About the Author
How does an American family end up in Portugal? I always love to hear the reasons why others choose a much different path than all of their peers and family. How did I get here as the mom of this crew?
I’m Leslie, and I grew up in Colorado in one of the most suburban neighborhoods in the country. I loved everything about it, as did my parents, from the community rec-centers, the library and holiday events, the huge schools and even the HOA! Every house looks the same, even now, and it’s beautiful in its own way. To imagine that contrasted against the winding streets, graffiti laden buildings, and the historical monuments in which I now live makes me laugh.
When Chris and I met, we quickly moved to Colorado to raise our family. Four of our five children were born there, and my parents were a quick walk down the street. We started our business and have worked from home since 2009. I literally thought we would NEVER leave. We had no reason to! Everything I loved and wanted was now mine to enjoy, and a job relocation wasn’t going to steal us away.
Leslie Stroud – Blog Author
Changing Scenery
In 2015, that all changed. Through business challenges and divine inspiration, it became clear we were to move to Utah. Chris took an intense position with an amazing company and grew it exponentially. While only an 8 hour drive away, it was extremely painful to leave the life I planned to have forever. I left dear friends, my parents (I’m the only child), our home, and many dreams I had for the rest of my life.
We had some wonderful experiences in Utah and brought our fifth and final child into the world, but eventually our time wrapped up 2.5 years later. By this time, we’d been brewing on the idea that perhaps the world was a bit bigger than just my bubble in Colorado and it was time to explore more possibilities. We knew we had the incredible freedom to work from anywhere with internet, so why stay so small?
Through much prayer and pondering, we felt we needed to do something extreme: we sold our cars, sold most of our furniture, packed up the rest, sold our home and left. We left with suitcases in hand and plans to live 6 months in different places around the US to see what our life would look like there.
We explored Oregon, California, and Hawaii and learned that the freedom of a digital nomad life was far more intoxicating than we had anticipated. Full-time family travel, as it is coined, has many challenges, but incredible opportunities.
Going International
After our first 6 months as a travel family, we opted for Christmas in Bali. This spurred us to spend the next 7 months in Asia, 6 months in Europe, and 7 months in New Zealand (thanks to Covid). We visited Portugal during our time in Europe and had some spiritual and confirming experiences there that planted the seed that perhaps we would live there.
Through our travels, I quickly felt the lack of a second language and yearned deeply for the experience of learning one. Chris served a Christian mission in Brazil and already spoke Portuguese, which helped as well. I knew I wanted to give our children the chance to master another language. Even if they don’t use Portuguese in their futures, I know Portuguese will help with any language they want to master in their futures.
Eventually the idea of Portugal as our new home took root as we decided, even before Covid, to announce to our friends and family (and social media) that we would end up there. Covid de-railed us for a year, but we landed, visas in hand, in August 2021.
As a family, we are adventurous (45+ countries later) and willing to take on new things. Taking on expat life has brought unique challenges that we never could have imagined. It’s also brought such joy and growth that I am forever grateful for the experiences we have.
Mothering children through a transition like this has stretched me in new ways, and I’m feeling like we can all finally take deep breaths and relax after two years. I’ve been taking notes, blundering along the way, often learning from other expats that are WAY more prepared than myself. My personality is more to wing-it and figure it out, but now I want to share what this life is really like (from my perspective).
In my little research, I found a big lack of info, especially for Americans, on what this kind of move entails. While I found helpful articles from British expats, we have some unique differences as Americans that leave questions unanswered… like healthcare, certain commodities, etc.
As you peruse this blog…
Keep a few things in mind:
- This is only my (and my family’s) perspective. We are unique, just like you are unique, and have unique backgrounds and experiences coming into this move. Some of our previous experience may have prepared us in ways that other families won’t be prepared.
- My experience won’t be yours. My singular view is not representative of Portugal, Portuguese people, nor how your experience will go. I know this, and I hope you do too! However, I would have appreciated ANY perspective before we came, and I didn’t have anyone to ask the thousands of questions I had. I relied on God to lead the way (which I also recommend!), and we worked it out along the way.
- It’s extremely likely that I will offend people with my experiences. Just like an expat in America trying to represent Americans and doing it wholly wrong, I make mistakes and may not do this correctly. My goal is to help other Americans in their journey to find an alternative life to the one they are leading. I promise to do my best in representing all sides.
- Finally, we always love making new friends! Connect with me. This, more than anything else, drives me to use countless hours to put this info in a digestible format for others to use.
Blog Posts
Welcome to your daily dose of inspiration! Our lifestyle blog covers wellness tips, travel adventures, and creative ideas for a more fulfilling life in Portugal.
