First Month Living in Portugal as a Digital Nomad

Sneak Peek:

Kristin:    00:00:00    But there's just like this general openness to meeting people and this awareness that the next person you meet could be a friend, could be a business partner, could be a romantic partner. And it's like everyone just has this open disposition to having a conversation with someone that they don't know. 

Flatio

Kristin: Have you been looking for a place to stay for your next trip, but want more options other than Airbnb? Flatio is your solution. Flatio is a website where you can find fully furnished and equipped short term and medium term accommodations from 14 days to a few months or more. I've been using Flatio for all of my housing here in Portugal, and it's been a great experience with a wide selection of properties, friendly landlords and customer service, and a super easy booking process. One thing I really like about it is that it's a website built for digital nomads and long-term travelers, so the customer service and management really understand what you're looking for and you can get a lot of information about the different properties at a glance, including the location reviews and the internet speed. Very important. Head on over to Flatio.com to check out properties for your next destination. And this week Flatio is giving out three free copies of my new book, Digital Nomads for Dummies. You can enter to win by following Flatio and traveling with Kristin on Instagram, tagging two of your friends and sharing the post in your stories. Our Instagram pages are linked in the show notes. And remember to check out Flatio.com for your next rental abroad.  

Introduction: Welcome to Badass Digital Nomads, where we're pushing the boundaries of remote work and travel, all while staying grounded with a little bit of old school philosophy, self-development, and business advice from our guests. 

Kristin Wilson, Host:    00:02:10    Hey there, Kristin, from Traveling with Kristin here and Welcome to episode 182 of Badass Digital Nomads. I am coming to you today from Madeira, Portugal, which is an incredible place that has greatly exceeded any of my expectations. I'm still trying to wrap my head around what Madeira actually is and what it represents, but my first impressions are that it's, it's kind of like many different countries mixed into one. It's like Portugal with elements that remind me of San Diego and Southern California. There's also parts of the coastline that really remind me of the Amalfi Coast in Italy, Cypress, Ireland, Costa Rica, Central America, the French Riviera, Monaco, like everything all mixed together. It's such a cool place and I'll tell you a little bit more about it in today's episode. But first of all, we've got some shout outs for today. As I mentioned, Flatio is giving away three copies of my book, Digital Nomads for Dummies.  

Kristin:    00:03:25    But did you also know that Digital Nomads for Dummies comes with a lot of free bonuses? Just the resources section alone is 30 pages long with like any digital nomad resource you would need, whether it's for travel, freelancing resources, online businesses, remote jobs, tons of information there that didn't make it into the book, but it comes with the book, the regular book or the e-book as an external PDF. So you can get your copy of Digital Nomads for Dummies today by searching for it online or calling up your local indie bookstore and ordering it. And also remember to tag me on social media and send me your stories about the book. It's been so cool to hear from you. Like Dave M. told me on YouTube that he already handed out five copies of the book to his friends and one day he was reading the book at a restaurant and the server came up and asked about it and he asked her if she had an interest in travel, which of course who doesn't, right? <laugh>?  

Kristin:    00:04:34    And she said yes. And so he literally just said, read this book, gave her the book, and that was that. So love to hear that Dave spreading the word, paying it forward. Amazing. And then Breen LH also said that he's been reading it and taking a ton of notes. And he also said that after watching my YouTube channel, he's just amazed at all of the resources there. And he also gets a laugh now and then because he thinks I'm funny guys, <laugh>. I hope so. I mean, sometimes I laugh at my own videos as well. So I guess that's a good sign. And then also thanks again to Eric and Expose and Henry Orea who bought me some coffees recently at buymeacoffee.com/KristinWilson. I am drinking an Americano right now and I can say with certainty that the coffee in Madeira is extremely strong and I really like it.  

Kristin:    00:05:32    So reflecting on my first month back in the digital nomad lifestyle, I think the most burning question that you probably want to know, especially if you saw my video on why I left the US again, is was it the right decision or do I regret it so far? And maybe we can check back in on, on this question a few months from now, a year from now, see how it's going. But was it worth packing everything up, putting it in storage and leaving? Yes, uh, definitely yes. I still feel confident that it was the right thing to do from the first day that I stepped onto the plane through over a month later. And I've been talking with a lot of different travelers and digital nomads and people that I've met over these past few weeks, and we've all kind of marveled at how significantly your life can change when you change locations and put your life on a completely different path and a completely different trajectory.  

