Transcription

• Speaker #0

  Guess what? I'm moving country again. I don't know, maybe a year, maybe more. Where's home? Home's everywhere. I'm an expat. Hello, it's Pauline from Meet the Expats and today we head off to Portugal with Katie and Josh from Expats Everywhere. They've lived all over the world from Spain, South Korea and Saudi and now in Portugal and are going to tell us about their business and life in Portugal. Hi, how are you?

• Speaker #1

  Hi, thanks for having us.

• Speaker #0

  Well, great to have the both of you today. I'm excited to hear a bit more about all of this journey. I'll let you guys introduce yourself briefly.

• Speaker #2

  Sounds good. We get very excited. So sometimes we might talk over each other, but we'll try not to do that. I'm Josh. I'm from the United States. I'm from a small town actually in the US and got very inspired early on by my grandmother to travel and see the world.

• Speaker #0

  And yeah,

• Speaker #2

  did not have much travel experience before that.

• Speaker #1

  And I'm Kaylee. I'm from Florida and I had a lot of travel experience before that because my family traveled a lot for my dad's job and just my parents love to travel. So we were doing that nationally and internationally from a young age. I have two older brothers and so they just toted us around places. So I always thought I would be on this kind of journey. And then when I met Josh and he found interest in it, we were like, well, let's do this together.

• Speaker #0

  Nice. Nice story to start Two opposites starting. starting in terms of travel. So let's go back to the beginnings and how did you two both living in America decide to make that leap abroad and actually live somewhere else?

• Speaker #2

  Yeah, I guess for me to keep the story short, I played collegiate soccer and I had a lot of international teammates and it really piqued my curiosity to see where these guys were from. I did a study abroad while in university and I traveled to Italy. And that's when I realized like this small town boy doesn't get homesick like everyone said he would. And I started to look at opportunities on how to live abroad. And at the time, teaching English as a foreign language was the path of least resistance. So got started that way.

• Speaker #1

  And then I was still in university. Josh and I met when I was a senior. And my junior year, I wanted to do a study abroad, but I didn't want to go by myself. And I couldn't find anyone who wanted to go with me. And then when Josh and I met, he had already graduated, was looking to move abroad. And I was a senior. I was like, let me finish school and I'll go with you. So we kind of barely knew each other, just started dating. And we're like, okay, well, we'll do this together. And the first place was in Madrid, Spain. And we just continued doing it. Got married and have a kid now.

• Speaker #0

  Wow. So it started really early on in the end and started dating and went abroad, basically.

• Speaker #2

  Yeah. I mean... I was my mid-20s. Kaylee was early 20s. And we, yeah, we kind of just went abroad together because we gave each other that kind of shot in the arm, gave each other enough courage to just take the chance. To do it. I mean, to say that we weren't into each other is not accurate. We liked each other. That was a minute.

• Speaker #0

  Yeah, I can imagine.

• Speaker #2

  Yeah, we liked each other. But we didn't live with each other whenever we moved abroad. But we decided to move.

• Speaker #1

  basically to the same part of the world so it was like yeah let's go together and we made a go of it right initially we actually were looking at different jobs in different countries in europe yeah but by some chopping and changing we both ended up in madrid so that worked out well yeah

• Speaker #0

  and then a couple years later we got married all right and so from madrid what led you across the world like that was you did like four Five, six countries?

• Speaker #2

  Yeah. I think it was a matter of in the education game, in the education sphere, we gamified it. It was like, let's level up. So essentially, we both got started, very humble beginnings in Spain. And it's like, okay, where's the next place to go? And for us at the time, it was South Korea because Kaylee had zero teaching experience, had just gotten a TEFL. I essentially had just gotten an... a master's in education with a little bit of work experience. And the simple solution was, let's just go to South Korea because they would essentially take anybody that was an English speaker from like a native English speaker.

• Speaker #0

  Less criteria in terms of what you need. to be able to teach?

