Scouting Trip to Porto in October

Now starting our time in Porto for finding an apartment and signing a lease. We have engaged RelocateToPortugal to help us. We booked a flight from JFK so we could be in Porto from 23 October to 04 November (we need to be back in NY in time for Coleman & Joyce's run in the NY Marathon!).

First we drove from Carol Stream on Friday afternoon, just after Barb's long-awaited dermatology appointment -- only a few skin things frozen off, no problem. Overnight at Toledo, then back in Ossining by 7pm. Oct23 we took a 6pm Brussels Airlines overnight flight, no problem, connecting to another flight to Porto that arrived Tuesday noon (local time -- jetlag was tough. I slept 4 hours in the plane seat--Barb just occasionally dozed, little sleep). Relatively easy, though 15-20 minute waits at passport control at Brussels (our entry to the Schengen area) then for our luggage (it all arrived fine!), then to buy a metro ticket to take us from the airport downtown! That last bit was especially frustrating, as Porto ticket pricing is confusing---note that "title" apparently equates to a "trip", and each card can be valid for only one zone-category (i.e. distance) at a time. I much prefer the monthly card that we had in February, and which we will certainly renew when we return in January.

RTP RelocateToPortugal come highly recommended by several American expats. For apartments their fee apparently is for searching out places, phoning for viewing appointments, negotiating the price, then legally-reviewing the lease and registering it with the municipal government. That last bit is necessary in order to apply for our D7/retiree visa: proof of legal housing the first year.

We are staying at the apartment where we stayed in February -- Holland's Nest, for the week. On Rua Faria Guimarães 717.

Fortunately, the rainy October weather let up this afternoon and is quite pleasant, partly sunny, in the upper 60s Fahrenheit. Wish us luck!

Comments

EUA: tanto estrago em tão pouco tempo

As part of my effort to learn about Portugal, both the country and the language, I'm subscribing to the centrist newspaper, O Publico . There are plenty of newspapers: conservative tabloids, and socialist and communist-sponsored daily papers; I find O Publico to be most sober, with consistently interesting columnists and opinion pieces, in addition to some local (Porto) news, with just enough sporting news to keep me chatting with the taxi driver. Today's opinion piece sums up, I think, European pundits' view of the U.S. government. As the title puts it: so much damage in so little time. I shudder at the rank incompetence and corrupt behavior, demonstrating a cynical attitude toward public service, showing indeed that the cruelty is the point. What scandal, what damage will be the tipping point to collapse this government? And what will it take to recover from the damage? Who will be able to trust the US government again, ever? Only ni...

Riding the Bus often

From 201010 Saudi scenes It is ironic that this land of cheap gasoline has so much group transport -- buses. From 201010 Saudi scenes Our housing compound has a Toyota-Coaster bus that takes some to/from school (we usually go earlier and return later, on a similar bus that the school provides). Driver Yahya takes residents on the 90-minute trip down to the Big City shopping every Thursday morning. The above picture shows our group one Thursday, usually going to Ikea or the new Lulu's Hypermarket , or the Dhahran Mall. Coleman rides a different bus every day to and from school -- usually 100 minutes there, 80 minutes back. His bus is evidently an old tourist bus, usually comfortable but a bit dusty. The air-conditioning usually works too well. I've ridden it with him several times, to attend business meetings at the district office. From 201010 Saudi scenes There he is, at 5:45am every morning, at the start of the bus run. Fortunately only about 20 stu...

Yikes! Russian Chocolate!

The other day we chanced upon a Slavic grocery store. We went inside, marveled at all the products from various eastern european countries, from Czechia to Poland to Yugoslavia to Russia to Kazakhstan. I grabbed a chocolate bar... and now I realize that it's Russian, imported via Germany. The ingredients list is written in Russian, Kyrgyz, and Uzbek; and a separate ingredients sticker pasted over it in German. No Portuguese or Spanish or English. Hmm. How did it get here? And what sort of sanctions are imposed on Russian confectioners? The chocolate itself is just okay, nothing special.

Thomas journals

Search This Blog