Another update on the international move
(6.5 weeks before departure):

✔️ We have a signed apartment lease! 🙌 That's huge - not only because we need a place to live - but because proof of accommodation for 12 months is required for our visa.

✔️ Finished getting the rest of our paperwork/prerequisites for our visa applications. Our in-person visa meeting is in a couple of weeks, so my brain is very happy we're all set.

✔️ Inspections on the house we're selling are happening.

✔️ Started investigating cell phone options. I know we'll need two eSims for two numbers (one US and one Portugal). Haven't figured out providers yet.

✔️ Progress on sorting/scanning/eliminating paperwork that stacked up over the years. Down to 1 box left which is exciting. We'll only take just one folder of original docs with us.

✔️ Got 899 digitized photos back from ScanMyPhotos. That process worked nicely. (Organizing photos will be a later project.)

#MovingToPortugal #Expat #Portugal #Algarve

13/

Update on the international move
(7.5 weeks before departure):

✔️ Bought our plane tickets to Portugal for Oct 12! We'll fly into Faro with just our 4 suitcases.

✔️ Received our 6 boxes for stuff we're going to ship to Portugal. Those boxes will depart a month before we will (since it'll take them 2-3 months to arrive) so now that house showings are over, the sorting of what to keep/eliminate/give away begins.

✔️ Signed a contract on our house. That means I'm getting a wee bit sentimental about leaving.

✔️ A bit more progress on the apartment lease in Portugal that starts on Oct 15. This process sure is teaching me patience for how things can move slowly over there. We're close…the lease *must* be signed before our in-person visa interviews in Washington DC in 3 weeks (to prove we have secured accommodations).

✔️ Opened a bank account in Portugal. That's really important for the visa process so a surprisingly important milestone.

#MovingToPortugal #Expat #Portugal #Algarve

12/

Há anos que sempre que entro numa livraria alemã dou com os #livros de Gil Ribeiro (é só pseudónimo, ele é alemão) em grande destaque. A série Lost in Fuseta, #policiais com o #Algarve como cenário, já conta com pelo menos 5 títulos.

Este fim de semana a #RTP2 está a passar a mini série inspirada nos ditos. #CrimeNaAreia

People have lost everything in the fire, even when their houses are still there. Off grid places, B&B's, beautiful reforestation projects...all destroyed.

This crowdfunding is for a reforestation prokect starting this fall. Please donate if you can, to rebuild and make at least this 18 hectares biodivers again!

https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-our-land-recover-from-devastating-wildfires

#Portugal #Reforestation #Forest #Wildfire #Algarve #ClimateChange #Crowdfunding #Nature

Cycled around this afternoon to hand out water and fruits to firefighters. I was in the area that was affected heavenly by the fire. As far as the eye can see, everything is black and grey.

Almost 9000 hectares burned. Unbelievably almost no houses were affected.

#Portugal #Wildfire #Algarve #Odeceixe #ClimateChange #fire

RT Copernicus EMS
#IROdemira
Wildfires are ravaging #Portugal🇵🇹
Particularly near Odemira, where a large wildfire broke out on August 5 on the border between #Algarve & #Alentejo regions
🔽Our #EFFIS Current Situation Viewer shows hot spots detected in the last 24 hours
https://effis.jrc.ec.europa.eu/apps/effis_current_situation/

🐦🔗: https://n.respublicae.eu/CopernicusEMS/status/1688888590141435904

RT Copernicus EMS
Our #EFFIS🔥 Fire Danger Forecast for 7 August
🟤Very Extreme Danger is present in:
➡️Large areas of the #Algarve & #Alentejo regions, #Portugal🇵🇹
➡️The #Andalucía region, #Spain🇪🇸
➡️Southeastern #France🇫🇷, around #Marseille & #Avignon
➡️Limited areas of #Sardegna, #Italy🇮🇹