• Speaker #2

  Yeah, exactly. We were thinking, okay, we know a bit of Europe now. We have spent two years here in Spain, traveling all of Europe. And it was like, we know nothing about Asia. Our history books don't teach much about Asia. Let's go to Asia. So we looked at South Korea, Japan, and Malaysia. And really the Korea was the one that stuck out because we could actually both get jobs there. So from there, it was another one of those things where, okay, we don't know what the Middle East is like. Let's go to the Middle East. So that Saudi Arabia came next. And then we took a trip while we were in Saudi Arabia to Singapore and fell in love there. But all along the way, occupationally, we were leveling up, getting different certifications. Finally, we became certified teachers in the United States, which opened up international schools to us, which opened up way better salary packages. And then, yeah, it was just kind of gamifying it, right?

• Speaker #1

  Right. And the whole time being in Asia, we were there about 10 years or so, really enjoyed it. But then when we were living in Singapore, we visited Macau. And when we went to Macau, which is a former Portuguese colony, it reminded us of Portugal because we had visited Portugal a few times when we lived in Spain and we loved it. And we always said, maybe one day we'll live here. So then when we went to Macau and we saw the architecture and the feel of what was Portugal, it cut. kind of got us back into thinking, well, we've been in Asia for long enough. Like maybe we should move back to Europe and have that type of lifestyle. And Portugal was really calling us.

• Speaker #2

  That's it.

• Speaker #0

  Nice. All right. So you get into Portugal, you've done all this teaching. Was the teaching part, anyway, planned or it just came up and you just stuck to it to move up on that way because it seemed obvious and it was working?

• Speaker #2

  Yeah. So I had taken a trip to Slovakia back when I was in university or just finishing university. And the trip was like part summer camp doing sports and activities. And then the other part was teaching English to middle school, high school kids. I had no teaching experience. It was just a matter of like, Hey, you know, you're young in your early twenties and active and you're into sports, can you come, you know, teach these kids both sports and English. And I found that when I was with these, you know, with my group of students actually having to do the teaching part of it, I wasn't bad at it. And I enjoyed it. So that's really got what got my wheels turning. Like, can I be a teacher overseas? So once the ball got rolling there, it, it really was just a matter of, okay, where next, where can I go teach next? Because I, yeah. I did slash do enjoy it. We're not doing that now. We took a break from it. At 10 years, it was like, okay, let's have a little sabbatical and try something else. And then that's when we transitioned into expats everywhere doing content creation full-time.

• Speaker #1

  Right. And I mean, it was just like Josh was saying, leveling up in the sense that I always thought in university, my friends who were in education, I'm like, you're crazy. Teaching sounds awful. I would never want to be a teacher. So when we moved to Spain, I was actually an au pair and I lived with the family that I worked for. I loved taking care of little kids, babysitting, nanny, that type of thing. And Josh was in the education route. So then the thing is, though, is when we decided, let's go somewhere else, let's go maybe to Asia. Really, teaching is the best way to find jobs, you know, stable jobs, to have a good salary so that you can have, you know, a good lifestyle. So it's like, well, I guess I'll get into it. It doesn't sound so bad doing it outside of the U.S. And then as we level up and you get into, you know, really good schools like, you know, we taught a university in Saudi Arabia and then we taught an international school in Singapore. So it's quite professional at that point. So when we were looking for places, it would be a little bit of a mix of, you know, where we want to actually live. What's the job like? How's the salary? Because we were also leveling up with how much money we were making and how much we could save, which was nice. So that helped. also fuel expats everywhere because that the idea of expats everywhere started in saudi arabia and helping other expats because a lot of people would ask us how do you how do you do this like i want to know how do you get started right and so we're like we can help people actually get started and get going and doing this and and get people to take the leap or sometimes talk them off the ledge when you talk to people sometimes they think they wanted them but you know they're not really ready they haven't seen the flip side yet yes exactly so so then as we started to save We thought, well, can we do this full time? Can we make this a full time business? And that's what we fully do now in Portugal. So like Josh said, we've stepped away from teaching. We still have our licenses in case we need to. But we really enjoy not and, you know, having our own business.

• Speaker #0

  Yeah, of course. Okay, so you made the leap to Portugal after Saudi Arabia.

• Speaker #1

  After Singapore.

• Speaker #0

  After Singapore, sorry. Yeah. How was, because we haven't talked about this whole settling in peace and actually absorbing the culture, what you like, what you dislike about the different ones. How did the move? back to European country, obviously you didn't know what it was like living in Europe before. But how did the settling in go? What did you like, dislike or find a bit more challenging maybe for this specific move?

