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<\/p>\n\n Thinking back to her decision to relocate to Portugal on her own five years ago, Paula Dreyfuss jokes that many people questioned her state of mind, as she\u2019d never even visited the European country before.\n <\/p>\n
\n But the mother of two, now based in the coastal city of Porto, famous for its Port wine and spectacular bridges, has no regrets today, as her life is much richer in many ways.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cI have a lot more life here,\u201d Dreyfuss, who is originally from Texas, tells CNN Travel, before blissfully describing her frequent trips to local museums, movie theaters, and pop-up wineries in the Douro Valley, a UNESCO World Heritage region in northern Portugal.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cMy daughter came to visit one time, and asked, \u201cWell, what do you guys do all day?\u201d she recalls. \u201cAnd my friend holds up a glass of Champagne and goes, \u201cYou\u2019re looking at it.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
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\n Dreyfuss loves the local food and usually eats out at least three times a week, something she simply couldn\u2019t have afforded to do when she was based in San Diego, California, where she lived and worked as a teacher previously.\n <\/p>\n
\n When she began teaching after working in corporate finance for years, Dreyfuss thought she\u2019d end up with a retirement income that would provide her with a comfortable lifestyle.\n <\/p>\n
\n But as the years went by and the cost of living increased, she realized that this was unlikely to be the case.\n <\/p>\n
\n Dreyfuss considered moving within the United States, and recalls driving up to Seattle and \u201cstopping at a bunch of places,\u201d but says she couldn\u2019t find anywhere affordable enough to tempt her away.\n <\/p>\n
\n She\u2019d always dreamed of traveling around Europe extensively, but Dreyfuss knew that this would likely never happen if she stayed where she was. So what better way to explore the continent than actually moving there?\n <\/p>\n
\n After doing some research into European countries, Dreyfuss found that the only visa that she qualified for at the time was the Portugal D7 visa, which allows non-EU nationals with a stable passive income to reside in the country.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cI\u2019d never been to Portugal. So I had no way of doing a scouting trip or anything,\u201d she says. \u201cI thought, \u2018I\u2019m going to go over there. And If I don\u2019t like Portugal, then I\u2019ll move to Spain or France.\u2019\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n While she put her plans on the back burner for a while, Dreyfuss says that the Covid-19 pandemic in 2021 ultimately prompted her to finally leave the US permanently.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cI was really ready to get away from the political situation in the United States,\u201d she admits.\n <\/p>\n
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\n Dreyfuss reached out to an online group who specialized in helping foreigners move to Portugal and began the visa application process, which took slightly longer as the Portuguese embassy was shut at the time due to the pandemic.\n <\/p>\n
\n Once her D7 visa was approved in 2021, Dreyfuss had just a few months to pack up her life in California and move to Portugal.\n <\/p>\n
\n She then sold her townhouse and got rid of a large amount of her belongings.\n <\/p>\n
\n In May 2021, Dreyfuss arrived in Portugal with four suitcases and her dog Charlie.\n <\/p>\n
\n She spent just under a week in Lisbon before realizing that it felt too big for her and \u201cjust like living in the United States\u201d due to the large crowds, and constant traffic.\n <\/p>\n
\n Dreyfuss promptly hired a car and drove up the coastline, before paying a visit to the city of Porto. She was immediately struck by the beauty of the destination, as well as its diversity and welcoming feel.\n <\/p>\n
\n While she had planned to keep on traveling and see more of Europe, Dreyfuss fell in love with Portugal\u2019s second city and decided to stay put. Fortunately, she happened to meet a real estate agent within hours of arriving there and was able to find an unfurnished apartment in Porto within a few days.\n <\/p>\n
\n As time went on, Dreyfuss was completely won over by the city. She particularly loved the residents, who were always \u201cso warm and so nice,\u201d along with the sunny weather and felt that this was a place that she could be happy.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cEvery time I\u2019d be in a situation where I\u2019d think. \u2018I\u2019m just going to sit here on the curb and cry,\u2019 somebody would say, \u201cCan I help you? Are you lost?\u2019\u201d she recounts. \u201cSo that was part of the trigger, and then I just started making friends here.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n Her social life filled up quickly and Dreyfuss soon found that she was constantly meeting with her new friends for games, dinner, wine and coffee.\n <\/p>\n
