Mark
[ 00:00:20 ] It is permitted, it's after 5 o'clock, the sun is going down in the afternoon, so today we're going to do a little bit of something different, we're going to answer some questions that people have written in to us about, so I'm very excited, yeah this is always fun, this is engaging, this is part of the reason we're doing this because it's all about creating community, it's creating engagement, it's having fun, it's learning about new things that you thought you knew, maybe you don't, but we'll crack on and we'll find out how it's been for us on some of these questions.
MEREDITH
[ 00:01:01 ] Yeah, we had people like send us questions which we love, so maybe we can do this, I think you should, I think you should. It should be once a month, or maybe a bonus episode every month, bonus episode, something outside the weekly, but that would be fun because it also helps us keep our finger on the pulse of what people actually want to know, there's so much we could tell you.
Mark
[ 00:01:24 ] It's all well and good us saying 'here's what we're going to tell you', but sometimes it's like you don't want to know that, what I want to know is 'that', in which case let us know, write in.
MEREDITH
[ 00:01:35 ] Yeah, I would love that. So, you can do this for the future, if you want your question answered.
Mark
[ 00:01:41 ] Send your questions in on a prepaid postage card.
MEREDITH
[ 00:01:45 ] No, that's Stonehenge for you. Send us a DM on Instagram, it's probably the easiest way because then we can collect them and I'll try to put out a like a reel every time, or a story on Instagram every time so that we have at least one a month that we collect questions. I am enjoying this wine, you want to talk about it? We thought it was really cool.
Mark
[ 00:02:11 ] Yeah, I always want to talk about wine. I mean you want to drink it more than talk about it.
MEREDITH
[ 00:02:15 ] We thought it would be really cool if sometimes we integrate some cultural things as part of what we're learning. Wine, cheese. Because we do love wine. Sausages. But you don't even like the sausage. You just revealed a big, big thing. You don’t really love the sausage. No. Nobody’s coming for us, but I’m not. If the Englishman doesn’t like the sausage.
Mark
[ 00:02:38 ] There's got to be a certain kind of sausage.
MEREDITH
[ 00:02:39 ] I think it’s just different.
Mark
[ 00:02:41 ] Here’s the thing, it’s like I’m what 53, so 14 years of growing up eating English sausages and then you’ve got to switch to.
MEREDITH
[ 00:02:50 ] And I just eat Jimmy Dean.
Mark
[ 00:02:52 ] Is that even sausage or is that just the makeup of stuff?
MEREDITH
[ 00:02:56 ] Probably that’s what sausage is. Anyway, we digress because the fun stuff was going to talk about the wine we’re drinking.
Mark
[ 00:03:01 ] Yes, and for those watching. For those watching on YouTube, it is also quite empty.
MEREDITH
[ 00:03:07 ] And then for those listening on the podcast, this is a Monte Velho, M-O-N-T-E V-E-L-H-O, I think. And this is a, it's a white and it is an Alentejo region wine, which I, I would likely say between Alentejo and the Douro region, they have been my favorites so far. And there's going to be people coming for me too, for saying that.
Mark
[ 00:03:35 ] Why are you in the Douro and not drinking the Douro?
MEREDITH
[ 00:03:36 ] We live in Portugal. I mean, we live in Porto and we're like two hours from the Douro Valley, which is prime wine country up there and it is beautiful. Wine real estate. But, um, yeah, I tend to like the wines that come from the table wines that come from other regions. Port is a whole different story.
Mark
[ 00:03:56 ] So, but I also think, you know, everyone's probably heard it and said it before, at some point in time, and that is you-you can start off with a decent glass of wine. I'm on the third glass. It doesn't really matter what it is. Just kind of putting that out there. Unless, of course, maybe drink the good stuff first. Absolutely. Because that's what's going to break your palate, but maybe we'll just have a whole episode on wine and we're going to have like five different wines lined up.
MEREDITH
[ 00:04:24 ] Yeah. That would be entertaining.
Mark
[ 00:04:26 ] Yes, it would be.
MEREDITH
[ 00:04:27 ] By the end, it would be really entertaining.
Mark
[ 00:04:29 ] I don't know what value anybody's going to get out of it. All right.
MEREDITH
[ 00:04:32 ] So for our viewers, we wanted to share this one with you. Oh, to talk about the price.
