Generated by All in One SEO v4.9.10, this is an llms.txt file, used by LLMs to index the site.

# snipe.pt

From Southern California to Portugal

## Sitemaps

- [XML Sitemap](https://snipe.pt/sitemap.xml): Contains all public & indexable URLs for this website.

## Posts

- [Food in Portugal](https://snipe.pt/2026/05/24/food-in-portugal/) - There's not much of a culture of eating non-Portuguese food in Portugal. I don't know if that's a holdover from the dictatorship, or some kind of cultural chauvinism, or what. We do list a lot of great places that we've curated at Visiting Lisbon , including some non-Portuguese ones. But I've found a lot less
- [Portuguese Language Stumbling Blocks](https://snipe.pt/2025/10/04/portuguese-language-stumbling-blocks/) - So there are a few things that absolutely have tripped me up in learning Portuguese, from the small to the big. These are things I wish I knew going in to learning the language that probably would’ve accelerated my process by a decent number of months. Or, well, not knowing these things slowed me down
- [Doing a “Number Port” From Vodafone to MEO](https://snipe.pt/2025/06/06/doing-a-number-port-from-vodafone-to-meo/) - When we first got here for our Scouting trip, we knew we were going to need to get some kind of local data service. Sure, Verizon (our former carrier in the US) is perfectly capable of doing international data for some $X per day, but we were going to be here for six weeks, so
- [Moving to Portugal](https://snipe.pt/2023/04/29/moving-to-portugal/) - As many of you are already aware, Brady and I are moving to Portugal in about a month. These are both exciting and incredibly nerve-wracking times. While I have lived all over the United States (NJ, NY, VA, GA, CA, MT, CO), I've never moved internationally, and because it's overseas, it's not like we can
- [Christmas Power Woes & Gifts That Keep on Giving: You say Direita, I say Esquerda](https://snipe.pt/2024/12/26/christmas-power-woes-gifts-that-keep-on-giving-you-say-direita-i-say-esquerda/) - Update: Power is finally working again, as of January 8, 2025! It was a long sixteen days, but at least it's sorted now. This is going to be a little bit of a Christmas-time saga and you'll need a little backstory, so bear with me. Firstly, you should know how apartment numbers normally work in
- [The Election and Thanksgiving](https://snipe.pt/2024/11/27/the-election-and-thanksgiving/) - I was talking to my mom the other day and telling her about our Thanksgiving here, and she mentioned "wouldn't that be a nice thing to put on your web-site thingee?" And I agreed. So here you go. The Election We voted from over here, of course. It's not like our two votes were going
- [Portuguese: The Language](https://snipe.pt/2024/10/21/portuguese-the-language/) - We're, quite frankly, disappointed that we don't speak better Portuguese yet. We're still trying, and our "Restaurant Portuguese" is pretty solid. We can order anything we want - though, for some reason, whenever they ask how we want our steak cooked we fumble for some reason, even though we know the question is coming. But
- [Quick Moving Update](https://snipe.pt/2024/10/03/quick-moving-update/) - As Brady mentioned, we just bought an apartment here in Lisboa!! It's not in Alfama, but it's just a few blocks away in Baixa, so still close enough to get to our favorite spots, but far enough away that we venture out to new places a little more than we have in the past. Note:
- [More Car Woes](https://snipe.pt/2023/05/19/more-car-woes/) - So as I mentioned in my previous post: How To Move A Car to Portugal - it’s generally not a good idea. However, there was another “brilliant” idea I had about how to deal with it that seems to have also been a very bad idea. So let me share that with you so you
- [Brands, Brands, Brands, Brands. And AppleCare+](https://snipe.pt/2024/11/27/brands-brands-brands-brands-and-applecare/) - So I mentioned earlier that I'm still "feeling my way" around brands now that I live here. I've worked out some things. I also have a little vignette about our experience living here and needing to get service on our computers (which are Macs). Coffeemaker (Espresso machine) Everything here is espresso. You can make drip
- [Portuguese Real Estate](https://snipe.pt/2024/09/27/portuguese-real-estate/) - This is the stuff you need to know about Portuguese real estate - stuff that people don't know they have to tell you, because they've always done it this way? It's unlike US real estate in, I dunno, just about every possible way. Mortgages Mortgage brokers are good, they will get you the best deal.
- [One Year In…](https://snipe.pt/2024/08/12/one-year-in/) - We set foot in Portugal around June 1, 2023. So our one year anniversary was June 1, 2024 - a few months ago. We’ve had a lot of stuff going on since then, including our first major software release of our product being performed while some of us are overseas. That was…rough. Lots of stuff
- [Portuguese Coffee](https://snipe.pt/2024/08/12/portuguese-coffee/) - So the coffee here is espresso. When you order a “coffee” you’re going to get an espresso. I haven’t seen any “regular” coffee here. You can try to simulate it, but it’s just best not to. You might be tempted to get standard Italian drinks like a Cappucino, but generally most Portuguese coffee-makers are going
