Making our way slowly to Christmas and poised on the edge of a new year, some among us are waiting for the big fella to deliver the goods and make everything OK. And some are expecting Santa too.
It’s at this point I realise my dear editor doesn’t allow emojis to drive home laboured and contrived jokes like this, so I’ll move swiftly on, as people often say when covering their tracks (and embarrassment).
Talking of 2025, which we could call the “we’ll see” year, with so many promises, conflicts and uncertainties hanging in the air and forming the future, I’d like to talk today about my ‘day job’ – the Good Morning Portugal! Show and community.
I’m looking forward to another year of making something of a living, celebrating life in this special country on a daily basis, with a whole host of other co-hosts who tend to share my affection and delight. I have some bold plans to put into action as we hit the ground running and take to the airwaves in January, about which I would appreciate your opinions and counsel.
In case you didn’t know, the Good Morning Portugal! endeavour began as a podcast soon after our arrival in 2017, when my wife Louisa and I, along with the then two youngest children, were finding our feet and sharing our experiences with anyone who would listen. As the 2020 pandemic lockdown cast its shadow over our lives here, I thought a daily livestream for English-language speakers might be a useful lifeline, which proved to be true and has not stopped since, as it turns out.
Nearly five years later, it’s my continued pleasure to serve expats and foreigners living in Portugal, as well as those looking to move here with a daily dose of upbeat and positive information and guests. What began as a state-of-emergency focal point evolved into a ‘how-to’ show for would-be migrants to Portugal, and in 2025 will transform again.
Next year, what I have always thought of as a breakfast show will have even more ‘snap, crackle and pop’ as we start earlier, at 8am, live and direct from my kitchen to yours, with the best of ‘full English’ fun and a ‘continental’ smorgasbord of useful, lifestyle information shared by special guests, new and old.
For the new year, and yes, one of possible alien disclosure, deepening geopolitical hoo-ha and prolonged economic uncertainty, I promise you now that I’ll be focusing mainly on the joys of living in Portugal and the lighter side of life in general, with the hope of putting a smile on viewers’ and listeners’ faces, wherever they live in the world.
An hour of anyone’s time has always been a big ask for anyone other than the ‘GuMPer’ regulars, who are the merry mainstay of what we do each day. So, with time-preciousness in mind, I’ll be dedicating the first 20 minutes of each morning edition to a quick blast of news, weather, some Portuguese language support and a smattering of health and wellbeing input. This, the ‘Portugal Primer’ if you like, can be consumed alone (in real time or on replay or podcast), with my two guests of the morning the optional extras, who you can also enjoy if you hang out with us, or also at your leisure later.
The GMP! crew are an extraordinary bunch of people, too numerous and encyclopaedic in capability to catalogue here, who cover everything from the expat experience, Portuguese real estate, homesteading and growing your own, food and drink, and pretty much every other aspect of Portuguese life from a foreigner’s perspective, with a growing number of Portuguese presenters in there too. On that note, if you feel we are missing a useful angle or vital person from our line-up, just let me know and I will do my best to include them.
As well as our live morning show, we’ll also be continuing with our Tuesday evening online meetup, AKA the ‘Portugal Club’, where the wider community of listeners can join some of the co-hosts in a more informal environment to compare notes, troubleshoot any challenges and share significant milestones from their great Portuguese adventure. This sort of access and sharing is invaluable to newcomers and expat veterans alike who want some company and connection on a regular and easy-going basis.
Members of the Portugal Club can also access our ‘GMP!VIP’ private social network, beyond shows and between meetups, as another useful resource for information, inspiration and support. So, one way or another, I trust Good Morning Portugal! is not only a positive and helpful start to your day, but also an enriching on-demand addition to living a fulfilling life in Portugal.
At the outset of sharing all of this with you, I mentioned the possibility and potential of having your eyeballs on my ideas and am sincere in that request. In many ways, the breakfast show is intended to be ‘public service broadcasting’ at its best, and I do my utmost to make it useful without the necessary commerciality of our structure undermining our independence and objectivity. This is a fine balance and a call best made by consumers of our service, which I welcome should you wish to share any feedback with me.
The best and most basic compliment any of us who take part in the shows and share information can hope for is your attention. Beyond that, your comments and contributions really create a rich picture of collaboration and true community. So, if you have tuned in and taken part this year, I thank and appreciate you, and wish you the best of Christmases and most fulfilling of new years; a greeting I, of course, also issue, fondly, to anyone who has read my contributions here in the Resident.
If you haven’t dropped by yet, please join me, join us, in 2025, which will no doubt gather hype and hysteria-driven momentum like a time-of-year appropriate snowball. Come find us beyond the anxious noise and the shrill calls for your precious attention, where we will be doing our best to offer something safe, sane and soulful, to make your days in Portugal as wonderful and fulfilling as you might dream them to be – while the world at large keeps spinning in its own, crazy way.
Boas Festas, amigos, and I look forward to welcoming you at www.goodmorningportugal.com
By Carl Munson
Carl Munson is host of the Good Morning Portugal! show every weekday on YouTube and creator of www.learnaboutportugal.com, where you can learn something new about Portugal every day!