Mark
[ 00:04:37 ] Oh yeah.
MEREDITH
[ 00:04:38 ] How much was this wine? $3.
Mark
[ 00:04:42 ] 99 for Euro is 99 cents.
MEREDITH
[ 00:04:44 ] You all, that's like less than $4. 50.
Mark
[ 00:04:48 ] Yeah.
MEREDITH
[ 00:04:48 ] That's crazy.
Mark
[ 00:04:50 ] Yeah.
MEREDITH
[ 00:04:51 ] Anyway. Yeah. That's our, that's our fun wine because I think we should do this every time.
Mark
[ 00:04:56 ] And it's, it's a, you know, it's great, but at the same time, just gotta be careful.
SPEAKER_2
[ 00:05:04 ] Well, yeah. It's really affordable. Yeah.
Mark
[ 00:05:07 ] Especially, especially with this one, cause this is like $13.50. So as far as, as far as what wines go, it's quite, it's quite a high.
MEREDITH
[ 00:05:15 ] It's good. It's not like a Chardonnay. It's like a crisp. I would like, I would say it's like a dry Pinot. Pinot Grigio. Something like that. But anyway, maybe we'll do a little bit of that every time since we tend to drink while we're recording our vines.
Mark
[ 00:05:31 ] Nobody judges.
MEREDITH
[ 00:05:32 ] It's fine.
Mark
[ 00:05:32 ] Or if you do.
MEREDITH
[ 00:05:33 ] We are who we are.
Mark
[ 00:05:34 ] Why even let us know you're judging us?
MEREDITH
[ 00:05:36 ] Yeah.
Mark
[ 00:05:37 ] We'll get some of that. Okay. Okay.
MEREDITH
[ 00:05:39 ] Q and a. What questions did we get?
Mark
[ 00:05:42 ] Okay. I'm going to run through three questions. But the first one is that, that we've got is what's been the biggest cultural difference since we moved to Portugal, Portugal particularly to Porto.
MEREDITH
[ 00:05:59 ] Well, I think language is obviously, I'm not even going to go into that. Because it's pretty obvious-a barrier, hard different, you know completely different culture in different language. But I think the biggest one for me is how slow things move. Yeah, I, yes, we have touched on this.
Mark
[ 00:06:22 ] I think yeah, for sure with the bureaucracy and various other things.
MEREDITH
[ 00:06:27 ] It's just that things literally like here's the thing. Maybe it's because I've come from a corporate background for a long long long long time and In the companies that I was fortunate enough to work for it was always about like how do we do things more efficiently? How do we make the focus on? The customer and easier and a smooth process and blah blah blah blah blah and there's none of that here Like in our experience things that Literally could have been taken care of by going on to a website and filling out a form We have to literally go in person Which I I can't even this one. I have called him affectionately Stonehenge Since we started dating because when I when I started dating him he barely had a Facebook You know page like there was none of this anything technology technological anything tech was not his thing He's grown Yes, he did set up all podcast podcast our podcast podcast, but I He I just say that because I feel like He doesn't get as bothered by it.
Mark
[ 00:07:45 ] Yeah, I I just don't understand why there's not any So in its defense, I will say this the country itself is why is extremely old obviously thousands years old and The country itself is only really been like it is now the last 50 years since liberation of it was under dictatorship so 50 years old in terms of Travis Stan today and how far back you go? Yeah, in terms of the, and would absolutely agree that the difference of getting things done case in point. Three days ago, I had a real estate license back in North Carolina, South Carolina. My South Carolina one wanted some information, and I needed to have it notarized. Well, obviously, I'm here, and they're there. Trying to get somebody here to notarize a document that's in English on a Friday afternoon would be impossible.
MEREDITH
[ 00:08:57 ] It wouldn't happen.
Mark
[ 00:08:58 ] It just wouldn't happen. And I'd be stressing about it all weekend, and going into Monday, I'd be thinking, 'How the heck am I still going to get this done?' However, Friday, when I got the message through that I needed to get this notarized, it was a case of 'went on' to Google, thank you, and just found a notary online within 16, maybe 17 minutes. Done, dusty, painful. You got it on Zoom, right? It was online. On Zoom, verified, all the rest of it. And I think that, for me, that just really goes to show, goes to prove that, yes, things need to change here. No, they're not going to change quick in that sense. And that's one of the things I've missed. Yeah, a misconvenience. The convenience.
