Get Ready
Reserve Hotel Rooms
We read through our Portugal Guidebook and decided to fly into Lisbon a few days in advance. This allows us to get grounded before the tour, relieve any jet lag we have, and provides an opportunity to see sights we are not visiting with our group, such as Sintra. We took this approach with our first tour and it was so effective, we knew to do it again. The last thing we want is to show up late to our initial group meeting, ruffled and rumpled with bags still in hand, bleary-eyed and a little shell-shocked following a red-eye flight and 2-hour wait at customs. This is our best piece of advice for starting out on the right foot and adhering to the "NO GRUMPS" policy.
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HELPFUL HINT: In our packet of information from the tour department, we were supplied with contact info for our first & last hotels. It was so simple to extend our stay. We emailed the hotel directly and booked an additional two nights prior to the start of the tour. The best part? We didn't have to change rooms once the tour started! |
Book Flights
With our tour and hotel rooms confirmed, we begin to look for flights. We check Sky Scanner and Kayak to get a sense of prices and the different options: airline availability, flying in and out of different cities, layover vs. direct, using points, etc. Once we determine what makes sense for us logistically, we keep an eye out until the price falls to what we call the "sweet spot", somewhere in the range of $600-$1000 keeping in mind time of year, economy, and other external factors. Once we purchase our tickets, we don't look back. It can make you crazy to keep checking to see if the fare drops lower than the price you paid. For this trip, we are choosing to fly with TAP Air Portugal for 2 big reasons: 1) We have several Portuguese friends that live in the US and this is their airline of choice; 2) We booked a direct flight. We are flying "open jaw" - arriving in Lisbon and departing from Porto.
HELPFUL HINT: We downloaded the TAP app to make check-in a breeze since we will travel with carry-ons only. |
Schedule Activities
So ... remember when we said, "With so much going on at home and at work, we don't have the time nor the inclination to do all the legwork. We need easy"? This is where Amy's love of planning and desire to control some aspects of our vacation trumps that logic. It's a healthy balance because she gets to choose a few things while letting someone else manage the bulk of the trip. We spent a lot of time reading through posts on the Rick Steves' Travel Forum, particularly Portugal and Rick Steves Tours. Participants on these forums are so knowledgeable, helpful and willing to share information. This, in conjunction with guidebook advice and the tour itinerary, gives us a good sense of what we should do pre-tour.
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HELPFUL HINT: We pre-booked a walking tour with Culinary Backstreets. You can find out more about our experience here. We also scheduled a private tour of Sintra with Your Friend in Lisbon. You can learn more about that here. |
So that's it! Our trip is locked and loaded. We are ready.
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