We are leaving the US and have no plans to return anytime soon.
Mike and I are making the move to Portugal full time! After traveling the US and Mexico in our van for 3 years (with some time in Costa Rica in between), we’re excited for new adventures abroad.
The journey of immigrating to a new country has been one of the most exciting and time consuming experiences of our lives. While this may seem like a sudden change for some people, this has been something we’ve been working towards for over a year!
We’ve received A LOT of questions about our move now that more people know, so here are some answers:
Why Portugal?
We wanted to move to a country that’s completely new to both of us with ideal climate, a relaxed culture, delicious food, unique landscape, outdoors activities, safety, music, and low cost of living.
Many of our friends live in Europe and Mike’s step-sister lives in Lisbon, so we have a great community of people nearby. We even spent Thanksgiving in Berlin this year with friends that we haven’t seen since before the pandemic!
As of now, we’ll be living in Lisboa and Lagos. I think a quick Google of Lagos will show why we decided to move there as our top choice. It truly is beautiful!
Do you know Portuguese?
We are currently learning Portuguese and are actually working with our Portuguese instructor to launch a Taylor Swift series for Swifties attending Taylor’s Lisboa shows. Fun fact: European Portuguese is not the same as Brazilian Portuguese!
As we’ve been learning, we think Portuguese sounds like a mixture of Spanish and Russian. Having so many friends that speak Russian has been a HUGE help in learning proper pronunciation. 🙂
Will you be doing van life in Portugal?
Nope! We are staying in 1 or 2-bedroom flats that are close to the beaches and marinas.
What are you doing with your rig?
We aren’t selling (as of now)! Creampuff and Scooby (our RV and car) are safely housed in West Texas at my Dad and Stepmom’s house. We are so lucky and extremely grateful that Creampuff has a covered area to stay while we’re gone.
Are you bringing Ziggy and Ditto?
OF COURSE! It’s a common misconception that they have to quarantine to travel to Europe. This is not the case at all. They simply need a vet check, microchip, and rabies vaccine to go to Portugal. There are fewer requirements for them to go to Europe than there are to go to Costa Rica.
Portugal is extremely dog-friendly. They even have a law that states dogs are allowed on all public transportation, so they’ll be coming with us on all our adventures!
How will you see Phish and Taylor Swift?
Great question! Another reason Portugal is a great spot for us is that it’s only a 6-hour flight from New York. This means we can easily travel to the US for MSG runs.
Right now, we have tickets to see Phish in Cancun, Mexico. We also have tickets for Taylor Swift in May in Lisboa and will likely catch some of her other European shows if we can!
How will you make money over there?
We will continue making music-inspired apparel for our shop, Live Music Threads! Our visa has a pretty strict income requirement, and we are only able to move there thanks to the success of our shop.
As true digital nomads, we have a variety of income sources including freelance clients and our own businesses.
When will you be back?
We don’t have plans to return to the US long term, but our visa status will determine how long we can stay in Europe. As of now, we plan on coming back in December 2024 for the holidays.
How can I follow your journey?
We will share our travels on our YouTube channel and socials @Roam Away From Home and Mike’s music/travel TikTok & Instagram @LiveMusicNomad
After taking a break from this side of our lives to finish the immigration process, we’re excited to get back into it!