That is why Miranda will stay in Nijeveen for another half a year to complete all administrative matters and Menno temporarily runs the campsite alone. “I needed more time to arrange everything and also to be mentally ready for it.”
Yet they have been there for almost eight years now, and both have virtually no day regrets. “That first summer it was fifty degrees for a few days. Then we thought: is this it? But that was a few days. Furthermore, everything immediately felt good.”
Both nature and the Portuguese make them happy. “The environment is soothing. It is quiet on the road, people are pleasant. They appreciate you for you as a person. Status is not important. Someone in a suit just makes a chat with someone who is sweeping the street. What kind of work you have, how much money you have, what kind of car you are driving here in the area is not that important.”
Although the salaries are a lot lower than in the Netherlands, the costs are also a lot lower. “We are doing well financially. There are numerous fixed costs in the Netherlands that we do not know here.”
The appreciation they get from their guests also does a lot of them. “In the first month I have already had more compliments than in the entire twenty years in the drugstore. Those are simple things, but a person does that well.”
Although they have been running a campsite with heart and soul for years, the company has recently been on sale. “It was difficult for me with my health, I no longer had the energy,” explains Menno. Menno is now doing better. And whether they sell the campsite in the short term or not, the two remain in Portugal.
“I was pretty active within the Nijreden community, such as at the Oranjeversiging and with football. But when we went to Portugal, I was very easy to close and think:” That has been. We start again at zero and we are going to build a new life. “
But life in Nijeveen also appears to be intertwined with the new existence. For example, they return about four times a year and old friends from Nijeveen come to visit them in Ourique. “But to say that I miss that life … I only miss the children and grandchildren,” says Miranda.
Yet the couple keeps a blow when it comes to their future. “Nobody knows what the world looks like tomorrow. There can always be something that makes you decide to go back. But our approach is to stay in Portugal.”