🐦🔗: https://n.respublicae.eu/CopernicusEMS/status/1688477045263564800

#travelphotography #traveling #Algarve #Atlantic
etwas #Meer zum #silentsunday

⁦@CCDR_Algarve⁩ bem! FUNDOS EUROPEUS | O Programa Regional do #Algarve - #ALGARVE2020 tem ainda em curso #investimentos no total de 60 Milhões de Euros a… | Instagram https://www.instagram.com/p/Cvb9QdWouUU/

🐦🔗: https://n.respublicae.eu/mmargmarques/status/1686680913839624192

Today we got a draft copy of our new lease agreement for our apartment in Portugal (very exciting milestone). 🙌

Some of the language and phrasing is unfamiliar, as I'd expect. But what's really surprising is how much personal data is included in the lease for both the owners as well as us renters:
-Full names
-Current home address
-National ID numbers
-Passport numbers
-Where we were born
-Where we were married

Not a big deal, just interesting from a #DataPrivacy perspective (especially since it's the EU).

#MovingToPortugal #Expat #Portugal #Algarve

9/

Week 4 update on the international move
(~9 weeks before departure):

✔️ Passed our criminal background check! Our fingerprints didn't reveal any unsolved crimes...whew...ha ha. Now we're ready for the next steps of our visa application.

✔️ Met with our realtor and the house will go on the market in 2 weeks. We're listing it for more than twice what we bought it for 11 years ago…which is crazy! But it's still a real seller's market because there's very little inventory.

✔️ Starting to prep for pictures & showings of the house. Thankfully it's all easy stuff like power washing the driveway and removing a couple pieces of furniture to make it seem roomier.

✔️ Sorting through my technical books to send a bunch of old ones to bulk recycling. This one makes me sad but old SQL Server 2005 books and such just won't have value to anyone anymore.

✔️ A wee bit of progress on digitizing financial papers. Still lots to do.

#MovingToPortugal #Expat #Portugal #Algarve

8/

RT ARTE
🇵🇹🥑 Im Süden von #Portugal entstehen immer mehr #Avocado-#Plantagen. 💧 Weil der #Wasserbedarf der trendigen Frucht enorm ist fürchten Anwohner:innen, dass ihre #Grundwasser-Brunnen versiegen. Re: über den Kampf ums #Wasser an der #Algarve. ⬇️
https://www.arte.tv/de/videos/100300-049-A/re-durstige-avocados/

🐦🔗: https://n.respublicae.eu/ARTEde/status/1682354987010064384

Week 3 update on the international move
(~10 weeks before departure):

✔️ Got fingerprinted for our criminal background check (needed for our visa app).

✔️ Scheduled and started final set of dr. appts.

✔️ Started process to open a bank account in Portugal. Need to get account validation letters from our bank & we need to change names on our bank accounts to exactly match our passports.

✔️ First round of household goods & clothes went to thrift shop.

✔️ Sorted a bunch of financial papers. (Next up is to scan in the important stuff we need to keep.)

✔️ Ordered int'l shipping boxes. For about $1000 we can do 6 large boxes that can be 60 pounds each. It'll take 2-3 months for them to arrive.

✔️ Did a little yard/house "sprucing up" to prepare for pictures our realtor will take when he's here next week to talk about listing the house.

✔️ Progress on the apartment lease. Still waiting for paperwork from the owners to finalize it.

#MovingToPortugal #Expat #Portugal #Algarve

7/

Week 2 (~11 weeks before departure) progress update on the international move:

✔️ Sorted through a ton of old photos to get digitized. Decided to use the ScanMyPhotos service since it looks trustworthy and is far more economical than anywhere I could find locally.

✔️ Started looking into what to do about our investment accounts. Turns out that brokerage firms have lots of limitations on how expats not living in the US are allowed to invest.

✔️ Started process of getting our criminal background checks with the FBI. (It's a prerequisite for the visa application.)

