For the full post go to: https://janelleholden.substack.com.

From Montana to Portugal

How a Coffee Cocktail Got Me a Solar Eclipse ☀️☕️

After a little podcast hiatus, I’m back with a lot to tell you.

And today’s episode begins with some very big news: after months of paperwork, uncertainty, and considerably more worrying than was probably necessary, my Portuguese residency renewal was approved. 🎉

Then we get into what I’m doing next with From Montana to Portugal, including the evolution of the podcast, my Substack, travel writing, interviews, and the Good Life Club I’m building for people who want my personally tested recommendations.

And then, naturally, there’s a solar eclipse.

More specifically, there’s a last-minute shortage of eclipse glasses, a Lisbon hotel rooftop, a €16 coffee cocktail, a very helpful waiter, New York-style pizza, and a strategically selected trio of gelato flavors.

In this episode, I’ll tell you:

* 🇵🇹 The email from Portuguese immigration that nearly made me freak out ... and why it turned out to be one of the best emails I’ve received all year.

* 🧳 Why the second time around with Portuguese residency felt completely different from the terrifying high-stakes experience of moving here in the first place.

* ❤️ What this past year of rebuilding has taught me, and why learning Portuguese is becoming my next big project.

* ✍️ Why I’m shifting From Montana to Portugal toward more original essays, travel stories, interviews, and discoveries.

* 🎙️ What I’m planning to do differently with this podcast, including conversations with writers, travelers, coffee shop owners, and other interesting people I meet along the way.

* ☀️ How I managed to find eclipse glasses when every pharmacy and grocery store in Lisbon seemed to be sold out.

* 🍸 Why a hotel “Eclipse Happy Hour” and a €16 coffee cocktail became part of the solution.

* 🌑 What it actually felt like to stand on a Lisbon rooftop watching the sun turn into a banana and then a smile.

* 🎶 The unexpected connection between a solar eclipse, a song about heartbreak, and the strange feeling of being a small-town girl living far from home.

* 🍕 Where I went for a 20-inch New York-style pizza after the eclipse.

* 🍨 Why choosing three gelato flavors became a serious strategic exercise.

* 🐐 What I’m planning for the sold-out Portugal goat tour coming in October.

* 🎨 The small creative retreat I’m hosting in September.

* 🗺️ And a little preview of the Good Life Club, my growing collection of personally experienced and personally recommended places, adventures, travel discoveries, and other very good things.

And there’s one more little twist...

The next total solar eclipse visible from North America will pass through northeastern Montana in 2044.

So apparently this whole Montana-to-Portugal thing has come full circle.

With a little luck and a whole lot of happy hours, I plan to be there.

Read the essay

The written version of the eclipse story, “How a Coffee Cocktail Got Me a Solar Eclipse,” is available on my Substack, along with my other essays and stories from Portugal and beyond.

Read From Montana to Portugal on Substack

About the podcast

From Montana to Portugal is the audio companion to my writing about moving abroad, travel, Portugal, reinvention, good things, and building a life that feels like your own.

I’ll be sharing more behind-the-scenes stories from my essays, plus conversations with interesting people I meet along the way.

And eventually, quite a lot of coffee. ☕️

Thanks for being here.

Love,Janelle

Read original essays from Janelle: FROM MONTANA TO PORTUGAL Substack

🔗 Connect with Malika: Miradouro Living

In this episode, Janelle sits down with her new friend Malika Nunes — founder of Miradouro Living, licensed real estate broker, former molecular biologist, and longtime Portugal insider — for a wide-ranging conversation about what it actually takes to land well in Portugal.

Malika’s relationship with Portugal goes back nearly 30 years, and she brings a rare combination of cultural fluency, scientific precision, and warmth to her work helping newcomers find their home here.

Whether you’re seriously considering a move, casually curious, or just love hearing stories about finding aliveness, this one is for you.

🎧 Listen to discover…

…whether Lisbon real estate prices are really going up or down right now — and why Malika says we’re nowhere near a peak (her own apartment has doubled in value in five years).

