Remember Portugal? | October 2022 #Shorts

Every so often we scroll back through our camera roll and land on a folder that makes us both stop and say, "Wait, remember Portugal?" This short is our little answer to that question. It's a few seconds of October 2022, and it brought back a lot more than a few seconds' worth of feelings.

Watch the short on YouTube here.

Why a Short Can Hit Harder Than a Long Vlog

We love making full travel vlogs, but there's something about a quick clip that works differently. A long video walks you through a trip in order. A short is closer to a memory, where one moment surfaces without the context and the feeling comes back all at once.

That's what happened when we went back through our Portugal footage. We weren't thinking about logistics or itineraries. We were thinking about the light, the pace of the days, and how relaxed we felt being somewhere new together.

Travelling in October

If you're wondering whether October is a good time to visit Portugal, our answer is yes. Here's why it worked for us:

• Fewer crowds. The summer rush has thinned out, so popular spots feel more relaxed and you can actually take your time.
• Comfortable weather for walking. Portugal's cities are hilly and best explored on foot. Mild autumn days are far nicer for that than peak-summer heat.
• Better value. Flights and stays tend to be gentler on the wallet outside the high season.
• Golden light. As people who film everything, we'll say it plainly: autumn light makes everything look better.

The trade-off is that the weather can be less predictable, so pack layers and something waterproof. We'd take that over sweating through a July crowd any day.

Tips We'd Share With Anyone Heading There

We're not going to pretend to be tour guides, but a few things apply to almost any European trip like this one.

Wear proper shoes. Cobblestones and steep streets are charming until your feet start complaining. Comfortable, grippy footwear matters more than a cute outfit.

Don't overschedule. It's tempting to squeeze in every landmark. Some of our favourite moments on trips are the unplanned ones: a long lunch, a wrong turn that leads somewhere lovely, a café we sat in a little longer than we meant to.

Try the local food with curiosity. Ask what's fresh, what's traditional, and what the locals are ordering. Being open to it is half the fun, and as a food-loving couple, it's usually where our best stories come from.

Keep your documents and payment options organized. Have your passports, confirmations, and a backup card easy to reach. We learned the value of staying organized on earlier trips, and we wrote about the hiccups we ran into in our Top 10 Mistakes in Paris. A lot of that advice carries over to any European city.

What Travel Feels Like for the Two of Us

Samantha grew up in a Vietnamese family, and Amir grew up in a Punjabi one. Between us, we have two very different sets of expectations about food, family, timing, and how a day should go. Travelling together has always been a way to find our own rhythm, separate from either of our backgrounds.

Trips like this one remind us how much we enjoy discovering things together, whether it's a new dish, a quiet street, or just a slower morning than we get at home in Mississauga. If you're curious about what that's like, we've shared more in Traveling as an Interracial Couple: What We've Learned.

The First Impressions That Stick

One thing we always notice on a trip is what surprises us. It's rarely the big famous sights. It's the small everyday details: how people greet each other, how meals unfold, how a city sounds at night. We wrote about that feeling after our time in France in What Surprised Us About Paris, and it's true of every place we've been, Portugal included.

Those small observations are what make a trip feel like ours, and they're what we end up talking about years later.

Why We Keep Looking Back

Life looks different for us now than it did in October 2022. We've grown, our routines have changed, and our days look a lot busier. That's exactly why we like revisiting old footage. It reminds us why we started documenting our travels in the first place: to hold on to moments like these and to share them with you.

If you've been to Portugal, we'd love to hear about it. What was your favourite memory, and what would you tell a first-timer? And if you're planning a trip, tell us where you're headed. We're always looking for our next idea.

Thanks for coming along with us, whether you've been here since the early days or you just found us today.

Watch and Follow Along

• Watch the short: Remember Portugal? | October 2022 on YouTube
• Subscribe on YouTube: KhelaMeetsWorld
• Follow us on Instagram and TikTok: @KhelaMeetsWorld

With love from Mississauga, Samantha & Amir