Hello there.

I’ve stepped back, needing to drop goals and exchange them for a better continuity centering around the commonality of peace and calm. So much has happened in the world news—-breaking promises of objectivity, rationale, and wellness.

These past months, I’ve pondered time in my new culture. I’m certain a second passport is in the near horizon.

I’d like to share more of my thoughts:
More and more tourists, plus exploring Americans, continue seeking a possible home. Streets, restaurants, museums, and trains are quite crowded, because Portugal continues to be welcoming, safe, and affordable. And English, widely spoken by the Portuguese, eliminates nervous Americans from butchering a foreign language.

Surprise! There’s no longer a high and low tourist season. Airlines and hotels bargain on this fact, playing to overwhelming masses, leaving hard footprints on the ecological beauty and serenity of places like Rome, Nice, Florence, Barcelona, Madrid, Amsterdam, Brussels, Paris, Maiorca, Canary Islands, Venice. . . I don’t blame anyone wanting to see more other than their backyard. I just wonder how cities hosting millions of visitors each year can endure?  Alert: Time Limit Passes are in the works, scheduling and limiting the number of visitors during a week and a month.

I’m also seeing a shift in housing and food costs. This is an eye-opener, from six years ago when first embarking on this journey. Supply and demand is creeping up costs. Portugal and Spain aren’t dirt cheap, yet in hindsight, far less than Los Angeles, Seattle, Palm Springs, New York, Portland, Miami, San Francisco, Chicago, Paris, or London.

It’s still easy building a community of friends, not just from the States, but from England, Portugal, Spain, France, Italy, Brazil, and Canada (so far). The binding threads weave a coexistence of a mutual exchange of ideas. We all know the score, particularly from the US—shifting more from what was at home. Huge smiles beam at controlled gun laws, free-to-low-cost, excellent health care, and living without much of the unsatisfying movements known and endured.

I’ve often said of Europe, there is NO, and I repeat, THERE IS NO UTOPIA.  Each country has its set of ill-fated problems. Yet, I found the visa process easy in Portugal, a country on track for 85% renewable energy, housing mandates prohibiting landlords from unreasonable rent hikes, and international tech companies offering competitive wok and tax incentives (nomad visas).

The patchwork of different cultures makes for a treasured painting, travels (not as a bubbly tourist, but as a European adventurer), and a soon-to-be new home by the ocean, all gives me a smile at this point in my life. As a writer and observer, I take short breaths. I’ve come to the conclusion wars are always raging somewhere, and divisiveness in U.S. politics could gobble democracy, and global warming is real. Whatever joys tourists seek, or dreams Americans pursue for a new home, it’s their choice. Tomorrows aren’t promised. Smiles are for today.