Kristin:    00:06:46    And there's a few different arguments here. A lot of people have commented on my YouTube that no matter where you go, there you are. And that's true. And philosophers like Seneca have talked about this thousands of years ago of the dangers and kind of the mirage of using travel as a way to escape from your problems as a distraction. And there's definitely an element of that if that's why you're traveling. But I think more of us are traveling because we want to enrich our lives, we want to learn things, we want to meet new people, and we want to enjoy life and have fun. And I, I think that my motivation for leaving the US wasn't a, a specific problem, like a personal problem that I was running away from. And I, I don't think that's what many people are doing. I think it's more of what you want to add to your life and things that are missing from your life.  

Kristin:    00:07:53    And yeah, in some, in some cases traveling can solve problems. I, I've thought of having Eric Prince on the podcast where he was talking about how leaving the US he overnight experienced way less racism and prejudice and violence in his life compared to when he was living in the United States. So you can actually extricate yourself from a situation, whether it's a bad home situation or a situation that you don't like in your home country. Leaving is a pretty quick solution for that. But it's also just a way to get out there into the world, see what's waiting for you, and get out in meet life in the middle instead of staying in your day-to-day routine. And I even heard a podcast recently, it was Zero to Travel podcast with Oneika Traveler. She is a travel channel host and she's been to, I think she said more than 120 countries.  

Kristin:    00:08:59    And she mentioned that her and her husband went nomadic for a year and a half. And even though she had traveled all around the world, it was their first time going nomadic. And so that was towards the end of the pandemic. So they did a year and a half with no home base, just traveling the world with their baby and then settled in Miami and bought a house and then they'll be traveling from there. But they were talking about how it was such a great opportunity for them to see the world, see what was out there, see what they wanted to do, and then make the decision to settle down somewhere. So sometimes becoming a nomad is not a permanent thing, or moving to a country doesn't have to be a permanent thing. It can be something like what she called it as being a gap year, like an adult gap year to go around and travel, see what the world has for you, and then, uh, come back full circle and settle down.  

Kristin:    00:09:59    So they were living in New York before being nomads and then after their year and a half abroad decided to set up shop in Florida. So my biggest takeaway in my own personal life and from a lot of the people that I've talked to has been to just do it and, um, just get out there and, and also to slow travel. Well, you know, it depends on what you're looking for. Like if you just wanna see the world as fast as possible or if you're working full-time and traveling at the same time. This trip for me has been at a faster pace of travel than I would normally do and that I would like because I do work full-time and, and then traveling at the same time. So as I've been changing locations every couple of weeks, I'm reminded that, uh, actually I would rather stay in each place for at least a month or so because by the time you get there, unpack, get settled, get to know your surroundings, get into a daily routine work, um, go out in sight see and explore and meet people.  

Kristin:    00:11:08    It's like already time to go again, <laugh>. So definitely, uh, take your time. I've met a lot of nomads here in Madeira that are staying for a few months at a time. Some of them are from Portugal, from the mainland, and some of them are from all around the world. There's actually been a lot of, uh, people here from Ukraine. So it's been really interesting to hear from, uh, essentially refugees from the Russian War in Ukraine and who've had to distribute around Europe and the world. And, uh, just very, very powerful to, uh, hear about their stories and must be quite a change to go from normal daily life in Ukraine to being almost forced into a digital nomad lifestyle, working from home, working remotely, and then finding a new home. And for many of the Ukrainians, they have ended up in Madeira. But for the people who have moved voluntarily, the feedback that I've gotten from everyone is that they kind of just felt different in their hometowns.  

Kristin:    00:12:21    And it's almost like this very small segment of the population, not necessarily like the top 0.01%, that's not what I'm talking about, but like a 0.01% sliver of the population, whether your hometown is in Vermont or Belgium or Mexico or Peru or Australia, no matter where you're from, there's like this tiny percent of the population, probably the people listening to this podcast who just kind of feel different from the other people in your hometown and maybe you don't feel like you fit in a hundred percent. And so these are the kinds of explorers and nomads and people that end up leaving to find something a little bit different. And it's pretty cool when all of those different people end up in the same place, whether it's in Lisbon or Madeira or Bali or Bangkok or wherever. So that is, uh, one of the things I've been reminded of coming back into the digital nomad lifestyle is just the incredible people that you meet.  

