This post harks back to our initial arrival in Portugal in February.

What was in our 10 suitcases and duffles? We didn’t bring any appliance whose purpose was to generate heat. We checked all electronics to see if they handled European voltage. Most new ones did. 

Here’s a list of the kinds of things we brought:

• Clothes, but not too many – we’ll need to transition from cool weather to hot. Will we need to ever dress up?
• A few pairs of functional shoes to be ready for a lot of walking
• Raincoats, sweaters for February and early March, sun hats, rain hats
• Swim wear – when will we want to jump into the ocean?
• Toiletries and meds, with extra bottles of skin-safe, fragrance-free products
• Pillows and sheets, used as padding and wrapping in the suitcases
• A couple of quilts, including our trusty allergy-safe puffy quilt
• Towels, which we used for padding too
• Horn, horn maintenance supplies, music stand – horn music is PDF files on the iPad
• Cameras, tripods and other photo gear
• Audio recording gear (not much immediate use, but not for shipping on our palettes)
• Laptop computers, tablets, phones
• Exercise – yoga mat, exercise bands, 3lb weights, foam roller, massage balls
• Camping air mattresses, narrow and thin type – not sure how fast we’ll be purchasing a bed

Basic kitchen kit:

• 4 each of: large plates, small plates, cereal bowls, knives, forks, spoons
• 3 pans with covers – large and small fry pans, small 1.5 liter sauce pan
• Serving spoon, spatula, slotted spoon, 
• veggie peeler, grater
• Bread knife, paring knife, medium sized knife
• Cutting board
• Miscellaneous small bowls (Two nested delicate bowls broke though. Don’t nest delicate bowls even with padding between.)
• Dishcloths and other favorite cleaning cloths
• Oven mits, potholder

Micellaneous things that might be handy:

• Tool kit with screwdrivers, adjustable wrench, mini-screwdriver set, electric diagnostic tool (would it be useful?), laser distance measuring tool, level, stud finder (but it seems our walls might not have studs but are all plaster) , measuring tapes that had both centimeters and inches
• Box of desk supplies, including scissors, stapler, pencil sharpener, short rulers, magnifier, pens and pencils
• Box of sewing supplies
• Any European plug adapters that we already owned for travel
• A few metal boxes of slides, part of the collection of stuff we hadn’t finished sorting and digitizing
• Backpacks of various sizes – we packed things into backpacks inside the duffles so we would have several backpack options when we walked and shopped
• Some file folders of important papers and projects that we might work on
• 200 or 300 music CDs that we had transferred into a large CD wallet, along with a portable CD player and Bose desktop speaker
• Cooler with injectable eczema medicine

What did we need right away?

So was it enough? There were things we set out to buy right away. We stayed at a nearby hotel for three nights so we could get a serviceable sleeping arrangement set up.

We found an inflatable mattress in the camping department at the hipermercado. The weather was still cool so we used the camping air mattresses on top as insulation.

At the hipermercado, we also bought:

• Mixing bowl
• Coffee making supplies
• Trash cans
• Microfiber dust mop

Pretty quickly we went to Ikea in Alfragide, a train ride followed by a 45-minute hike inland (uphill) or a bus ride. We’ve walked it several times. Another option, especially after shopping, is an Uber ride home. Uber is very inexpensive here. 

At Ikea and at Leroy Merlin (a Home Depot-like store), we got table and floor lamps for the living room and bedrooms, which didn’t have any lighting. (Ceiling lights are something that people take with them). There were built-in lights in the kitchen, hall, and bathrooms.

On our second Ikea trip, we bought some basic furniture: queen-size bed and bedside tables, sheets, dining table and chairs, a couple other chairs. Later, we bought a couple of sit-stand desks with stools. We also shopped at Maisons du Monde, a French furniture store, and bought both a couch and a convertible couch – getting ready for guests! The shopping will continue, but we’ll wait until we our household goods arrive in May and live a spartan life until then.