\n Dreyfuss loved that she was able to live comfortably in the city on an \u201cadequate income\u201d and could afford to go on vacations several times a year, including taking road trips to Spain or France, as well as return to the US to visit her family.\n <\/p>\n
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\n However, one of the biggest benefits for her was the fact that she felt comfortable walking around alone in the evening, something that wasn\u2019t the case in San Diego; Portugal is the seventh safest country in the world, according to the Global Peace Index.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cI just feel so safe here,\u201d she says, adding that she loves how walkable Porto is and the fact that it \u201cfeels like a village.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n Although she has a car, Dreyfuss says she doesn\u2019t use it often and notes that drivers seem to go much slower in the city.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cPeople say to me, \u201cHow can you drive in Porto?\u2019\u201d she says. \u201cAnd I\u2019m like, \u2018I drove for 35 years in Los Angeles. It\u2019s not that bad.\u2019\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n She also finds the health care to be \u201castronomically\u201d better in Portugal than the US, \u201cnot just because of the cost, but the quality of the care.\u201d Portugal has a mainly tax-based health system with universal coverage.\n <\/p>\n
\n However, Dreyfuss admits that getting to grips with the banking system has been \u201ca little bit of a challenge\u201d along with buying real estate, particularly as Portugal doesn\u2019t have a statutory seller\u2019s property disclosure statement, where sellers are required to inform buyers of issues with the property.\n <\/p>\n
\n She bought her first home in Porto in 2022, but sold the two-bedroom apartment in the Bombarda Art District after two years and went on to buy a top-floor apartment in the Marques neighborhood with a veranda on both sides, where she currently lives. Dreyfuss has since bought a second apartment, which she rents out to a friend.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cNothing is perfect. I mean, the bureaucracy here is a pain in the ass sometimes,\u201d she says. \u201cThere\u2019s some things that are almost exactly alike. There\u2019s some things that are better. There\u2019s some things that are worse.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
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\n While the cost of living in Portugal has gone up in the years since she moved there, it\u2019s still \u201cprobably about 40% to 50% less\u201d than in the US, says Dreyfuss, adding that it\u2019s a \u201cmuch better life day to day\u201d for her.\n <\/p>\n
\n As for the language, Dreyfuss admits that this has been one of her biggest struggles, recounting how she\u2019s always asking locals to \u201cslow down\u201d because they \u201cthey talk really fast, and drop whole words out of sentences.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cI can make myself understood,\u201d she says. \u201cBut I sound like a three- or four-year-old.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n When it comes to cultural differences, Dreyfuss jokes that it\u2019s really hard to hang up the phone when speaking to a Portuguese person, and she\u2019s had to learn not to walk into a shop and \u201cjust start talking\u201d without exchanging pleasantries first.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cYou have to say, \u2018Hello. How are you? Are you ok?\u2019\u201d she says, adding that anything less is considered bad manners. \u201cBut it just comes naturally now because I\u2019ve been here five years.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n Since arriving in 2021, Dreyfuss has traveled to London four times, Paris three times and the Spanish city of Seville twice. She\u2019s also visited the Austrian capital Vienna, as well as France\u2019s Marseille and Toulouse.\n <\/p>\n
\n In the coming months and years, she hopes to explore Italy and Europe\u2019s Atlantic coast.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cThat\u2019s something I would not be able to do if I didn\u2019t live here,\u201d she adds.\n <\/p>\n
\n Dreyfuss currently has temporary citizenship, which is renewed every two to three years, and recently began the process of applying for Portuguese citizenship.\n <\/p>\n
\n She feels very much at home in Portugal today and can\u2019t imagine ever returning to the US permanently.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cThey\u2019d have to fix an awful lot of stuff before I\u2019d want to move back,\u201d she says.\n <\/p>\n
\n Dreyfuss is returning to the US later this year for her daughter\u2019s wedding and is very much looking forward to seeing her loved ones. However, she always feels a huge sense of relief when she returns to Portugal, which lets her know that she\u2019s where she\u2019s meant to be.\n <\/p>\n