Dear friends, dear family, dear readers
As I write these first few lines, I keep looking through the glass door and catching a glimpse of the rooftops of Sintra's beautiful old town. We haven't even been here for a week yet, and yet somehow we already feel "settled".
But let me start from the very beginning. For those of you who don't know us yet; we are Liam (our soon-to-be 4-year-old son), René (my husband) and Rahel (me). René and I have traveled together to almost 30 countries and we also want to give our son the opportunity to discover many different countries and cultures. We therefore decided last summer to postpone Liam's start at kindergarten by one year and spend time abroad together.
So that we can continue to work, we will each spend a longer period of time in one place. This way we can establish a daily routine and hopefully make new friends.
Our plan for the next 12 months currently looks like this:
From April to June we will spend our time in Sintra, Portugal.
In July we will spend our time in Porto, Portugal.
After that we will allow ourselves 2-3 weeks for the return journey to Switzerland.
At the end of August the journey will continue towards Asia - but we have not yet finalized the exact destination. :) The only thing that is certain is that we will probably be back home for around a month in December.
At the end of December we will then fly towards South Africa. Currently we plan to spend three months there. We have not yet decided whether we will continue traveling afterwards.
But back to the present: We have now been here in Portugal since April 2nd. We have a furnished apartment in the old town of Sintra with a beautiful view of the Jardim Correnteza. The weather has been almost summer-like so far, although the morning hours still feel cool and damp. Generally, Sintra has a special microclimate and the humidity is rather high.
Liam's school is a pleasant 10-minute walk away. René's and my workplace - a co-working space above the Palácio Nacional - is another 10 minutes uphill. So far everything is easily accessible on foot for us - even if it rarely goes straight. Because Sintra is built into the middle of the hilly landscape and is located at the foot of the Serra de Sintra. Accordingly, most paths lead either uphill or downhill.
Our first few days here were intense and overwhelming - but at the same time beautiful. Liam has already found a new friend, even though neither of them speaks the other's language. We are incredibly proud of him for how openly and joyfully he has started this adventure.
René and I have also already found our footing and have already had the opportunity to meet wonderful people. I will gladly tell you a little more about our situation here in Sintra in one of the next posts.
The last few months were very challenging for all of us: there was a lot to plan, organize or finalize. And suddenly we are here - a pretty abrupt change to a new daily routine. It will probably take a while until we are really completely settled. Nevertheless, it already feels like much longer than just a good week that we have spent here.
But one thing is certain: we look forward to everything that comes!
Until then we wish you all a nice week & see you soon,
Rahel
written on April 7, 2023
