After spending several days in both Lisbon and Porto the past few years on business, my wife and I are wanting to spend about a month in Porto summer 2023. We really like Portugal. My wife is an academic in administration with smaller duties during summer and I have no problems not working for a month (commercial RE) so, she will handle issues via Zoom and I'll probably just practice day drinkin'.

Does anyone have experience with multi-week stays in Europe or specifically Portugal? I have looked at air bnb and Sabbatical Homes and found several options, nothing reserved yet. I'm looking for your experience with reservations, payments, cleaning services ... anything that you think will be valuable for us to know.

Thanks in advance!

1. Shop around for your trip insurance, and make sure as hell it covers healthcare. In the event of an emergency,
You want to be able to catch the first flight back to the US. Unless it's basic, healthcare in Europe is spotty at best. If you need prescriptions filled, you can however do so at a Pharmacy. Very easy.

2. If you're planning on making some forays into the Iberian peninsula, let me know. I can suggest a few cities . Spain is much like Texas. There are great things to see in a long list of cities, if you can be mobile, you can see amazing stuff and at a great price.

3. Find a way to ship port. Enough said haha.

4. Avoid the other Americans. I usually run when unheard someone say "We're from California,". And that being said, find a language class when you arrive. The service anywhere improves dramatically when you can speak even a little bit.

5. Probably most important. I tend to avoid travel agents but it's worth discussing rail passes before you leave. I've gotten a lot of value out of flexi passes where I can hop on and hop off.

BCL79 said:

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After spending several days in both Lisbon and Porto the past few years on business, my wife and I are wanting to spend about a month in Porto summer 2023. We really like Portugal. My wife is an academic in administration with smaller duties during summer and I have no problems not working for a month (commercial RE) so, she will handle issues via Zoom and I'll probably just practice day drinkin'.

Does anyone have experience with multi-week stays in Europe or specifically Portugal? I have looked at air bnb and Sabbatical Homes and found several options, nothing reserved yet. I'm looking for your experience with reservations, payments, cleaning services ... anything that you think will be valuable for us to know.

Thanks in advance!

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sounds amazing.

I hope to visit N. Portugal and Spain sometime in the coming years. marvelous wine and food culture there.

Get a rail pass and travel. Limit yourself to a backpack and a backpack and suitcase for your wife. Get an international plan for your cells. Tell you bank what countries you will visit. Relax and explore.. Eat at local places.

BCL79 said:

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After spending several days in both Lisbon and Porto the past few years on business, my wife and I are wanting to spend about a month in Porto summer 2023. We really like Portugal. My wife is an academic in administration with smaller duties during summer and I have no problems not working for a month (commercial RE) so, she will handle issues via Zoom and I'll probably just practice day drinkin'.

Does anyone have experience with multi-week stays in Europe or specifically Portugal? I have looked at air bnb and Sabbatical Homes and found several options, nothing reserved yet. I'm looking for your experience with reservations, payments, cleaning services ... anything that you think will be valuable for us to know.

Thanks in advance!

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I am very interested in how this went. I am going to Lisbon for 10 days in May 2023. We plan on 4 days in Porto. I realize it is not a month, but we do what we can.

Thanks for the great comments. Really appreciate you folks!

RMF5630 said:

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BCL79 said:

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After spending several days in both Lisbon and Porto the past few years on business, my wife and I are wanting to spend about a month in Porto summer 2023. We really like Portugal. My wife is an academic in administration with smaller duties during summer and I have no problems not working for a month (commercial RE) so, she will handle issues via Zoom and I'll probably just practice day drinkin'.

Does anyone have experience with multi-week stays in Europe or specifically Portugal? I have looked at air bnb and Sabbatical Homes and found several options, nothing reserved yet. I'm looking for your experience with reservations, payments, cleaning services ... anything that you think will be valuable for us to know.

Thanks in advance!

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I am very interested in how this went. I am going to Lisbon for 10 days in May 2023. We plan on 4 days in Porto. I realize it is not a month, but we do what we can.

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RMF5630, we were waiting for a job offer to play out for my bride ... UNC told her "NO thanks." Oh well their loss. Now I'm trying to settle on our month-long home. My wife will need to do work and zoom calls probably every workday, so we probably will not be doing any multi day get aways (but maybe).

