When people think of an expat’s life in the Algarve, they usually envision someone retired, living a slow and quiet life. That is definitely not me. Not only am I not retired, but my life is anything but slow and quiet! I feel like I’m always busy. Between work and a pretty full social life, my calendar is always full, and I feel like I’m always doing something. Read on to learn about what my typical week is like living as an expat in the Algarve.
My Morning Routine
I have a pretty set morning routine. I wake up usually around 8 and lie in bed for a while. ADHD makes it so hard to get up in the mornings. Also, I have never been a morning person either, so yeah, mornings are hard. I eat the same thing for breakfast every single day, overnight protein oats, and usually a latte. It has a whole bunch of stuff in it, and it’s the perfect breakfast with a good ratio of protein, carbs, and fats to start my day and give me enough energy for my workout. I make it for 4 days at a time to simplify my morning a bit. While I eat breakfast, I read.
I usually take Bodhi out for a short walk after breakfast. Then I watch YouTube for a while, study some Portuguese, and play a few games on my phone. After all that, I do a workout. Every single day. I do either weights, pilates, or yoga. I make sure to get in a workout or some type of movement every morning because it helps my focus for the rest of the day and makes me feel better.
What is my work?
For work, I am currently working remotely, part-time for a boutique ad agency. I also do freelance content creation and social media management. Contact me here if interested. I also have this blog, and I am trying to grow my own social media accounts. Follow me, please! (The links are below.) My husband does freelance work in all kinds of tech. So luckily, we both get to work from home. If you need a tech guy, check him out here.
Crazy Busy Expat Life in the Algarve
Even though I don’t have a typical 9-5 job anymore, I do have a pretty regular schedule. I’m lucky that it’s flexible if I need it to be. I can move my days around to accommodate appointments, special occasions, or if I want to travel, but honestly, a set schedule helps me so much with my ADHD.
Monday
Mondays are usually pretty chill. I do my morning routine and then work from 11-4. Sometimes there is a Pub Quiz at the Black Anchor, so I will go to that. Pub Quiz is fun, and we have a group of friends we play with. The people from the winning team and the second-to-last team all win a bottle of wine, and the money raised goes to charity. Even if we never win, it’s always a fun time. If there is no pub quiz, Karl and I will go for a walk with Bodhi before dinner or take him to the beach if it’s not summer. (Dogs aren’t allowed on the beach during summer) Then the evening is chill, filled with Netflix and cuddles with Bodhi and Wednesday.
Tuesday
Tuesday starts out the same, morning routine, then work. After work, I’ll make dinner, and then I usually hang out with my friend Tracy. We live super close to each other, like literally under 200 steps door-to-door. We catch up on our lives and watch a show together. Right now, it’s The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives. We are obsessed!
Wednesday
Same morning and then an early dinner. My husband has a tech meet-up every Wednesday. It’s a group called Meetballs in the Algarve area with people who work or are interested in different parts of tech. They do different projects, network, and do community outreach events.
While he is away, a group of friends comes over for our weekly Trash TV night. We have wine, tons of snacks, and watch reality TV. Usually, we watch Netflix shows like Love is Blind, Ultimatum, Perfect Match, etc. We all have opinions, and we honestly spend more time with the show paused, talking about it and all the random tangents we go on (when you put a bunch of people with ADHD in a room together, there are a lot of tangents). We honestly usually only get through 1 episode in like 3 hours 🤣. But we always have so much fun and so many laughs. It’s definitely always a highlight of my week.
Thursday
On Thursdays, I do my morning routine. I don’t have my regular job for the rest of the week (it’s only part-time). Every Thursday morning, Tracy hosts Dot Day at her apartment. Dots are those diamond painting kits. It’s really just another excuse to hang out with our group of friends. We sit around and talk while zoning out on the dots. I will usually take my laptop and work on the blog or content stuff during this time. That’s one of the reasons I love doing my own content. I don’t have to be stuck sitting at a desk to do it. I can work on it while still hanging out with my friends.