• Speaker #2

  I found it actually easier because I think our original move to Spain broke us and prepared us in many ways.

• Speaker #0

  You were young.

• Speaker #2

  Yeah. Not only were we young and a bit naive But also Spain at the time, for sure, their level of English proficiency wasn't great. And not to say like you should just be able to rock up to a country and they speak your language or speak English. But the adaptation period there of learning Spanish, it was more difficult. It was longer. The people were less. helpful.

• Speaker #1

  Less forgiving. That was in Madrid too. Yeah.

• Speaker #2

  Yeah.

• Speaker #0

  I've heard it a few times. Yeah.

• Speaker #2

  Yeah. And then there were also some like really big cultural differences in terms of like what an American or a Brit or a Canadian might perceive as rude that Spanish just don't even think about period. And I know this because I've had discussions or I had discussions with my Spanish students. So I taught like upper middle school, lower high school age students. So therefore I could like actually have kind of intelligent conversations with these kids. And we would talk about like social norms and some of the things that like an American Canadian or Brit would be completely flabbergasted by. Like they don't, they didn't even think about it. Like, wait, really? Like, that's rude. It's like, yeah, that's rude. Like you share the sidewalk. If you're walking the direction of somebody and you're two, three people, one or two of you tuck in so they can also pass on the sidewalk. And they're like We don't do that. That's like, yeah, my shoulders are bruised because of it. You know, or I fall into the road because I've been bumped, you know, street side. So it was stuff like that, that we were already kind of prepared for. But then we moved to Portugal and the cultures are different. I mean, Portuguese people, by and large, do let you pass on the sidewalk and will acknowledge that. And maybe if they are smoking in public, they'll... They'll tuck their cigarette behind them as you come by, knowing that you don't want to smoke their cigarette, you know, that type of thing. Whereas as Spanish at the time, they didn't do that.

• Speaker #1

  Right. So I think when we moved back to Europe, one of the biggest things for me that I was really looking forward to is the cafe culture. I did miss that about being in Spain, just sitting outside on a great day, having a coffee or a glass of wine, chatting with friends, watching people go by. That's not a thing really in Asia, especially. Well, in Singapore, it's really hot. So it's like no one's really hot. No one's really hot. Yeah, we had a balcony in our apartment and it was like, we had like a table and chairs out there. And I think we sat out there like three times. It's just too hot, you know? It's not enjoyable, right? And it's just not cultural. So I think when we talked about moving back to Europe, that was something that I was really looking forward to was getting back into the cafe culture. But like Josh was saying, nothing I think was too shocking. I mean, because we had Madrid and then we went to Asia And obviously. When you get to Saudi Arabia, you kind of just figure it out. You roll with the punches. So in some of the places we lived and even visited, it was much, much harder to adapt. So, you know, culturally, language, you know, maybe like Korea, the characters are different for the alphabet. So that's like a huge whoa when you are looking around at things. So getting back into Portugal was pretty easy.

• Speaker #2

  You could read stuff again.

• Speaker #1

  Yeah. Yeah, not bad at all for us.

• Speaker #2

  Yeah.

• Speaker #0

  All right. And so how did you, you touched on it a little bit, but let's get deeper into how you actually launched expats everywhere and what the focus is today around this blogging company.

• Speaker #2

  Yeah. So it's kind of evolved as things do over the years. So when we, when we first started out, the original idea of expats everywhere really hatched in Saudi Arabia, like Kaylee said, where we had just. really arrived in Saudi and we were getting ourselves settled. We took that trip to Singapore. We traveled through Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore. And it's like, okay, this is going to be our next place. So then we're starting that. That visa process all over again, that search of like, okay, where do we live in this new country? How do we get there? Jobs. Where do we need to be prepared?

• Speaker #1

  Our CVs.

