Go!
Final Preparation
About a month prior to our departure date, the busy tour department at Rick Steves's Europe updated our online account with a full hotel list and directions, our final itinerary, tour roster listing names and cities/states of our fellow travelers, and an emergency contact sheet. We printed these documents for our tour packet. We ordered Euros from our local AAA office (€1000). This covers our first two hotel nights in Lisbon, our meals, taxi/metro, and other expenses. We arranged cat care, established travel notifications with our credit card companies, and paid any outstanding bills.
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Leaving the States
We plan well to avoid jet lag. We head to the airport with plenty of extra time in case of traffic, parking shortages, shuttle delays, or long security lines. It reduces stress and improves our odds of sleeping on the plane. We also eat dinner at the airport so we can sleep through meal service. We drink water, water and more water - except for Mark who is cheating with a beer, which he claims is mostly water. And as soon as we are settled in our seats, we don our eye masks, ear plugs, neck pillows, blankets, pop a melatonin pill (if necessary), and hit snooze.
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Arrival in Portugal
We arrive in Lisbon with little fanfare. After we deplane, we head straight for customs since we have no bags to claim at the carousel. We read that LIS - Humberto Delgado Airport (or known simply as Lisbon Airport) - is very disorganized and has very long lines so we anticipate the same. Fortunately the only passengers waiting are those on our flight so we moved through the line in less than ten minutes. We find the airport very easy to navigate with modern security and clear signage. Our flight arrived before sunrise so that could be the secret to avoid the chaos.
One of our favorite traditions when we fly to Europe is to buy breakfast at the airport. They just do food differently than in the states and it's always a treat to get a fancy meal (compared to American standards) when we land. For our introduction to Portugal's cuisine, we are having espresso and pasteis de nata - it's our first bite of these lovely treats. Stay tuned for more on these later. Outside the airport, we hailed a cab. Lesson learned: follow the guidebook for better options or use Uber. We were quoted an exorbitant cost when we arrived at our hotel. We challenged the driver, who pretended not to speak English. We played ignorant, too, and handed him what we believed to be a fair fare. End of story. |
Ready to visit Lisbon?