20/06/2026
THE STORY BEHIND MY 40th BIRTHDAY IN PORTUGAL.
Before I share all our Portugal adventures from this trip, I want to pause and start at the beginning... because every journey has a story, and this is the story of how I came to celebrate my 40th Birthday in Portugal.
About two years ago, I came across a photograph of Porto, Portugal.
Porto, looked like something out of a storybook...
a beautiful river flowing through the heart of the city, the Porto sunset, colourful buildings lining the water's edge, a grand bridge across the skyline, many boats, and people walking along the riverfront and enjoying coffee at cozy cafés.
It felt like a place where time slowed down.
I had never really thought much about Porto or mainland Portugal.
You see, my family is from the beautiful little island of Madeira, and our hearts have always been there. If I'm honest, I never gave much thought to exploring the mainland because I love Madeira so very much.❤️
But when I saw that photograph of Porto, something about it captured my heart.
Ricardo asked me one day:
"What would you like to do for your 40th Birthday?"
Without hesitation,
I replied:
"WOW... imagine if we could celebrate it in Porto, Portugal."
Then we both had a good laugh, because at that stage we had not planned or budgeted for it, this idea was simply a dream... nothing more.
Or so we thought, but GOD had other plans for us.
Fast forward to November 2025.
It was late on a Friday night during one of the famous November sales. A family member had asked us to help them book flight tickets online to benefit from the November discounts, as Ricardo searched the airline website, in a completely spontaneous moment, he turned to me and asked:
"DO YOU STILL WANT TO CELEBRATE YOUR 40TH BIRTHDAY IN PORTUGAL?"
My answer was immediate.
"YES!!!"
I had about five minutes to look at the calendar and choose travel dates, completely outside my comfort zone, because I usually like to think, plan, research, and pray through big decisions.
By GOD'S Grace and His Wisdom, we chose our dates in June 2026 and booked two tickets to Portugal.
GOD knows all the dreams of our heart,
even when we think it's impossible.
And so began our Portugal adventure ❤️
To be continued...
in next post...
more stories to share.