• Speaker #2

  All of that stuff to restart. And it was only like four or five months after we had really arrived in Saudi. So we were like, man, I would pay somebody to do this. And then that's when the light bulb went off. It's like, okay, if I would pay for this, maybe other people would pay for this type of service. And we did it. So it started out in that way, but we thought what would be a great way for lead generation on the marketing side, like to bring customers in. And we thought, let's start a YouTube channel. It'll be so easy. We'll post videos and people will just contact us and book stuff. And little did we know, starting a YouTube channel is a whole different job.

• Speaker #0

  It's a world.

• Speaker #2

  It's crazy. And there are levels to that game as well. But we... We started to produce really bad content and not know what we were doing. And we started to do some consultations with people and realized we had more fun doing the content creation side rather than being fixed on other people's time zones.

• Speaker #0

  All right. Then on the consulting side. Yeah.

• Speaker #2

  When we were doing consulting, we felt very much like we need to meet the client. where they are, whatever time zone that is.

• Speaker #1

  So like waking up at 2 a.m. to have a call. That's a bit crazy, yeah. And still having full-time jobs too, which is tough.

• Speaker #2

  Yeah. So that got to be a bit challenging. We thought, well, this whole content creation thing we can do on our own time. And we just started getting better at that. And we dropped all the other kind of services around expats everywhere and just dug in on the YouTube channel. And then over the past... couple of years, we've brought back consultation, but we do it in very limited blocks where Kaylee has time. We've created courses. We occasionally write on our website, but we mainly focus on video content.

• Speaker #0

  Yeah.

• Speaker #1

  I think so for us, we, like Josh said, we didn't enjoy the consultation as much because it was, it was quite not overwhelming, but it was a lot of information because we were expats everywhere. So people would be contacting us about all different types. of cities and countries. And we had a wide net. We had a lot of connections. So we could easily get the information that we needed for a consultation, but it was a lot of upfront research and figuring out, you know, just making sure that we were prepared for those consultations. Yeah. That was another reason that...

• Speaker #0

  Adapted to that specific country each time. Right,

• Speaker #1

  right. So that's why we found that, like Josh was saying, it was like we could, on our own terms, we could make the videos. We could start putting more time and effort into researching and taking courses on how to do YouTube videos. So then when we were on our journey to get to Portugal, one thing that was recommended to us is that we weren't on our channel very much. What we would do is we would interview other expats about their experiences. So the plan was that they would see someone who, let's say, got a job in Japan. And that person would watch the video and be like, I can relate to this person. I feel like I have a similar personality and they had a good time in Japan. So I think I could live in Japan. So it was about other people. And then we were recommended that. people need to see our faces on the channel so that they knew who we were. They resonated with us and they started coming back a bit more for us, not just for the different countries. So we started vlogging a little bit, our journey to Portugal. And that's when the channel really took off with people were so interested in Portugal. This was a couple of years ago before when Portugal was still kind of not a hidden gem, but like still a bit unknown, but becoming known. So it was catching steam for sure. So we started vlogging a little more, being on the channel a bit more. And that's how we do a lot of Portugal content now. But we are trying to get back a little more into at least Europe, at least comparing maybe Portugal and Italy or other possible places as things change with the economy and government here. But we brought back consultations mainly about Portugal and generally Spain because we've lived in both. So it's easier to do those. But a lot of people have questions about moving to Portugal. So that's. I do those consultations now, but it's just specific to Portugal mainly. And since we're in it every day. Well,

• Speaker #0

  you're there and you have the answer.

• Speaker #1

  Yeah, exactly. And we have our ear to the ground on everything that's changing. So it's much easier than if someone were to ask me about, let's say, Poland, for example, right? That's a lot of research. So we just do the consultations now for mainly Portugal and Spain.

• Speaker #0

  And so what are the recurring questions that you would get for Portugal?

• Speaker #1

  I think the biggest one is visa stuff. How do I get here? Because that's dropped and changed a little bit through the past couple of years. So people have different routes depending on if it's passive or active income.

• Speaker #2

  So that would be like, which visa do I apply for?

• Speaker #1

  Which visa do I apply for? What do I need to apply for? Where do I apply? whole process. And then another really hot topic right now is taxes. Yeah.

• Speaker #0

  Especially when you're coming from America, obviously there is that tax that follows you everywhere.

• Speaker #2

  That's it.