MEREDITH
[ 00:09:50 ] But I also, here's the thing, I can say that, but I also appreciate it. I mean, I know I can sit here and sound like I'm not. I'm not like I'm complaining and, you know, Portuguese patients and all of that. It's just different than what I'm used to. But why do you move to a different place? You move there. You've got to move to change it. Yeah. You've got to move and it's, you've got to accept the good, bad, and the ugly of it. You move there to assimilate to that culture. Right. And I think it's just a matter of time. I think that it also brings me a little bit more calm. I know that I can't, I, I, there are things that I, I can't control here too. And it makes me slow down. It's hard because in the interim, I feel that angst of like, I want to get something done, but nobody else here is really feeling those. I get the impression that because that has always been their experience, there's not a whole lot of like anxiety-type activity.
Mark
[ 00:10:58 ] I think that if you asked a Portuguese person and us about their commentary on the same situation, they'd be like, what's your problem? What's the big deal?
MEREDITH
[ 00:11:11 ] Like it'll happen.
Mark
[ 00:11:12 ] You'll figure it out. It'll get done. It'll get done. So yeah, big, big cultural difference. Huge. Yeah. And that's even coming from, from an English guy where, you know, you want to do an Amazon return. You have to download the sticker or the piece of paper. You have to print it off. You have to box it. You have to attach it to the box and then you have to take it to the post office or a Amazon location. Yeah. It's not terribly convenient.
MEREDITH
[ 00:11:39 ] And yet I come from a different, whole different. Yeah.
Mark
[ 00:11:42 ] Yeah. But that one will say. I love Amazon.
MEREDITH
[ 00:11:44 ] I miss Amazon. That's my biggest cultural difference.
Mark
[ 00:11:46 ] You miss it, but we've saved thousands. So that's all I'm going to say. So that's real simple.
MEREDITH
[ 00:11:54 ] All right. What's the next question?
Mark
[ 00:11:55 ] The next one. So from. You know, another person, um, we always remote, uh, independent worker, or is this something you've started to sort out?
MEREDITH
[ 00:12:07 ] Oh, like start a new thing. Um, so yes, I was already a remote worker, but I was not a rumor work, the remote worker in the sense that, um, they would let me go anywhere. So. Remote. Remote working from home for seven or eight years, but no moving to Portugal and working from there. So I, I personally knew that if we came here, I would have to quit my job, which is what I did. And, um, that was tough. That was tough. Uh, for all the corporate bullshit that I was just done with after being in it for 20 years, it was still very hard because I really, I really loved the people that I worked with. Yeah.
Mark
[ 00:12:54 ] I suppose that's the trade, isn't it?
MEREDITH
[ 00:12:55 ] But, you know. The stuff that they can't control and the BS that happens anyway, it's like, uh, it doesn't, you can't get rid of that. So anyway, yeah. So, I was, um, an instructional designer for a Fortune 200 company for 13 years plus. And I did sales training and all that jazz, emailing, blah, blah, blah, podcasts. Um, Mark and I also built a real estate business while we were in Charlotte for the three years before we came. Pretty difficult to leave. I mean. Yeah. We did well. Yeah. But being successful in doing things that you're good at doesn't necessarily mean that it's stuff that you want to do. Yeah. And I agree, I agree. I feel like I got to that point. It's like.
Mark
[ 00:13:40 ] I think you've got to find a balance between, you know, the value of life and the value of money.
MEREDITH
[ 00:13:45 ] Yeah.
Mark
[ 00:13:46 ] And it's a trade, you know.
MEREDITH
[ 00:13:47 ] We've basically given up money. Yeah.
Mark
[ 00:13:49 ] We're poor now. A lot. A lot. Um, which is why I come back to-it's great that Amazon is really difficult to use. Because that helps tie into this other element.
MEREDITH
[ 00:13:59 ] We have definitely had to change everything about finances and all that. But yes, we are seriously, when it comes down to it, this is what the number one thing that stops people from coming. That is true. Like I would venture to say that there's a large population in the U. S. who has dreamed of moving to Europe for one reason or another, even if it's just for a little bit of time. Right. But they don't do it because of this issue. They don't do it. They don't do it because it takes a lot to leave a current role or go out on your own, which is what we've done. We are in the middle of building that out, um, and what it can look like. I am 100% obsessed with trying to figure out how to build something that's not tied to my time all the time, because I think that's true freedom or to a place. So.