After dots, I usually have some errands to run. Sometimes I’ll go to Spain to go to the grocery store there. I love Mercadona; they have the best gluten-free items. I’ll also do some random chores at home or catch up on anything I need to do from earlier in the week. Sometimes there are art events at A Borboleta Tavira or things going on in town, or other events with friends. There is a monthly Bunco night on a Thursday. Watch my TikTok about it here; it was Cinco de Mayo themed, and it was so much fun.
Friday
Fridays are another day of random work, chores, errands, and whatever else needs to be done during the day. On Friday evenings, I usually go out with a group of friends. We usually go to the Black Anchor. The Black Anchor is the local Irish Pub in Tavira, and it’s basically THE place to go on a Friday night in town. They always have live music, the drinks are flowing, and the food is good. There is always a decent-sized group of us, and if Gary Vesey is playing, you can almost guarantee we are there. It’s always a good time with friends, great music, dancing, and just good vibes. These nights always make me so grateful that I found such an awesome community and great friends in this little town.
Sometimes we go other places, like Murphys in Cabanas de Tavira or to other towns if there is a cool band or festival going on. We went to a Meat Festival the other day. It was 21€ a person and it was all you can eat. They had different stands with different dishes. They also had live music. The food was pretty good and it was a fun day with our friends.
Saturday
I usually sleep a little later on Saturdays, especially if I was out late Friday night. But I still do my morning routine, and then we clean our apartment. I miss my big house with lots of space that I had in Vegas, but I definitely don’t miss cleaning it. It takes like 1.5 hours to clean our apartment. It used to take that long just to clean my kitchen!
After cleaning, there is usually something going on. There always seems to be something going on in the Algarve. From festivals to markets to the beach, there is always something fun to do on a Saturday. Especially once it warms up. Check out these posts here to read about some of the festivals in Tavira and the Algarve.
Sundays
Sundays are usually another busy day. After my morning routine, I usually have an event to get ready for. I have a set schedule of events each month: 1st Sunday-T-Dance, 3rd Sunday-Book Club, Last Sunday-Rainbow Club
The T-Dance is a daytime disco at Prestige nightclub in Faro. I always go with a group of friends from Tavira. It’s always a great time and fun to go dancing during the day and not be exhausted (or hungover) the next morning. The club isn’t very big, and it’s a great group of people who go. Sometimes there are drag performances too. It’s always a blast.
Book Club is another highlight of my month. There is a pretty good-sized group of us. Every month, whoever hosts it picks the book and sets up the food and drinks. We all sit around and discuss the book and life and whatever else, while drinking wine. The conversation is always great. I love it because I end up reading a lot of different books and genres that I might not have read otherwise. Some of my favorites have been Lessons in Chemistry, A Court of Thorns and Roses, and Tomorrow, Tomorrow, Tomorrow. Going to the book club has also encouraged me to read more overall. I have already read 24 books this year!
Rainbow Club, the last Sunday of every month, is an LGBT+ and ally group in the Eastern Algarve. I have made so many amazing connections and friends through this group. I love this meetup. It’s always amazing to see everyone and spend the afternoon with them all.
This book was so good!
My Crazy Busy Expat Life in a Nutshell
Slow and quiet? Definitely not. Between work, social life, and regular adulting, I feel like I’m always busy. It’s a lot! But I love what I have here in Portugal. I love the different connections and communities I have made in this part of the world. I have gotten to know people that I would have never crossed paths with in Vegas. People from all over the world, all walks of life, all types of back stories. And yet, we are all here in the same place, with similar goals, to be happy in this little corner of Portugal.
I can’t ignore the downside, though. It can also sometimes be tiring, especially if I’m not doing well healthwise. I have some health issues: Long Covid, Celiac, ADHD, and I am pretty sure I am hypermobile (which comes with a whole other set of problems), which can make my life hard sometimes. And sometimes my weeks will look very different, where I just stay in my apartment and can’t do much. I have to pace myself and listen to my body. But I will take all of this over clocking in at the casino for 40 hours every week!
This is what nobody tells you about expat life: you actually have to build a life and a community, and when you do, it might look something like this.
Follow Me
I’d love for you to follow me on my socials to learn even more about my real life as an expat in the Algarve, Portugal. Instagram, TikTok, and I’m on Pinterest now too! 💙
