Heading back to Cascais

 8/6: We were sure to be at the amazing breakfast buffet when it opened at 0700, so we could eat a bit before heading to the airport at 0730.

We made it to Lisbon no problem, and got a Bolt to Paulo's house. He had waited for us to have lunch, and it was wonderful to enjoy a delicious, home cooked meal of pork, rice, and beans together (his cook comes 3 times/week). We enjoyed the afternoon at the pool, and I was able to chat a bit with Paula (his ex-wife). That night, Quinn and Simone went out for pizza with Cecilia, Fran, and Paula, while Paulo, Bob, and I went to the beach briefly (too windy for fresco ball). We made a quick stop at the grocery store (we joked with Paulo that it’s our second home!) and went back to Paulo's patio to enjoy some wine and snacks.

8/7: our last favorite morning routine of a HIIT on Paulo's patio followed by a jump in the pool. Lunch together followed by Bob and me talking with Paulo's neighbor, Mark, about our visa process (we *just* found out that we were approved - after so so many requests for updates over the past 2 months).

This visa process has been a wild, workout of a ride. To say sthat Bob has spent SO much time and effort into figuring out this visa is an incredible understatement. It is something he has tirelessly worked on for the past 9 months. But the constant uncertainty and disappointing communication from the Portuguese consulate has required us to plan our travels as if we would NOT get our visa (so we have scheduled to be out of the Schengen region for about 6 weeks, which we wouldn’t have done if we would’ve had an answer about our visa).

Also, when we first met Mark at Paulo's during our first visit 2 weeks prior, he had made a few beneficial comments about the visa process that showed Bob and me that we’d like to talk with him in greater depth. Now that we’d been approved, we were glad to get the chance to speak with him about the intricacies of the visa process.

What we learned from him included a lot more details that we didn’t know before, including that we had to mail our passports to San Francisco from a US address and not from London like we had originally planned. Another major piece were the two in person meetings that would be required of us with the Portuguese government: one to finish the beginning of the visa process, and one at the end of our stay to unwind/end our stay in Portugal. The biggest thing to consider, though, were the taxes. Both the US and Portugal would want us to pay taxes, and there are so many question marks surrounding that major issue. In the end, our biggest frustration is with our Portuguese attorney. She did not provide the guidance that one would expect from a paid expert. We likely would have been better off applying for a ‘digital nomad’ visa.

Bob and I haven’t even had a chance to fully debrief about this yet, but I think we have decided to not go through with the visa. There are many emotions that are swirling in our heads: frustration, anger, annoyance, sadness…after trying so hard for so long, to finally have a ‘yes’ from the Portuguese government, but now that we know more information to make the decision to not go through with it….it's pretty frustrating. But on the other hand, we’re so glad to have met Mark and gained so much wisdom from him - without that, I bet we would’ve continued on with the process, with minimal gain and probable enormous continued frustration (with dealing with governments and taxes)

Throughout our travel planning, I feel like we have continued to make great decisions with the information we had at the time. During our first stay with Paulo, Bob and I made the change to travel to Amsterdam after Madeira instead of staying at Paulo’s again for another 10 nights. Our visa decision was unknown, and we needed to maximize our Schengen days, especially before the kids started school. So we decided to stay with Paulo for 2 nights after Madeira and then go to Amsterdam for 8 nights.

Now that we have all the information we need to make our final visa decision, I’m extra thankful we’re headed to another new adventure in Amsterdam tomorrow! What is still uncertain is our trip planning after our time in the UK….TBD!

After that conversation 😔 Bob and I went to the pool with all 4 kids and enjoyed our last afternoon at the pool. We packed up our things, and went to the grocery store to buy fresh baguettes for our beloved ham and cheese sandwiches for our long travel day tomorrow. We wrapped up our final night in Cascais by heading downtown to one of Paulo's favorite seaside places for a drink and a bite.

Espresso martini (shaved cinnamon on top:-)