Many people who have made the move to Portugal or another country offer one word of advice to anyone considering doing the same — slow down.

Rather than throw all your worldly goods into a shipping container and immediately decamp halfway across the globe, consider spending at least a few months in Portugal before you go to the trouble of moving an entire household.

The reason is simple. There are quite a few people who arrive with the best of intentions but end up leaving after just a few months or a year. They get bored or lonely or homesick and end up going home.

Those who moved an entire household over find themselves having to foot the bill for moving it back again.

So the advice from those who have done it before is to travel as light as possible at first, perhaps only with a couple extra suitcases, until you are sure the expatriate life is for you.

Once the decision has been made to take the move to Portugal people relocating have 12 months to transfer their belongings duty-free to the country.

Items allowed to be imported include furnishings, linen, kitchen equipment, clothing and other personal items, electronics, and computers.

Most importantly, those shipping the items should acquire what is called a Baggage Certificate (Certificado de Bagagem) from a Portuguese consulate before departing.

Having that document will make clearing customs much easier on the other end.

Unlike many countries where expats relocate, Portugal has nearly all the amenities of the U.S.