Adventures with our First Guests

Jill and I had been planning logistics for our first guests (Jill’s sister Stephanie and niece Clara) for a while. The two biggest unknowns in our planning were:

How to pick arriving guests up at the Lisboa airport
Could we find anything in Europe that 9-year-old Clara would eat?

The smart money had #2 above as the heaviest lift, but the smart money isn’t always right.

We’d asked various friends about the Arrivals pickup protocol at LIS and went into the exercise with what I thought was a solid plan. We timed our arrival well and I dropped Jill at the curb at Terminal 1 Chegadas (Arrivals) as Stephanie and Clara hit passport control. We knew there would be a delay there because minor children can’t use the electronic passport control with biometrics. So I went and cooled my heels at the BP station just outside the airport where there is a cafe.

Jill gave me the play by play and once she had Stephanie and Clara in hand told me she was ready for pickup.

Jill only had one job, which was to get a initial picture of Stephanie and Clara coming through the door… But Clara was too quick and was already hugging Jill before she got her camera up.

Five minutes later I rolled up to the line of cars that were double-parked loading passengers and luggage, pulled into a recently vacated spot, popped the trunk and loaded luggage while everyone else got belted in for the homeward trip.

So far so good!

I closed my door and belted myself in and as I put the car in gear a police officer tapped on my window. I put the car in Park and rolled the window down. The police officer asked me if I’d “ever been fined in Portugal before?” I said no. And he said something to the effect of “Well, today is the day. Because it’s a 1500€ fine for stopping in an unauthorized location in the airport.” I was plenty puzzled because I’d pulled into an area where there were 8 or 10 cars already doing exactly what I did. I asked the policeman what the problem was and he said there was no stopping for any reason. Jill chimed in helpfully with a “Sorry officer, this is our first airport pickup and we don’t know where we are supposed to pickup arriving passengers. Can you tell us what we are supposed to do?” The officer then said “MADAM! There literally three massive parking structures all around you.” If you know me, you know I’m a rule follower so at this point I’m definitely not in my happy place. The police officer asks for my driver’s license and I fork over my Texas DL. He then asks me where we live and I say “São Martinho do Porto.” He shakes his head and he says with derision, “That’s in the north.” He looks at my license and says “Where are you from?” I say “Austin, Texas.” And, I shit you not, he says “Ah, brisket! Do you know how to cook a brisket? We love BBQ in Portugal.” I say “Yes, I do but it takes 18 hours…” At that point he hands me back my license and says “No stopping here in the future. You owe me a brisket.” and waves us off. It’s hard to tell what exactly happened, perhaps there would have been a lot of red tape in issuing a citation to a non-Portuguese driver’s license holder or maybe he was just bored and wanted to screw with us… But I now have ZERO confidence in how to correctly pick people up from the Lisboa airport.

To that end, the next time we have guests we will arrive well in advance and park in the P2 parking structure. While Jill is in the Chegadas hall I plan to seek out a police officer and ask if there is an allowed curbside loading zone for arrivals. I shall report back on what we learn, but we are officially 0 for 1 in the “Smooth Airport Pickup” category.

The drive home was uneventful compared to the excitement of our first law enforcement encounter.

We arrived home and got Clara and Stephanie situated in their respective rooms and they both had a quick Power Nap. While they were napping Jill and I went through the suitcase full of all of the goodies they’d brought at our request (and some very thoughtful things that we hadn’t even asked for).

Our suitcase full of spoils! Pro-tip for anyone following us on this path: Heavy duty aluminum foil is unheard of in Europe.

After their quick nap, Stephanie and Clara were ready to walk down to town for lunch. We stopped at one of our favorite cafés, Esplanada da Fonte, because they have the best cappuccinos in town.

The festival of St. Antonio was in full swing so we stopped for a quick picture of our guests at the Chapel of St Antonio.

The chapel is not normally festooned with icicle lights, but we take the Festival of St. Antonio seriously here in SMP.

This was the first test of item #2 above. I’m pleased to report that our friends at Esplanada da Fonte, produced a perfectly serviceable well-done cheeseburger with chips (French fries) and ketchup packets for Clara!

Fueled up with lunch and caffeine Stephanie and Clara were able to enjoy a Chamber of Commerce day in SMP

The entire marginal (main street that fronts the beach) was full of vendor stalls and we walked the length of the street looking in the vendor stalls. Clara got a woven bracelet with her name on it (3€) and got her first glimpse of the Fartura kiosks (more on that later).

Oh, and there was gelato!

We trekked back up the hill to our place and had a relaxing rest of the day. One of the high IQ things Jill did was have Stephanie bring the fixings for “Nana’s Tacos”. Nana’s Tacos are one of things Clara is guaranteed to eat. We made up a big batch that night with plenty of leftovers for Clara to eat for the rest of the trip when she didn’t want what the grownups were having.

The next morning we got up and trooped to Nazaré. Clara was a trooper, as I think we logged about 10 miles on foot that day. We parked in the marina parking lot and did all the things in Nazaré, including riding the funicular up to Sítio and back.

