Two years ago, I jumped.
I left Belgium behind and moved to Portugal, without a clear plan. I just knew it needed to be different. I needed space to breathe, a calmer pace, more nature around me. I needed to start following my heart.

And I’m glad I did.

Starting over in a new country is difficult, (I wrote a separate blogpost about that) but it gave me an incredible feeling of freedom, and the chance to start over and do things differently.

• How do I want to spend my days?
• What was I missing?
• What do I want to change?

Of course, there were moments of doubt, heavy doubt. Missing familiar faces. Wondering if I’d been totally reckless.

But then there were the mornings, waking up to crickets and birds instead of traffic noise. Sipping coffee outside instead of rushing to work. There were the afterwork afternoons walking over the cliffs, watching the waves, smelling the ocean. The feeling of the sun on my skin, or the soft mist or herby rain. Evenings where the sky turned into sunsets so beautiful I didn’t know they could exist.

Here, I learned to slow down. To listen: not just to the world around me, but to myself. I discovered that following your heart isn’t about having all the answers. It’s about trusting you’ll find your way, no matter what.

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So how did it go practically?

The dream had been there for more than 10 years. Once I finally decided to do it, everything moved surprisingly fast.

August was the worst month to find an apartment: almost no long-term rentals (most of them turn into Airbnbs) and prices were shockingly high. In the end, I found an apartment about half an hour further from where I’d hoped, but that was fine. Portugal, it was!

I booked the apartment for one year, based only on online photos and a WhatsApp video tour. Tricky! But when I arrived in September, it was even better than it looked in the video. Phew 🙂

The little village where I landed was Bensafrim: very local, a bit rough, but I loved it. The dream could finally start!

My stuff, however, didn’t arrive yet. It took about three weeks for the pallet with my belongings to show up (despite the “one week tops” promise). That’s when I could finally make it feel like home.

The list of things to do, though… was endless: Arrange your residence (and finding people willing to sign your residence), open a bank account, get your NIF number, get your NISS number, register as a freelancer, find healthcare, arrange a car, register the car, try to survive in that damned car 🙂

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My tips for moving to Portugal

1. Prepare more than I did
I kind of didn’t prepare at all: you’ll probably want to do better than that 😉
Start looking for a rental in low season, and ideally, secure one with a proper contract for at least a year. (Sounds obvious, but trust me, rentals with contracts are harder to find than you’d think, and here “long-term” usually only means one year.) August is definitely not the time to start looking: prices too high, and long-term rentals are rare.

Check out the healthcare options you have in your home country before moving, there might be better options then the ones in Portugal.

Also in case you need a loan, check this first with the banks you have “at home”. It’s often easier to arrange financing in your home country. Here in Portugal, the process takes forever…soooooo many papers. And in the end, I couldn’t get a loan at all because of my freelance status. (and I burned all my bridges already in Belgium… 🙂 )

2. Learn Portuguese as soon as possible
It will make your daily life so much richer: from understanding your neighbours and knowing what happens around you, to feeling more at home in conversations and connecting with locals…it doesn’t matter if your sentences aren’t perfect yet.

3. Don’t be too hard on yourself
Not everything will go smoothly, and that’s okay. There will be frustrating days, and there will be a lot of “processing” : old feelings, unfinished business, or things you thought you left behind might come right back at you. The things you tried to run from? The feelings you pushed away? They’ll find you again: and that’s a good thing. It’s part of the growth.

4. Embrace the differences
Don’t expect everything to work like it did back home. Different systems, different rhythms. Some days this will frustrate you, for sure. But in the end, they’re part of the adventure.

5. Build a support network
Connect with both locals and other expats. Locals help you integrate, while expats understand the struggles of starting over in a new place. I really do love that combination and I’m so grateful that I found “that crew”.

6. Look back
The wins, the frustrations, the culture shocks…. On tough days, it’s amazing to look back and see how far you’ve actually did already come.

7. Slow down on purpose
It’s tempting to recreate your old busy schedule in a new place: the same routines, the same comfort, the same intensity of life, just with more sunshine. Try to resist that. Allow this big step to change you. Embrace this slower, more spontaneous pace and see what it does for you.

Two years ago, I jumped.
And I’m grateful I did ❤️

Curious how it all unfolded? Come say hi on Instagram [@gosto_blog] From day one to today, it’s all there. 🐚

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