Joyce Luckie wasn’t certain what she wished from life after full time work. As her retirement drew nearer, the long-time trainer and faculty district government stored coming again to her dream of touring the world—however it didn’t appear possible with out her full wage. However Luckie, now 59, discovered a doable answer when a cousin’s daughter advised Luckie that she was planning to maneuver to Portugal for a yr.
Intrigued, Luckie began researching what it might take to pack up and transfer overseas. All issues thought-about, it wasn’t that onerous—if she was keen to surrender a couple of issues.
Probably the most tough: Her dwelling of 15 years in Phoenix, Arizona, which she had lately transformed.
“My granddaughter stated, ‘Nana, your home is precisely the best way you need it and also you’re leaving?’ It was lots of feelings,” says Luckie. “However I stated the one factor we are able to’t get sufficient of is time. And it’s time for me to go and see the world.”
Luckie put her dwelling available on the market in Could of final yr; it bought in lower than two weeks. She gave a few of her belongings to household and pals and gave the remainder to the girl who purchased her home. Just a few weeks later, she packed for a month-long journey to Portugal to get a really feel for various cities she may wish to dwell in.
Luckie is used to “leaping into issues,” she says, together with shifting. All through her life, she’s lived in Chicago, San Diego, Austin, Charleston, and Phoenix, amongst different cities. So the considered a brand new location didn’t scare her, and after visiting Portugal, Luckie determined she appreciated it sufficient to make the leap. She got here again to Phoenix, traveled to San Francisco for her visa, and three days later she left for Europe. She thought she’d give it a yr; with these first 12 months now behind her, she’s extending her keep at the least one other 12.
Luckie acknowledges that saying goodbye to her dwelling, household, and pals was more durable than she anticipated; the primary few months after shifting to Portugal, she felt deep unhappiness.
“I labored so many hours and was continuously gone, and after I acquired right here, all the pieces acquired quiet,” she says. “When all the pieces acquired quiet I used to be in a position to hear myself, and I felt that I used to be alone and I used to be lonely.”
Courtesy of Joyce Luckie
However that abated as soon as she was capable of finding an expat group in Setubal, the place she moved, and even make pals with a few of the locals. The expats examine in on one another, she says, and assist one another benefit from their new dwelling. They stroll collectively three days per week, hanging out collectively after at native watering holes and cafés.
“We stroll round, head dwelling, and there may be all the time music, there’s all the time a dinner someplace,” she says. “There’s quite a bit happening day by day.”
One other tough facet of the transfer was the paperwork. Luckie lives in Portugal on a retirement visa; when she moved, it took over six months to get her resident card. Issues simply work slower there than within the U.S., she says. It’s a must to be persistent—but additionally affected person. To verify all the pieces was so as, Luckie used a service that helps People transfer overseas, operated by two different expats; they have been in a position to arrange all the pieces for her, and even steered locations to dwell, which is how she found Setubal.
“Their pink tape, I’ve by no means seen something prefer it. Going to the financial institution, it might take three hours,” she says. “Effectively, I’m not working, I don’t have anyplace to go, so I simply sit again and wait. I lowered the wrinkles in my brow, as a result of I don’t get pissed off.”
The price of residing and simpler entry to touring elsewhere round Europe and Africa makes the transfer definitely worth the effort. Since getting her resident card, Luckie has traveled to England, France, Gambia, Eire, and Senegal, amongst different locations. She doesn’t want a automotive to get round, and he or she treats herself to massages as soon as per week and frequent lunches and dinners out.
She qualifies without cost public medical insurance, which she dietary supplements with a personal plan costing $650 a yr.
“I went to get X-rays for my knee, that was 112 Euros,” she says. “You’re not going to pay $112 for remedy and drugs within the U.S.”
Luckie’s residence prices $1,200 a month, which is her greatest expense (the worth of leases there has elevated pretty considerably in recent times as extra expats transfer there). She will be able to stroll to the seaside, and a grocery retailer, laundromat, eating places, and bars are all inside blocks of her dwelling.
These facets of life are far completely different from residing within the U.S., however ones Luckie has embraced as she’s made an effort to interact with the local people and push herself out of her consolation zone. The largest changes have been consuming dinner after 6 p.m. and the absence of small luxuries like American tv and Lawry’s seasoning salt—however the good far surpasses these drawbacks of life overseas.
“You’re not coming right here to make this Little USA,” she says. “You’re in Portugal. So honor their tradition.”
