Touchdown!

Our visas have been approved (oops, I neglected to post about that!), many of our belongings have been shipped, and the rest are pictured above.

The second part of one of our most important Two Steps is done. We are back in Portugal for good! I’ve laughed in delight (cackled, really) several times, and Paula and I have whispered celebratory words to each other.

Our round-trip flights from Portugal to Austin and back to Portugal were almost trouble-free. No flights were canceled, no baggage was lost, and no one is sick. Given that the round trip required 6 planes, almost missing one plane, another very short layover, and an overly warm Paris airport, I’m very grateful.

In one of our expat groups, people often post their arrival photos, showing all their luggage. I did not get a pretty one, but you can see what we brought over the second time above. We are at the metro station at the airport. We managed to get on the metro easily enough but getting off required the help of some friendly Portuguese. Luckily, I know the words to say “excuse me (please let me pass) and “thank you”, which helped a lot.

Thanks for reading!