From the USA to Spain, Germany, and Portugal: Shane
What if one family vacation, a summer semester abroad in high school, and a girl in your class who put a pair of headphones on you ... randomly set the whole rest of your life in motion?
Shane fell in love with Europe when he was 15, on a family trip. He fell in love with Spain 2 years later when he did a summer semester at a high school in Israel and he met a girl who put a pair of headphones on him, introducing him to house music and a little island called Ibiza. He spent his university summers in Spain and then after college, he and some friends traveled to Australia, Indonesia, and Thailand before landing in Europe where he would spent (most of) the rest of his life.
He lived in Spain. And then in Germany. And now he lives in Portugal.
He’s been a DJ, a cameraman, a marketing manager for one of the most prominent techno record labels in Germany. He’s sold high-end wine and spent the COVID years fermenting things for one of the top restaurants in Berlin. Now he's a real estate consultant in Portugal whose dream is to open a jazz club.
Shane’s is a story of just going—starting things and trying things and seeing what happens.
It is also a story of how maybe nothing you've ever done and no one you've ever met and nowhere you've ever been is as random as you think.
How did you end up living in Germany?
In Ibiza, I got into filming—I was working as a cameraman in the nightclubs. I was also selling tickets for clubs and I was DJing weekly at a hotel that would do little parties for beach events. And I met someone from Germany who was German and working in the same place. And I’d wanted to go to Germany for a long time because of the music scene there, the club scene there. And she was the gateway to go. So we moved to a little town outside of Cologne in 2009 and I lived in Germany for 13 years. Cologne for 8, Berlin for 5.
I found a job with a record distribution company—one of the bigger ones, and also one of the most prominent techno record labels in Germany at the time. Honestly, it was miraculous how I got this. It was so serendipitous. I looked on Facebook and clicked on the page of the record label. And the first post said, “We're looking for a marketing manager and content manager.” And I was interviewing the next day. And like three days later, I was the first ever external hire in 18 years at this record label. Normally everything's internal and friends and family. And it was really like,Wow.
What was living in Germany like?
So, I was the only American in my community. I was more or less the only English speaking person in a very big group of people. Germany, especially for Americans and maybe people from the UK, is so similar in the way that it's just a wealthy, rich—rich meaning you have all the resources—place. Forward thinking companies. Medical care that's excellent—not just good hospitals, the best ones. It's really simple to get things done, to get what you want, and get what you're looking for. Taxes are high, but the life is good. So for me, that's really similar to being in the States.
What’s not similar is this.
Is there a path to citizenship in Germany? And did you go down that path?
The naturalization process in Germany is 8 years, depending on the type of visa that you have. Mine was a skilled work visa around music promotion that then opened up to a freelance visa. And I just kept renewing it. And then I skipped the permanent residency application because I went straight to a passport application and essentially what happened was COVID and I am still waiting for answers 5 years later. Meanwhile, my visa ran out and I’m in Portugal and it put me in a bit of a limbo here to figure out what to do. It was a bummer. I was about to have my own jazz club. I was there for 13 years and it’s like I have nothing to show for it.
So you moved to Portugal. Why Portugal?
There was a bit of a rumor—something in the air. People are going to move from Berlin to Lisbon—there are DJs going and the club scene will be there and it was like this mysterious, Is it going to be a new Berlin in the sun? People started to come over. Not everybody stayed. It didn't really happen. But I was interested. And the idea was to give up on Germany and come to a sunnier place.
When you moved to Portugal, did you move to Lisbon?
I moved to Lagos. Because my parents moved there. I came to just help them integrate and move. I was there for when all their stuff came off the container and kind of helped organize everything and help them set up things. Because for me, it's normal to move to a new place and sell stuff, you know. For them it was fairly overwhelming.
It was not easy coming here. The whole immigration process for me was definitely tricky. My parents were already here. They already had their visas. I was certain that I could in with family reunification. But that stops at like age 24. So that option’s been long gone for me.