- [Taking the Small Wins](https://snipe.pt/2024/07/02/taking-the-small-wins/) - We've been kind of quiet here lately, not because anything bad happened, just, you know, life. Work. All that stuff. Today, a random Tuesday, otherwise unremarkable, was a big win for me. Bear with me, I realize how trivial this is going to sound. We order grocery delivery from our local supermarket (Pingo Doce). We
- [Moving to Lisbon: Two Months In](https://snipe.pt/2023/07/27/moving-to-lisbon-two-months-in/) - Woof. It's been a whole-ass two months already. How did that happen? I know some folks have been wondering where our heads are at now, so I wanted to give you a bit of an update. Things are much, much better. Some stuff is still dumb. The toilet seat is still broken, the ceiling still
- [Título de Residência (Residence Card)](https://snipe.pt/2023/11/24/titulo-de-residencia-residence-card/) - The process for getting residency in Portugal is: you do a bunch of prep work, you apply for your visa, you come to Portugal, you go to your SEF appointment, you wait, you get your Residence Card. That card means you can come and go at will. It means you can sign up for the
- [How To Move A Car to Portugal](https://snipe.pt/2023/05/08/how-to-move-a-car-to-portugal/) - Answer: Don't. Really? YES, REALLY. Well, when should you actually move a car to Portugal? You shouldn't. At some point, someone might want to - Okay. Fine. Zeroth - when should you actually do this? I think there are really only two good answers: You have a car that you're absolutely in love with. Maybe
- [Why *NOT* to move to Portugal](https://snipe.pt/2023/04/29/why-not-to-move-to-portugal/) - Hi there, Brady here, and I wanted to talk about some of the recurring themes I saw from people who did not like their moves to Portugal. Caveat - we’re not even there yet. This could all be some kind of horrible mistake that we regret - well, not really regret, but more feel like
- [One Month Before: The Feels](https://snipe.pt/2023/04/30/one-month-before-the-feels/) - We leave for our new life in Portugal in one month, and slowly, the gravity of it all is starting to sink in: the people, places and things that we'll miss. That's not remotely to say that we have been unrealistic or cavalier during this process, but when you're so focused on paperwork and excited
- [Month 10: We're Still Alive! (Mostly)](https://snipe.pt/2024/04/08/month-10-were-still-alive-mostly/) - Sorry we've been a bit quiet lately. Both Brady and I have been going round and round with what feels like bronchitis or pneumonia, so we haven't been out having adventures or doing much of anything right now. We had a modest party planned for Brady's 50th birthday (HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BRADY!!), but he was so
- [Dental Adventures in Lisbon](https://snipe.pt/2024/03/30/dental-adventures-in-lisbon/) - I recently learned the word for "root canal" in Portuguese. I'll give you three guesses how I came to be blessed with this knowledge. Yeah, I broke a tooth recently. Or rather, a previous filling cracked off while I was chewing gum, and it turns out I had a cavity below it. But I'll get
- [Go to the Damn Mall](https://snipe.pt/2024/03/30/go-to-the-damned-mall/) - We've talked a little bit about how frustrating moving to a new country can be, and how it can be a roller coaster of ups and downs. Deliveries are a gigantic pain in the ass here (at least in Lisbon, since it's a proper city, and the postal carriers don't have keys to get into
- [Toenails, Coffee, and Taco Bell](https://snipe.pt/2023/08/20/toenails-coffee-and-taco-bell/) - Once you cut your toenails in a new country, you actually feel like you live there. When I finished there was a strange shift in my feeling - this is home. This is normal. We were kinda “frenetic” at the start - every time we wake up, we’d ask: where are we going, what are
- [Telecoms Redux](https://snipe.pt/2023/06/01/telecoms-redux/) - I wrote about my plan for how to do what we needed to do for phones and watches and everything already. But now it's come time to actually do it. Hasn't quite gone to plan. I started from a worldview where I figured all phones and everything all use the same chipsets at this point.
- [Telecoms Woes Redux Redux?!](https://snipe.pt/2023/06/24/telecoms-woes-redux-redux/) - As I mentioned before, I hooked myself up to Mint Mobile from here in Portugal and it went fine - it actually went quite well! But hooking up Alison's phone has been an absolute disaster - up until now. I JUST GOT IT WORKING! This is going to be an in-the-weeds post about the specifics
- [Why we love Portugal](https://snipe.pt/2024/01/11/why-we-love-portugal/) - So we write a lot about our trials and tribulations - and a friend of ours had just assumed that our relocation over here had been nothing but misery and heartache. Not remotely true! But the stuff that we write about is typically going to be stuff that people go through and might cause various
- [Accessing American Streaming Media](https://snipe.pt/2023/07/27/accessing-american-streaming-media/) - tl;dr - I bought this router and set up Unlocator.com on it. It sits behind my 'regular' network. I use the regular network for work, but the 'media network' for the apple TV, and the various homepods. If Alison wants to watch American TV on her iPad, she needs to flip over to the 'media
- [Moving to Lisbon: The Meta](https://snipe.pt/2023/07/05/moving-to-lisbon-the-meta/) - We've been here a little more than a month now. Things have settled down a little, and it's certainly more calm than the first week, but there is still a lot of friction. One of the most surprising friction points is, well, me. I'm a pretty worldly person, and I wouldn't have considered myself particularly
