Why I moved to Portugal (Part 1)

Why I Moved to Portugal (Part 1)

Another one I get asked a LOT.......I guess the story really starts when I was younger. Like so many of us, I got married young, bought a house, and tried to tick all the boxes society tells us are “normal.” You know the drill: settle down, find a steady job, live happily ever after. But — what’s “normal” for the spider is chaos for the fly. And in my case, “normal” never quite fit.

Regular jobs? I was great at getting them (gift of the gab, always) but not so great at keeping them. Hello, undiagnosed ADHD! I tried everything — sales, customer service, hospitality — but nothing stuck for long. Still, I carried on trying to fit into that mould of being “normal.”

Fast forward a few years and while most of my friends were busy having babies, I was busy getting divorced. Not quite the path society had mapped out for me! By that point, I realised there had to be more to life than staying in my hometown, working jobs that never clicked, and squeezing myself into a version of “normal” that didn’t feel like mine.

Then came Christmas. I was sick with some virus, bored, and in desperate need of something to look forward to. So my single friend Michelle and I started planning a weekend away for January. The choice came down to Lloret de Mar or Albufeira. Albufeira won — mainly because it was cheaper, and I’d never been before.

And that’s where the story really begins…

Stay tuned for Part 2: My First Trip to Albufeira (and how a cheap weekend away turned into a whole new life)