Courtesy of Cara Celeste West
- Cara Celeste West, 33, felt she lacked the support and resources needed to raise a child in the US.
- In 2023, West and her husband moved to Portugal for a more affordable and relaxed life.
- In Europe, her daughter is thriving, and West feels like she has finally found a community.
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Cara Celeste West, a 31-year-old content creator who moved from Houston to Portugal in 2023 and is now based on a Greek island. She shares life abroad with her 119,000 Instagram followers and helps people who live overseas find remote work. The conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
It all started when I became a mom in 2022. The stress of being a new parent in the US, combined with the lack of support and high cost of living, made everything overwhelming.
My husband and I lived in a two-bedroom apartment near downtown Austin, paying $1,600 monthly with utilities included. To save money on childcare, we worked opposite schedules. Despite our efforts, expenses like car payments, insurance, and paying down debt kept us spending around $8,000 a month.
I considered the possibility of moving abroad to live more affordably and comfortably. I didn't want my child to attend a traditional public school in the US, and I wanted to teach her through travel and real-life experiences.
Courtesy of Cara Celeste West
We weren't ready to fully relocate, so I thought living abroad temporarily could be a good option, though I wasn't sure how that would look.
In the summer of 2022, a friend invited me to join a Facebook group for "world-schooling" families. I was amazed to find a community around the idea I'd always had in my head.
I joined the group and asked if anyone kept a home base in the US while traveling part-time throughout the year. A family responded, sharing their experience with the Boundless Life program, which offered housing, education for children, and coworking spaces for a fee of about $3,400. It took them to Portugal, and they were now moving to Greece.
It was exactly what I'd been looking for.
We tested out life abroad before committing to a full-on move
In 2023, my husband and I joined Boundless Life for a three-month cohort in Portugal. Before we left, we took a few steps to prepare.
I kept my job in the travel and hospitality industry while my husband took a three-month sabbatical. To make living abroad more affordable while maintaining a home base in the US, we downsized and moved from Austin to Houston.
We rented a one-bedroom apartment, converting the living room into a bedroom for us and the bedroom into a nursery for our daughter. The rent was $1,410 a month.
When we moved to Portugal, the company provided us with a one-bedroom apartment for $1,572 a month, a schooling program for $1,518, and a coworking space for $488.
We were likely spending the same or a bit more since we were still maintaining our apartment in the US, but our quality of life improved tremendously.
We had more freedom in Portugal
We were pleasantly surprised by how amazing our experience in Portugal was. We lived in Lisbon, which felt like San Francisco but with cleaner streets.
We could walk to everything we needed, and the slower pace of life was refreshing. Most people we encountered, especially the younger generation and those in hospitality, spoke English, making it easy to navigate.
The cost of living in Portugal was significantly lower than in major US cities. Little daily pleasures, like getting a coffee or pastry without worrying about money or driving, made a big difference.
Courtesy of Cara Celeste West
Being in the European time zone was great for personal growth. I worked as a luxury concierge, helping people plan vacations in Europe during Eastern Standard Time hours, which meant I didn't start work until 2 p.m.
The Boundless Life program also provided childcare, which allowed my husband and me to have time for ourselves — me to work on my business and him to work out or handle personal tasks.
After two weeks in Portugal, we knew we'd made the right decision and were ready for bigger changes.
My husband and I became digital nomads
After returning to the US from Portugal, we put everything in storage by the end of June 2023 for about $170 a month. We moved out of our place and joined Noma Collective, a similar program to Boundless Life, in Belize for about a month before heading to Greece.
In Greece, we joined another Boundless Life program in Syros where we had a two-bedroom, two-bath apartment for about $2,006 a month. The city was truly one of the most magical places we've ever been — who wouldn't want to live on a beautiful island in the middle of the Aegean Sea?
Courtesy of Cara Celeste West
After the program ended, we returned to the US but moved back to Greece in the spring of 2024. Within two weeks of being there, we applied for digital nomad visas and officially received our residency cards in June 2024.
Now, we live in a two-bedroom, two-bath home in Syros, Greece, paying $1,464 a month. The summer months are complicated with tourism — it's hot and crowded — so we rent our home to visitors and stay away during that time. Last year, we spent the summer in Albania.
Overall, our monthly living expenses in Europe are about the same as in the US. However, instead of allocating money towards things like insurance or a $450 car payment, we now put that $450 towards paying off our credit card debt.
My husband left his job and is now a full-time stay-at-home dad. I now work full-time as a contractor for an American company and earn income through content creation.
Before, I was an established food blogger, documenting my life through food on Instagram. It was an easy transition to add travel to my content. People are fascinated by our everyday activities, like laundry and grocery shopping, and enjoy seeing what life is like in a different part of the world.
I have several income streams, which can vary from month to month. These include brand sponsorships — often three- to six-month contracts — YouTube AdSense, blogging, and other platforms. However, our biggest source of income comes from digital products; I help people move abroad through eBooks, courses, and one-on-one coaching.
Our quality of life has improved in Europe
A big reason we gravitated toward Portugal and Greece is because of the local attitudes.
3quarks/Getty Images
The people are welcoming, kind, and genuinely hospitable. As a Black woman, I often feel like I'm being watched in the States. In Europe, I feel liberated and able just to be myself.
Another huge difference for me is the absence of gun violence. The first time I went grocery shopping in Portugal, I felt a sense of relief and could finally let my guard down, free from the constant tension I often experience in public spaces in the US.
Watching my daughter grow has been incredible, too.
She's three now, knows words in multiple languages, and has experienced traditions like Portugal's Carnival.
But the biggest takeaway I hope she gets from living abroad in places like Portugal and Greece is kindness. I can't count how often strangers have helped me just because they saw I had a little one with me.
Courtesy of Cara Celeste West
The biggest change for us living in Europe has been building a community.
As digital nomads, it's tough to leave behind a support network, but we've made many friends, both locals and fellow nomads, wherever we've lived. In the US, everything was go-go, and I had to plan lunch dates months ahead. But it's much easier here, especially since many of our friends have the same flexible schedule.
We plan to stay in Greece year-round but travel during the summer. This works well for us, as we want to explore and plant roots. After five years, we'll be eligible for permanent citizenship through Greece's digital nomad visa.
This summer, we're planning to spend a few months in Tbilisi, Georgia, to see if we can establish a second home base.
from All Content from Business Insider https://www.businessinsider.com/moving-to-portugal-greece-cost-of-living-quality-of-life-2025-3
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