Moving to Portugal from the UK | What I Wish I Had Known

Olá pessoal, welcome back to my channel and my  Lisbon apartment where you guys had a little bit   of a behind the scenes sneak peek in this  recent video by the People of Lisbon channel   so you guys seem to really like coming backstage  and finding out a bit more about my life here   in Portugal so I wanted to do another  video that was a little bit different   so you guys have heard me talk a lot about why I love living in Portugal because I do but I don't   generally seem to talk about the struggles  that I've had or the challenges that I have   faced while living here a little while ago I made  this video where I talked about the reasons of why   I moved from London to Lisbon and lots of  you really liked that video so even though   this channel is dedicated to teaching Portuguese I  know a lot of you follow me because you are ready   to make the same move yourself so I wanted to do  another video on this topic, this time looking at   some of the things that I wish I had known  before moving to Portugal and some of the   strategies that I have put in place to make  sure that I can overcome these challenges   obviously I wouldn't swap my life in Portugal  for any other and I'm not trying to be a downer   but there's always going to be unexpected things  that pop up when you make a move like this so   I really want my experience to help you so if  you're ready to make this move you're thinking   about making this move or maybe you recently moved  here and you're experiencing some of the same issues   give this video a like hit subscribe I'm gonna  go make a cup of tea and let's get into it all   right so the first thing that people don't really  realize is that winters in Portugal are cold now   I'm not talking about reaching zero degrees or  that we get snow or anything like that yes the   temperature outside is pretty mild but inside  the houses they are just not built for the cold   they are built for the heat of course it depends  where you are living but here in Lisbon for sure   apartments don't usually come with climatização which is a heating or cooling system so   when I moved into my apartment here that I bought in Lisbon that was the first thing I   did I installed an air conditioning system so we  could be cool in the summer and warm in the winter   it's still not perfect because houses are  generally drafty and they do let the heat escape   and also electricity is expensive but it helps  a lot I also have a few other things in my house   that are essential for the wintertime so let me  show you those so this is my amazing washer dryer   one of the things about it being cold in the  wintertime is that you will never get your clothes   dry they will all smell damp and it just sucks so  getting this is an absolute game-changer because   we don't have much space in the apartment but having this means that we can wash and dry   and in the wintertime to have your clothes come out  all warm and smelling like sunshine is incredible   because usually apartments aren't equipped with  these so yeah having one of these life changer   so coming into the bedroom we actually have a  electric blanket this is amazing because we can   switch it on before getting into bed and it  makes the bed so toasty and warm so even if   the heating is off in the night you can control  it and I actually got this one in the UK but I'm   sure you can get them here as well this was  just such an amazing amazing purchase so I recommend everyone to get one for the Portuguese winters so coming into the bathroom then this is   a heated towel rail and it is another essential  thing in the wintertime because we can turn it   on down here and make sure that it's nice  and warm to actually dry our towels out   because again in the wintertime it will be almost  impossible to get your towels dry just by   hanging them on the back of the door or whatever  so having this make sure that they actually dry   and they don't smell and then also they're nice  and cosy for you to get dry after your shower   so on the same train of thought thing you need  to realize about the weather is that it is super   changeable so again I can only comment on  Lisbon because that's where I live but   basically, layers are gonna be your best friend  I often leave the house on a crisp morning and   then I'm sweating by the time I get to where I'm  going or I leave the house on a boiling hot day   and then I'm freezing in the shade or when the sun  goes down so I really have learned that carrying   a light layer cardigan whatever it is is really  gonna help it's like adjusting my own thermostat   so as somebody who makes videos for a living  this one is tricky cities in Portugal are   noisy so we have friends who live in blissful  peaceful spots in central Portugal and south   Portugal but Lisbon is not like that on any given  day we have construction oh my god construction   is everywhere we have sirens we have neighbours  shouting to each other across their balconies we   have dogs I'm going to get to that in a minute so  I usually film at lunchtime because the building   next door to us is being gutted and it's been  going on forever it's very common for construction   projects to get delayed so it can be really  really difficult we also had a real nightmare   situation with a dog that was tied up on the  balcony opposite hours and he just barked and   cried all day and night and it was so sad this unfortunately is something that is really   common here not just in cities but also in the  countryside people have dogs as like alarm systems   and sometimes they can be very noisy and there  isn't really a great deal that you can do   we did manage to chat to those dog owners and  they agreed they actually wanted to have the dog   adopted by somebody else so we did help them with  that and it had a happy ending he's now happily   living somewhere else but my main advice is if you  are house hunting particularly in Lisbon make sure   that you look out for unfinished building  projects