Clara and Stephanie at the Jetty on the walk into Nazaré

The view from the funicular is pretty nice.

We never pass up a photo op with the surf minotaur

Clara by the historic boats in Nazaré. If you’ve seen the waves, you might wonder why anyone would choose to shove off from the beach in one of these and head out to brave the Atlantic, but brave it they did.

We spent the weekend close to home because Stephanie was fighting off a cold, but we took Clara into town on both days as the festival of St. Antonio was reaching its crescendo.

We had lunch at another of our favorite cafes and then we took Clara to see the tunnel that leads from the bay to the Atlantic.

While walking to the tunnel we’d seen our Portuguese teacher, Leonor, who was supervising the festooning of the family boat for the next day’s boat parade. She generously offered us a boat ride around the harbor once they were through with the decorations. That gave us about 30 minutes to kill…

That was just enough time for FARTURAS!!!!

For scale, on the left you have a traditional churro and on the right is a Fartura.

After some trepidation about the unfortunate name, Clara is now a big fan of Farturas.

We all walked away feeling like Farturas are the peak of fried carnival dough technology, surpassing both churros and funnel cakes. Unfortunately for future visitors, Farturas do not appear to be widely available outside of festival season, so plan your visit accordingly.

We had a few minutes left before it was time to meet for the boat ride and Clara found a way to use that time….

Stoked with the courage only a Fartura devoured in a carnival atmosphere can supply, Clara wanted to do some bungie hopping

Each year for the festival of St. Antonio, there are two ceremonial processions. In the first procession the statue of St. Antonio is walked from the chapel where the girls are pictured above, down the hill through town and to the big church. And in the second procession St. Antonio and a host of other Saints and two of the three Marys are all trooped from the church to the Cais (pier) where each statue is put on a boat and the boats parade around the harbor and are blessed by the clergy. It’s an honor to have your boat selected to carry a statue and Leonor’s family had gotten the nod this year.

Leonor’s husband and son took us on a circuit of the bay in the newly decorated boat. Clara wasn’t so sure about it at the beginning, but she agreed that it was a lot of fun once it was over.

A view of our little town from the water. We’ve got a pretty sweet gig.

Leonor kept us apprised of the timing of the procession and the boat parade and we made a point of being in the gallery on Sunday to support both. It was a lot of fun. The entire community gets behind the festival every year and they seem to love these traditions

We joined the throng following the procession to the Cais (pier)

The process of loading statues onto boats. We’ve been told there have been some festivals past where the statues don’t always make it safely onto the boats. Apparently within the last couple of years St. Antonio slid off of his litter and his head and body boarded the boat separately.

We watched the boats take their first lap around the bay to get blessed and then headed off home.

On Monday we made the trip to Sintra. Sintra, about an hour and fifteen minute drive from our house, is home to some of the more famous castles in Portugal. We spent the full day in Sintra and as a bonus to future visitors we learned where to park, how to pay for parking on our phone, and how the hop-on hop-off buses work.

I think everyone enjoyed the castles. The only minor disappointment was I’d promised Clara a troll sighting, but the trolls were apparently shy on Monday. I did show her where they bathed in the caves under the castle.

Little known fact: The classic Dogs Playing Poker is actually a riff on the original Monkeys Playing Poker in the Pena Palace

Jill and Clara at the entrance to the troll bathing area

I was just SURE we would see a troll in the Well of Initiation

Clara just barely hiding her disappointment at the lack of trolls.

Clara supporting the arts at the Moorish Castle

The entire area is one big hydrangea thicket

We asked this guy in town how to get to the Moorish Castle, but he was very cryptic.

The views from atop the Moorish Castle are pretty fantastic. You can see all the way to the ocean.

On their last full day in town took Stephanie and Clara to Praia Salgado (Salgado Beach). It was a super busy day at Salgado.

We started the day with our standard dog walking route

Praia Salgado on June 18th. That’s Nazaré in the background.

Bierman girls dodging the crowds on Salgado

We made a spur of the moment decision to take Clara to Obidos to see shops and castle there. Obidos is known for its Christmas market and will be taking Jill’s mom there when she comes in December.

Portuguese castle-builders of old seemed to really stick to the concept of building the castle on high ground.

Clara in traditional Portuguese wedding attire

And then it was time for Stephanie and Clara to head home 😦

I am pleased to report that we are WAY better at dropping visitors off at the airport than we are at picking them up. LIS has a “Kiss and Fly” lot that’s right across from Terminal 1 Departures and we pulled into that lot like professionals. Quick kisses and hugs all around and, just like that, S&C were off on their journey home!

In summary, if you are thinking about coming to visit us and you can handle a little bit of dodginess on the pickup front, I think we are now well equipped to show you the sights!

In other news:

Intermarché has re-opened in SMP! So we once again have a local supermarket option.

