Very interesting and informative. Love your honesty 😮I would of been sooooooo stressed about the passports 🤣🤣🤣🤣 Glad you got them 🛂

Hi Kirsten…..it’s always great to hear your insights and I value your perspectives. I’m still scouting Portugal
having been all over north to south and east to west. This would be quite an undertaking for me as I’m much older than you and doing this on my own. I’m having a great time though and meeting so many wonderful people. Love your videos. Take care, Jill

Kirsten, as a fellow San Diegan, I am following your videos and appreciate your critical thinking. I am not sure there are so many more countries that we can live in affordably and safely, including rents/healthcare, I have only come up with Thailand and Portugal as realistic options. I am planning on retiring in Portugal in June 2024 and am visiting next month to check it out again. I don't want to live in Lisbon/Porto, or any big city, and plan on making most of my meals, but the hype is making me nervous, as I saw what has happened to San Diego and Costa Rica. If I can't afford it then, I will continue to work on a flexible schedule part-time here in San Diego to pay the rent lol and travel. As a nurse, I know you can do the same, so perhaps San Diego will be in your future again. ; )

I love your candor thanks so much for being so honest about the experience..

Thank you for sharing your thoughts with us and I understand what you mean. It's ok to pivot to new beginnings.

The wonderful aspect of freedom and liberation is that the only person/place/thing you need to be committed to is each other. Your passport is there to utilize it to your hearts content. That's what you're doing. You're spending quality time in various Countries looking for "home". What a fun adventure loaded with amazing experiences in the interim.
Please share more about the safety/ security of Thailand as well as the quality of food. 🙏

I think you made a great point. Almost everything is overpriced, and I had the feeling that I needed to deal with a lot of scammers to do something. I do not want to be someone else's lottery ticket. So, I think you are on a right path.

I really appreciate your honesty and am happy that you and your husband have found some very positive aspects about your new home in Bangkok!

My wife and I recently moved back to the U.S. from Lisbon. After a year there I was pretty much fluent again with my Portuguese, this after having lived in Brazil when younger.

It’s funny…my wife and I had so many positive expectations and especially I was heartbroken when we decided to return…a decision that was made after having been burned badly with apartment rentals (crazy high lease prepayments and unreasonable cleaning and repairs refusals-in the end, nothing less than 12 months of lease prepayments required) and finally on the legalization of our car (the agency left us in the lurch with an auto shop and went silent in communicating with us-we lost 2400 euros on that one).

Especially sad that we gave it our best to integrate, and felt very comfortable with those in the community, but it was the “money” people that ruined the experience.

We’ve realized that all was a part of the gentrification of Lisbon and that those that have been burned the most are the local commoners and many if not most of them can’t just move away. We foreigners have certainly done a number on them, along with the greedy property owners.

In the end, we’re back home and settled again in the U.S, and have definitely learned from the experience.

Hi Kirsten, as always… enjoyed your video. I was in Portugal last month and In Bangkok now.
I have a hard time comparing the two.
Both wonderful and both can be enjoyed on a
more budget friendly
way. That being said… Bangkok is a bit too crowded and hot for me, but I love Thailand overall

Let's see how long you'll last in Thailand! I'm gonna keep seeing your guys' content!🤩

What kind of Thai visa did you arrange? I’ve heard that’s tricky and changes often.

Thanks for sharing your perspective. Much appreciated. I do have a couple questions though. You mentioned a couple reasons why you thought Portugal was not for you (and I assume there are probably more reasons). 1) You said that you didn't want to take the chance of your rent going up in two yrs (you did one yr out of the 3yr lease), but you still had two years to decide, no? I assume you were paying a rent that was satisfactory and affordable to you, but you didn't want to pay an increase in two years. So that wasn't an immediate situation. And 2) you talked about having to make compromises (which is not good for anyone, I get it), but the example you gave (I think it was climate control/heat/ac) is a compromise other people had to make, or so they told you. But you said that didn't affect you as you had a climate control home, so not really an immediate reason to move I would think. You had those things. So I guess my question is more of a statement – it seems like a lot of what ifs/it's happening to other people, and not really anything specific or concrete that affected you directly. But like I said earlier, maybe there are other reasons that you haven't shared. I'll continue to tune in and maybe they will be revealed, and if not, that's ok too. Thanks again a sharing, and cheers to new starts and new adventures.

Hello Kirsten! Just wondering if you have found the people in Bangkok to be friendly. Is it easy to make friends or find other US expats? Thailand sounds awesome!

Thank you for your video and your clarity in your explanation regarding your decision to move to another country.
In 2018 I went to Portugal on a Conference organised by International Living.
The Conference was great and very professional. However,when we went on a Real Estate viewing day,I must admit that I was not terribly impressed with what was shown to us. Perhaps they were concentrating on the cheaper end of the market,I don’t know. This May I was in Spain for two weeks and I can tell you that you get much better value for your bucks in this country as opposed to Portugal,in my view.
Check the multitude of options on the Internet and much more affordable than Portugal.