Mark
[ 00:14:54 ] Because that gives us more flexibility in what we do and where we do it. Yes.
MEREDITH
[ 00:14:58 ] So I do some freelance podcasting, um, producing for people. Plug. Plug on the side.
Mark
[ 00:15:05 ] Unashamedly.
MEREDITH
[ 00:15:06 ] Yes. Um, and so I am starting up that, but it's really, again, that's just one piece. We are trying to build this community, help people travel, help people experience Portugal. If you're thinking about moving there.
Mark
[ 00:15:21 ] Travel advising.
MEREDITH
[ 00:15:23 ] Figuring out, figuring out how to help and get you resources to get you over here. All of that. Um, this podcast is one of those things and the YouTube channel.
Mark
[ 00:15:32 ] Other things will be added as we go and as we have, as we need, or as we see it gives value.
MEREDITH
[ 00:15:38 ] We're also exploring real estate related opportunities here. Um, that is less like what I was talking about with the not tied to my time or place or your time or a specific place. Yeah. But how cool would it be to help people find their apartments here? Right. Right. From a, from a lens of some of a couple who has done it and we are actually going to be doing an episode about our biggest mistake, which was our first apartment. Yeah. We know better now. We know what to tell you.
Mark
[ 00:16:12 ] We sure do. We sure do.
MEREDITH
[ 00:16:13 ] So yeah. I mean, the big answer to that is, were we always remote? Yes. Yes. Yes. Were we tied to businesses that were successful either by W2 or our own business? Yes. And we made the decision that those things can always be built again.
Mark
[ 00:16:33 ] I was going to say at the end of the day, if everything goes completely pear-shaped, um, pear-shaped.
MEREDITH
[ 00:16:40 ] So English. We don't say that here.
Mark
[ 00:16:43 ] Okay.
MEREDITH
[ 00:16:43 ] You also say if everything goes tits up.
Mark
[ 00:16:46 ] Yeah, yeah. Well, I was going to avoid saying that. No, why? Well, if everything goes tits up. Anyway, if everything goes wrong, um, then you know, you figure it out. You just figure it out. And I think ultimately we can say that I think because we don't have kids, we have a little dog, you know, we're very large as to what we need and have. So there's, yeah, there's definitely some privilege in our position. A hundred percent.
MEREDITH
[ 00:17:14 ] I mean, not everybody can financially just say, and we, I mean, I say it lightly. It was not lightly for us. And there are days where I still wake up and I'm like, 'what have we done?' But you know what? I have to just have faith that, you know, when you put things out into the world that you want to do to help other people and that you're good at, you will succeed. It just might take you some time. It might take a bit of time.
Mark
[ 00:17:38 ] Or a bit longer than you thought it was going to. Yeah. All those things.
MEREDITH
[ 00:17:42 ] We just have to keep...
Mark
[ 00:17:44 ] The main thing, the main thing. The main thing, the main thing.
MEREDITH
[ 00:17:46 ] All right. What's the final question?
Mark
[ 00:17:48 ] The final question. Yeah. The final question. Pigs and troughs so far.
MEREDITH
[ 00:17:52 ] Excuse me?
Mark
[ 00:17:53 ] Pigs and troughs, ups and downs.
MEREDITH
[ 00:17:56 ] You're telling me that someone wrote in and said, what are the peaks and troughs?
Mark
[ 00:18:00 ] No, I was sort of translating.
MEREDITH
[ 00:18:04 ] Oh, you, you Englishized it.
Mark
[ 00:18:06 ] Well, yeah. Cause we're closer to England than we are to... Peaks and troughs.
MEREDITH
[ 00:18:10 ] So peaks, peaks and pits, like high and low. Yeah.
Mark
[ 00:18:12 ] High and low. So far.
MEREDITH
[ 00:18:14 ] Oh, the whole thing. Okay. Again. Peaks.
Mark
[ 00:18:17 ] I guess that'd be good. Yeah.
MEREDITH
[ 00:18:19 ] So peaks for me are every day waking up and knowing that we've been brave and that we will never, ever, ever regret what we're doing right now. Yeah.