A truck advertising 20% off on Intermarché purchases of over 30€ as an incentive to draw customers back

And my friend Nicola has taken me under his wing and is teaching me how to make sourdough bread. This is my first solo effort, but Stephanie and Clara approved so it will be on the menu for future guests.

Now we rest up. Having guests can wear you out.

Adventure is out there!

Spreading our Wings

For me, the successful trip to the market in Caldas da Rainha had the effect of reinforcing the feeling that we actually LIVE here. We have spent the last fortnight trying to shed the tourist mindset and lay the foundation for future adventures with SMP as our base of operations.

As if to reinforce our new resident mindset, SMP has kicked into high gear for the summer. That means that we are now “locals” preparing to deal with the tourist crush. It appears that there are two SMPs for all practical purposes: a sleepy version from September to May and a busy beach town from June-August. We are excitedly trying to acclimate to our “new normal” until September. A thing that we’ve heard is that SMP is ground zero for Portuguese family vacations, whereas other parts of Portugal (like the entire Algarve and Nazaré locally) become enclaves for foreign tourists – mainly Germans, French, Canadians, and Brits. That certainly appears to be the case so far.

There’s a holiday here in Portugal called Corpo de Deus, which is the Feast of Corpus Christi, that occurs two months after Maundy Thursday – which is to say that Corpo de Deus moves around just like Easter does. Every year, the Portuguese have a four-day weekend to celebrate Corpo de Deus. This year Corpo de Deus was on May 30 and a bunch of people took the opportunity to make it their first beach weekend of the year.

Here’s the “before” picture of our beach:

We’ve had the beach mostly to ourselves since we got here.

And here’s the beach on first day of the Corpo do Deus long-weekend:

We’ve been told this is still the calm before the storm. They are starting to build day cabanas up near the white wall toward the top of the frame. I will take another picture when we hit peak busyness.

Most of the local businesses here in SMP make all of their money during the tourist season. So they roll out the red carpet to celebrate the arrival of the vacationers.

One of the local restaurants, Waves, has “Live Music Saturday” every week during the season – starting mid-afternoon. We went with our new friends Amanda and Nic for 2024’s inaugural performance and had a lovely time.

Amanda and Nic moved to SMP from Hong Kong and we really hit it off. As a bonus: Nic is a whiz in the kitchen and is teaching me to make sourdough bread.

Almost all music you hear in Portugal (both live and on the radio) tends to be 80’s music. And the live music at Waves was indeed 80’s staples. I have a theory about that. The theory goes like this…

Portugal had a repressive dictatorship until April 25, 1974 when the Carnation Revolution took place. It took the Portuguese people a few years to believe that the dictatorship was REALLY over and they could start speaking freely and leaning into pop culture. So, their first real wave of pop music was 80’s music and they imprinted on it in a big way.

Whether my theory is correct or not, there’s a comforting dynamic here in that it’s all 80’s music all the time and everyone is always singing along in English.

Amanda and Nic have been here about 5 months longer than we have and have been great about sharing what they’ve learned. This knowledge came in handy this week when Jill and I made our first roundtrip to Lisboa using public transportation – another milestone in acting like locals.

We had some family friends who were going to be in Lisboa on Tuesday for a day after finishing their Caminho de Santiago pilgrimage and we’d arranged to meet them for lunch while they were in town. Rather than driving to Lisboa (easy) and finding a place to park (either hard or expensive), we decided we wanted to do the whole trip without using our car.

Nic showed me the app to install on my phone to see the various bus options from SMP to Lisboa and it was super easy for me to buy us two round trip tickets (€23 each) on the Rede Expressos bus that was the best fit (9:40AM departure from SMP and 5PM departure from Lisboa) for our schedule. Tuesday morning our friend Lee came by to confirm that he was on deck to feed and let the boys out mid-day and we were off on our adventure.

The bus stop is about a 10 minute walk from our place, right next to the high school and across the street from the Intermarché. One funny bit of confusion we had was: There are bus stops on both side of the street and we weren’t sure which side of the fairly-busy street our bus would pick up on, but a quick text to Nic and we were sorted at the right stop.

Speaking of the Intermarché, there’s BIG news in SMP! The town has been grumbling about the status of Intermarché since we got here, because the store stopped restocking the shelves at some point shortly after our arrival and then, about, a week ago, they mysteriously closed their doors with no notice. All of this seems super weird when you overlay it with timing of the annual arrival of the tourist hordes. We still have mini-markets in SMP that are open for staples, but if you want something more than the basics (for example 30 liter kitchen trash bags) you have to make the 15 minute drive to either Nazaré or Caldas da Rainha. Thus far we are in Caldas or Nazaré at least once a week so it’s not a problem for us, but for the people without cars – which is most of them – it’s a real headache. Then overnight one night THIS was posted on one of the local Facebook groups!

The salient points are: New management. We are remodeling and will re-open shortly. Thank you for understanding.