Everyone is different therefore Portugal is not for everybody. The reason the prices for housing have gone up is because there is huge demand, especially for Lisbon. The compromises you needed to make in Portugal was because of your economic situation. You can get temperature control in homes in Portugal, you just have to pay for it, you can get homes with insulation, you just have to pay for it, you can have a wide variety of world class cuisine in Lisbon, you just have to pay for it. Just about everything I have in California, I can get in Portugal for a price. You are not willing to pay the price so you decided to move to Bangkok where the average temperature is 90 degrees and average humidity is 80% year round; that is totally acceptable if that works for you. I'm not sure how crime and health care is in Bangkok but if it it works for you then congratulations on your move.

VERY happy to learn about Bangkok through Kirsten and Mark’s adventures. I have been watching Bangkok condo tours lately and the dollar seems to go relatively far there. Bangkok checks off some boxes. Affordable✅ Good food✅ Waiting to learn more to see what else it has to offer.

Always very nerve racking handing over you passport. Glad you are enjoying Bangkok. Greetings from Portugal ~Luise~ 🇬🇧🇵🇹

1) People have different tastes and preferences. Now that I see the type of urbanism and food that you enjoy, it's perfectly obvious to me that Portugal is not for you.

2) People talk a lot about the rising prices of Portuguese (meaning Lisbon, Porto, Algarve) real estate but, in my opinion, that is not as true as it seems:

a) if you check the real estate sites daily for a couple months, you'll see that the expensive options sit there unsold for ages (for ever?). The owners keep taking them down and putting them up again so that they appear as "newly uploaded", but even then, they rarely sell. The ones that sell are the reasonably priced ones

b) there is a small but steady flow of reasonably priced options; nice apartments sometimes even with some great views (I'm actually in the process of buying one myself) but they tend not to be in the areas that expats focus on – which oddly are areas that the Portuguese themselves don't really like. You do need to be very familiar with Lisbon (in my case) to find the reasonable options though

c) yes, it is true that rent prices in Lisbon/Porto/Algarve make little sense. Traditionally, Portugal has a very small rental market, as most Portuguese buy their own homes. There are historical reasons for that, but it would require a very long text to explain the causes. My advice: buy, don't rent (unless you want to live in the countryside)
d) if you consider living outside Lisbon / Porto / Algarve you can find some great houses/apartments at very low prices.

I have seen your videos and I think you will find something against Thailand in a few weeks. I really do not get what you're searching for? But maybe I am the only one … sorry, my 2 cts.

Hi Kirstin, I writ occasionally. I appreciate your perspective and understand what you are expressing in terms of what you are seeking. It appears that my comments are sometimes misunderstood so I am clarifying that I admire what you are doing and wish you great success. I am still subscribed even though I am focused on Portugal right now. Keep Going!

Kirsten, congrats on the move. I hope at some point you could do a video on why you and Mark chose Bangkok versus another area like Phuket. I’m assuming proximity to stores, restaurants, transportation but would love to see some vlogs on other areas you plan to see. Thailand is definitely a place I’d like to visit.

Thanks Kirsten for sharing; your content is always good!

Great video. I’m in kind of deep in the people who’ve moved to Portugal and those making the move. Many are so set on finding their forever home in Portugal, that they can’t understand that for some of us, it’s just 1 possibility, and maybe not forever. I appreciate that Portugal is there dream, and they probably planned to live there for decades. Especially, Brits. Coming from California, I think we’re a lot more critical because of our experience. I’m in Oakland, so there’s no aircon, but I may have other nonnegotiables. I’ll finally have my 1st trip to Portugal in June.
It’s not lost on me that we’re pretty privileged to be in the position to consider living in another country. It’s crazy because we’re fleeing the high prices, and for me, I also want a more neighborly environment.

I do not like big cities or real bad humidity like FL….so I don't think I could take Bangkok, although I love Thai food….it is my favorite….maybe besides pizza….lol

Most decisions are economic and can be understood in those terms. I'm assuming Bangkok is much cheaper. If there were budget stresses in Portugal then moving somewhere cheaper removes the stressor. So maybe not so much about the place and the other reasons are mute.

Appreciate your perspective and willingness to share your opinion. Like you, I came from San Diego, and I wonder if that has a lot to do with some of the let down that can be experienced in Portugal. San Diego is fantastic, but as you know the killer is the cost of living for a early retiree there. Many people will say Portugal has a similar climate as Southern California but as we head into the early winter months my apartment is much colder than in SD and it’s a newly refurbished apartment. Plus I’m still struggling with the food or lack of good options which I believe you did as well. Anyways, keep posting your vids. I love them and your perspective. Be well and safe!

I'm tracking your experience. I understand your perspective but the political realities of a country are much more important to me than getting a heater or dehumidifier. I certainly don't want to live anywhere with mold. I get it. But, I don't want to live in a non-democratic system. I want a clear path the residency and citizenship as do many expats. So, each of us have our priorities. I think it is important to be able to speak and read the language as well.

I really appreciate your perspective on living abroad. Many of your concerns really hit home with me… Looking forward to seeing more of your exploration.