✔️ Requested duplicate drivers license copies. When we get to Portugal and get drivers licenses there, they will take our US drivers licenses. (We don't expect to need a car full-time, but we will rent a car from time to time to tool around the country.)

〰️ Still waiting for our NIF (national id) which is a prerequisite for pretty much everything. Patience is a virtue.

#MovingToPortugal #Expat #Portugal #Algarve

6/

Week 1 (~12 weeks before departure) accomplishments:

✔️ Picked which town to live in (see earlier in this thread)

✔️ Picked an apartment and did a virtual tour (a 12-month lease agreement is a prerequisite for our visa - so this is urgent!)

✔️ Communicated with another American about their experience living there

✔️ Requested our NIF (national id) & got the required fiscal representative

✔️ Had a very helpful pre-move financial/tax planning session with a Portugese accountant

✔️ Got a Portugese lawyer to draw up the apartment lease contract (it’s done separately from the realtor/owner representative there)

✔️ Started process to open a Portugese bank account (a prerequisite for the apartment lease)

Lots to do yet, but that’s a great start.

#MovingToPortugal #Expat #Portugal #Algarve

4/

If all goes well with getting the contract finalized, our new apartment will have a gorgeous view of the river. (There aren’t that many units with water-facing views - it is a pretty small town - so we hope this rental works out.)

It’s got two outdoor porches (an L shape on the corner of the building) with 2 sliding glass doors from the living room to the front porch and another from the kitchen to the side porch. Each bedroom also has a sliding glass door off of each bedroom with a juliet balcony. And it’s not nearly as expensive as you might think.

#MovingToPortugal #Expat #Portugal #Algarve

3/

So, what town in the Algarve did we pick to live in?

Vila Real de Santo António (VRSA)

VRSA is the most southeast town in Portugal. It's on the border to Spain. There’s a 9-minute ferry ride across the river (the country & time zone switches in the middle of the river).

This place is delightful:
🗺️To the south of town is a pine tree forest before you reach the ocean.
🗺️To the east of town is the Guaiana river.
🗺️To the north is a nature preserve.

#MovingToPortugal #Expat #Portugal #Algarve

2/

This week I officially kicked off a new project. A data project? Nah. It’s our “Let’s Move to Portugal” project.

Lesson one? Get comfortable with being uncomfortable. A trite & overused expression…but apt. We’ve already had a few “minor culture shocks” that cause us to shrug and say….ok, that’s how they do things over there.

Lesson two? Get really organized. There’s quite a lot of stuff to do for moving overseas. I have a mighty checklist going to keep everything straight (of course I do LOL).

Lesson three? Be flexible. A couple things have happened this week waaay faster than we expected. And we know to expect some things will be very slow.

I'll use this thread to share the experience.

#MovingToPortugal #Expat #Portugal #Algarve

1/

A questão da tutela de alguns monumentos nacionais pode ter muitos ponto de vista. Nesta questão em particular (a tutela da Fortaleza de Sagres e de Milreu no Algarve), parece-me que o mais importante será a capacidade da direção dos sítios e o programa de atividades proposto... e não tanto se os superiores hierárquicos estão em Lisboa ou Faro.

Veremos daqui a uns anos que a situação melhorou ou piorou com esta alteração orgânica.

https://www.sulinformacao.pt/2023/07/nova-organica-da-direcao-geral-do-patrimonio-cultural-centralismo-ou-orgulho-algarvio/

#património #algarve #politica #portugal

RT Copernicus EMS
Our #EFFIS🔥 Fire Danger Forecast for 29 June shows:
🟤Very Extreme Danger in large areas of the
➡️#CastillaLaMancha, #Andalucía, and #Extremadura regions, in #Spain🇪🇸
➡️#Algarve and #Alentejo regions in #Portugal🇵🇹
More at👇 https://effis.jrc.ec.europa.eu/apps/effis_current_situation/ https://t.co/b0MbhJvenT

🐦🔗: https://n.respublicae.eu/CopernicusEMS/status/1674338499883835395