The rumor is that our Intermarché is a franchise store as opposed to a corporate store and the current franchisee is being pushed out in favor of a new one or they’re converting it to be a corporate store. My theory is that the current franchisee is getting pushed out and there was some conflict over the valuation of inventory for the transition so they took the shelves down as close to empty as they could before making the switch (that’s pure conjecture on my part but it fits the facts as I know them). I’m sure there will be a communal sigh of relief when we finally have a proper supermarket in SMP again.

Sure enough, while we were waiting for the #5 Rede Expressos bus to Lisboa, we noticed that the same banner was posted on the Intermarché’s marquis. I shall report back on this topic if indeed the Intermarché rises from its own ashes like a phoenix.

Our bus to Lisboa rolled up to the bus stop at exactly 9:40AM and the driver, seeing that we had no luggage to store under the carriage, met us at the door as we got on to scan our tickets’ QR codes. Jill and I grabbed two empty seats and we were off.

The #5 bus makes a quick swing through Caldas to add passengers before heading on to Lisboa. It was at the stop at Caldas where we saw people looking at their tickets before sitting down that we realized we actually had assigned seats on the bus. We had a brief moment of panic that one of the people working their way down the aisle toward us was going to be peeved because we were occupying their duly assigned seat. Fortunately the bus was not full and there was no one else assigned to the seats we were occupying – so our shame remained private.

The moment we realized we were in the wrong seats on the #5 bus

We arrived in the Sete Rios station in Lisboa right on time and it was nice to just step off the bus and set off on our adventure.

If the #5 bus is typical, the autocarros (motor coaches) in Portugal are going to be option A for us when headed to visit Lisboa or O Porto – clean, spacious, and nicely climate controlled with professional and courteous drivers.

Because so many people rely on mass transit, the bus stations in Portugal are adjacent to the train stations. We’ve been told the metro is super easy. If we’d had more confidence and more time before our scheduled rendezvous we would have braved the comboios (trains), but we left that for our next trip to Lisboa.

We walked to the first cab in line at the taxi stand in front of the train station and we were off to meet Eileen and her friend Lori at their hotel.

This photo from the cab doesn’t really do it justice, but Lisboa’s jacaranda trees are in full splendor and there are sprays of their purple flowers in every green space in the city

Eileen is married to Don, one of my dad’s best friends from high school. Jill and I had been to dinner at Eileen and Don’s house in San Diego before we were married and then saw the two of them again at Dad’s 70th birthday party. Eileen and Lori had just wrapped up their pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela and were spending a few days in Portugal. The Caminho do Santiago is on my bucket list so I was very interested to hear about their experiences.

Eileen and Lori were staying in the only part of Lisboa we know so we acted like professionals and guided them to one of our favorite places for lunch and then walked up to the Castelo do São Jorge (Castle of St. George) to show them the vistas of the city with a side order of peacocks which are always a crowd pleaser.

Eileen treated us to a lovely lunch at one of our favorite spots in Lisboa

We like this place because it’s got a view of the whole estuary including Portugal’s version of the Golden Gate Bridge (over Jill’s left shoulder)

It turns out that in my advancing years I’m becoming afraid of heights. I stayed behind and read the Economist on my phone while Jill took Eileen and Lori up to the parapets for the best views of Lisboa

We didn’t just get grown-up peacocks. We got a gaggle of baby peacocks, too!

After a post-castle cappuccino (plus a ham and cheese toastie for me) we said our goodbyes and Eileen and Lori set off on their own to explore more of Lisboa. Jill and I grabbed a cab to El Corte Inglés, a sprawling international goods hyper-mart that spans 6 levels. Were we in search of designer fashion? Home goods? Nope. We were after the rarest of all treasures…

Our 4 cans of refried beans from El Corte Inglés. Possibly the best €9.40 we’ve spent since arriving in Portugal

With our four cans of refried beans tucked safely into my backpack we walked from El Corte Inglés back to the Sete Rios station and caught the 5:00 #5 bus back to SMP, but this time we sat in our duly assigned seats.

Our bus. We had speedy wifi the whole way.

Even though everything went exactly as planned, we were both a little surprised at just how tired we were when we got off the bus in SMP at 6:30PM, but it was a great adventure and now we know how to get to Lisboa and back like the locals!

One nice thing Portugal does for recent immigrants is offer Portuguese language classes in the evenings at local schools. The classes follow the school year, with the next cohort starting up in September. Jill and I filled out the appropriate forms and took them to the administrative office at the high school this week to get onto the list for the class in the fall. We hit one minor speed bump because the form asks for the number on your residency card – remember Jill has one of those but I do not. Fortunately the lady at the school was willing to take a copy of my Attestado de Residência and the receipt from my AIMA appointment as placeholders for my residency number. She told me to just bring in my card when I have it in hand. Jill and I believe that’s one of the perks of living in a small town. They know you live here so they’re willing to bend a rule or two.

Yesterday when we were at the grocery store we decided it was time for me to try to make some chocolate chip cookies, a sure sign we are settling in nicely. It was also a good opportunity for me to take a well-practiced recipe I know in cups and degrees farenheit and see if I could convert it to grams and degrees Celsius. I give my first effort a B.