around you check out whether your   neighbours have dogs when you go to visit the place  and just generally get a sense of how noisy the   neighbourhood is we're going to be moving next  year and being able to keep warm and being able   to have peace and quiet are like the two things  on the top of our list so fingers crossed that   we'll get there let me know if this is resonating  with you in the comments and if you have any more   helpful advice for people who are moving be sure  to share it so next up we need to talk bureaucracy   obviously so the lesson here is that paperwork is  going to be a nightmare but I've got some tips to   help make it easier so number one if you have any  paperwork that needs doing whatsoever you need to   get started as early as possible don't be leaving  it anywhere near the deadline because particularly   post covid the length of time it's going to take  you to get anything done is running into months so   our SNS numbers for example we sent off for them  and it was six months before we had them back   so we've got married stuff to do we've got I've  got my citizenship to sort out so rest assured   I'm going to be starting as early as possible to  get those sorted when you do have an appointment   to get something bureaucratic done make sure you  go as early as possible in the morning don't be   thinking that you can cram it into your lunch  break or that you'll pop along when you have   time you need to actually dedicate an entire day  to this right off the rest of the day and just   really focus on getting this thing done get there  early half an hour before it even opens would be   ideal people are already queuing outside even if  you have an appointment get there early get your   little ticket take a book take a podcast whatever  it is that you need to do to kill that time but   just make sure that you are there early and that  you are really focused on getting into your slot   my other top tip is to take every piece of paper  that you've ever been given with you I have a   big folder where I just file away everything that  I've ever been given here and I take it with me to   every appointment no matter what it is because you  just never know what you're going to be asked for   there's probably going to be something different  that you didn't even know that you needed so it is   just a good idea to just take it all with you you  also need to be okay with the fact that there's   probably going to be something missing and you're  going to have to go back another day just prepare   yourself for that in advance this is all about  managing expectations and there isn't really a way   to hack this it really comes down to who is there  on the desk at the day and whether they actually   want to be helpful or not so this is another  reason why I suggest going early on in the day and   not at lunchtime or the end of the day because  people will be more grumpy if you have somebody   who can go with you who knows what they're doing  to either help you with the language side or if   you are fortunate enough to be able to pay lawyers  to do this kind of thing for you I do recommend   it not because it's impossible to do by yourself  but it is really really hard even as somebody who   speaks fluent Portuguese i thought oh I'll be fine  I've lived here before I know what I'm doing and I was still in a pile in tears on the floor on many  occasions so if I had the chance to do it again   i would definitely get somebody to help me so  that brings me to my last point Portugal is really   going to help you practice patience now I did talk  a lot in this video about how I really did want to   move away from the hustle culture in London and  that's one of the reasons why I was attracted to   Lisbon it was a place that was much smaller the  pace of life was much slower so the flip side of   that shouldn't really come as a surprise it  does take a lot longer to get anything done the microwave is killing me so whether it's  calling customer service about something you need   paying your bill at the restaurant  getting your paperwork done like I just   mentioned now this is something  that I am horrible at I am extremely   organized efficient I like to go boom boom boom  and I think that that's down to having lived in   London and doing an agency job and needing to  optimize every minute of my life to get things   done so what I really have had to learn here is  to slow down and remember that I chose to come   here because I wanted a different pace of life so  you really do have to take the rough with a smooth   learn to zone out in these situations it is  a trade-off but it is a small price to pay   for the privilege of living somewhere like this  so it's a work in progress but I'm trying so as I said before I love my life in Portugal I wouldn't  change it for anything but I really hope that some   of this advice has helped you avoid some of the  common pitfalls I could have talked for about   three hours on this topic so if you do want a  part two let me know in the comments I'd also love   to hear about your challenges moving to Portugal  maybe you've got some more helpful advice that you   can offer the viewers so be sure to drop these in  the comments too practical Portuguese lessons will   resume with me next week so if you are looking to  build your confidence and conversation skills in   Portuguese as it's spoken in Portugal then make  sure you subscribe so you never miss an episode Tchau!

Channel: Talk the Streets

Views: 385,851

Keywords: Moving to portugal, moving to portugal from uk, moving to portugal pros and cons, moving to portugal 2021, portugal expat, uk to portugal, lisbon portugal, moving to lisbon, portuguese from portugal, european portuguese lesson, portuguese teacher, learn european portuguese, european portuguese, portugal, learn portuguese, portuguese language, standard european portuguese, learn european portuguese online, colloquial portuguese, lisbon, talk the streets

Id: KHIyTu78rTw

Length: 10min 26sec (626 seconds)

Published: Tue Nov 16 2021