Kristin:    00:13:33    The very deep profound conversations that you have with people within 10 minutes of meeting them sometimes or an hour of meeting them and um, how quickly you can become friends. This is something that of course I was aware of before the pandemic and my lifestyle, but coming back into it has just been such a comforting reminder of how diverse and inclusive the digital nomad lifestyle is in the digital nomad population. I, I really can't think of anything comparable, any situation in life where it doesn't matter where you're from, how old or young you are, what color you are, what you do for work, it's like people don't see that. They just see you as human beings and everyone is welcome, everyone's included. And I don't know, there's not a country or a city or a company that I've ever experienced where you kind of get that feeling, you know, like even growing up in Florida for example, I always felt like people were kind of assessing <laugh>, whether they wanted to be your friend, like, okay, well where are you from?  

Kristin:    00:14:53    What do you do? Like, just kind of trying to place you like to, you could kind of see their brains working of like, how do I label this person? And I don't feel that at all in the digital nomad lifestyle. It's just like, you know, you could come up barefoot wearing like a purple tutu and people wouldn't care anyway. So there's that. But then there's also the just general lifestyle as an expat living abroad. And this podcast, I'll focus on living in Portugal because that's where I'm spending all of my time through the end of the year and possibly beyond. But we'll see how it goes. So why did I come to Portugal anyway? Um, I have talked about in the past on, on another podcast, I know the one with Eric Prince, how we were like, is Portugal overrated because everyone loves it so much.  

Kristin:    00:15:52    But we didn't really feel that soul connection to Portugal where you've never been there but you are landing at the airport and you feel like, oh my God, I'm home. Like this is it. This is the place. And that is not something I felt in Costa Rica either, but I learned to love it as my home. But it is something that I have felt in certain other places where even though I hadn't really stepped outside of the airport yet, I felt like, oh yeah, I'm in my place. And so I kind of wanted to come back to Portugal and have been four or five years since I had been here, a lot has happened, a lot of buzz about the country. And I just wanted to see like what is all of the buzz about what is all of the hype about? And really give it another chance because the last time I was here, it was only for, I think it was less than a month and I mostly was in Lisbon and Sintra and Cascais and didn't really explore too much of the country.  

Kristin:    00:16:47    So I wanted to come back, especially after getting so many questions from you guys, uh, about, you know, is Portugal a good place to live? And so I felt like I needed to really explore more of the country and do some more digging and kind of, yeah, see what all of the buzz is about. So that's why I decided to not just come to Lisbon, but to also go to Madeira, specifically because of the digital nomad village and the digital nomad community here. And also go to Porto and explore more of the northern part because I didn't go there before. So that's why I came here. And I definitely can see what people like about Portugal. I think, you know, the first thing you notice is the beautiful scenery and the weather. It's quite a moderate temperate climate. And I actually had too much winter clothes in my bag.  

Kristin:    00:17:40    I wish I brought more kind of springtime clothes because that's what it feels like here. So you've got, you know, in Lisbon you've got the waterfront, really the entire coast of Portugal. I mean, there's so many places to stay along the water so you're never too far from the water. So that's something I really like. Obviously in Madeira we're surrounded by water, uh, because we're out in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. Um, so I really love that. And I've talked about in recent, previous podcasts how I really like living places around water, whether that's Sydney, Australia, Vancouver, Canada, Amsterdam, uh, so that is really nice. Also, the sunshine, I mean, it's really sunny quite often compared to, let's say every time I go to Barcelona it seems like it's more cloudy and rainy. Maybe that's the time of year I was going there. But I really do like the sunshine and the climate in Portugal, although Spain obviously has a great climate as well.  