• Speaker #1

  Yes. Yes. Having to file in the US. Taxes are higher here in Portugal compared to the US. So people trying to figure out how do I do my finances to where it minimizes my tax burden since I do have to file in both countries. So tax. taxes? That's a really big question. And then overall, people looking to rent first, then maybe buy. So what's the process for that? Do you have connections with realtors, buyers, agents, mortgage brokers? That's a big one as well.

• Speaker #2

  Yeah. Which the answer is yes. Oh, yes.

• Speaker #1

  I mean, being here and I mean, we've done it ourselves, right? So we bought a property, so we know what that's like. We moved here on a visa, so we know what that's like. We pay taxes, so we know what that's like. Going back to the consultations, it's so easy because we have firsthand personal experience through it all. And we have so many friends who have different scenarios as well. But yeah, I would say those are kind of the main things. And then I guess lastly as well, people are wondering where should I live? Sometimes we'll get emails.

• Speaker #0

  That's a big one.

• Speaker #1

  Yeah.

• Speaker #0

  Choosing like, are you city? Are you going to a small town? And then within the city, the neighborhoods and everything.

• Speaker #1

  Right.

• Speaker #2

  Yeah. Well, it's a funny one though because literally people were right. and they'll be like, where should I live? And it's like,

• Speaker #0

  I don't know.

• Speaker #2

  I don't know.

• Speaker #1

  There's a lot we have to unpack here because, you know, I grew up in Florida, so I like the heat, but we live in the north of Portugal, which I'm fine with. Some people don't want that, right? They're like, we only want heat. Or when I say, oh, it can get a little chilly here, a Canadian normally laughs at me. Like, that's not cold, you know? Of course, that's all relative, right? So when people ask that, it's breaking down, like, you said, what do you want? Do you want a city? Do you want a little more space? Do you want to be by the beach? What kind of weather do you want? Do you want a car? You know, there's a lot to consider. So that's why I'm always like, well, let's jump on a call. Let's talk about this. Because if I can find out what you're looking for, then I can help.

• Speaker #0

  I can imagine you need those first questions. You need that first info, of course. And so where are the people actually coming from? Is it mainly US or all over?

• Speaker #2

  I mean, if you're looking at like, where is our audience based? Yeah, absolutely. Like most people that contact us are American. We do have Canadians and Brits that also contact us. I think it's kind of, it's English speaking countries that tend to contact us. However, if you're talking about kind of general immigration in Portugal, Brazil is right up there. I mean, it's one of the most, I guess, one of the passport countries that. come to Portugal the most in terms of immigration. India is also up there. Russia was for a while until the war happened.

• Speaker #0

  Okay. And what about a bit more around the way of life and culture in Portugal? What would be your tips to sort of adapt locally and things that you really enjoy there.

• Speaker #2

  Yeah. So First and foremost, the pace of life here is much slower than really anywhere we've lived. Maybe bar Saudi Arabia, but Saudi Arabia is different. It's very difficult for a foreigner to live like a local, right? In fact, everybody's considered an expat there because you can't get citizenship. Like you can't, you can't really be an immigrant. I think actually after a certain amount of years, maybe even you can't renew your visa. you That might change in the future.

• Speaker #1

  Yeah. Some of that's changed a little bit with them bringing them opening up a bit more. Exactly.

• Speaker #2

  But it's definitely a slower paced life than Spain, South Korea and Singapore for sure. There's not as much of a rat race here. You know, that has its pros and cons. If you want to get things done quickly, it's not happening.

• Speaker #1

  Don't expect that.

• Speaker #2

  Everybody's laid back in like all sectors.

• Speaker #1

  Yep. Be patient.

• Speaker #2

  Yeah. But, you know, learning a language. obviously helps. You can get stuck in expat bubbles depending on where you live,

• Speaker #0

  where I guess Lisbon definitely right now.

• Speaker #2

  Yeah. Lisbon, Porto as well. Some places in Algarve, you can only interact in English and have just English friends or Portuguese friends that speak English and that could be your life. But you asked the question about like, how do you integrate into local culture and society. And the best way is like to know a bit of. Portuguese and then that'll open up yeah that'll open up like Regular Portuguese people to you. Yeah, for sure.