Mark
[ 00:18:37 ] I think ultimately. That's a peak. Yeah. It would have been a, I don't know, I just think that if we hadn't have done this. We would have dreamed of it. We would have dreamed of it. We would have been dreaming of it still sitting in suburbia going, 'Ooh, wouldn't it be nice if, well, you know, kind of.' Time is a ticking. Time's ticking. Yeah. So, you know, again, that was our situation. We were able to; there's a lot of people that can also do that, but sometimes you just got to take a plunge. We did. It's worked. It continues to be highs and lows of daily life. So what's your low? A low. Your trough. My trough. Yeah. I guess for me being sort of black and white, I don't; I'm having to come to terms with where, where money comes from, you know, in reality, where, where money comes from. How do we make, how do we keep this going? How do we survive this? And so those are the lows and you sort of wake up. The stress of it. The stress of it. Yeah. Oh shit. Yeah. This is really what we've done, which is fantastic because six months yesterday, um, you know, first drink, woohoo, it was absolutely fantastic. And then you think, shit. We've been here six months. We've been here six months. Now what? Yeah. Oh crap. Um, but yeah, like again, if we didn't do it, we would be sitting in suburbia wondering, when are we going to do it?
MEREDITH
[ 00:20:09 ] And I'd rather go and do it and fail. And if we fail, then again. I don't think we will. Because we're not going to regret it.
Mark
[ 00:20:15 ] No, but I'm not going to regret it. We're going to avoid the conversation of if it does, then we figure it out when that happens. Yeah. If that happens. Yeah. 100%. I'm not going to live in the dark moments, but I am going to recognize that they exist. Yeah.
MEREDITH
[ 00:20:26 ] And I think you just sometimes have to take a chance on things and that is. And each other as well. And each other.
Mark
[ 00:20:37 ] Number one cheerleader.
MEREDITH
[ 00:20:38 ] I just, I really do believe that I really do sometimes, and it takes a lot for, there's a lot of people are completely risk adverse. Yeah. And I think that when you have a partner who is on about the same level as you in terms of willing to take risks, that makes it easier to take risks. It does. It does. So for me.
Mark
[ 00:21:01 ] Yeah, because you're both going to row the same boat with or without an oar.
MEREDITH
[ 00:21:04 ] Yeah. Yeah.
Mark
[ 00:21:05 ] Because you're in it together. Yeah. So it's really, you know, it's what it is.
MEREDITH
[ 00:21:09 ] It's very English too.
Mark
[ 00:21:10 ] What? Rowing and an oar.
MEREDITH
[ 00:21:13 ] Rowing and an oar. That thing that you just said.
Mark
[ 00:21:15 ] In the same boat.
MEREDITH
[ 00:21:16 ] Anyway, I do. I, I think that's, that's hard, but I, I also believe, I also just believe that, you know, we're just not going to regret it. We're not going to regret it. So when you get past the point of like being willing to take the risk because you truly know that you're not going to regret it and even if it goes tits up, right, you, you will figure it out. Right. And you know, at this point we have our house at home. We rented it out. We have a car at home. Those are the easy things, right? That you're easy to come back into that world if you wanted to. So we do have that safety net a little bit, but I don't really want to use it.
Mark
[ 00:21:55 ] No. And again, you know, every time I speak to my, to my mum, it's a case of, you know, oh, this has happened, good or bad, whatever. And she's like, well, you wanted an adventure. You wanted an adventure. That's what you wanted. That's what you've got. It's like. It's true. Yeah. Thanks for that. Sometimes it's like.
MEREDITH
[ 00:22:11 ] It doesn't mean anything. It doesn't mean rainbows and butterflies. Sometimes it's like, yeah, I could do without that. It means everything that comes with adventure. It means that your life is not boring. It means that you don't know what's going to happen on any given day and what you're going to see and do and experience and learn. And that is what we're doing. And so.