Kristin:    00:18:40    Cost of living is also a huge bonus. Like that definitely stands out. Maybe you won't experience as much of a change in your cost of living if you come from let's say a smaller town in middle America or even if you're from Europe and maybe the cost of living is pretty consistent or pretty similar throughout many parts of Europe. Um, in some cases your cost of living might go up. Like let's say that you're from South Africa or you are from Bolivia, your cost of living could be higher in Portugal than it would be in your home country. But if you're coming from like the US, Canada, Australia, um, New Zealand, you're definitely going to save money by moving to Portugal. I have a video on the cost of living in Lisbon that's coming out in a couple weeks. So that's gonna go into a lot of detail about the exact cost of living there.  

Kristin:    00:19:44    But I would say it's around a third or a fourth of the cost of living in Miami. And my cost of living in Miami is probably gonna be higher than your cost of living unless you're living in New York or California or somewhere like that. I also really like the time zone here. Being in the GMT, like London, England time zone is really nice. Me-- and the European time zone in general is nice because um, I feel like you get the whole day to yourself as far as if you want to do deep work, you know, and work on projects where you don't wanna be interrupted if you typically work in the US time zone. So let's say that you live in Los Angeles and you're always three hours behind New York time and like many hours behind uh, Asia and Europe, when you relocate into the European time zone, all of a sudden you can get your entire workday done before your remote coworkers state side or in Canada even wake up.  

Kristin:    00:20:52    And so of course this depends on what kind of job you have and if you need to clock in at all. But a lot of the people I've talked to really like that they can just work their entire day. And then if they need to do, let's say the Monday morning staff meeting or zoom meeting, that can come around at three, four or 5:00 PM in the afternoon here. And there's a really big difference between starting your day or starting your week sitting in meetings versus ending your day in meetings so it can be less intrusive and less, uh, interruptive to your workflow.  

Kristin:    00:21:27    I also really like not needing a car. Now definitely having a car is a bonus in Madeira because the public transportation isn't that good. But when you're in Europe and Portugal especially, I mean in Lisbon you've got any kind of transportation from bikes and scooters to the trolley. The metro Ubers and bolts are really cheap. So Bolt is like, I think it's throughout Europe and maybe multiple countries abroad. I think it's in Asia too, I have to check. But there's always different ride sharing apps in different countries that you go to. So in, in Portugal you have Uber, you have Bolt, it's only a couple euros to, to go one way through the city. So let's say two or three Euro, I never paid more than six or eight euro, whereas in Miami, like a minimum ride is gonna be $10 to $15 and like easily $20 to $30.  

Kristin:    00:22:22    So that's huge too. And of course you can walk a lot of places and take the bus and um, yeah, it's been really nice not needing a car. The food is also good, not necessarily the healthiest food. So I have been reminded that it's probably not the best idea to eat chocolate croissants every day. <laugh>. Um, a lot of people in Europe, you know, start their morning with coffee and some sort of bread or baked good, but you know, with the keto and paleo trends sweeping the globe, and that was certainly more of my lifestyle in Miami. Um, I have to remember that I'm not on vacation, this is my life and so maybe I don't wanna start my day with uh, with uh, bakery items. But in general, the food is really good and really affordable, uh, here in Portugal and you can get lots of fresh produce everywhere.  

Kristin:    00:23:15    There's these little like fruit to produce shops that you can just jump into and get some fruits and vegetables and um, there's also a lot of fresh fish. They eat a lot of pork here, but like pork and chicken, steak, it's all quite affordable. So yeah, my grocery bill has gone down a lot. Being here with the people, I think it's been hit and miss. Like it really depends on where you're going. I think people are people everywhere in the world and depending on where you are and what kind of day they're having, you can have a different interaction with them. I think the people are generally friendly, but the language barrier is a big challenge and I think it's up to each of us to learn the language and the places that we're going and not expect that everyone's going to speak a common language like English.  

Kristin:    00:24:14    And it's also particularly challenging for me, having spent so much time in Spanish speaking countries and being pretty fluent in Spanish, I feel spoiled because I can go to so many countries that speak the language and, and not have to change languages. But in Europe where people speak so many different languages, I really feel like it's important to learn Portuguese if you're going to be living here long term. As you know, you can't just expect everybody to speak English. And I think it's probably frustrating for the locals to have to speak English very often, especially if they're not in the mood to speak English that day. And so I definitely noticed in the more touristy areas of Lisbon that maybe people were just like not in the mood to speak English or they were less patient probably because they're inundated with so many tourists. So you've probably seen, you know, headlines about the increasing costs, um, of living and Lisbon, especially in the housing prices due to tourism.  

