Grandola is not far from the coast and – alas for me – houses in this area are becoming increasingly expensive. But many are still a bargain compared to US prices. I contacted Dina, a delightful agent with ERA Imobilaria in Grandola who speaks fluent English. We talked about what I wanted and my budget and set appointments to look at three properties she thought might suit me.

The first was advertised as a “small farm” with two bedrooms, one bathroom, a garage, and a large garden with fruit trees located in a semi-rural area for 71,150 Euros (about $80,000.) Unfortunately, it was a complete wreck and would have taken A LOT of work, effort and money to make comfortable.

The next two properties were located in the town in a fairly modern town-house type development. The first was a two-story property with three bedrooms, a bathroom, extra toilet on second floor, lovely garden with orange and lemon trees, attractive patios priced at 86,150 Euros, (about $97,000.)

The next house was similar but with only two bedrooms.

Oh decisions, decisions, the three bedroom townhouse had lots of benefits – good price; modern and clean; location convenient to cafes, shops and train station etc. – but the rooms were kind of poky and the view in the town was blah.

I’d kind of like to be in the country, but not too remote.

Later in the day, I looked at a two-bedroom, one bathroom wood cabin type property on forested land just outside the town. I really liked almost everything about it – the warm feel of the wood interior, the porch, the location etc – but in my opinion the owner wants far too much money, she’s asking 139,00 Euros (about $156,000.)

So, I’ll keep looking. Stay tuned!

Fresh picked oranges, right off the tree in the Alentejo region of Portugal.

I arrived in Lisbon on Sunday, May 5, after months of planning and a long journey. I found a low cost route by flying from Las Vegas, NV on a Thomas Cook flight to Manchester, UK, then on to Lisbon on TAP, the Portuguese airlines. The flights themselves were fine, but I would not recommend having to change planes in Manchester. The airport is not well laid out, poorly signposted and there are a lot of stairs to climb which is not fun if you have multiple pieces of luggage. My right shoulder is still hurting.

Arriving in Lisbon, the weather felt warm and more humid than the high desert climate I have been used to. It was delightful to hear Portuguese being spoken. All my efforts to learn online via Babbel.com, Duolingo.com (both of these offer the Brazilian version of Portuguese, but it is still helpful) and PracticePortuguese.com (this is the Portuguese spoken in Portugal) have really helped.

I took the metro to the Oriente train station for my one-hour trip to Grandola. After a brief taxi-ride I arrived at my temporary landing spot, at the home of Simone K., the Dutch woman I worked for last summer. The last two days, I’ve spent visiting realtors and tomorrow I will see four different houses. Prices in this part of Portugal are rising fast so I hope I can find something feasible within my limited budget.

Desert scenery around Fort Irwin, Calif. where I’ve been staying with my son and daughter-in-law before I leave for Portugal.

Tomorrow I fly to Portugal, the start of the adventure I’ve been planning for months, actually years.

So, to follow on my last post, here are some of the ways I accomplished my “to do” list.

How I picked a moving company

In January, I did a Google search for international moving companies. I got in touch with five companies:
Allied Van Lines
Transparent International
Worldwidemoving.UK
Global International (in Portugal)
Shippingmygoods

At first I worried about the weight of my shipment, but was told it actually depends on volume. The quotes for a small amount of furniture and boxes of personal goods totalling about 400 cubic feet of volume varied between a little under $6,000 to nearly $10,000, plus insurance.

I have a very limited budget, so I went with the lowest cost (Shippingmygoods)and agreed to pack my personal goods myself. That meant the insurance would be for total loss, i.e. if the ship sank. It meant that I could not claim for loss or damage to individual items.

I also had to arrange to get a Certificado de Bagagem from the Portuguese consulate to prove that you have owned the goods for more than six months, in order to bring it into the country without paying customs duties. For me, living in New Mexico, the appropriate consulate was one in San Francisco. They have a form online which has the language you need. You have to itemise what you will send and translate it into Portuguese. (I had a fun morning with my Portuguese dictionary.) You must send a copy of your passport and documents such as utility bills and driving license that prove you have been living at your US address for an extended period. You also need to send a check for about $51. The consulate returned the Certificado within days.

