what did it feel like to get rid of 90
of your possessions oh my god the
endless amounts of crap
pouring out that was a spiritual
experience seeing
how much you accumulate and how much
things own you and anchor you what
happened
i did that
i couldn't leave him dirty
oh my god all right before we dive into
this video i want to provide a little
bit of context that helps sort of
make this story even more impressive
both of my parents are immigrants from
argentina and both sides of my family
immigrated from argentina to the united
states in the 70s and 80s which were
largely marked by this dictatorship that
resulted in tens of thousands of people
getting killed or kidnapped it was
called the dirty war if you're curious
to learn more about it now i just say
that because my parents worked for
everything they have and so i definitely
do sound a little bit like a fanboy of
my own parents right now i just think
what they're doing is incredibly
courageous so anyway having said that i
hope you enjoy
all right so i have come to a small town
called coimbra in portugal to tell an
incredible story a story about how it's
never too late in life to follow your
dreams meet my mom and dad oh and this
is butter oh
oh look i like my parents a lot nobody's
perfect but i think they've done a
pretty damn good job you guys are
the real deal
and no relationship is perfect either
but even after being together for over
30 years somehow they seem like really
good friends how do you feel how do you
feel in europe yeah great great comment
let me loosen up it's kinda
um
yeah
it's great
[Laughter]
so
yes europe is great
i don't know what's the question all of
us used to live in the outskirts of
portland oregon that's the west coast of
the united states but since i moved to
paris thousands of miles away we haven't
had as many chances to see each other as
we used to this is something that we've
all struggled with quite a bit i'm quite
close with my parents and to see them
for only a couple of weeks a year feels
like not enough so recently they came to
see me in europe but this visit was a
little different this time around
they're here to stay
[Music]
good looking parents
my name is josh your father
my name is cecilia and i'm your mom
oh oh and this is butter i would say
this visit is different because this
time we're staying permanent in europe
our plan is to live in portugal like
you're not retiring not exactly we've
got a good foundation financially but we
know we have to work still it would be a
good idea to work and save up and
continue to save up but all that's in
question because we don't want to do the
old stuff anymore so we're re-figuring
out what is what does work look like for
each of us and we know what we like what
we want to do creatively now we have to
like put ourselves on that path and make
it happen we're going to portal to see
potential houses the plan is to find a
place that is half the size of what we
used to own with practically no
maintenance to be able to just focus on
work and then travel you know visit you
and your brother it's a romantic idea to
drop everything and start fresh and
people in their 50s like my parents
don't often do that kind of thing i mean
they had everything they needed to
comfortably finish out their lives in
their beautiful home in the pacific
northwest and instead they sold that
home and aren't looking back so it's
inspiring to me but it's also not as
simple or clear-cut as it might seem and
that's why i wanted to interview them
and tell their story what you guys have
done is very inspiring to a lot of
people i mean you're living a lot of
people's dream
like a lot of people especially in your
age range i think yeah feel stuck they
feel or i mean in my age range too but i
think as you get more responsibilities
and whatnot
sometimes what you guys are doing might
seem entirely impossible right so a lot
of people are inspired by this
i could see why now because what we we
had the quote-unquote i would say the
perfect home settled in paying taxes we
had well-paying clients gorgeous
gorgeous environment our kids are
successful they live in europe and money
in the bank i mean what else what else
could you want right and there was
something lacking i think you have to
get fed up enough and realize this is
not everything to me i'm willing to go
through some pain and it's good that we
don't know what the level of pain is and
discomfort because if we did
if we did in life in anything having
kids whatever you wouldn't do half the
we do we have a few issues with the
apartment this doors and windows keep
falling off back in
we could not anticipate the problems or
challenges right and so and it's good
that you don't that's good you don't
know and you go for it what happened i
did that
what how did you do that i put the wrong
soap because i don't have laundry soap
but i really wanted to wash the towels
from the beach i couldn't even
[Music]
oh my god
are you serious oopsie
i look that
see 50 year olds also make mistakes
[Music]
so you guys are saying feeling fed up
with something can be used to your
benefit yeah well that's how it works
you can complain all day long and feel
stuck and do that rest of your life or
you can go
look at possibilities and options what
