The morning my son corrected my Portuguese at the bakery, I was embarrassed for about four seconds. Then I realized he was translating for me. That's when I knew we'd made it.
Portia, Coimbra · single mom
Community
Your people are already here.
The fastest way to feel at home is other women who did the hard part first. Join the room, read the stories, and come to dinner when you land.
Free to join
The Portia In Portugal Community.
Women building a life in Portugal, or getting ready to. Introductions, honest questions, wins big and small, a "Facts, Not Fear" room for the scary headlines, and a four-week challenge called Preparation Starts Today. Nobody does this alone.
Come as you are, ready or not.
Join the community, free
Education and peer support, not legal advice. Want more? The Landing Room adds monthly live Q&A and member-only rooms.
Membership
The Landing Room
For the months when you have a question every week. My restaurant and city guides stay free on Google. This is the part I can't publish.
- A live question session with me every month
- The document vault, updated when the rules move
- My vendor list: names, what I paid, and who to avoid
- Neighborhood breakdowns: rents, noise, the hill, the schools
- The member group, so you're not doing this alone at 2am
$97per month · cancel any time
Opening soon: join the waitlist$97 a month, or $997 a year
Real stories
Told straight, by the women living it.
The good days and the hard ones. Every story is read by me before it appears here, and nobody is paid to write one.
Nobody tells you how long it takes to find your people. It took me longer than I hoped. So I started a pickleball club and a supper club, and invited everyone.
Portia, Coimbra · moving solo
I walked my sister, my nephew, my aunts and my parents through residency before I helped a single client. Every checklist I sell came from those kitchen-table nights.
Portia, Coimbra · sandwich generation
Your turn
Share your story. Someone needs to read it.
Moved already? In the middle of it? Still deciding? Tell us one true thing: the best day, the hardest day, or what you wish someone had told you.
We'll only publish your first name, your city, and your story, and only after Portia has read it. Your email stays private.
In Coimbra
Rooted, not just resident.
When I introduce you to someone in this city, it's someone I actually know.
Coimbra Pickleball Club
I founded it because I needed a reason to see the same people every week. Already here? Write to us and we'll add you to the group.
Add me to the groupSip & Soul
The supper club. Good food, good wine, and the kind of conversation that only happens when nobody's in a hurry.
Ask about the next dinnerMy city guides
I review restaurants across Portugal as a Google local guide, and I say when they're not worth it. Free, and they stay free.
Read the food lettersComing soon
Spend a working week with a few other families.
The retreat isn't open yet. When it is: six rooms, not twenty-five. Bank accounts opened, apartments seen, schools visited, and dinners where the most useful conversations happen.
Join the waitlist
Support, right now
Some days are heavier than paperwork. Reach out.
Moving, losing a job, caring for parents, raising kids alone: it can all pile up. If you are struggling, thinking about suicide, or worried about someone else, talk to a person today. These lines are free and confidential.
You don't have to be in immediate danger to call. And you don't have to carry it alone.
United States
Call or text 988
988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. Free, 24/7, call or text from a US number, or chat online. Emergency: 911.
Portugal
Call 1411
Linha Nacional de Prevenção do Suicídio e Apoio Psicológico. Free, confidential, 24/7, answered by psychologists and mental health nurses. Also: SNS 24 808 24 24 24, SOS Voz Amiga 213 544 545. Emergency: 112.
Anywhere else
Find a free line near you
Call your local emergency number, or find a free helpline in your country at findahelpline.com.
The Sunday letter
A long letter from Coimbra, every Sunday.
What the move actually costs, what I got wrong, the restaurant worth the train ride, and the paperwork that changed this month. Free, honest, and written by me.
~ Portia