Nós somos residentes de Portugal

A couple of months ago we learned that we are now officially Portuguese residents. Years of planning, researching and preparing culminating with the paperwork, apostilling of documents, fingerprinting and finally we are here. It is very exciting but also comes in the midst of this crazy pandemic and so now we are faced with the dilemma: should we stay or should we go?

We can now return to Portugal! Should we? Should we await a vaccine in the US? Should we go back before flu season kicks in? We know we probably need to and will wait, because if we were there, we would not be able to do much traveling so are we better off here? So many questions and decisions that it kind of puts a damper on the exciting news. Plus, most direct flights to Portugal leave from the east coast of the USA and inventory is so limited right now that they are expensive. We can’t really seem to get there via a flight that does not leave directly from the US to Portugal (not allowed to use a flight we have booked which goes through Germany, even with our Portuguese residency), so for now we will wait and then drive cross-country when we decide to make the leap.

All of this is temporary, God and pharmaceuticals willing. The world will return to a level of normalcy. For the meantime, we will continue to learn Portuguese and dream of normality and our beautiful little adopted seaside town in our adopted European country. Até logo, Portugal. Vamos vê-lo em breve.