American Travelers Club

09/27/2026

Podgorica, Capital of Montenegro

When we were first confronted with the Schengen Shuffle option, we planned to stay a month in Albania, followed by a month in Montenegro and a third month in Bosnia/Herzegovina, after which we could go back to Portugal and work on our permanent residency paperwork. In hindsight we could have stayed the entire three months in Albania since TJ with her US passport was allowed to stay a full year without Visa requirements and Han with his Dutch passport could stay 90 days without questions....

Podgorica, capital of Montenegro, used to be called Titograd in honor of Yugoslavian partisan leader and president Josip Tito

08/22/2026

Tirana, Albania – Unexpectedly Beautiful

Flying in from Milano/Bergamo Airport, we land in Tirana's Mother Teresa International Airport a little after seven o’clock, together with a couple of thousand other travelers and prepare ourselves for a long wait to clear customs and immigration. Lo and behold it took maybe 30 minutes, probably less, to process all these people and get us on our way. Remarkable and a good sign....

  Flying in from Milano/Bergamo Airport, we land in Tirana’s Mother Teresa International Airport a little after seven o’clock, together with a couple of thousand other travelers and prepare ourselves for a long wait to clear customs and immigration. Lo and behold it took maybe 30 minutes, proba...

07/30/2026

Starting the Schengen Shuffle

Bittersweet is our departure from Coração d'Ouro. named after a Portuguese Telenovela, meaning Heart of Gold. AirBnb owner Lianne is ready at 8am to take us to Tábua bus station. We almost spent a month with her. Got a great tan going and the daily swimming in the pool was definitely a health kick for Han. We also said a fond goodbye to Finata Bakery owner Anne and bought 4 of her delicious Sweets for the road…...

Starting the Schengen Shuffle, a bureaucratic immigrations necessity added to keep us safe, pure and protected from humanity's dangers

07/26/2026

Coração d’Ouro: “Heart of Gold”

After what seemed like an almost daily repetition of opening and closing our suitcases, TJ had found an AirBNB in lesser known central Portugal, that would fit our needs to relax and stay in one spot where we could start organizing our move to Europe. Southeast of Porto in the lower foothills of the central east mountain range Serra da Estrela (...

Coração d'Ouro: "Heart of Gold" Airbnb in Vila do Mato - Tábua in central north portugal is a delight of quality and care

07/26/2026

Porto, Portugal Impressions

Six years ago we met our dear Portuguese friend Helena, during a two weeks vacation in Portimão/ Praia da Rocha, in the Algarve. Ever since we have wanted to visit her in her hometown of Porto and check the city out for a potential retirement move there. After dropping the rental car off at Eindhoven Airport in a screaming rain storm, we were facing a 6 hour layover before Ryan Air would lift off for Porto in Portugal, where we would arrive shortly before midnight....

Porto, Portugal Impressions; the city was always the second largest in Portugal, but has grown substantially in recent decades

07/24/2026

Helping Out Family in Holland

During our stay in Austria, Han got a message from his oldest brother, asking us to come and take care of things at his home, when he was getting a Heart procedure operation on May 21. Even though the operation in his case was considered non invasive, the anxiety levels nevertheless reigned high, especially since his wife suffers a debilitating disease and hands-on support was needed, as we had previously promised, if no one else would be available....

Helping out family in Holland and visiting old friends and family.

07/19/2026

Jeeps for Peace: A Convoy to Ukraine

Jeeps for Peace: A Convoy to Ukraine delivering 33 trucks to assist in rescuing people in harm's way on the frontlines of the war.

07/18/2026

Resting Up in Alland, Austria

Travel is almost never a perpetual highlight reel. There is a lot of mundane boredom, a lot of grueling effort in between the beautiful moments. Not that I can prove it in any way, but the word travel is said to come from the French word Travail, which simply means work. Every destination, an exhausting long train or plane ride, every architectural wonder, a long line....

Resting Up in Alland, Austria, in the foothills of the Austrian Alp Mountains and a short distance to the capital Vienna

07/14/2026

Discovering Kraków

Krakow - the historical Royal Capital City of Poland and our random choice to visit after a very intense week getting the JeepsforPeace trucks from Edinburgh to Ukraine, was partly the result of a need for relaxation while also discovering why Krakow is such a known popular, historic city and is rapidly gaining a reputation in modern times as well. We learned that the city has at least a handful of nicknames with references to Athens, Florence and even the Bronx and features a known history that goes back to sometime around 970 AD....

Krakow – the historical Royal Capital City of Poland and our random choice to visit after a very intense week getting the JeepsforPeace trucks from Edinburgh to Ukraine, was partly the result of a need for relaxation while also discovering why Krakow is such a known popular, historic city and is r...

07/14/2026

A First Discovery of Krakow, Poland

Krakow - the historical Royal Capital City of Poland and our random choice to visit after a very intense week getting the JeepsforPeace trucks from Edinburgh to Ukraine, was partly the result of a need for relaxation while also discovering why Krakow is such a known popular, historic city and is rapidly gaining a reputation in modern times as well. We learned that the city has at least a handful of nicknames with references to Athens, Florence and even the Bronx and features a known history that goes back to sometime around 970 AD....