Friday, March 10, 2017

Turning Portuguese, I Really Think So

What are you doing on your Friday night? Frank and I are learning Portuguese. I found this awesome language app - Duolingo. I started using it months ago to brush up on my Spanish, but switched to Portuguese when we started leaning towards Portugal as our next destination in life. Frank and I have been talking about moving overseas for at least 9 years since we spent a week in Belize. Actually, I wrote in my journal, "We're going to live here one day," when we first visited Belize on a cruise 10 years ago. But things change. By the time we were ready to make a move - which we are - Europe got a lot cheaper. Portugal appeared on our radar after seeing it was number one on the Invest Overseas ? 2017 Country Index. We looked at the Algarve - a place I had driven through on a trip out of Malaga 25 years ago - and more specifically the town of Portimao, which seems a little more tame than it's summertime party neighbor, Albufiera. We looked at $400 - 600/ month apartments near the beach, Placa de Rocha. Seriously? For 2 br/2 bath fully furnished? Then an early retirement incentive from the school district seemed to seal the deal. Why wait until 2018? We can leave in 8 months! 

Monday, March 6, 2017

Retirement Reality

I just heard that 20 million People relocate to a foreign country every year. That is really hard to believe! But Frank and I are about to join them! I received my early retirement benefits information on Friday. Today I started to look through it more in depth and if I am reading things right (and I'm not sure I am) I  can really do this. This year! In three months! 116 days!!