Why did I decide to live in Portugal?

More and more people are contacting me, sharing their dream of moving to Portugal and asking me lots of questions: What’s life like in Portugal? How do you takethe plunge and overcome your fears? What jobs can they do? How do I feel and why did I decide to live in Portugal?

(Various articles on the blog answer these questions; the links are in blue above with the associated themes, so all you have to do is click on them).

So, in this article, I’ve decided to share my own experience and some advice. But first, for those who don’t yet know my story, I invite you to discover it in these three previous short articles (which will make it easier to follow for the rest of this article) :

• my story with Portugal – part 1
• my story with Portugal – part 2
• my story with Portugal – part 3

The decision to live in Portugal wasn’t made overnight. There are a lot of fears!(I invite you to read the article on the fears of living in Portugal, it may help!) For me, it took 7 months to prepare my life in Portugal. My big departure took place on August 30, 2017! Why did I decide to live in Portugal?

For 7 months, I went to Portugal almost every month for long weekends and even on vacation for a few weeks. These escapades gave me a great insight into my future personal and professional life in Portugal. A fine foretaste of my final move, which confirmed my decision to live in Portugal

The day our house was delivered to us was a real joy, as we had encountered so many difficulties in building it! (That’s another story in the article here). Even though we knew we weren’t going to be able to live in it straight away, as changing our lives requires a bit of preparation and time to get settled in, we were very excited

1. Moving to Portugal: a decision to be taken as a couple

We were still living in England in December 2016, when the company my husband worked for was bought out, jobs were cut and voluntary redundancies were suggested. My husband could have stayed, but we already had Villa Feria in mind and that’s the direction we wanted to go in. We don’t believe in chance, the company buyout was a sign, a sign to leave and that’s when we made the decision to live in Portugal

In 2016…excited to make our decision!

So we seized the opportunity to leave England and focus fully on Villa Feria. It was back in Alsace that the adventure really began for me. I say for me because my husband has been working on our business for almost 2 years: thinking up the project, creating our website, prospecting the market, creating our network..

I admit that it took me a little longer to get going, I think I was simply afraid of this big life change. And then, in January 2017, it was resolution time, the time to face my fears and set myself some goals! So I created this blog, a first step in my life as an entrepreneur and with the idea of helping people who want to move to Portugal. I had found THE reason that makes my job exciting: to contribute to the happiness and fulfillment of a dream for my future customers.

It wasn’t until 2017 that I really decided to believe in it wholeheartedly

Very often in a couple, there’s one who gives the impetus, who believes in it more than ever, and it’s he who takes the other on board in the adventure. So why are you telling us all this? Quite simply because you’re perhaps the one who’s motivated to leave, to change your life, and you feel that your partner is less invested for various reasons. So I can only encourage you to keep believing in your dreams and put them into action

How? by gathering as much information as possible, by seeking answers to all your questions, by being open to the opportunities that surround you, by believing in them for both of you, by sharing, … Because one day you’ll take your partner with you, and that’s when your adventure begins

2. How to prepare for your future life?

Most of the people who contact me have already made up their minds to live in Portugal. They know why they’re doing it, and that’s essential, because it’s this “why” that stays in your mind to see your project through to the end. Once the “why” has been validated, how do you go on?

I recommend drawing up a budget of your financial needs: how much do you need to live on? To get an idea, read this article on the budget needed to live in Portugal

Then you can start looking for a job in Portugal. Be aware that salaries in Portugal are much lower than in France. The article “Working in Portugal: offers, salaries, sectors” may answer some of your questions. And if you have an entrepreneurial spirit, I’m sure you’ll know what to do!

At the RNPC in Lisbon to set up our company in November 2016

And if at first you don’t speak Portuguese well, there are jobs where you don’t need to speak Portuguese, although I strongly recommend learning the language of your host country. By the way, check out this blog post with lots of tips on how to learn to speak Portuguese quickly.

In conclusion

To answer and support those who make the decision to live in Portugal, I advise them to know their financial needs and think about a job. It sounds logical, but there’s so much to think about in such a life change that sometimes you don’t know where to start.

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