are we doing checking out our first
property
excited to be here
don't know what we're looking at but
it's the beginning of our exploration
which is exciting honestly i think it's
the best time of my life right now all
the big accomplishments have been
checked off the list getting the jobs
running the businesses getting married
having kids
exploring things now it's like okay
landing here and i get to do what i want
and that it's like i i know better what
i want best time of your life i think so
yeah there's something about being at
this stage in life you know a little bit
more who you are it gets to you know it
takes a long time to get to know who you
are but you have to search for it you
have to explore it yeah it doesn't show
up it doesn't matter people expect it to
show up you got to find you
and then you you find your way what did
it feel like to get rid of 90 of your
possessions disassembling a home that
had 30 plus years of collecting oh my
god the endless amounts of crap
pouring out that was a spiritual
experience seeing
how much you accumulate and how much
things own you and anchor you i mean and
it will happen again because we tend to
like need things and save it just in
case and all that i thought i was free
of attachments way more than i used to
be except for your box of memories right
and i'm like yes it's part of the
human process to know and to learn about
letting go a little bit to me it was
daunting and also exciting
i i mean i like challenges like that
was it scary
to sell your house and leave your life
in the united states behind no
yes and the fear for me was to
not be able to find a home that feels
like home i knew the transition is hard
there is a good six months of discomfort
if not more for me it was just the focus
of let's get out of the u.s now this is
the plan let's get out of here let's get
over there and now where we are i'm
beginning to feel like almost two weeks
in i need some comforts back yeah when
did the idea of leaving the country
first pop into your minds probably two
to three years ago before the pandemic
we were talking about it and i'll tell
you you living united states to europe
was definitely like a thought excited
for you
very excited for you we got to go places
i want to go places too not being able
to have access to you for a year and a
half really affected me
you were not having a good time being
alone and i was very concerned and could
not have visit you for even a week
nothing portland started getting more
and more boring for us right we were
getting frustrated the restaurants the
places to go but we would go to seattle
we would go to vancouver bc we would go
to the coast and over and over you can
go like what the hell we are not
enjoying nearby cities it's the same old
as far as places to go and so that that
it had to get frustrating enough for us
to say okay this is definitely not the
area for us
something my parents taught me very
early on is that travel is incredible
for expanding your perspective on the
world i'm a huge proponent of this
lifestyle if you've been following my
stuff for a while then this comes as no
surprise but it comes with this whole
other side of things that i try to show
as well the challenges and dangers of
travel things like getting robbed among
other things i had my wallet with my id
in it stolen a few years ago and once
while i was traveling with my parents
and my brother in london we got robbed
both of my parents lost their passports
and it was a nightmare now one thing
that most of us
don't really think very often about at
least me personally is identity theft
but when this kind of thing happens like
it's a very real risk and digitally this
kind of thing has grown like
exponentially it's happening so often
now on the internet with all the data
breaches taking place it feels like half
of my friends have had their social
media accounts hacked so it's not really
a bad idea to think about protecting
yourself and that is exactly what aura
does who are sponsoring this video it's
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that they opt you out of data brokers
which is like i can't believe that even
has to be a thing but it's awesome that
there's a service that helps you with
that unless you make like a proactive
effort on this kind of thing people will
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nathaniel thank you aura for sponsoring
this video
it's inspiring for me to witness my
parents undergo such a big shift in
their lives and not let their age stop
them to me it's a reminder that youth is
a mindset a way of life not the number
of years you've been alive and the
timing of this i mean them moving to
europe just after i bought my apartment
as well as my brother sky also taking a
big leap in his life to move to portugal
at the same time let's go let's see
[Applause]
please be informed that your application
is cleared and it is time to send in
your actual password
feels like our whole family is
collectively going through a massive
transition right now together i could be
in portugal in like
i don't know
a week and a half two weeks something
like that
just as we leave yeah he got his key
today too i know
oh my god the timing life really does
work in mysterious ways