Kristin:    00:25:22    And I definitely perceived walking around through the center, a lot of local expats, uh, so people from other countries that are living there and then also a lot of tourists, um, but people from all different countries. Like in my neighborhood there was a really big population of people from Nepal, India, Bangladesh. So I'm not just talking about Western countries, but people from all over the world. And um, many of them I think spoke Portuguese, but it just, you know, it depends on how long you're there and if you're making that effort. But I do think that life would be easier here definitely if you learn Portuguese and it's really a hard language. Like I've been trying to learn some, some people have been trying to teach me and I find the pronunciation to be really difficult. And with the amount of traveling and stuff that I'm doing right now, I don't really have time to take language classes.  

Kristin:    00:26:24    But if I were to stay here long term or apply for a visa like the D7 visa or the Digital Nomad visa, I would definitely make an effort to learn Portuguese because I think it just would be easier even, you know, talking with locals or ordering stuff in a restaurant and just general communication. And I think it's, um, would be much appreciated by the locals as well, especially the ones that are maybe a little bit burnt out on having to switch back and forth between English and Portuguese. Another thing that I forgot about that I really don't like is how smoking is allowed everywhere in public places. I think being in the US you don't really notice how many people smoke because smoking is not allowed, but in Europe and depends where you go. But definitely in Portugal I've just noticed how many people smoke because so many people are smoking outside or in restaurants and bars and clubs and things like that.  

Kristin:    00:27:31    So that's been a bit of a challenge because I don't smoke, so I constantly feel like I'm smelling cigarette smoke everywhere and I, it's not really pleasant so I don't like that, but you know, it's manageable. And also moving around, it's important to rent a property in a place where you're going to feel at home. And one thing that I've remembered now being back in Europe is that I like to explore the old towns and the historic districts of different cities and countries. Like in Malta, when I lived there, I really loved going out to eat in Valletta. I loved walking through the streets there and checking out the view of the harbor, but I didn't wanna live in the old town because it can be pretty loud and a lot of the buildings, uh, don't have very good installation. It just depends on the construction and there's a lot of echo, especially in the streets if there's a lot of cobblestone streets or stone buildings.  

Kristin:    00:28:36    And in Lisbon I was staying in the Al Fama area, which is their old town as well. So there's a lot of, uh, traffic, a lot of trolleys, a lot of tourists, buses, and you know, a lot of activity because it's the center of a big city and especially in the old town, um, lots of narrow streets with lots of character, lots of hills, and it is really cool area to explore. And I loved my apartment, it was super comfortable and it had a really nice view, but I do do remember now, okay, long term I wanna live a little bit more on the outskirts of the city or near a park or in like a quieter place. So that has been, um, a reminder as well when you're looking for properties. I actually posted, I think it was on Instagram, maybe, uh, in my newsletter that I had booked my accommodation so quickly here in Madeira that I didn't even check the location that closely.  

Kristin:    00:29:37    And usually, I mean, I saw that it was located in the center of Funchal but usually I ask the landlord like, is there a construction site next door? Is there a bar or a restaurant in the building or across the street or is there a church or a school? Like anything where there's going to be a lot of noise during the day because I'm working from home, I wanna know about it. And I didn't ask. And I ended up in, in an apartment that had a pizza place below my bedroom window, a 24 hour diner across the street from my bedroom, a construction site, two construction sites on both sides of the building. And it was also on a super busy road with, uh, roundabout. And so there's a lot of traffic and like cars accelerating up the hill and buses. So it was pretty loud.  

Kristin:    00:30:27    But luckily, um, with the customer service with Flatio, I was able to change to another property for the same price. So it was no big deal, but it was also a reminder like, oh yes, always make sure to ask about that before you rent because you're not gonna see those things in the photos. And another nomad I met here from Belgium, he had a gym in his, uh, just downstairs from his apartment that he said the music is so loud that you can hear it throughout the neighborhood. And he also has a massive construction site next door. So just a reminder to check for that before you rent a property. In general, I feel a lot more at home in Madeira compared to Lisbon. It could be because I'm from Florida and kind of a small town and I, I like being, you know, right on the beach or right on the water.  