They came out looking right and tasting right, but the texture was a little cake-y. In the post-mortem we discovered I was using T65 flour when I should have been using T55 flour. I now know that T55 is the equivalent of “all-purpose flour”

Because we are not quitters we still managed to put a hurting on the cookies.

We’ve got a big couple of weeks coming up:

Today is the first full day of the 10-day Festival of St. Antonio here in SMP. Things really get hopping with the candlelight procession of St. Anthony, which starts at the Chapel of St. Anthony just down the hill from us at 9:30PM. The men of SMP carry the statue of St. Anthony on a litter down the hill and to the pier where, if I understand it correctly, they place him on a boat for another procession of boats at some point in the festival.

There’s a big stage set up for the musical acts.

This is the stage for the Coldplay cover band that will kick off the musical aspect of the festival

The marginal (the main street along the beach) is festooned with lights and vendors. It’s all very exciting.

This makes me think there are carneys somewhere nearby. Cue Austin Powers…

There’s one thing about the festival that is constantly giving me the giggles. The national sugary, doughy, snack of choice for festival-goers is called a “FARTURA”.

The unfortunately named Farturas are kind of a cross between a funnel cake and a churro.

Our first visitors, Stephanie and Clara, will arrive while the spectacle that is the Festival of St. Antonio is in full swing. I suspect that Clara and I will share some giggles over a couple of… drum roll please… FARTURAS!

Adventure is out there!

Burn the Boats

The morning of Monday April 22nd, Jill headed to AUS with all of our luggage, while I waited for Kevin from PetRelocation to pick the boys up.

This is it, folks. All of our worldly belongings.

Jill had two drivers, which gave her both more cargo space in the vehicle and an extra set of hands for ferrying luggage from the curb to the United counter at AUS

While I was waiting for Kevin, our friend and neighbor Monica came down to keep me and the boys company. Jill had arranged for Monica to be the boys’ backup human just in case time got tight with Kevin and I had to head for the airport in a hurry.

Kevin showed up right on time and took possession of the boys and I headed for the airport in the rental car.

Kevin showed up exactly on time and the boys loved him

The prime directive for me and Jill was to get to Portugal and get sufficiently sorted so that we could be ready for Woody and Bulleit’s arrival, which was scheduled about 14 hours after our arrival. For lots of good reasons, the boys route was Austin to Frankfurt to Lisboa on Lufthansa, while we were going Austin to Dulles to Lisboa via United.

Kevin knew we were anxious so he sent us this pic from the Lufthansa cargo office so we would know the boys were still getting lots of attention

And just like that it was time for Jill and I to take off!

Bright eyed and bushy tailed as we started the trek

After an easy transit through Dulles, Jill and I had an on-time arrival in Lisboa at 10:30AM on Tuesday April 23rd. Upon landing we both switched on our phones, set our Portuguese numbers to primary (our US numbers still work) and scanned email and text for updates on Woody and Bulleit. We quickly got photo confirmation that they’d arrived safely in Frankfurt none the worse for the wear.

Woody clearly enjoying a spa day at the pet hotel in Frankfurt

Bulleit, also in Frankfurt, but clearly more mission focused than his brother

Jill and I made our way through the immigration line and proudly presented our shiny new visas for their inaugural stamp. The person manning the immigration booth did not seem to understand the import of the situation. He just flipped to an open page on our passport, applied the entry stamp, and waved us through.

Undeterred, we strode giddily toward the baggage claim to retrieve our 12 pieces of checked luggage. We were met at baggage claim by the two porters that Jill had arranged. The porters had already started pro-actively identifying our luggage (by our last name on the baggage tags) and loading it onto trolleys before Jill and I even got to the baggage carousel. Once Jill arrived at the carousel she identified the remainder of our bags and by the time I arrived from my detour to the gentlemen’s lounge the luggage trolleys were loaded and we were ready to head for the exit.

Our porters were real pros and refused to let me help with any of the trolleys

When we reached the Portuguese Customs checkpoint with what was well in excess of tourist-level luggage we were stopped briefly. The customs agent asked what was in one of our plastic bins and Jill astutely blurted out “Christmas ornaments!” We then proceeded to have a brief exchange with the customs agent and he ultimately waved us through without any further inspection. Jill’s intention in declaring “Christmas ornaments!” (which she knew was NOT what was in that particular container) was the last thing she could imagine a customs agent wanting to sift through was Christmas ornaments. The porter later advised her that the customs agents are only thorough when the boss is watching and apparently we’d hit a window when the boss was on a smoke break. We’ll never know whether it was the specter of looking through Christmas ornaments or the boss being gone, but we are not ones to look a gift horse in the mouth and we moved smartly out of the customs area and into the arrivals hall. It is worth noting that Jill was also fully prepared to go to the distance with customs. She had an approved detailed baggage allowance document stamped by the Portuguese embassy in DC for all the stuff we were bringing that could otherwise have triggered an import duty – along with an actual packing list of what was in each bag.