…the hidden government incentive that lets buyers under 35 purchase a home in Portugal with ZERO down payment — and why this isn’t just for Portuguese citizens.

…what a “scouting trip” actually is (no, it’s not the Boy Scouts) — and the surprising reason Malika says they can be misleading.

…the one mindset shift that separates expats who flourish in Portugal from those who quietly move back — and why “open-mindedness” is only the start of it.

…why moving to Portugal is NOT as inexpensive as the internet keeps telling you — and the simple way to know whether your daily life will cost $100 or $500.

…the lesser-known Portuguese town south of Lisbon with a vibrant arts scene, ocean views, and houses that are still affordable — plus where else Malika sends clients who don’t want city life.

…the contract knowledge that lets you secure your visa appointment WITHOUT actually owning a property yet — and why 99% of these deals close successfully.

…what a 115-year-old French woman who learned to fence at 85 has to do with moving abroad — Malika’s most surprising answer to “why Portugal?”

About Malika

Malika Nunes earned an undergraduate degree in biology, attended teacher’s college, spent nearly a decade teaching middle and high school science, and went on to earn a master’s degree in molecular biology before reinventing herself as a licensed real estate agent and broker in Lisbon.

After three transatlantic moves of her own, she founded Miradouro Living to offer newcomers full-concierge support — not just finding a home, but landing well in Portuguese life and culture. She works with clients across Portugal from north to south, with a particular specialty in the Lisbon area.

You can reach Malika through her website, Miradouro Living.

About the Podcast

FROM MONTANA TO PORTUGAL is a top-bestselling Substack in the international category, and this podcast brings those essays — and conversations like this one — to life. If you’re considering a move abroad, or just love a good reinvention story, subscribe on Substack for essays, interviews, and the occasional vocal harmony.

If this episode resonated, share it with a friend who’s been whispering “what if?” to themselves about moving abroad.

And eventually — as my Portuguese friend taught me — they just might.Want more from Janelle? Go here: https://stan.store/janelleholden

Episode Notes:

This week I'm reading you an essay about hurry, surfing, autocorrect, and the surprisingly specific fear of missing my own life while I'm living it.

Also featured: a Portuguese actor who does commercials for something I thought was something else, a Beatles ensemble that meets in a Lisbon institute for an autonomous Spanish region (yes really), and the first time I stood up on a surfboard on my own.

Plus — stick around to the end for something I've never shared here before. I recorded myself singing harmony to a song I fell asleep to last night. It's not perfect but it's mine.

Links & Mentions:

The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry by John Mark Comer — the book that started it all

If You Ever Needed Me by Adam Holmes — the song I fell asleep singing

Move Abroad Starter Kit — a 57-minute audio guide + workbook to help you take your first real steps toward moving abroad: stan.store/janelleholden

Move Abroad Mentorship — four private sessions with me if you want someone walking beside you through the whole thing: stan.store/janelleholden

Subscribe for weekly essays from my attic in Lisbon.

With love, Janelle

In this epsiode I read an essay out loud about a trip to Prague. It's part one of two. You can find the whole essay at: https://janelleholden.substack.com. To apply for a creative writing residency with me in Prague, click here: https://janelleholden.substack.com/survey/6509536

Welcome to another episode of From Montana to Portugal. I’m your host Janelle Holden. I write a Substack newsletter called From Montana to Portugal and occasionally I invite people onto this podcast to explore topics of travel, culture, immigration, and international living. Today my guest is another Substack writer and author LaDonna Witmer. I deeply appreciate her work and love her care with words.

LaDonna left the United States in the middle of the pandemic and emigrated to Portugal with her family (husband, kid, dog, parrot). In previous lives in Chicago and San Francisco, LaDonna was a newspaper journalist, advertising copywriter, brand voice expert, editorial director, public speaker, and poetry slammer.

After relocating to the Portuguese countryside south of Lisbon, LaDonna creates words for other people as a freelance writer and editor and writes her own words in personal essays and poetry that occasionally get published in journals and magazines. She also writes regularly at The Long Scrawl on Substack.