- [Moving to Lisbon: Week 4](https://snipe.pt/2023/06/26/moving-to-lisbon-week-4/) - Hello friends. I've been meaning to write this for a week or so, but life gets in the way sometimes. I'd like to start by saying it's much better now. Not perfect at all, but no major meltdowns and the stress level is starting to become pretty manageable, which is all I could hope for
- [Moving to Lisbon: The First Week](https://snipe.pt/2023/06/07/moving-to-lisbon-the-first-week/) - I had meant to write this when it was a bit fresher, but I honestly didn't have it in me. Friends, this past week was hard. Harder than I thought it would be, and I've been though some shit. I had what I assume must have been a full on panic attack yesterday that was
- [SEF Appointment: Done. Sorta.](https://snipe.pt/2023/06/01/sef-appointment-done-sort-of/) - Today was our SEF appointment, which will give us a Portuguese residency card. This will, among other things, give us access to the health care system in Portugal (which is a whole other blog post that we need to write), local resident rates on things like parking and car rentals, and so on. The residency
- [First Few Days in Lisbon](https://snipe.pt/2023/05/31/first-few-days-in-lisbon/) - We made it! We're tired as hell, but we're finally in our apartment in Lisbon, with an SEF appointment tomorrow to apply for our residence cards. We'll meet our immigration lawyer right before our appointment so hopefully all should run smoothly. The exit was a little rockier than I'd have liked, as my sister came
- [Packing Advice: Order of Operations Matters!](https://snipe.pt/2023/05/24/packing-advice-order-of-operations-matters/) - We leave to move to Portugal in just a few days now. Obviously, tensions are high and we're raging stress beasts, which is to be expected. One thing I have realized is that if we had planned this a little smarter, the order in which things are happening could have been a lot less stressful.
- [Portuguese ATM Exchange Rates - Just Say NO](https://snipe.pt/2023/05/20/portuguese-atm-exchange-rates-just-say-no/) - When given a prompt about whether you want to ‘protect your exchange rate’ or some shit, say ‘NO’. You might get a scary looking “Are you sure?!?!?!” prompt - double-down, hit NO. There. That’s the entire post. (JK, lemme explain below) So my understanding of that weird prompt you get on Portuguese ATM’s is that
- [Moving Specialty Items (Like Swords) to Portugal](https://snipe.pt/2023/05/19/moving-specialty-items-like-swords-to-portugal/) - If you decide to have professional movers handle your stuff (which as we've mentioned elsewhere is expensive and time consuming, but it *is* an option) in your move to Portugal, you should be aware that there are certain items that will cause issues with customs. I assume this goes for all countries, but we didn't
- [Telecom and Mobile Number Porting from the US to Portugal](https://snipe.pt/2023/05/19/telecoms/) - First things first. The 5G infrastructure in most of Portugal is great. The fiber service you can get in Lisbon is awesome. And everything, relative to us estadunidenses (Americans), is dirt cheap. So one of the first things we will do when we get there is sign up with a Portuguese cell phone provider. We’ve
- [Our first "regular" day in Lisbon](https://snipe.pt/2023/05/13/our-first-regular-day-in-lisbon/) - This is something I keep looking forward to. Right now there's lots of stress, lots of waiting, lots of forms to fill out, and lots of expense. It's all....awful. So the main thing I keep trying to look forward to is: what's our first low-stress day going to look like? I'm imagining this will be,
- [SEF Reschedule: No Joy](https://snipe.pt/2023/05/10/sef-reschedule-no-joy/) - As I mentioned previously, our immigration lawyer helpfully tried to change our SEF appointments to NOT be at the exact same time in two different places, I presume because she didn't want to have to pay for two different translators for us - but accidentally scheduled the appointments for the same day we land in
- [North American Animals I’ll Miss](https://snipe.pt/2023/05/07/north-american-animals-ill-miss/) - I know this seems like a weird thing to post about, but it’s something I have slowly been making peace with over the past few months since learning that hummingbirds are only in the Americas. There is plenty of wildlife in Portugal and the Iberian Peninsula overall, but there are a few favorite neighborhood regulars
- [Barbers vs Salons in Portugal](https://snipe.pt/2023/04/30/getting-a-haircut-in-lisbon-as-a-woman/) - So, Portugal tends to be really progressive (especially for a Catholic country) - it's one of the reasons why we're moving there - but there was one sticking point that came up that was absolutely surprising. While it probably wouldn't apply to most women, who in the US don't typically go to "barbers", I thought
- [SEF Appointment Rescheduled](https://snipe.pt/2023/05/03/sef-appointment-rescheduled/) - Our lawyer has rescheduled our SEF appointment to be... the day we land in Lisbon on June 1, 2023 at 8:30AM. 😬😭 (SEF is short for Serviço de Estrangeiros e Fronteiras, and is their immigration agency, where you apply for your residency card.) Brady's appointment is for 10AM, mine is at 2:30PM and our animals arrive