do you feel like you'll ever move back
to the united states i feel
the smartest people out there are always
spreading seeds in different places if
something doesn't work out here for now
then you move and put your energy
somewhere else and more than ever you
have to be very dynamic and open to
adaptation
to opportunities
if you can dig them and
taking this opportunity is being hard
it's not easy to move from one country
to another country what do you guys say
to people that consider your decision to
be or the things that you're saying to
be anti-american we are not
anti-american no
it you can call it any of a number of
things it's a preference you deciding
something's not working for you anymore
i need to move on i need to do something
different no offense to that culture
those people i think the problem is that
there is
two types of people
people from the world and people that
are very patriotic i kind of need to be
from different places so it can sound
anti-us it can't sound like portland's
missing that in the other and you know
but it's just for us it is missing those
things for us we want those
characteristics that are found
somewhere else so we've entered a new
set of challenges with how people work
timeline is different on things people
are nice but stuff doesn't get done
anywhere as near as fast as in the us
it's a trade-off and i'm curious if the
portuguese way is the way
we're gonna like long-term
uh
but i'm also happy that there's a lot of
europe to explore because maybe it's a
nordic country in the future i don't
know sky's the limit it's all a canvas
and that's how we see it right now would
you say that this
has been more difficult than you thought
moving to another country i would say
there was more to it than i was
expecting yeah so there is a
very secure way of bringing money from
united states to europe
but that's also very difficult you have
no access to your money because there's
all these security codes and all the
steps you have to take and then the
banking person that's supposed to be
helping you with that doesn't get back
to you it's been a week she's either in
vacation or not responding
in long term like it feels like it's an
in this chain of to-do's you i feel like
i cross things off my list and new ones
appear i knew that there would be
difficulties i just had no idea what
they were like you hear them from other
people but until you experience them and
they're happening to you you really
don't know you're surprised of what
affects you and what doesn't affect you
you're surprised how do you guys feel
about being here mix it's a mixed
feeling yeah there's a reality of the
student life here in coimbra of tourism
of doors falling apart of discomfort i
really need space i'm like desperate for
space you need me to leave
i just wherever i go it's like crowded
you mean to leave
no now it's
setting in that we're not home anymore
this isn't home it's temporary this is
the unromantic piece right of like oh
yeah well this is reality when you land
at a place right and you're living in it
yeah
oh wow
coimbra my parents tembury home is a
gigantic student town and i came on the
week of the most intense parting of the
year it's swarming with students looks
like bugs people on the street they'll
throw beer at them or just what yes i
read about this okay they get sort of
violent i was feeling kind of like oh my
god there's no end how am i ever gonna
sleep and then there's party there and
party here there's party on both sides
oh boy yeah on both sides of the aisle
what it is a balancing act right between
you're talking about
fighting against boredom
and also right now fighting against
discomfort
so it is a balance between the two right
adventure keeps you young but too much
it makes you old yes i'll tell you what
i've learned right and it's not easy
it's always hard it seems like every
time i'm challenged when you put your
attention on something and you let
things unfold you let things shape up
you let things surprise you if you
believe in that if you can trust that
that will happen as part of the process
you will get through it you cannot look
at the entire mountain yes to start you
have a mission okay i'm going from this
country to this country but if you start
seeing the entire mountain
you freeze you
have to look at the next logical thing
what's in front of you even though
emotionally you're feeling like oh my
god it's all falling apart right if what
it what that does is it gets the next
only thing you can work on address
because that's all you can do with your
human brain but it also pulls you away
from looking at the entire forest my dad
actually recently took the leap and
created his own youtube channel i'm very
proud of him for going for it and the
stories he's telling on there are
thoughtful and well crafted i'll leave a
link to his channel in the description
if you want to check it out question
question question everything question
everything just because everybody else
does it doesn't mean it's the right
thing it doesn't mean is right for you
the job you have where you live you have
to revisit is this the life i should
continue living or not well mr and mrs
drew
it has been a pleasure
did you want to add something else
[Music]
just