Mark
[ 00:22:30 ] But also, you know, just to kind of cap it all around sort of finish on a negative type direction, but on the positive side of it for me has been. Trying or starting to try and learn a new language. That's a real high for me. I need to do it more. I could do it. I could be better at it, but you know. Which I think is hard. Yeah. It's a tough language. Yeah. Not going to fib about that. But again, it's the people. I keep coming back to the people making so many things easier with the way that they help the way that, you know, the restaurant. Every time I walk past there, it's like, 'oh, hey, how you doing?' And you know, bring the dog and all that sort of stuff. So I think again, community where we live, we've been very lucky to have moved to this area now. And I think that's, that's made a big difference. So yeah, it's you, you know, it's not a case. I didn't want to answer the question of like, okay, well the top five peaks in the top five troughs are. But at the same time, I think it's important. It's important to recognize that there are always going to be challenges, but also recognize the achievements in the last six months where we individually have grown and together have grown.
MEREDITH
[ 00:23:54 ] Yeah. Oh, I've definitely grown in six months. That's for sure. I can definitely say that it has pushed me to be different and to think differently about things that I encounter, but also reflect differently. On myself and why I might be reacting a certain way in the uncomfortable space or why I'm having trouble getting into a routine or why I'm doing this. It is very much, it forces you to be even more reflective about yourself because you don't have those natural comforts that we take for granted in our natural state or where we were living. Yeah. It was a very comfortable life. It was. It was also, might I say, a little bit of a boring life.
Mark
[ 00:24:45 ] Yeah. I mean, again, it was a comfortable life, but those comforts came with added stress to make sure that you kept up with those comforts. Yeah.
SPEAKER_2
[ 00:24:55 ] Yeah.
Mark
[ 00:24:55 ] You know, you kept up with that house. You kept up with the, you know, $10 for a glass of wine when you go out. So, you kind of didn't go out because who wants to spend $10 on a glass of wine? Yeah. Yeah.
SPEAKER_2
[ 00:25:08 ] Yeah.
Mark
[ 00:25:09 ] Well, I didn't go to the hoity-toity places you went. But yeah, I just think that again, coming back to where our highs and lows here, I think it's just taking, taking every day as they come, as it comes. But knowing that there is always going to be highs and lows.
MEREDITH
[ 00:25:29 ] Absolutely. And I also think that, you know, being really in the moment is important here. Yeah. Because it can get real quick that you can walk outside the door and, oh, you want to see that church that was built in 1200? It's right there. And you get used to seeing it. And then there are days where I'm like, why am I walking by Il Defonso and not stopping and looking at that beautiful place?
Mark
[ 00:26:00 ] Just taking a moment and recognizing that it's difficult. Because it's in our backyard.
MEREDITH
[ 00:26:04 ] So it's just, I don't know.
Mark
[ 00:26:06 ] It's strange how quick you come to realize that you can take things for granted that are in Il Defonso.
MEREDITH
[ 00:26:12 ] And I don't want to. I want to be living in gratitude more than probably I do.
Mark
[ 00:26:17 ] Well, again, I keep going back to the saying 'say yes more times than you say no.' And that's just something I think living life by, not just a particular circumstance.
SPEAKER_2
[ 00:26:28 ] Yeah.
Mark
[ 00:26:29 ] So with that being said, say yes more than we say no. So, yes, to another. Yes, to another. I'm going to pour another. Oh, we finished the bottle. Oh, we finished the bottle. Sorry.
MEREDITH
[ 00:26:40 ] This was the tail end of the bottle. Just so you know. We do not have an entire bottle on this podcast. No. Thank you very much. Don't put it past us next time, though. No.
Mark
[ 00:26:49 ] I'm not going to make any promises for the future. But.
MEREDITH
[ 00:26:52 ] Okay. Thanks for the questions. Thanks for the questions. Keep them coming. We will probably do this more often because I think it's cool.
Mark
[ 00:26:57 ] I think it's fun. I think it allows us to be more expressive.
MEREDITH
[ 00:26:59 ] Well, tell me what you think. You need to send us a message or comment and let us know what you think. Or send us another question. Yeah, we'd love to get that. It was fun. Yeah. Good job. Okay. All right. Awesome.
Mark
[ 00:27:09 ] Until next time.
MEREDITH
[ 00:27:11 ] See you later, y'all. Cheers. See you later. Ciao. Listen up, future expats. For more content about our move, the visa process, Portuguese culture and destinations, and tons of support resources for your own decisions and potential move abroad. Follow us on Instagram and TikTok at Portugal Junkies.
Mark
[ 00:27:33 ] Stay in touch. And help us reach more people by subscribing here and following us there.
MEREDITH
[ 00:27:39 ] Cheers, y'all.