Kristin:    00:31:26    And I, I kind of prefer this environment compared to the big city life of Lisbon or even London or Paris. I kind of gravitate more to, you know, places like Bansko, Bulgaria, where it's a village and a mountain or here where it's an island. And so I definitely so far prefer the lifestyle in Madeira. It's such an outdoor active lifestyle where there's always people running and walking their dogs and jogging out in front of my building. I have an ocean view, I can walk to everything. And the weather is also amazing here. It's pretty cool cuz there's a lot of different micro climates, there's mountains, there's hills, there's beaches, there's forests. I went to a cloud forest over the weekend and there's this really nice seafront promenade where you can walk or run and we had a, a workout with other digital nomads on Saturday morning, so that was super fun as well.  

Kristin:    00:32:35    But if you've never been to Madeira, it's an a autonomous region of Portugal that is about a thousand kilometers southwest of Portugal. So we're just off the coast of Morocco and north of the Canary Islands and the Western Sahara, as I mentioned, it's super diverse. There's different parts of the island that remind me of different countries. So there's down in Funchal and São Martinho, it's more of business district shopping, district restaurants, quite the hustle and bustle of daily life. But then if you just drive 20 minutes away or 30 minutes up the hill, you get into more residential areas, you can get into the actual mountains where it goes from a sunny beach to all of a sudden clouds and fog and rain and cold and wearing a scarf and gloves. So it's pretty crazy that you can find those different microclimates, um, on the same place just because of the change in elevation.  

Kristin:    00:33:43    But the digital nomad community here is, I think it's unlike anything I've ever experienced before. And I've been to Bali, I've been to Barcelona, I've been to Bangkok, I've been to a lot of the digital nomad hubs. I've been to Chiang Mai, I've been to Bansko. But there's something different about Madeira and maybe it's because they have Startup Madeira here. They have the Digital Nomad Village, they have the Madeira Friends community, which is an international community that just is proactively inclusive of people from around the world that it's really hard to describe what the ambiance is like. I think the closest thing I could compare it to is living in a small college town where everyone goes to the same university but everyone's studying different things. So you have that one thing in common where you're all students at the same school, but you're studying different subjects and you're on different tracks in life.  

Kristin:    00:34:55    It's kind of like that here where you might see people that you know, but, and you're all from different places, right? You could be from different cities, different countries, all from around the world going to the same school. But in this scenario, we're not in school cuz we're all older. So it's people of all different ages, all different job descriptions and job titles instead of majors and studies and all different life paths. So the one thing that everyone has in common is that they work remotely or they have some sources of passive or automated income. And they came here because they want a good quality of life. They want to meet other interesting and like-minded people and they just want to enjoy life. So you might co-work during the day or work from home during the day. And then if you go out at night, you can meet other digital nomads who are all linked in this community through the Digital Nomad Village, through Madera Friends, through the different WhatsApp groups and Facebook groups that are here.  

Kristin:    00:36:06    And you could go to dinner with them, you can go for hikes together, you can go to different events. There is some sort of a yoga meditation, internal journey type of workshop going on. This week there was a a lunch meetup. So instead of in your hometown going to lunch with your coworkers, you're going to lunch with people that are working for different companies in different departments. Like some of them might be engineers, some of them might be in marketing <laugh>, some of them might be entrepreneurs. So you get like this really interesting mix of people almost like going to a conference, but where it's a conference with different, uh, industries present. And then you can also experience nightlife with these people, uh, go work out in the morning with them. I mean there's really so few places where you can have this experience where you kind of feel at home.  

Kristin:    00:37:06    Like as soon as you land here in Madeira, you have access to hundreds of people from around the world that are all living a similar lifestyle. And what some of the nomads have told me is that they almost feel like they're living in a parallel universe where I know that in general, nomads want to get more involved in the local community. And here in Madeira a lot of the nomads are Portuguese. And so, um, and you know, people are like hanging out with locals, dating locals, like there's definitely a lot of mixing, like a lot of crossover. But there's also this sense of living in this other remote universe where you're location independent and you can live here and interact with other people that have a similar lifestyle that are from different countries and different backgrounds and that want to meet you. Like when you meet somebody in your hometown, they might be busy that day, <laugh>, you know, like they're going about their day, they're at Starbucks having their daily routine and they're not in the head space to make a new friend.  