When we entered the arrivals hall we quickly found Carlos, our driver. I’ll admit that I was skeptical that Carlos was going to have a vehicle that would fit all of our luggage, but Carlos was a pro. Carlos escorted us to the loading area of the parking structure and told us to sit tight while he fetched his van. Two minutes later Carlos pulled up in his van and a minute after that all of our baggage was stowed and we were off!

What took two Suburbans in the US fit into the back of Carlos’ van no sweat!

Jill had arranged for Carlos to ferry me to the Santogal car dealership in Abrunheira, 30 minutes away, to pick up our nearly-new Renault Austral. Over the course of the 30 minute drive we chatted with Carlos about how we’d come to the conclusion that Portugal was right for us and how excited we are to be embarking on this adventure. As with 100% of the Portuguese people we’ve previously shared our plan with, Carlos was full of encouragement. He gave us his perspective on the good and the bad of Portugal. The only knock he came up with was that he’s not a fan of the private healthcare system that exists alongside the public one. Carlos understood that, as a condition to apply for residency, we are REQUIRED to have private health insurance while we wait to become eligible for the public system – meaning he wasn’t pointing the criticism at us. We were jet-lagged so I may not have heard it right, but my take-away of his viewpoint was in the case of emergency or trauma EVERYONE uses the public system – because the private system is geared toward elective care – but in less urgent situations the private system lets people with money jump the line while the general public may wait months or years for the same care.

We pulled up at Santogal and I asked Carlos to wait with Jill while I confirmed that I was in the right place and that the car was ready for pickup. My new friend Luis at Santogal was indeed ready for me so I gave Jill and Carlos the thumbs up and they set off for SMP.

Luis walked me through finalizing the car purchase. Since I’d already sent him my proof of insurance all that was left was him watching me sign the bill of purchase. So far our experience in Portugal is that they don’t want you to show up with a signed document. They want you to show up with a document that’s ready-to-sign so that they can watch you sign.

The Renault Austral is everything I’d hope it would be. Luis walked me through getting Apple CarPlay set up so that the Waze lady would be able to guide me to our new home. Luis even went with me to put gas in the car – he explained that new cars are typically delivered with a full tank of gas, but used cars are almost always delivered with nearly empty tanks as ours was. And when I mentioned that getting WeatherTech mats is always the first thing I do in the US when coming into possession of a new-to-me vehicle, Luis sent me the link where I would find what I was looking for. I’ll be recommending Luis to anyone I come across who needs a car.

Armed with the confidence that only Waze can give you in a foreign land, I set out to catch up with Jill. My only anxiety was that I didn’t have a Via Verde toll tag. Via Verde is Portugal’s primary mobility authority, they do motorway tolls, parking payments, and even ferry tickets. We’d read that you can go through the free-flowing Via Verde transponder lanes even if you don’t have a toll tag and the system would log your license plate and after a few days the tolls for your license plate would appear on a website, where you can initiate payment for the accumulated tolls. So I avoided the toll booths and stuck to the Via Verde transponder lanes. Spoiler alert: It all works exactly as advertised!

By the time I got to our new digs in SMP, Jill had already bid Carlos farewell and made a dent in unpacking the essentials. The packing list Jill had prepared for Customs turned out to be a fantastic blueprint for finding the essentials in our stupefied state.

When I arrived Jill had a funny story about her arrival at the house… We’d left the primary key in a bowl by the front door and put the spare key in a lockbox before we left on our last visit – so that we could let ourselves in with the spare key when we arrived this time. When Jill opened up the lockbox: No key. So, we’ve flown across the Atlantic. The dogs are in Frankfurt getting ready board a flight to Lisbon. And Jill can’t get into the house!

Fortunately, Jill is a creative problem solver. There’s a mother-in-law suite where the owner stays when they are visiting that has a shared door between the units. There’s a separate lockbox for that unit and Jill managed to find the code for that lockbox somewhere in her notes. She managed to go in through the mother-in-law suite and open the door to our unit from the inside, whereupon Carlos deposited all of the bags. We now know that the owner has had a handy man doing some repairs and apparently he took the key out and forgot to put it back. We are still trying to track down that key.

That whole process took a little time so I ended up arriving about 15 minutes after Carlos’ departure.

We spent a few more minutes unpacking and then hopped in the Austral and headed out to pick up the boy’s food at Avipets, which Ana Cristina, the owner had special ordered for our arrival. But Avipets was still closed for siesta so we decided to go get lunch and stop by Intermarché while we waited for Avipets to re-open.

We had no trouble finding a place to park on the marginal (the street that fronts the beach) and walked to Cervejeria Bohemia (this is the cafe where we first fell in love with SMP) where we trotted out the only Portuguese we could muster in foggy state when ordering lunch… “Queremos duas tostas mistas, uma batatas fritas, duas aguas com gas, e dois cappuccinos, faz favor.” We got an affirmative nod from the waiter and a few minutes later we were enjoying ham and cheese toasties and sharing an order of French fries with a cappuccino chaser.