I got really lucky again and was able to start an application process for a visa that they've completely terminated now—called a manifestation of interest. Luckily, I had that loophole.
And then I became a real estate consultant.
Can you explain how buying and selling property in Portugal works? How does someone find and buy a home in Portugal?
What do you love the most about Portugal? And what is maybe your least favorite thing about Portugal?
I really do love the fact that a lot of Portugal is still in this ultra hasn't-been-developed-yet phase. I think it's a really special time to be here. In America, you can't be first at anything. You can't just open a concept on the beach and be the first one. They have everything already, you know. Germany too. Where I live, there's still so much opportunity. There's opportunity to be inventive, to be innovative, you can still be the first at things. And I think that's one of my favorite parts. You can make an impact.
On the flip side is the reason why it hasn't developed a lot. The work ethic is extremely, extremely different. When you call the phone company and you want to get your phone hooked up or there's an issue, you start to feel a bit: Where's the sense of urgency? Do you even want to earn money? I think that that's kind of a tough point sometimes.
Is there anything you're unable to get in Portugal that you miss?
Asian stores, for ingredients.
I think generally speaking, we have a lot less resources. It's a lot more homogenous in terms of all the grocery stores having more or less a very similar product line. You’ve got to shop on Amazon UK or Amazon Spain or Amazon Germany, if you're an Amazon user.
There are things that are a little trickier. You have to go through a little bit more effort for certain things. But if you stay here, you see the evolution. You start to see: Oh, that's in the grocery store now. Oh, there's more organic. Oh, look at the health food stuff that's showing up. Now they take credit cards. The Apple pay adoption here is incredible.
What advice would you give someone thinking of moving abroad?
In the beginning, do everything in the exploration phase with as little planning as possible. Fly by the seat of your pants. Be open and explore everything to see where you want to maybe stay for a while. And then take the time to really walk around and explore. Let a backpacker tell you the place that they just left so that now you know where to go next. When I found Cascais, it was because a restaurant server told me, “Hey, I think you'd like to go check it out.” If he didn't tell me that I wouldn't have been there. So those things first.
Then, if you really want to move, then I'd say go all in on paying everybody (that you can afford to) to do things for you. Find people that are already there, that know what they're doing. Because you don't know what you don't know. And when you're moving to another country, and you miss out on something in immigration or relocation, it can be a total bummer. You can really make things way more inconvenient and you’re typically losing time and money. There’s so many nuances to it. And it’s easy to say, Well I can do this. And even me, this is country number nine. And it doesn’t matter how many times you do it. Because Portugal does it differently than everywhere else.
Join in the conversation in the comments—ask questions, share experiences, get ideas, get inspired, get clarity.
Because leaving home is hard. Talking to people who've done it makes it feel less overwhelming. And more fun.
We also talked about:
Australia, Indonesia, and Thailand. Briefly.
The country that (in his and his friends’ experiences) is the toughest country to immigrate to.
The most off-the-beaten-path experience he has ever had in any country. Spoiler: It was in Indonesia and includes “taking care of” a chicken.
The place he calls “the cream of the crop” and his favorite place to be as a traveler.
The differences between life in Cologne and life in Berlin. In case you’re interested in checking out Germany and comparing the 2 cities.
His advice for job-seekers, based on the way he and his network of friends across the globe have found jobs in the different countries they’ve moved to.
Why he thinks it’s important to learn the language of the country you’re living in. And it’s not just about making everyday life easier to navigate.
How his experience searching for property led him to become a real estate consultant in Portugal.
His thoughts on renting vs. buying a home in Portugal. And why he thinks renting is a clever thing to do when you first arrive.
And, what he really thinks about Portuguese food. And the reason why everyone is boiling all the vegetables to death.
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Watch the entire interview by clicking play on the video below. Or listen to the podcast.
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What an interesting journey - I don't know why but I always think Germany must be one of the most difficult countries to move to, even just the language is so difficult!