## Pages

- [Welcome!](https://snipe.pt/) - Moving Moving to Portugal As many of you are already aware, Brady and I are moving to Portugal in about a month. These are both exciting and incredibly nerve-wracking times. While I have lived snipeApril 29, 2023 Food & Drink Food in Portugal Brady WetheringtonMay 24, 2026 Language Portuguese Language Stumbling Blocks Brady WetheringtonOctober 4,
- [Visiting Lisbon](https://snipe.pt/visiting-lisbon/) - Last updated May 2026 If you google "visiting Lisbon", you'll find plenty of things to do in this town. Brady and I have also hosted more people here in Lisbon in the first 6 months that we lived here than we did in literally years of living in San Diego (another place people go for
- [About Us](https://snipe.pt/about-us/) - This is the blog for Alison Gianotto (aka "snipe") and Brady Wetherington (aka "uberbrady") as we make the journey from San Diego to residency in Lisbon, Portugal. It's a long road (with some water in between) but we're thrilled you're joining us here. We both work in tech for a company called Grokability, Inc, which
- [Stuff We Miss](https://snipe.pt/moving-to-portugal/stuff-i-miss/) - AKA - stuff you should bring me if you visit 😉 There's so much to love about Portugal, but there are still some things I miss from the U.S. I'm lucky enough to have friends who have already chipped away at this list, either by visiting or shipping me goodies (please don't ship stuff tho
- [Learning European Portuguese](https://snipe.pt/moving-to-portugal/learning-portuguese/) - While Portuguese is spoken all over the world, it can be challenging to find good online resources for learning European Portuguese. You can use Duolingo, but at this time, they only support Brazilian Portuguese, and while Brazilian Portuguese and European Portuguese do share many common words, there are many words that are wildly different (even
- [Moving to Portugal](https://snipe.pt/moving-to-portugal/) - As many of you are already aware, Brady and I are moving to Portugal in about a month. These are both exciting and incredibly nerve-wracking times. While I have lived all over the United States (NJ, NY, VA, GA, CA, MT, CO), I’ve never moved internationally, and because it’s overseas, it’s not like we can just load up
- [Privacy Policy](https://snipe.pt/privacy-policy/) - Who we are Our website address is: https://snipe.pt. Comments When visitors leave comments on the site we collect the data shown in the comments form, and also the visitor’s IP address and browser user agent string to help spam detection. An anonymized string created from your email address (also called a hash) may be provided