The shipping company told me the shipment would take 7 to 10 weeks once it began its journey.

More to follow …..

I’ve lived in a lot of different countries and done about a dozen international moves in my life, but this move from Albuquerque to Portugal is the biggest challenge. This time, I’m doing it all. It’s not for someone else’s job, no one is making me go. It’s because I want to move!

The past few months have been like a training program getting ready for a competition. Here are some of the things on the to-do list I taped to my refrigerator.

MOST IMPORTANT: FIND A HOME FOR MY BELOVED CATS. RESEARCH CONVINCED ME THE JOURNEY WOULD BE TOO TRAUMATIC FOR THEM!
1. Find companies that do international moves and get quotes.
2. Decide what I could afford to keep and how to get rid of stuff I couldn’t.
3. Sell stuff on Craigslist and through Facebook marketplace and held two garage sales.
4. Give “family heirlooms” to my son and niece.
5. Check on healthcare options.
6. File for Social Security benefits
7. Sell my car
8. Sell my house
9. Figure out banking options
10. When the house sells, arrange to terminate utilities and internet service
11. Say goodbye to friends.

See my next post for how I accomplished this to do list.

Well, it’s done. All my worldly goods disappeared into a moving van on Friday, April 12. I closed on the sale of my house and I leave Albuquerque on Friday, April 19. I’ll have a couple of weeks with my son and daughter-in-law in California, then it’s off to Portugal on May 4.

It’s been a busy few weeks saying goodbye to my many friends here. Sylvie and Nique, friends I’ve known for many years, held a lovely farewell party for me. My friends from New Mexico Touring Society also had a get-together. So, I’ve had a good Sendoff. I know I will miss many things about New Mexico besides the numerous friends: the glorious sunny weather, seeing the Sandia Mountains every day, green chile, breakfast burritos and Java Joe’s coffee on a Sunday morning.

Today I held a garage sale to minimize the amount of stuff I have to ship or give away before the moving company comes next Friday. I will be leaving Albuquerque very soon after 21 years here. I will miss the many friends I have made over the years in the different worlds I have participated in during my time here: Tango Club of Albuquerque and other dance groups, Le Groupe Français, the Albuquerque Journal, New Mexico Touring Society bicycle club, Women Out and About and others.

I’ve moved all over the world but I’ve lived in Albuquerque longer than any other place in my life. I love the mountains, the climate, the quirky mix of cultures, the green chile, many places in New Mexico (Taos, Silver City, Madrid, Jemez Springs, Roswell, Ruidoso, Red River and more.) But I feel the call to go back to Europe. I sincerely hope friends can come visit me once I establish an address in Portugal. I will keep in touch via email and Facebook.

Almost every time I talk to people about my plan to retire in Portugal, the question “What are you going to do about health care,” pops up.

I’ve been doing some research and gradually piecing together what I will have to do. As our glorious leader said when discussing efforts to repeal the ACA, health care is really complicated stuff!

What I’ve learned so far. Expats from EU countries and a few other European lands who move to Portugal can apply for residency after three months. I have an Irish passport as well as my US passport so I will be able to pursue that route. For US citizens, it’s a bit more complicated, you need a residency visa. One of the requirements is to show proof of health insurance.

I’ve become a member of a couple of expat Facebook groups, I Love Tomar and Pure Portugal, and have posted questions about what kind of proof is needed, but the answers I’ve received are all over the place. Today, I talked to a representative with my Medicare Advantage plan, AARP Medicare Complete which is insured through United Healthcare. She told me I would be covered for emergencies overseas, i.e. if I broke my arm, but if I stayed overseas more than six months, I would no longer be covered. She said there is also a United Healthcare global plan. So my next piece of research will be looking at the UHCGlobal.com website to see what they offer.

An expat I have been in touch with in Portugal told me she and her husband are now on the local Portuguese health service but they have also subscribed to private insurance through Mgen . Lots to consider.