What the app could not filter for

This week was a good reminder that the tool is not the whole move.

Take Root Abroad is keeping us on track, and I would not plan this without it. But if the world were simple enough to fit inside an app, what a boring world that would be. What the app did this week was get us thinking. And for the things it got us thinking about, we went to people.

The filters Idealista does not have

When I started adding filters on Idealista, I hit a wall I did not expect. I knew the size I wanted. I knew the price. What I did not really know was which neighborhoods I should be looking at in the first place.

There is no filter for walkable. There is no filter for a view of the water. The soft things, the ones that decide whether you love a place or just live in it, are not in the search box.

So I reached out to some of the people I have started connecting with on LinkedIn who actually live in Porto. Yes, a year before we move, we are already building a local network. They were gracious enough to get on a call and tell me where they thought we would be happy. Foz came up more than once.

I also asked what their own moves were like, where I should get help on the ground, and what I could really do myself. The answers were remarkably consistent:

  • Most of them found a rental on their own and worked directly with the landlord.
  • Always ask about cats.
  • Do not be in a hurry.

We cut the scout trip

The advice that changed our numbers was about scout trips. Most of them said that unless you are still deciding between Porto and some other city, a scouting trip does not buy you much. We have decided. Their suggestion was to book an Airbnb for a month or two when we arrive, then get out and walk, and look at places in person until we find the one.

So I took the scout trips out of our Take Root Abroad plan, and the budget moved with them.

Tux is a big boy

Caroline took on the cats. Specifically, she took on Tux.

Tux is our tuxedo shorthair (Tux, of course). He is a big boy: just over 19 inches long, 17 inches tall, and a little over 18 pounds. Our plan to carry him in the cabin with us is gone. He simply does not fit.

That led to an "ah ha" moment for both of us. We had grown up hearing that pets fly "in the cargo hold", and we pictured them down there with the luggage. That is not how it works. Pets travel in a separate part of the hold that is pressurized and kept at the same temperature as the cabin.

We had also absorbed the idea that a lot of animals are lost or hurt flying that way, because that is the kind of thing you hear and never question. The numbers we found tell a different story. In 2025 more than 110,000 pets flew, and there were five deaths, most of them from heart conditions nobody knew about in advance. I am sure every one of those families was devastated, and we would be too. But that is a smaller risk than a cat bolting through an open door at home on any given day.

So the cats will fly in the hold.

One airline changed the whole trip

Not every airline carries pets that way. Our first choice, TAP, would have meant getting to Newark or Boston first. That was either an American Airlines connection, where, as we were told, a pet can only be booked about ten days ahead with no guarantee, or a drive. Three days in the car with four upset cats, or a refusal at the gate on moving day. No thanks.

Instead we found Austin to Frankfurt to Porto on Lufthansa. They check the cats in at Austin all the way through to Porto, about 17 hours gate to gate.

The suitcase move

Then came the luggage, and more assumptions. This time it was Caroline's network that set us straight. She joined a few online groups for people moving to Portugal, where members share everything from animal transport to what they call "the suitcase move".

We had been picturing literal suitcases. You can do it that way, but the people in those groups use cheaper and more practical options: the black and yellow storage bins from Lowe's or Home Depot for the hard goods, and big blue moving bags for the soft goods.

What it did to the budget

Dropping the suitcases we were going to buy cut about $1,500. Airfare came down too, and not only because the pet fees are lower. We now need two one-way tickets for the move, instead of two one-way tickets plus two round trips.

We all know the real truth: we will fly family over at some point and buy those tickets anyway. But that is a visit, not a move expense, so it is out of the move budget.

Keeping it real

None of this came out of an app. The app told us what to think about. People gave us the answers.

I would love to hear from y'all. If you have moved with pets, done the bin version of the suitcase move, or know Porto neighborhoods we should walk, leave a comment below or just reply to this email.

Next weekend we are traveling to the Northwest. My daughter, looking at schools in the Northwest, starts college in the fall of 2027. So next week's post will come from the road.