## Categories

- [Uncategorized](https://snipe.pt/category/uncategorized/)
- [Moving](https://snipe.pt/category/moving/)
- [Language](https://snipe.pt/category/language/)
- [Visas](https://snipe.pt/category/visas/)
- [Lisbon](https://snipe.pt/category/lisbon/)
- [Laws](https://snipe.pt/category/laws/)
- [Money](https://snipe.pt/category/money/)
- [Tech](https://snipe.pt/category/tech/)
- [The Feels](https://snipe.pt/category/the-feels/)
- [Health](https://snipe.pt/category/health/)
- [Healthcare](https://snipe.pt/category/healthcare/)
- [Food & Drink](https://snipe.pt/category/food-drink/)
- [Utilities](https://snipe.pt/category/utilities/)

## Tags

- [haircuts](https://snipe.pt/tag/haircuts/)
- [everyday](https://snipe.pt/tag/everyday/)
- [sexism](https://snipe.pt/tag/sexism/)
- [barber](https://snipe.pt/tag/barber/)
- [culture](https://snipe.pt/tag/culture/)
- [sef](https://snipe.pt/tag/sef/)
- [portugal jank](https://snipe.pt/tag/portugal-jank/)
- [animals](https://snipe.pt/tag/animals/)
- [pets](https://snipe.pt/tag/pets/)
- [vehicles](https://snipe.pt/tag/vehicles/)
- [cars](https://snipe.pt/tag/cars/)
- [title](https://snipe.pt/tag/title/)
- [dmv](https://snipe.pt/tag/dmv/)
- [telecom](https://snipe.pt/tag/telecom/)
- [mobile phones](https://snipe.pt/tag/mobile-phones/)
- [internet](https://snipe.pt/tag/internet/)
- [moving](https://snipe.pt/tag/moving/)
- [legal](https://snipe.pt/tag/legal/)
- [permits](https://snipe.pt/tag/permits/)
- [laws](https://snipe.pt/tag/laws/)
- [currencies](https://snipe.pt/tag/currencies/)
- [exchange rate](https://snipe.pt/tag/exchange-rate/)
- [euros](https://snipe.pt/tag/euros/)
- [logistics](https://snipe.pt/tag/logistics/)
- [Alfama](https://snipe.pt/tag/alfama/)
- [residence](https://snipe.pt/tag/residence/)
- [phones](https://snipe.pt/tag/phones/)
- [vpn](https://snipe.pt/tag/vpn/)
- [amazon](https://snipe.pt/tag/amazon/)
- [shopping](https://snipe.pt/tag/shopping/)
- [colombo](https://snipe.pt/tag/colombo/)
- [residence card](https://snipe.pt/tag/residence-card/)
- [dentist](https://snipe.pt/tag/dentist/)
- [healthcare](https://snipe.pt/tag/healthcare/)
- [optometrist](https://snipe.pt/tag/optometrist/)
- [voting](https://snipe.pt/tag/voting/)
- [sns](https://snipe.pt/tag/sns/)
- [drivers license](https://snipe.pt/tag/drivers-license/)
- [veterinarian](https://snipe.pt/tag/veterinarian/)
- [car rental](https://snipe.pt/tag/car-rental/)
- [portugal](https://snipe.pt/tag/portugal/)
- [lisbon](https://snipe.pt/tag/lisbon/)
- [visa](https://snipe.pt/tag/visa/)
- [cafe](https://snipe.pt/tag/cafe/)
- [coffee](https://snipe.pt/tag/coffee/)
- [mortgage](https://snipe.pt/tag/mortgage/)
- [banking](https://snipe.pt/tag/banking/)
- [real estate](https://snipe.pt/tag/real-estate/)
- [apple](https://snipe.pt/tag/apple/)
- [tech](https://snipe.pt/tag/tech/)
- [brady sucks at tagging](https://snipe.pt/tag/brady-sucks-at-tagging/)
- [meo](https://snipe.pt/tag/meo/)
- [utilities](https://snipe.pt/tag/utilities/)
- [power](https://snipe.pt/tag/power/)
- [holidays](https://snipe.pt/tag/holidays/)
- [christmas](https://snipe.pt/tag/christmas/)
- [Socializing](https://snipe.pt/tag/socializing/)
- [Friends](https://snipe.pt/tag/friends/)
- [language](https://snipe.pt/tag/language/)
- [elections](https://snipe.pt/tag/elections/)
- [us elections](https://snipe.pt/tag/us-elections/)
- [food](https://snipe.pt/tag/food/)