Kristin:    00:38:19    So everyone's kind of, you know, and they're in their work calls, they're on their phones, they're with their kids, like they're not really paying attention to strangers or interacting with strangers. Whereas in a digital nomad hub, everybody knows that there's other digital nomads around and, and when you talk to someone, they're completely open to having a conversation with you unless they're busy of course. But there's just like this general openness to meeting people and this awareness that the next person you meet could be a friend, could be a business partner, could be a romantic partner. And it's like everyone just has this open disposition to having a conversation with someone that they don't know. And that's not the case in normal life. And so that's what I mean by living in a parallel universe, uh, where it's like this group of people is aware that these other people are here, but if we were all in our hometowns in our home cities just meeting a stranger on the street, they would probably think it was weird if you just strike up a conversation with them and they'd kind of be like, okay, yeah, like I, I've gotta go, I've gotta run errands or whatever it is that they're doing that day.  

Kristin:    00:39:30    And so that is the cool thing about being here and also that kind of balance and quality of life where yes, you can work full-time, but you can also go hiking or take a surf lesson or this week they're having this art installation where they want people from around the world to come and be involved with the creation of this piece of art. And there is a co-working luncheon where you can RSVP and have lunch and it's kind of like a networking event. And then there's uh, Purple Fridays, which is at the Hotelest in Ponta do Sol, which is this explosion of energy like digital nomads. I think it was hundreds of people there when I went last Friday, all dancing under the moonlight on this cliff on the ocean with amazing DJs. And it's a completely different energy than you would get if you just go to a normal club.  

Kristin:    00:40:31    It's hard to explain, but it was just so much more positivity and and happiness, I guess you could say, like these people just kind of really living life to the fullest and really enjoying the moment and the energy and the people versus going out to the same bar that you go to every weekend where people are just kind of sitting around or whatever. And so there's this like extra enthusiasm for life, let's say, that is very infectious that everyone that I've met so far on the island seems to share. And even the locals, like, I think maybe it's because it's a more laid back island lifestyle, I've found that, you know, the people working at the supermarkets, the cafes, the restaurants, they're just kind of in a better mood than people in Lisbon because life is more stressful in a city, whether you're in New York or Tokyo or Frankfurt, compared to if you are living on the beach or if you're living in a village.  

Kristin:    00:41:36    There was also a wine and cheese tasting this week. I mean it's like anything that you wanna do, uh, you can do it here. So I'm definitely really happy that I made this transition and I'm really excited to bring you a lot more stories and content coming up this week. We have some new videos on my YouTube channel Traveling With Kristin on the Top 10 Places to Visit in 2023 according to Forbes. And also the Top 10 Things To Do In Amsterdam. And that was a video that I decided to make after seeing an interview with Anthony Bourdain where he was talking about how when you go to a place, you should think about what are the best things that that place does and what is, what are the unique things that you can find in that place that you won't necessarily find anywhere else.  

Kristin:    00:42:28    And then go do those things and experience those things. And so I went around the city and I tried to do the things that I think that the Dutch and specifically in Amsterdam that they're really good at. So that was a really fun video to make. Go check that out and add some things to your itinerary and to-do list for next time you go to Amsterdam. And then as I mentioned, there's a video coming up about The Cost of Living in Lisbon. That's an update for 2022, 2023 because the last cost of living video I did was in 2018. We also have a video coming out about Side hustles, Passive Income Side Hustles that you can do. And on the podcast we have lots of cool interviews coming up for the rest of the year. An interview with Joel and Michelle Hartz, who were travel bloggers who moved from Nashville to Bansko Bulgaria.  

Kristin:    00:43:20    Also an interview with Julia Kallweit, the co-founder of Wifi Tribe, who's currently based in Germany. Amy Scott, the host of Nomad Topia podcast, which is probably the first Digital Nomad podcast. And also Mark Wolters from the Wolters World YouTube channel, uh, with more than 1 million subscribers. So we are ending the year with a bang, and I'm so glad that you are here with me for the journey. Happy Thanksgiving this week if that is a holiday that you celebrate. And happy holidays in general as we enter this magical time of year. Thanks for hanging out with me today and see you again next week. Travel on.  

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