Getting to this place (literally and figuratively) wasn’t simple. After leaving our comfortable Philadelphia lives to answer the call to travel, we gallivanted around much of the earth in three wonderful yet exhausting years that brought us to both coasts of the USA and to distant spots like South Africa, Sri Lanka and Vietnam.
Though we have no regrets about the amazing experiences and life-long friendships we accumulated during 36 months of non-stop travel, we were tired of being tired. It was time to make a change.
Those who’ve been on tour for an extended period of time can relate. Constant touring means new beds multiple times a month. It also means constantly packing your things before moving to a destination by means of an exhausting plane, train, bus or car trip.
This type of travel makes you a target for theft. In fact, all of our camera gear was robbed in Cape Town and Daryl’s smartphone was pickpocketed on an Athens metro. When you’re in non-stop travel mode, important needs like health and security become secondary considerations to just getting from here to there.
The digital nomad lifestyle can be challenging for those in their 20’s. It’s even more so for Gen-Xers like us.
And, while being on the road taught us valuable lessons about overabundant materialism, it’s still nice to have some stuff. Nothing gives us more joy these days than little things like a recent coffee maker purchase and using our Japanese kitchen knives in our kitchen.
Being in a fixed place also allows us to pursue interests beyond the website. Daryl gave up his life as a musician for the three years we traveled. He plans to rekindle that passion in Lisbon.
Once travel started to lose its charm, we began resenting trips to amazing destinations. While we never lost our wanderlust, the constant work of travel caused our sense of wonderment for new cultures and experiences to dim slightly.
We knew that it was time for us to settle down, but where???
For various reasons, mostly financial and political, we didn’t want to return to the states. Let’s face it – America is expensive. Don’t get us started on the current state of the U.S. government. Yes, we’ve consistently voted on an absentee basis since we’ve been on the road. Despite our expat status, we consider ourselves proud Americans and will never relinquish our passports.
But why Portugal in general and Lisbon in particular? After you read about our reasons, the answer becomes clear.
Lifestyle
Lisbon’s charms are now far from secret. In fact, it’s difficult to find a travel blog that doesn’t have an ‘ultimate’ Lisbon guide.
After living in Lisbon for six months and counting, we appreciate the city beyond its touristic charms. For starters, the weather is GORGEOUS here. Most apartments don’t have heaters or air conditioners but that’s okay since the climate is super mild for most of the year.
Even after the hottest days, cool breezes grace the city at dusk. We didn’t miss having air conditioning in our original first-floor apartment though we’re thrilled to have it now. Sometimes you don’t miss what you don’t have and appreciate it even more when you do. AC is apparently one of those things.
The cost of living in Portugal makes Lisbon attractive for ex-pats. While the market for rental apartments has gone up, it’s still possible to eat an affordable dinner for four for under €50. (Yes, that includes wine.) Ubers are cheap and widely available here, and the public transportation is both ubiquitous and cost-effective.
Lisbon welcomes people from all over the world to visit for a few days, making it relatively easy for them and us to stay longer. In the time that we’ve been living in Lisbon, we’ve made friends from as far away as Australia and as close as around the corner.
Our only challenge with meeting new people is the seemingly non-stop flow of friends who pass through Lisbon during their travels. We’re not complaining but it’s a challenge nonetheless.