• Speaker #1

  They really appreciate it. I mean, the level of English proficiency is really high in Portugal. So that can make it difficult because they'll see you struggling a bit or obviously not being a native Portuguese speaker. And so then they'll switch to English. Yeah, they want to help. Yeah, they want to help. It's kind, but then you're kind of like, can we switch back so that I can practice at least? Because if you don't practice, then you forget things and it's like a muscle, right? You have to keep going. So they are so kind in like thinking that they're helping by switching to English, but then it can always be a crutch as well. So once you say, let's switch back and you can find like almost like a safe space to practice with a friend who speaks both languages, then you can learn a bit more. And then that helps a lot with like the older population who maybe doesn't speak as much, but they love talking to each other. I get on a packed bus to go pick my daughter up from school and all of the older people are talking, you know, talking just about whatever, how the bus is packed. and how, you know, the weather's bad. And so I just listen and, you know, they'll talk to me too. And I'll give like nods and stuff. Cause I'm like, I don't know if I feel like sufficient in this conversation to chime in, but I'll agree. Cause I know what they're talking about, but they're just always talking like that. So it's nice to know the language and you can feel like you're a part of it, right? Like you live here.

• Speaker #0

  Yeah.

• Speaker #2

  Yeah. I think the two tips would be daily go to a cafe and just like hang out for a bit. Soak it in. Get to know the regulars. Yeah,

• Speaker #0

  listen to what everything's going on.

• Speaker #2

  Yeah, get to know the regulars. If you can, get to know the owner because at that point, you're going to get a lot of local information shared with you. And then as well, get your hair cut or get your nails done by a local.

• Speaker #1

  Who doesn't speak English?

• Speaker #2

  Who doesn't speak English would be fantastic. It's like an hour of free Portuguese. Free course. Exactly. Yeah, but that's a great way to... Yeah, just figure out, like, what's happening and get your ear to the ground of what's going on in Portugal.

• Speaker #1

  And that's what the locals do. They love chatting. They're very chatty. Social country. Yeah, social culture. So going to a spot, your local spot every day for a coffee in the morning, like, a lot of them do that. You'll see the same people over and over. They start to recognize you. Then they maybe know that you're the foreigner, but they're kind. You can chat or if you have a dog or a child, that's an even easier gateway. People love talking to people.

• Speaker #2

  You have a dog or a kid. Yeah.

• Speaker #1

  Piece of cake. This was one of the things when we moved here, our daughter was nine months old. And I was just, I really wanted to learn the language because so many older people would talk to me about her. And so I picked up stuff really quickly when they would ask, like, how old is she? What's her name? But then I thought, I can answer these things. I want to be able to speak a little more when they ask me questions about her. So I was like very motivated.

• Speaker #2

  The first question we would always get, it would be like, Menino or Menina?

• Speaker #1

  Yeah. Which is so funny because like you would never do that in the States. You would never ask, is that a boy or a girl? Not there. But you know, when they're babies, it's like, it's obviously hard to tell unless they have long hair. You can put a bow in or, you know, or they're clearly wearing pink or blue.

• Speaker #0

  Pink or navy.

• Speaker #1

  Yeah, right. Yeah, you do need to... more of the neutral colors it's just like boy or girl so yeah that was when we picked up really quickly and kalinda right like yeah yeah how beautiful and so yeah you pick that stuff up but like having that it's just such an easy like gateway to start talking with people but but they will talk to you so that's the thing is like if that's scary you into it which is good in a way yes

• Speaker #0

  it might scare you off but right so be ready yeah all right let's dive into your tips and recommendations then about portico so it's one bar or cafe whichever restaurant and then carte blanche is part of your choice could be anything at all beach whatever can

• Speaker #2

  we both answer because we have different answers i'm sure yeah yeah let's do both all right so cafe well real quick we live in porto yes just so for people know that we live in porto in the north. Yeah. The best city in Portugal. Just saying. So my favorite cafe is actually a specialty coffee roaster and they have multiple outlets, but it's So Coffee Roasters. That would be my favorite. It is definitely more international there. However, we've gotten to have a good relationship with basically all the people that work there. So that's really cool. We get a lot of local information. And fortunately, because they do speak English, we can get a bit deeper since my Portuguese isn't great. A restaurant is a very, very local joint called Uburaku, and it's in the city center.

