In Part 1, Abbie Katie told Elena Bykovets, CEO and Founder of RelyOn Relocation®, why her family chose Portugal and what daily life with three children actually looks like there. In this second part, the conversation turns to something more personal: what Abbie’s family learned along the way — the parts that turned out better than expected, the parts that were genuinely hard, and what she would tell any family planning the same move today.
This is the kind of honest reflection that only comes with time and distance, and it’s exactly what families preparing to relocate need to hear before they pack a single box.
Elena: Let’s talk about lessons learned. What turned out better than you expected?
Abbie: The community. When you move abroad, you build your own family out of the friends you make. We met an incredible group of people very quickly — you have no one else to lean on, especially with children. In our first month, one of my twins had croup and couldn’t breathe, and we had to go to the hospital while I still had two other kids to look after. You find people fast in situations like that, and it’s mostly through the expat community rather than local Portuguese circles.
Elena: That’s something I recognise too — it’s often the expat community that becomes the first support network.
Abbie: Exactly. And watching my kids speak Portuguese fluently, better than I ever will, has been one of the proudest feelings I’ve had. Seeing them thrive after leaving everything familiar behind — that meant more than I realised at the time.
Elena: And what was harder than you expected, beyond the paperwork you mentioned earlier?
Abbie: Learning the language myself. I took a free four-month municipal course, nine hours a week, genuinely trying. But when I spoke slowly or made mistakes, a lot of people would just switch to English rather than let me practise. Interestingly, people in Lisbon and Porto were far more patient with me than in the Algarve.
Elena: That matches what we see too — in areas with more long-term foreign residents, locals sometimes assume you’d rather speak English.
Abbie: If I did it all again, the one thing I’d change is getting professional help with our documents from day one. That was the biggest source of stress — not because it was complicated, exactly, but because it ate hours of our time, office to office, missing documents we were never told we needed.
Elena: That’s a pattern we see constantly, and it’s why requirements can even differ between towns — the documents needed at the IMT office in Santarém aren’t always the same as in Setúbal. Knowing where not to go is half the value of working with someone experienced. We’ve also seen cases where families used cheap, unlicensed help and ended up with real consequences — including a deportation order after unprofessional handling of their process. That’s not a small mistake to walk back from; it means court proceedings, time, and money.
Abbie: I’ve heard similar stories from friends who were scammed. It’s why I’d tell any family: don’t just choose the cheapest option. Get a legitimate company you can trust.
Elena: What advice would you give families planning their move today?
Abbie: Get your documents sorted properly from the start — don’t wing it, like we did. Go and see schools and neighbourhoods in person; websites rarely tell the full story here. And involve your children in the process. We didn’t really do that with our eldest — looking back, letting him choose his school was good, but he still felt the move wasn’t his decision. Bringing kids along for the process helps them grieve the old life and embrace the new one.
Elena: From what we see with our own clients, Portugal is a wonderful place to raise children, certainly through the earlier school years. And there are practical advantages too — household help here costs around €10–12 an hour, which is far more accessible than in Northern Europe.
Abbie: It really is. And one thing money can’t buy elsewhere — my children now have friends from Brazil, Argentina, South Africa, Italy, Morocco. That kind of exposure is priceless. Portugal is also a great place for entrepreneurs. Several of our friends have started businesses here, and just answering the phone consistently already puts you ahead of a lot of local competition.
Elena: That’s very true — service culture is still catching up here, which is an opportunity in itself.
Abbie’s experience captures something we hear again and again from families who move to Portugal: the big-picture reasons — safety, climate, cost of living, quality of life for children — tend to hold up. It’s the details, the paperwork, and the local knowledge that make the difference between a smooth relocation and a stressful one.
If you’re considering relocating to Portugal, applying for a mortgage, or need support with any part of your move — including residency, citizenship, real estate, or mortgage services — professional preparation can make the whole process significantly calmer and more structured. Use promo code ABBIE26 for 3% off all RelyOn Relocation® services (excluding consultations), and feel free to leave your questions in the comments — we’re happy to answer them. RelyOn Relocation® holds official Portuguese real estate license AMI 24842.
