Making the decision to leave Portugal and return home to Chapel Hill was not difficult. As much as I loved living there, I knew that I could not stay in Cascais alone. Luckily, I had a home to return to. We had rented out our house in Chapel Hill while we lived the expat life. I was also fortunate that our tenants were very flexible. When Will first went into the hospital, I asked our property manager to broach the subject of my return with our tenants. I learned very quickly that they planned to move out in mid-July. I was also fortunate because the owner of our apartment (who lives in Brazil) was willing to allow me to end the lease with two months notice. The good news was that because of the deposits were put down upon moving into the apartment, I did not have to pay any more rent. (The headline photo is of the Edificio Cascais Atrium and its surrounding area where we lived. It was really a spectacular place to live and I will always be grateful for our time spent there.)
When we were planning our move to Portugal in 2020, we learned that experienced expats reported that the only negative aspect of life in Portugal was dealing with the bureaucracy. This turned out to be absolutely true. The pandemic made Portugal's tortured bureaucracy even more challenging. Obtaining our residency cards was delayed by about six months, for example. Customer service at various bureaucratic agencies was non-existent. They just don't answer telephone or online inquiries.
Our residency authorization was to come up for renewal in August of 2023. I learned quickly that there was no need to cancel it. Instead, if you leave, you just don't renew. That was easy. I was also very fortunate that the funeral agency handled all the necessary notifications to the Portuguese government and to the U.S. Embassy in Lisbon. This was a big help. Later, they arranged for the required paperwork from the embassy to transport Will's ashes back to the US. Check that off the list. When living abroad, U.S. Social Security is administered throught he embassy. The funeral agency took care of that, too. I did follow up with them via email but the process was smooth. Another check off the list.
One significant roadblock I encountered had to do with our beloved 2015 Renault Clio -- Big Bidness. The car was registered in Will's name. With the help of my neighbors, I retained the service of an attorney who handled the change of ownership paperwork with the government. Then, armed with a power of attorney, she was able to sell the car on my behalf. The actual sale took place after I returned to the US in early August. Happily, she got top euro for the vehicle. Check.
Banking was another challenge. I was informed that once the Portuguese government learned of Will's death, our bank account would be frozen. I immediately opened an online account and transferred almost all the money to that account. That was easy. Getting the bank in Cascais to close my account proved more challenging. I went to several different branches in Cascais, armed with the death certifiate, and was given the bureaucratic run around. Finally, I found a branch that was willing to close the account. The gentleman there spoke little English but I think he could intuit that I was more than a little on edge and was ready to take no prisoners. As he closed the account, he had a look that said, "I think she might be from New Jersey." Checked that off the list. The ironic thing is the the bureaucracy is so broken, our original bank was never notified of Will's death and the account was never frozen.
When we moved to our apartment in May 2021, it was unfurnished. I furnished everything in the apartment from Ikea in Lisbon. Now it was time to find new homes for all of it. A woman from the building was interested in moving to a bigger apartment and she came to an agreement with our apartment's owner. Initially, she told me she would buy all of the furniture and other contents (e.g., kitchen stuff). This was a huge relief to me. However, after she signed the lease, she changed her mind and only wanted to buy a few furniture items. This added big stress for me and made my last couple of weeks there a real fire drill. Luckily, this change in plans happened a couple of weeks after Will's death, so I had a little more energy to deal with the frustration, anger, and added tasks. I sold a couple of things on Facebook marketplace but it just became too much of a hassle dealing with scammers and missed appointments. I was actually really happy to donate much of the furniture and all of Will's clothing with the assistance of my neighbor's housekeeper, our housekeeper, and the aforementioned attorney. It made me feel really good to offer this to others in Portugal who needed assistance. Check.
I arranged to have eight suitcases and six large cardboard boxes shipped home with an (expensive) service called Send My Bag. It took less than a week, including some pick-up and delivery miscues, to get the stuff back to Chapel Hill. Check.
I spent the last few nights at a hotel down the street from the mainly empty apartment. Then, exhausted and emotional, I departed Portugal on July 28.
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