*** A few years ago I took Berry (a plush bear given to me by a friends daughter to travel with me and then be donated to a girl in Japan) and the OG Crinkley (a can of 1836 from Buffalo Bayou Brewery) on my post graduation trip to SE Asia. Crinkley made the trip back to the states and joined me on my cross country road trip with my family. That Crinkly retired after that trip so for this trip I got a new Crinkly (a can of Crush City IPA from the same brewery) for this trip. What follows is a retelling of Crinkly's adventures through Portugal, most of which is based on true events. Enjoy! :) ***
Put in a full day's work and have some friends come visit and hang for a little bit before it is time to head to the airport (I booked a late flight after work to try and maximize my time over in Portugal and not lose a valuable day traveling). Get to the airport and the check in counter was empty (British air allowed a checked bag which I took advantage of since I was in no rush once I get in; I also wasnt allowed to check in online so I had to visit the check in counter either way - the lady was awesome, moving me out of a middle seat and giving me an aisle seat which is always appreciated as I get up frequently during flights) so that took no time then proceeded to the security gate which also had a minimal line. My bag got flagged twice in a row even after the person looked through it, didnt find anything either with their swiping or visually, and then put it back through. Eventually they give me my bag and I go about my merry way. Since there were no lines, I got through quickly so I had plenty of time to just walk around the airport and wait for my flight to board. Get on and settle in and start watching bohemian rhapsody (Man do I love Queen!!). Try to start watching the second Mamma Mia and get tired so turn it off and take a nap. Wake up for meal time and get the curry chicken which was decent for airplane food. Drift in and out of sleep and then land in Heathrow. As we are getting off the plane, a friend who I havent seen in some time reaches over and pats me on the shoulder, small freaking world. We get off the plane and catch up for a little bit (she is heading to Jordan and is actually on my flight back home as well hahah) before going our separate ways to our respective terminals. I walk around mine as I have some time to spare (~5hr layover). This terminal has a carousel sushi place, hahaha heathrow for the win! Waiting for the gate to be announced and once it is everyone makes their way to the gate. Everyone is waiting for the gate people to check everyone in, after about 5 people get checked in, the boarding starts.
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| Crinkly exploring the airport across the pond as we wait for our next flight. |
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| This hostel is narrow and steep. |
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| Just keeps going up. Nice place. |
Hearing mumbles from the people who have priority boarding not being able to get on first and what not. It was an incredibly weird flow as they were already boarding all groups within like 2 minutes as no one was in the area to wait. Worked for me as I never have priority boarding hahah. I fall to sleep as soon as I sit down and wake up a bit ago and we are pulling back into the gate. Turns out they loaded some bags and didnt take them off after people didnt get on the plane so we had to go back so they could take those bags off. Eventually take off and arrive into Lisbon. Immigration line was minimal and customs was essentially non-existent (not complaining at all, just an observation). Make my way to the metro, struggle with getting my card from the machine as I mistook bank card to mean credit card not an ATM card and so my cards kept getting declined as they dont have pins but eventually get it sorted and catch the train towards my hostel (Poets Hostel). Get out and instructions dont match signs I am seeing and my phone was being slow so it took me a little bit to get my bearings but once I do, I make my way to my hostel and check in. It is an extremely narrow building but very tall (5 stories maybe? with tons of steep stairs) with rooms named after famous poets (imagine that). Put my stuff down, check out the place (has a nice patio connected to the kitchen and a rooftop patio with a nice little awning and view), and then get a map of the city and head out to find a place to eat from the hostel's suggestions. Walk around the area to get a feel for my environment (there is graffiti everywhere with most of it being vandalism writing type stuff but there were also some good murals and street art to look at). Find a doner kebab place (as I am known to do as I explore European cities and add entries to my doner index - judging cost of living in a city based on the price of the doner; this one was 3E which is on the lower end of the index - good sign :)) and eat a quick bite of delicious doner after making a fool out of myself trying to put the change into the basket they are trying to put my doner in - stupid gringo. :( Meander back towards the hostel and grab one of each of their beers (Sagres and Super bock - both of which are typical light lagers) to try em out and hang out on the roof top patio before going to get a shower (small bathroom, not good water pressure, shower not aimed right which made showering difficult, and the shower head wasnt adjustable so had to suffer through - first world problems I know). Friend's flight was delayed so I just went to bed and figured we would catch up in morning while exploring the city.
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