We really liked Lisbon and might end up there. BUT, Porto just felt more laid back. Although is smaller it is still well over 1mm for the metro area. PM me and we can exchange cell #'s if you want.

BCL79 said:

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RMF5630 said:

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BCL79 said:

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After spending several days in both Lisbon and Porto the past few years on business, my wife and I are wanting to spend about a month in Porto summer 2023. We really like Portugal. My wife is an academic in administration with smaller duties during summer and I have no problems not working for a month (commercial RE) so, she will handle issues via Zoom and I'll probably just practice day drinkin'.

Does anyone have experience with multi-week stays in Europe or specifically Portugal? I have looked at air bnb and Sabbatical Homes and found several options, nothing reserved yet. I'm looking for your experience with reservations, payments, cleaning services ... anything that you think will be valuable for us to know.

Thanks in advance!

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I am very interested in how this went. I am going to Lisbon for 10 days in May 2023. We plan on 4 days in Porto. I realize it is not a month, but we do what we can.

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RMF5630, we were waiting for a job offer to play out for my bride ... UNC told her "NO thanks." Oh well their loss. Now I'm trying to settle on our month-long home. My wife will need to do work and zoom calls probably every workday, so we probably will not be doing any multi day get aways (but maybe).

We really liked Lisbon and might end up there. BUT, Porto just felt more laid back. Although is smaller it is still well over 1mm for the metro area. PM me and we can exchange cell #'s if you want.

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Thanks. My daughter works for Harvard, she is stuck in a position under her education. Academic jobs are tough right now.

I will get in touch the closer we get. I am going for a work conference I am speaking at as part of a panel. It falls during my usual Hilton GV in Kona ( my one vacation a year), so we are getting accommodations taken care of now. I liked Porto from the looks of it, versus Lisbon.

Limited IQ Redneck in PU said:

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Get a rail pass and travel. Limit yourself to a backpack and a backpack and suitcase for your wife. Get an international plan for your cells. Tell you bank what countries you will visit. Relax and explore.. Eat at local places.

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I'd suggest an eSim for your phones.

Limited IQ Redneck in PU said:

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Get a rail pass and travel. Limit yourself to a backpack and a backpack and suitcase for your wife. Get an international plan for your cells. Tell you bank what countries you will visit. Relax and explore.. Eat at local places.

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We did Germany in 14 days with a rail pass. Best trip I have taken. Munich, Salzburg, Hamburg, Cologne, Mainz (Rhein), Rhudesheim, and St Gore

Max Planck said:

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Limited IQ Redneck in PU said:

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Get a rail pass and travel. Limit yourself to a backpack and a backpack and suitcase for your wife. Get an international plan for your cells. Tell you bank what countries you will visit. Relax and explore.. Eat at local places.

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I'd suggest an eSim for your phones.

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Thanks for the tip. I have T Mobile and with my plan has had unlimited free phone and data in ever country I have worked or lived in. The only place I had no service was in some of the remotet parts of Alaska. I havent tried it much in Eurpe.

Limited IQ Redneck in PU said:

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Max Planck said:

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Limited IQ Redneck in PU said:

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Get a rail pass and travel. Limit yourself to a backpack and a backpack and suitcase for your wife. Get an international plan for your cells. Tell you bank what countries you will visit. Relax and explore.. Eat at local places.

---

I'd suggest an eSim for your phones.

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Thanks for the tip. I have T Mobile and with my plan has had unlimited free phone and data in ever country I have worked or lived in. The only place I had no service was in some of the remotet parts of Alaska. I havent tried it much in Eurpe.

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I had TMobile in Australia, LatAm and Germany and it was excellent.

But damn if it didn't suck in the US.

Max Planck said:

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Limited IQ Redneck in PU said:

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Get a rail pass and travel. Limit yourself to a backpack and a backpack and suitcase for your wife. Get an international plan for your cells. Tell you bank what countries you will visit. Relax and explore.. Eat at local places.

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I'd suggest an eSim for your phones.

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I am not familiar with "eSim" ?

We have AT&T and we are set to have roaming automatically out of country. It's fine for a week or so, but we are looking at like 30 days so, we want to be prudent and can't afford to be cheap since both of us will be doing work stuff at least weekly if not daily. We will need good access.

Max, OK, I got unlazy and googled it. Thanks, will keep that option in mind.