This week we spent some time sightseeing around Lisbon (day 313) in the hopes of not feeling like we missed anything important when we leave. I also spent a ridiculous amount of time researching our car purchase when returning to CO. JC and I had more fun at Time Out Market (days 315 and 316).

Travel Log: Day 311 (5/4), Portugal

I spent some time looking into converting the 401k to an IRA. The lack of information on both the Schwab side and the 401k company side make me nervous. I at least settled on directly rolling the 401k into a Schwab IRA though rather than doing the intermediate step of converting it to an IRA with the same company hosting the 401k. Ultimately I don’t want to mess with it while I’m out of the country though.

I also started looking around at available Corolla Hybrids in the Denver area, and found almost none available on any lots. I’m hoping we’re not going to have a several week process of finding a car when we get back.

Worked on a good amount of Spanish, between Duo and Dreaming and some youtube videos.

Aside from going on two walks I didn’t leave the condo. JC and I were both feeling restless today, and I felt really bored today. Probably it’s just the letdown of the start of the week after a weekend that was more fun than usual.

Travel Log: Day 312 (5/5), Portugal

Regular school day and language learning. JC and I made a trip to the grocery store. We went and got BC’s hair cut just up the block and it was a really good cut for 5 euros and a 2 euro tip. In the evening we celebrated cinco de mayo, more or less looking for a reason to break up the monotony around here. We had some drinks, and chips and salsa.

Travel Log: Day 313 (5/6), Portugal

Today we took a field trip to some sites around Lisbon. We started off at the original maker of pastel de nata, Pastéis de Belém. They actually call the pastry a Pastéis de Belém. It was really good, best one we’ve had yet. The line was really long but this place runs like a machine and we had our pastries in less than ten minutes.

After that, we went to this old church that was built in the 1500s. It’s crazy to think of this existing for at least 200 years before the USA formed.

From there we went to a UNESCO heritage site called Torre de Belém, which is a medieval fortified tower that served various functions (lighthouse, defense, etc).

Next up was the Santuário de Cristo Rei, a big Jesus statue near the bridge which looks like the Golden Gate Bridge.

We ate lunch at the cafeteria at the Jesus statue, and then took a Bolt back home.

Later in the evening JC and I went for a walk.

Travel Log: Day 314 (5/7), Portugal

JC and I got in some non-weight workout rounds today. I am still sore from the three rounds I did on Tuesday, which is a pathetic demonstration of how out of shape I have become in just four weeks. I’m trying to get this initial soreness out of the way to adjust better to having a gym again in Spain.

Through the day I worked on documenting the expat cost of living for Portugal.

In the afternoon we all went to the grocery store to get food and also FAC stuff for tomorrow. JC and I went on a separate walk later in the evening.

Travel Log: Day 315 (5/8), Portugal

First thing this morning I got in most of my Spanish practice. JC and I did workout rounds during the morning as well.

JC and I made a trip to Humana to see what clothes we could find for us and/or the kids. We found BC one shirt, but nothing else. The selection was far worse all around this time, unless you have a kid under 9, who’s clothes they seemed to have a lot of.

In the afternoon JC and I decided to go to pink street and try a bar there. We followed a bachelor party into a bar just for fun. After seeing it was going to take probably 30 minutes to get drinks, we left. It was a little rainy so we went to our default of Time Out Market which is right in that same area. This was the first time that it was a bust.

We sat by two Russian girls that looked pretty rough like they’ve lived through some shit in life. They also weren’t very talkative. We moved after that and didn’t have any better luck. There were a couple old ladies that we briefly chatted to while walking around trying to find a seat, and we wanted to sit by them because they seemed fun. Nothing opened up by them though.

We watched “Never Been Kissed” for JC’s movie pick. Some of these 90s movies don’t age very well. It was still good, but I wanted to tackle the teacher at the end going out to the mound to kiss his former student. He needed to take the L and move on, because there’s no way for that to look good. It won’t go over well that “My girlfriend is 23 oh yeah she was my student in high school last week and I thought she was 17”.

Another recent movie we watched like this was “The Wedding Planner”, where everyone is supposed to be cool with Matthew McConaughey cheating on his fiancé. With both of these movies, those things never registered when I watched them back in the day. Not sure if that’s a product of society at the time, or just me not thinking very deeply about them.

Travel Log: Day 316 (5/9), Portugal

Today we walked some, and I did more research on cars. Later in the day I submitted a configured Corolla to a Toyota dealer near our house in CO, and got a pretty fast response. The internet sales guy apparently either didn’t read the info I submitted or didn’t have it, because the conversation started from ground zero. I ended up calling him and talking to him for a bit.

Basically they have just one Corolla on their lot right now, a gas powered SE in blue. They have no Rav4 in stock, but have one allocated to them and still available to buy, arriving 7/17. It’s the perfect Rav4 for what we want, just the base LE trim in AWD. I messaged him about that one asking if we put a deposit, and hate it in the test drive, can we move that deposit to another car at the dealership. I never heard back from him.

JC and I went to Time Out Market again. It was fun, we talked to this older couple from Australia. They met while they were traveling in Europe forty years ago, and they are back out traveling via a much different lifestyle all of these years later. I really liked the guy because he reminded me of an uncle of mine.

Travel Log: Day 317 (5/10), Portugal

We went for a family walk this morning but it got cut short by rain. On our way back home we decided to go eat pastries at Pastelaria. We always walk past it on the way to the grocery store. The decision to go here was a huge mistake. Weeks ago when we walked by that place we got heckled by a smartass person who worked there. He asked us to come in, we said no thanks, and he said “be happy, you’re on vacation”. He was our server today and was even more in need of a beat down.

After giving all of us shitty nicknames, like Michael Jackson for BC (why?), and giving me shit for asking if a certain thing was tiramisu, he got our stuff and brought it to the table. The table seemed to be non-negotiable even though we planned to order stuff and leave. At the end AC had some chocolate dessert left, and he boxed it and brought it over. However, right on brand for him, he played keep away from AC for way too long. It’s a sign it’s time to get the fuck out of here. That and the fact that we see even more anti-tourism banners today.

The rest of the day I just pondered car options. I discovered a good financial option possibly. Getting a base 2026 leaf costs about 31.5K, and CO gives a $3,250 tax credit as long as the MSRP is under $35K. We would get a really nice EV, and also go from owing taxes for our Roth conversion, to getting an overall refund.