It all started when Sandra decided to live in Portugal and met Ariana.


The Portugal News (TPN): Sandra, why did you decide to live in Portugal?

Sandra: I love to travel. I came with my sister, in 2019, to lead an investment seminar, and we just fell in love with Portugal. The quality of life looked so good, the people were friendly, and the weather was great, so I just decided to move.


TPN: Ariana, how did you both get together?

Ariana: So, Sandra needed to know what she should buy in Portugal, and somebody, we both knew, gave her my contact in the United States. Sandra contacted me, and from that point everything she was interested in purchasing, she would always contact me and ask me to check and visit to make sure it was a good business or not. I was the one checking things to see if it was a good option to buy or not.


TPN: Sandra, how did you feel being helped by Ariana?

Sandra: It was awesome because I've lived in many countries and one thing that helps a lot is having someone there, who speaks the language, someone who is helpful because she helped me through a lot of things, if it wasn't for her, it would have been more difficult for me to live in Portugal because Portuguese is a very hard language.


TPN: How did you both decide to create your company?

Sandra: Since we work so well together, we decided, there are a lot of people coming from the U.S. to Portugal, so we decided to work together to help others, just as Ariana did to help me.


TPN: What exactly do you do?

Sandra: We have a scouting tour company, it's very unique because there's no one else in Lisbon doing it the way we are, we bring people from the U.S. primarily but other countries also, that are looking to move to Portugal. We have a 5-night 6-day package that we offer, it's all-inclusive, good hotels, and great restaurants, we have properties that are for sale or for rent that we take them to see, so each day we have something planned for them so they can get the real feel of what it's like to live in Portugal. We have Ariana who can tell them her experience as a Portuguese person, and my experience as an expat living in Portugal. So the package is all-encompassing, we give them a tour of different things in Portugal that pertain to them like going to the supermarket, how to open a bank account, going to see a Fado show, everything that would help them make a decision and move to Portugal.


TPN: What is your clients' feedback?

Ariana: For now, it's been really good, they enjoy the help, and they say that ''more than business they get a family environment''. We make people feel at home, so for now, feedback is very good.


Credits: Supplied Image; Author: Client;

TPN: Is there anything you would like to tell our readers?

Sandra: I want the readers to know that a lot of people think they can come to Portugal, on their own scouting tours but that's not really going to help because you need somebody in Portugal who is really going to help you, and that's what we do. It's better to have someone here with experience helping you instead of coming by yourself, most people don't know how to speak the language so you need someone here in Portugal to help you with your search.

Ariana: One thing that makes us different is that if a foreigner came on a scouting tour alone, first they'd spend much more money than what they think, because they don't take into account money spent eating, sleeping, transportation, all of that will add up and you see yourself spending too much. We have everything controlled so you spend money once and you can count on everything. Another thing is, if you hire a real estate agent to do the scouting trip with you, what will happen is, you'll buy the house, and that's it, no one will help you adapt.


Alarsa not only offers scouting tours, but also a house maintenance service while people are away, to make sure everything stays clean and safe, once the owners come back. For further information , please visit www.alarsalda.com , email info@alarsalda.com or call 00351 211 374 024