Fortified with my favorite sandwich and caffeine we made the short drive to Intermarché, where we went aisle to aisle and threw what seemed like essentials into the cart based on the picture on the packaging. The good news is that it was very easy to pick cheese and charcuterie – and we loaded up on those.

The idea was to lay in enough supplies so that we could hunker down with the boys for a couple of days once they arrived.

By the time we checked out of Intermarché, Avipets was open and we popped in to purchase our dog food, dog bowls, etc.

With the boys about to get on to their Frankfurt flight to Lisboa and slated to clear customs in Lisboa at 2AM that morning, we climbed into bed for a 3 hour nap so that we’d be rested for the roundtrip to the airport to pick them up.

Starting about 9PM local time we started getting text updates from Lufthansa and PetRelocation personnel letting us know where the boys were in the process. Even though everything was going smoothly, Jill and I were both exhausted and anxious to have the pack back together.

They landed right on schedule and we’d been forewarned that getting them through customs would take 3-4 hours. So, we posted up on the couch watching episodes of Monk on Netflix while we waited for the 2 hour warning, which came at 12:30AM.

We hit the road immediately for the hour and 10 minute drive to the LIS air cargo facility which is on the other side of the airport from the passenger terminal. About 45 minutes into the drive, Gel, our PetRelocation agent in Portugal, messaged Jill and said the boys were ready for pickup – AND WE WERE STILL 30 MINUTES OUT! I may have done some speeding on Lisboa’s empty roads over that last bit.

We pulled into the freight terminal parking lot and the first thing we saw were W&B’s blue and orange crates with the PetRelocation agent standing next to them. This is funny now, but at the time it was extremely stressful… We approached their crates with leashes and collars in hand only to find that the Frankfurt team had zip-tied the boys’ crates shut – this was clearly done for their safety so that there was no way the doors would open accidentally in transit.

We saw the boys and they saw us and we all got excited and then we all freaked out because there was no way to open the doors to their kennels. In every car I’ve ever owned I keep a pocket knife or a multi-tool in the console for exactly such an occasion. Sadly, the multi-tool I’d brought for the Austral had not been unpacked yet. What followed was a full 10 minutes of us looking at the boys and them looking at us and no one being able to find anything to cut zip ties with. It was AGONIZING for all of us. Finally, a nice man from the cargo operation managed to get the gates open…

This nice man got the boys out of jail!

I had it all planned out to take a video of Jill’s reunion with W&B, but I got so excited myself that this is all I got…

My intentions were good

We were finally all happily reunited and made it home to SMP at about 3:30AM local time.

Elapsed time from Jill leaving our house in Austin to all four of us arriving in SMP: 33 hours

The title of this post is “Burn the Boats” for a reason…

Upon reaching the New World, Hernán Cortés famously burned the boats so that his 600 men would understand that the only way out was through and would be fully committed to making their way in their new environs. While eschewing the colonial overtones of the phrase, I mean to imply that we are full-on committed to this adventure. And we did indeed donate W&B’s crates to the local humane society in Lisbon, so in that sense we did indeed burn the boats.

One last thing:

And, those of you who were worried about my boots can sleep easy

Adventure is out there!

Tempus Fugit

After feeling for months that our departure for Portugal was over-the-horizon, we find ourselves with a scant 48 hours before we initiate the final launch sequence.

Jill has been nothing short of amazing. She’s kept us on track while I’ve wrapped up my responsibilities at Boundless. This week I said my fond farewells to the Boundless team, who surprised me with an amazing sendoff and a raft of extremely thoughtful Portugal-related gifts.

Now, we’ve clearly passed the point of no return. We no longer own any cars in the United States (insert shameless plug for Carvana here – they are awesome).

Jill’s hardest physical-realm moment so far has been saying goodbye to her car.

And we’ve shed all of our worldly possessions, save 11 checked bags, two carry-ons, two backpacks, and the two best dogs in the world.

This is all Jill. I don’t do spatial. If I’d done it we would have twice as many bags for the same amount of stuff.

I do want to put something to rest… There has been some concern/speculation from our devoted readers regarding whether my Lucchese cowboy boots were going to make the traveling squad. I’m pleased to report that Jill found a spot for them in the very last bag that she packed.

As the number of open items on the move-to-Portugal project plan trends toward zero, the gravitas of the remaining open items is trending in the other direction.

Heading up the list of remaining items is getting Woody and Bulleit safely from Austin to Lisbon. We know we are in good hands with the folks from petrelocation.com. Kristina, our Pet Relocation travel coordinator for W&B has been on top of all of the logistics for their trip and helped us through the last of W&B’s pre-flight checks this week. Technically they are “livestock” which means that the USDA has to approve of their export. So we took W&B to an approved USDA vet in Austin to get their tracking chips verified, their rabies certificates attested, and medical clearance to fly. That vet entered the information into the USDA system and the USDA Fedex’ed their seal of approval to Kevin from Pet Relocation, who is the agent who will pick them up from our house and get them safely onto their AUS-FRA flight.

