I have lost the count of how many times I was the only Portuguese in the room and how many times I had to explain where my country was. I have also lost count of how many times people said: “You might be the first Portuguese I’ve met.’. Working and traveling abroad for the past 10 years has shown me that people often called me my nationality instead of my name (I am totally OK with that, though).
After years of this I decided to write why I think there are not many Portuguese abroad working and especially, traveling.
1. We are ONLY 11 million
Sometimes people forget, but we are only 10-11 million, which is not a lot. The Parisian suburbs have a larger population than my country. One of the main reasons is exactly this. There aren’t many of us!
2. The quality of life in Portugal is good
If you have been or traveled to Portugal, you know what I am talking about. Portugal is safe, cheap, and well-located. When I left Portugal, the economy was in a bad shape (back in 2011. BUT every country was after the recession in 2008). Today, things are different (let us see the impact of COVID, though). The salaries are not super high, but the quality of life is superb: warm weather, relaxed environment, and the beach. That’s what all my friends tell me when we talk about my country.
3. Families are very connected
Families spend a lot of time together! I would say I am an exception of most Portuguese because I am used to not seeing my family often. However, I know most of my friends would never live abroad because their family and childhood friends are very important for them. They are so linked to their families, that living far apart would not make them happy, even though they could make more money abroad.
4. Traveling has become trendy ONLY in the past years
Most of my Portuguese friends travel, but that was not the reality for a lot of people in the past.
I remember being at university in Lisbon and being judged because I would rather save my money for traveling than attending school parties. – This was 10 years ago. No one would travel abroad. Tickets were expensive and we did not have the same amount of information we do today.
As traveling has become more normalized and inexpensive, I see more Portuguese traveling but mostly to “SAFE places.” During my trip to South America in 2016, I only met two Portuguese traveling (two of them in Brazil). Same in Australia or in Asia. Things are changing but I would say slowly.
5. Lack of information rather than money
I believe during a long period of time Portuguese did not travel or live abroad because they thought it was too expensive. Even my family never thought it was possible to travel low-cost until I started doing it. Of course, the salaries in Portugal are lower than in Germany and hence people do not have the same income level to travel. However, I truly believe for a long time we lack information about traveling and how inexpensive it could be if planned in advanced.
And that is my brief analysis why I think there are few Portuguese traveling around the world. This is totally based on my experience and what I have seen so far. If you think I missed something, Please, let me know. 😀
Daniela
Photo by Vita Marija Murenaite & Dimitri Houtteman & Dan Gold & Pedro Santos on Unsplash