• Speaker #0

  We, we've actually spoken to several locals who go there and they're like, yeah, the prices haven't changed since we were kids. So like that's 20, 30 years. I mean, they've changed a bit, but like it's one of the cheaper places that you can go to and have a fantastic local, typical kind of Northern Portugal meal.

• Speaker #1

  And experience.

• Speaker #0

  And experience. It's, it's packed, you know, your elbow to elbow with,

• Speaker #2

  with other drivers. Those are the nicest.

• Speaker #0

  It's amazing. And it is on tourist lists. So you will see tourists that are waiting in the line out there, but they'll be waiting alongside locals.

• Speaker #2

  Locals also. Yeah.

• Speaker #1

  Yeah.

• Speaker #0

  Yeah.

• Speaker #1

  So cafe-wise for me, that's a good one. So I could go with Cafe Negra just like for some good coffee as well. The top part, they've got these really comfy couches, which is nice. So it's a cafe and a restaurant downstairs, but upstairs, it's nice because they've got couches. So you can just sit up there. and enjoy a coffee. So that would be for me. And then for restaurant, I probably would say my favorite restaurant is called Brassau and they've got a really good Francisenia. I love Francisenias and it's not for everyone and it's a food of the North. Have you heard of it?

• Speaker #2

  No. What is it?

• Speaker #1

  Okay. So it's,

• Speaker #0

  I guess it's basically a croque monsieur that's been drenched in a you

• Speaker #1

  beer tomato sauce oh i think i i've heard of it i'm i don't think i've tasted it but i have probably seen it on menus there yeah yeah it's pretty intense you have to be hungry because it's a lot of food it's big it's classified as a sandwich but it doesn't really feel like you're not picking up use your hands yeah because it is like smothered in cheese and sauce and you can get it with or without an egg with an egg but not all francincas are the same you'll see it on a lot of menus, but sometimes they do poor quality meat in the middle. like deli meat, which is not a good one. So you want to have one that has really good steak type meat. And Brussels. Yeah, Brussels is really good for that. And they also have good Hesoyche. Hesoyche.

• Speaker #0

  Yes, which is like a croquette.

• Speaker #1

  Like a croquette.

• Speaker #0

  Yeah.

• Speaker #1

  And good beer. And they've got good beer as well. So I would say a restaurant for me would be Brussels.

• Speaker #0

  That's a good shout. I like Brussels as well. And it's actually Negra Cafe. Oh, Cafe Negra. And there are multiple of those out. those outlets, multiple of those cafes. There's one downtown, there's one in Boa Vista, and I think one in Matosinhos. So in the Porto area.

• Speaker #1

  Right.

• Speaker #2

  All right.

• Speaker #0

  Join us.

• Speaker #2

  What about your carte blanche? Your spot of choice.

• Speaker #0

  Let's see. You want to go first?

• Speaker #1

  Well, I would say it was my nail lady, but she recently moved.

• Speaker #0

  You know what? I'm going to have to go with the dragão.

• Speaker #1

  Oh,

• Speaker #0

  you're, which is, which is the stadium. Okay. FC Porto stadium. I absolutely love going there. We're, we're season ticket holders. So we go basically every other week when there's a home match and it's just a great atmosphere. Like that's getting into the local culture. Yeah. You learn that you learn the anthem, you know, the, the song before the match and you learn the people that are sitting around you and, and can kind of share in the ecstasy of when a goal is scored, jumping up and down, hugging strangers. I love that.

• Speaker #1

  Okay, that is a good one. Okay, so I will go with a park slash playground area called Covello, which I really like. They've got this massive playground area, but in there, there's also a cafe. So what's nice is that the kiddos can play and you can sit and have a coffee, a beer, a snack. Yeah, you're not alone.

• Speaker #2

  Yes,

• Speaker #1

  yeah. So it's a good show. Yeah, and it's all like fenced in, which is nice because we live in the heart of the city, so there's lots of cars. So you need a place that's fenced in since we have a four-year-old. Yeah, so it's safe. They can play, run around. It's a big space. It's manicured well and taken care of well. The area also outside of the playground area has a dog run. People go and do picnics there. It's quite a large space. So I would say that that's a good one to hang out at.

