Here we go…
August 22, 2025
We’re Robalie—two everyday adventurers who traded square footage for freedom. Leaving behind our home in Nashville, Tennessee, we downsized everything we owned to chase…
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Roaming with Robalie
A couple trading “stuff” for stories. Long-term travelers exploring Europe one suitcase and one new adventure at a time. Join us as we roam, learn, and discover a whole new world through downsizing, culture shocks, hidden gems, and everything in between.
Location! Location! Location! ![]()
A way that we are working towards learning the culture is putting ourselves out there to meet new people. We are using Facebook Groups and Meetup to do that. Both of which we have both used together and individually for years while living in Nashville. Last night we walked 2 blocks to a meetup event with 20 individuals all out to do that same thing: meet new people and have great conversations! We found ourselves having conversations with people from Peru, France, Portugal, Russia, India, and Spain. It was a great evening of cultures all coming together, sitting around the same table and chatting. There was no tension, no predispositions. All were welcome. We walked back to our small home (for now) feeling filled. Feeling relieved. Feeling renewed. We didn't realize how much we needed this until those sand bags of stress and anxiety and uncertainty began to slip off of us. This experience has already began to change our lens and it has just started. ![]()
Friday we walked a different 2 blocks and we had brunch with an American we met in a Facebook Group for Americans living in Portugal. He retired and moved here 5 years ago from Minnesota. For 2 hours we sat and talked about his experience living here over the last 5 years, his recommendations for what we should do and where the best local spots are. He said life is too short to live in a world so full of stress as the US is. He went on and on about how much he loves it here and all the places we should make sure to see and I can see why in just the week we have been here. We only have 11 weeks left to make the most of Portugal and we are feeling like that isn't enough time!! ![]()
A quick little video of the corner where we had brunch on Friday.
It took a couple of days but we are unpacked, moved in, and settled! We were actually able to have a home cooked meal for dinner yesterday thanks to our tiny, but fully stocked, kitchen. It is a studio apartment that came fully furnished and we are very happy with it. We've compared it to our apartment in Germantown in Nashville, but we both agree that we like this better. And it's also quite a bit cheaper than our Germantown apartment. In Porto we are about a block away from a shopping district with clothing stores, shoe stores, grocery stores and of course restaurants! We are also about a block away from the subway which is also fantastic. We are looking forward to exploring again when the weekend rolls around, but for now it's back to work.
Our office! And we love it! Once work wraps up we pack it all up and prep for dinner or what ever is coming next. It is so nice to have “office hours”. It really prevents us from easily sliding back into work afterwards because it’s not sitting there, taunting us.
The food…. THE FOOD!!!! We are both foodies and enjoy the risk of trying something new. Something that neither of us have had before for the experience and the for gain!! We challenge and stretch ourselves and have rarely regretted it. But here, in this new foreign environment we are stretching and growing in bigger ways. ![]()
Today we walked into a “mall” looking for the largest grocery store closest to us and walked unknowingly into food paradise.