LaDonna has written one full-length memoir that is currently being shopped around to publishers and is knee-deep in work on a second memoir about her upbringing in a fundamentalist religious community in rural Illinois.

You can subscribe to LaDonna’s Substack here:

For more interviews, essays, and paid perks from Janelle, sign up below (you’ve got free and paid options - we love both over here - be generous). :)

From Montana to Portugal is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support the work of an independent writer, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Rolando Andrade is a 50-year-old Portuguese clinical psychologist, psychotherapist, and sports psychology specialist. Over a 25-year career, he has dedicated himself to clinical practice, teaching, and scientific outreach, contributing to several book chapters on health literacy and sports psychology. In the field of sports psychology, he has worked with elite athletes — including European, World, and Olympic champions — helping them navigate the mental challenges of high performance.

But beyond the science, Rolando is also a writer — of fiction, poetry, and raw, unfiltered reflections on life’s harsher realities. His poetic voice once featured in an anthology, and he believes poetry is a way to bring visibility to what often remains hidden. As he writes in his poem “The Invisible Thread”:

“When I write, my wish is to find the invisible thread that unites all people... a word of comfort, the beating of hearts in harmony, or something divine that unites us all.”

Multifaceted and deeply sensitive, Rolando listens closely to the stories of others, walks to reconnect with the world, photographs what moves him, and believes that creativity may be the touch of magic that could one day save humanity.In this interview with the author of the popular Substack, Outside of the Therapy Room, Janelle and Rolando discuss questions of mental toughness, resilience, writing, meaning, and how to approach life when it gets difficult. You can find Rolando’s writing at: https://rolandoandrade.substack.com. And Janelle’s writing at: https://janelleholden.substack.com.

From Montana to Portugal is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

In this late-summer reflection from Lisbon, I talk about pirate flutes, metro grime, coffee walks, friendship, sunburns (both literal and emotional), and the strange magic of August.

A friend from New York joins me, and together we navigate cultural quirks, quiet pleasures, and conversations about travel, vulnerability, and what actually makes us happy.

This episode is about finding brightness in borrowed light, switching from gratitude lists to “happiness items,” and remembering that sometimes, the best thing you can do is lie on your back in the sand and just be.For more, go to https://janelleholden.substack.com

In this episode, I take you to the coast of Portugal—where a spontaneous swim, a lingering cough, a jazz band at midnight, and a soccer player from Tasmania all weave into an unexpected meditation on what it means to feel truly alive.

I didn’t plan to jump into cold water that morning, and I certainly didn’t plan to rethink my relationship with planning itself—but that’s what unfolded. This is a story about unplanning, aliveness, and those surprising moments that catch you off guard and stay with you like salt on your skin.

Whether you’re chasing goals, recovering from burnout, or just wondering what it might feel like to really live again—this one’s for you.

P.S. The Tootsie Pop makes a cameo. You’ll see what I mean. To get more from me and subscribe go to: https://janelleholden.substack.com

📝 Episode Description:What happens when two college roommates reunite in Portugal after thirty years of friendship? You get sangria under sombreros, dance floors on Pink Street, and a little wisdom wrapped in gin and nostalgia.

In this episode, I take you through five unforgettable days with my friend Kristina — from the castles of Sintra to the karaoke bars of Albufeira — and reflect on friendship, memory, and the absurd beauty of showing up for each other across time and distance.

This one’s for anyone who’s ever needed a lifeline, a laugh, or just a good margarita recipe (without Triple Sec).

Mentioned in this episode:– Pena Palace and the mystery cafeteria– The stag at Pensão Amor– Graceland, The Cranberries, and why Zombie is stuck in our heads– What thirty years of friendship can teach you about life, laughter, and letting go

💌 Enjoying the episode?Subscribe to my Substack for more essays, reflections, and occasional silliness from life abroad and within:👉 janelleholden.substack.com/subscribe