Amy and Mark Hoyle grew tired of the weather and the lifestyle of Northwest England, so they decided moving to Portugal from the UK. Why? Because it is close to home, safe and modern. They chose to settle in the fishing town of Sesimbra, which is a mere 40 kilometres – less than an hour’s drive – from Lisbon.
Despite living in Portugal, Amy and Mark continue to manage the company they created in the UK, but that required changing their business model. “When we decided to move to Portugal we changed the dynamic, so that we could work remotely”, Mark explains. The change was good all-around, and the results have been promising.
Portugal’s strong points
Mark was surprised by the amount of people in Portugal who speak English, and duly impressed by the fluency of the locals. “A lot of them will tell you they don’t speak it, but then you start chatting to them and their English is perfect”, he says.
Amy, on the other hand, is struck by the climate, the lifestyle and how nice people are: “We’re from Northwestern England and the weather is pretty bad over there. It rains a lot and we’re far away from the beach. Here we can go to the beach every day, we do water sports and the weather is almost always nice.”
Now that they are settled in the country, both Amy and Mark say they enjoy living here. They feel at home in Portugal, especially because here they have a very different life from what they had back in the UK. Living in Portugal has given them the day-to-day life they always dreamed of.
