Travels of John and Flo – flojohntravels.com

May 3, 2025May 3, 2025

Getting (and keeping) a Driver’s License in Portugal

When we moved to Portugal it was necessary for us to get Portuguese driver’s licenses. You can’t live in the country and use a driver’s license issued from another country. The process was rather simple for Florence as she had a French license and they just exchanged hers for a Portuguese one. The only problem was waiting for the replacement which took six months to arrive. During this period she had a piece of paper stating she could legally drive, but it was only recognized as legal in Portugal – no rental car company, or other country, would accept it.

April 14, 2025April 14, 2025

Northerners & Southerners and the Concept of Time

Most people making the move to Portugal are coming from the north, primarily northern Europe, United States or Canada. And the majority are doing so for the weather. For lack of a better term, let’s refer to them then as “Northerners,” and those in the south, (Portugal, Spain and Italy for example), as ”Southerners”.

Cultural characteristics are what differentiate them with the concept of time, how each relates to it, at the top of the list.

March 22, 2025March 22, 2025

The Importance of “Home”

The concept of “home” is something that should be seriously contemplated by anyone considering moving to another country. I’ve placed “home” in quotes as home is more than just the tangible, physical structure where we grew up or currently live. There are other attributes that have intrinsic value as well. Home is traditionally where family is, where we entertain friends, the people we trust and rely on most. Where we feel most comfortable and safe. It’s where we keep and hold onto the things that are most valuable to us. It provides a foundation on which we build our lives, for life is easier when there’s a strong bond between us and “home”. All of these add up to give the home a sense of soulfulness.

March 6, 2025March 22, 2025

Journey back to Puerto Vallarta

It’s been over three years since we’ve been back to Puerto Vallarta, the place that was our home for nearly thirty years. But in late February we made the journey to attend a wedding and reunite with old friends.

We broke the trip up by landing first in Cancun spending a few days, allowing us to avoid Mexico City immigration, (especially after what happened on our last visit), and provide a bit of a reprieve from the inevitable jet-lag that seems to bother us even more these days.

February 7, 2025March 6, 2025

Portugal here we come (2017)

The night sky exploded into a shower of color and light, silhouetted against the dark waters of Banderas Bay in the distance. To our left the golden dome of the church of the Señora de Guadalupe glowed bright, intermittently covered with long shadows cast by her iconic crown from the erupting show of light. Below the streets were crowded with spectators enjoying the spectacle and welcoming in the new year.

February 6, 2025February 6, 2025

Lifestyle Changes

It has been a while since I last posted. Well, we’ve been a little busy. Some years ago we started building a home in a lovely area about 45 minutes south of Lisbon, Portugal. And it has been quite the ordeal, providing us with an array of experiences, some good and some, well, some we’re still trying to work through.

I’ll be writing here about this journey which has proven to both humorous at times, (although it wasn’t always so at the moment), as well as educative– we’ve learned a lot along the way. I think that’s partly what’s saved us–seeing what we were undertaking as more of a journey rather than an end-point. Finally receiving the home when it was finished (is it really ever finished?) was just as important as what we learned and experienced along the way..

March 17, 2024February 4, 2025

Skiing in the Pyrenees

Flo and Ali were in Paris with Ali working while Flo was visiting friends. I was back in Lisbon with a car full of ski equipment and luggage, about to begin a long drive to the Pyrenees. Our plan was to rendezvous in Pau France – me driving and them arriving from Paris by train.

May 15, 2023May 16, 2023

A visit to Extremadura Spain

Extremadura is a region in Spain that runs along side the Portuguese border, directly east of Lisbon, so in the central/west region of the country. From Lisbon it’s 200 km, or just a couple of hours drive away. We decided to do a short circuit tour of this region that would take us first to Merida in the south, then north taking in the towns of Cáceres, Trujillo and Plasencia, and then further up and then back west to La Alberca and Cuidad Rodrigo, before heading back to Lisbon.

March 19, 2023

Skiing in La Clusaz, France

Florence spent her early family winter vacation years skiing in the French Alps, in the village of La Clusaz. As it was her birthday coming up, we decided to have a family vacation and revisit La Clusaz, and invite her mother Paddy along.

January 21, 2023March 19, 2023

The Canary Islands – Tenerife

Since selling our home in Mexico we’ve been looking for a place to replace it, an escape from the cold in the winters but somewhere a little closer to Lisbon. Our searching first took us to Madeira, but that wasn’t quite warm enough. The next place to check out was the Canary Islands, which we visited in January of this year (2023).