• Speaker #0

  And the cool thing about Portugal is there are a lot of parks like this in cities where you can drop your kids off. You can... You can sit at the little cafe or kiosk cafe that's inside the park. You have beer, wine, snacks, whatever at very reasonable prices. It would not be like eating at a restaurant. Yeah, it's awesome.

• Speaker #1

  And you can watch the kids. You can have eyes on them so they can go do their thing and you can relax. Well, like I said before, towards the beginning, I love the cafe culture. So you can just have friends and just hang out.

• Speaker #2

  Cool. Nice recommendations. They'll all be linked in the comments. And what about your song? You can have two, one each.

• Speaker #1

  We have one.

• Speaker #0

  We have one.

• Speaker #2

  Okay, good.

• Speaker #1

  When you said that this is a question, I was like, this is a fantastic question to ask people, but I have no idea. I was like, I have never thought about my expat song or what would resonate with me if I listened to anything before Big Move. We didn't do any of that, and there's nothing super nostalgic for us like that. So actually, this is going to sound funny. What I did is I was like, while I'm thinking of songs, I'm just going to research like. expat you know expat songs and it was funny because there were it was a lot that was like one of them was like michael buble home you know and it was like when you're missing this one was already mentioned on one on one episode a long time ago okay so i was like well that's funny because like for us anywhere we've lived we've never missed quote-unquote home home has always been where we are so when people would be like when are you coming home like back to the u.s whether that meant visit or they thought we'd move back. We'd be like, we are home. You mean, when are we going to go back to the U.S.? So for us, we've never felt like the homesick or like we miss things from home. And a lot of these ones that I was seeing was, it was on a list of like where it was nostalgic and stuff. So I was like, well, that's not really us. So I was thinking it through, thinking of songs I like that really get me jazzed up. And I was like, you know what, Josh? I think I'm going to go with the song Blue. And he's like, that's sad sounding. And I'm like, it's not a sad song. It's David Guetta and Bebe Rexha. I don't know if you've heard it. It's actually like a club song, I guess.

• Speaker #2

  I probably have, but I don't see which one it is.

• Speaker #1

  I'm not going to sing it for you. Well,

• Speaker #0

  I said to Kaylee that if we do choose that one, it's got to be the clean version.

• Speaker #1

  Yes, it does have a cuss word in it. So we're going to go with blue from David Guetta and Bebe Rexha. Clean version.

• Speaker #2

  All right.

• Speaker #1

  It's mainly like whatever happens tonight, I'm going with it. And we've always been like that in wherever we've lived. It's always been like me. We go with the flow. We, and you know what? We're going to have a good time. Like we have that mentality. We're going to go, we're going to have a good time. Cause that's what the song talks about. Like, I'm not going to be, just be sitting there. I'm going to be in the middle of the dance floor mainly, but I'm going to be in the middle of having a good time. And that's how we've approached every country.

• Speaker #0

  That's how we ended up in Saudi Arabia.

• Speaker #1

  Yeah. We just went with it.

• Speaker #0

  It's how we ended up in a, in a desert in Egypt.

• Speaker #1

  Yeah. That's mainly how we've lived our, our travel life too.

• Speaker #0

  This might be the end. We might die.

• Speaker #1

  That's for another story. But mainly the song is like this big pump up song about how like, yeah, I'm just going to have a good time. And that's just how we approach life in general in any place we've ever moved to or any travel as well.

• Speaker #0

  That's my song. Nice.

• Speaker #2

  And Josh is going to feel it. The immersion.

• Speaker #1

  The immersion.

• Speaker #2

  All right. Well, great. I like the link and the idea behind it. It's nice.

• Speaker #1

  Thanks. Some time to think, but I got it. I'm going with it.

• Speaker #2

  Cool. Well, thanks so much for sharing your journey, the story behind Expats Everywhere. We'll put your website in the comments also. Guys, if you enjoyed it, as usual, you can put a rating on Apple Podcasts and Spotify and get all the info on Instagram.

• Speaker #0

  Thanks for having us on. If anybody wants to know about Portugal, contact Kaylee.