In case you were wondering, here are all of the moving pieces for getting the four of us to SMP – starting Monday morning April 22nd:

Monday 9:30AM CDT – Lawrence and a second driver (because we want to make sure there is enough transit cargo space for all of our luggage) will pick Jill and our bags up from our Austin house and head for the Austin airport, where Jill will do curbside checkin if it’s open and, if not, the spare driver will help Jill get the luggage from the curb to the United desk for checking
Monday 10:15AM CDT – Kevin and a driver will pick up W&B and head toward the Lufthansa freight desk to check them in for their 3:40PM departure to Frankfurt. The boys have to be checked in several hours before their flight, but Kevin will remain with them until they get rolled out to the plane.
Monday 10:30AM CDT – I will head to the Austin airport in our rental car after Kevin takes possession of the boys
Monday 12:14PM CDT – Jill and I will fly from Austin to Dulles on United
Monday 3:40PM CDT – W&B take off from Austin on a non-stop Lufthansa flight to Frankfurt – THIS STEP IS THE SCARIEST PART OF THE WHOLE MOVE! W&B will be last on and first off of the Frankfurt flight. They will be in large (I mean LARGE) kennels in a lit and climate controlled area in the hold of the aircraft. It’s a 9 hour and 50 minute flight. They will have water and we have asked that their kennels be next to each other.
Monday 10:15 PM EDT – Jill and I fly from Dulles to Lisbon on United
Tuesday 8:30AM CEST – W&B land in Frankfurt where they will be checked out by a vet, fed, and spend the day in a pet hotel awaiting their evening flight to Lisbon
Tuesday 10:30AM WEST – Jill and I land in Lisbon where we will be met by a porter at baggage claim to assist us with our bags and get us through customs to Carlos who is meeting us with a van big enough for all of our our luggage
Tuesday 11:45AM WEST – Carlos will drop me at the Santogal “used” car dealership in Abrunheira to pick up our Renault Austral from my new friend Luis at Santogal. Carlos and Jill will head to SMP and I will follow once the car is sorted
Tuesday 2:00-5:00 WEST – Jill and I go to the pet store to pick up the boys’ essentials (Ana Cristina at Avipet in SMP has been fantastic – she has ordered the same food W&B eat in the US and will have it ready when we arrive) and to Intermarché to lay in 48 hours worth of provisions
Tuesday 7:55PM CEST – W&B leave Frankfurt on a non-stop Lufthansa flight for Lisbon
Tuesday 10:05PM WEST – W&B make landfall in Lisbon where Gel, our Pet Relocation agent will walk them through customs and the veterinary check
Wednesday between 12:00-2:00AM WEST – Gel emerges with W&B and we have a joyous reunion
Wednesday sometime around 2AM WEST – We all arrive back at the house in SMP and we will hunker down for two days to get the boys settled in.

Piece of cake.

Because our house is empty, on Thursday we transitioned to a cute AirBnB that Jill has secured for us – yet another way Jill has made this move as low-stress as possible for me and the boys.

After we got settled into the AirBnB we had a farewell dinner with my cousin Will and his wife Jess at Grizzelda’s.

We should have gotten a picture with Will and Jess, but we were having such a good time that we forgot.

Junk Luggers came and cleared out everything remaining in the house yesterday, except our luggage and W&B’s kennels. And Carvana came and picked up my truck yesterday afternoon.

It’s an odd feeling having no house and no cars and having gotten rid of 95% of our stuff and just waiting for Monday to arrive.

We have both been using the remaining time productively. Jill had a farewell happy hour with her girlfriends last night. Today I went with my good friend John on one final run to Bee Weaver in Navasota to pick up six additional bee colonies for the ranch. John and I have been through a lot together and it was a lot of fun to have a final (for now) few hours in the car together. And, if you know me at all, you will not be surprised to know that we took advantage of a Whataburger in College Station for one more “#1 meal with cheese, no tomatoes, and a Dr Pepper” for me and a “#4 meal with a Dr Pepper shake” for John.

I know that there will be more Whataburgers with John in my future, but this was an appropriate way to close out the current chapter

Tomorrow we will meet my college roommate, Michael, for a farewell lunch at our favorite neighborhood burger place 5280 Burger Bar and then we will meet Ella at the house so we can load the final item that we need to dispose (a TV) of in her car. Then Ella and I will head to T-Mobile to get her Internet account changed into her name (Ella has been crushing it and this is the last remaining vestige of the Bank of Dad).

That will conclude the regularly scheduled programming. Jill and I have both had 30+ great years in Austin and we will be leaving lots of people that we love, but they all understand this is the right move at the right time for us. And we want EVERYONE to come visit!

Signing off from Austin. Next update will be from Portugal HQ.

Adventure is out there!