Well you know how it is when you are leaving for a big trip....we couldn't go to sleep until midnight and woke up at 3:30 am. So great we are going to start a very long day of travel on very little sleep. I could not check in for our flight because we could not get a seat assignment for our last leg of the trip which was on British Airways from London to Lisbon even at the 24 hour ahead point of just that flight. The web site said to get to the airport as early as possible to get our seat assignment. So of course we get to the airport an hour and a half before scheduled boarding time and they still can't give us our boarding passes for that leg because we do not have a seat assignment. It is that kind of stuff that makes me very nervous. I also didn't know if Elaine had gotten her flights changed because the last I had heard from her their departure flight had been delayed and that would leave them with a less than 10 minute layover to make their next plane. I told her to call the airlines and see if they could get another flight.....which she did. I did get a couple of texts from her while we were waiting at LAX saying that they were holding the plane from leaving the Dallas airport because Chicago was meetering the flights in. Luckily the rippling effect caused her departure plane to be delayed also and even though they had reassigned them to a different flight since their original flight was still boarding they told them to just go and see if they could get on. They had given away their seats already...but they were able to still get them on.
Well our almost 6 hour layover in LAX was at least somewhat productive. I was able to get my 10,000 steps in with a starter that we thought we needed to go to the international terminal but of course we didn't. So we got to go through security again in the terminal we had just left. We split a very good rib meat hamburger. We found out that some more family members will be joining us on our winter vacation, which then because of other information we found out about I had to make some phone calls, texts and Facebook messages to get things more organized for that vacation. As someone pointed out to me I was on one vacation and planning for the next. DJ
Wally from the radio station I listen to had asked, "What is your 1st world nation problem?" I do feel very blessed to be able to travel and even more so to be able to share the experience with family and friends. Oh, "What was Roger's problem you ask??? It was the fact that I could not remember my Netflix password. Luckily for him I also took care of that and he now has Netflix on his NEW Samsung Galaxy Note Tablet. For those of you who know him you know that he was very understanding and patient with me that I had forgotten the information.
Our 10.5 hour flight from LAX to London went smoothly. When we landed and again had to go through security. This time without the use of our Global Entry card so no fast track here. I was given a thorough pat down because even though I had not changed anything about what I was wearing the detector went off. My husband hasn't had as much bodily contact with me as this nice woman did. As she started to pat me down I did remember I had my fitbit on, which I have attached to my bra, so I did let her know that before she got to that and thought it was something else. She had me take it off and they sent it through the scanner. Once they cleared me, we then had to go to the British Airways desk to get our boarding passes. When the lady behind the desk got a frown on her face and then made a call I got a little nervous. She then tells us the flight is full.....we can't sit you together. I told her that we don't care as long as we are on that plane. She then handed us our boarding passes. YAY!!! When we rounded the corner into the holding area for all the flights. I hear Uncle Fred's whistle and then I see them wave. Hallelujah they made it also! At the London airport you do not get your gate assignment until about 1 hour before your flight so they have a large general seating area with shops and food vendors all around you. Since we had just eaten breakfast on the plane, Elaine and Fred left us to go to their FIRST CLASS lounge to get something to eat. While they were gone I sent an email to the landlord of the apartment we were renting in Lisbon to let him know that we should arrive on time. A little later I sent him another email saying we may be an hour later, yes our flight was on a delay. Once our gate number was posted we hurried with everyone else to our gate. Luckily it was not the gate that was 20 minutes away. Our boarding passes and passports were checked again. I noticed that an American was asked to sign his passport at this gate. Mind you that is something you are supposed to do and that this man had gone through at least three if not more security check points including customs, since arriving at his original airport, without doing this. I know it is not really a big deal but what else are they missing? Anyways, we did not have to wait long once at the gate for them to start loading the plane but it did seem like it took longer for the plane to actually depart. Can you believe that on a 2 1/2 hour flight they not only brought us drinks but an actual little lunch pack with a pastrami sandwich and a sweet roll, for FREE? That does not happen in America not even on a 5 hour flight.
YAY! We arrived in Lisbon safe and sound. Now, how are we going to get to the apartment? We wasted a lot of time because we had three options, first we could take the metro, second we could take the Airbus to the city center or third take a taxi. Well I did try to ask people what would be our best option but was ignored so I got in line at the tourist desk but noticed a pamphlet for the AeroBus and saw that tickets were 3.50 Euro each. The landlord for the apartment said it would be under 20 Euros to get to the apartment by taxi. So thinking that it would only be 6 Euros more, for the 4 of us, and that we would be dropped off right at the apartment we decided to get in the very long line for the taxi. The line moved quickly which was great. I was getting very nervous because the time was quickly approaching of our latest time that I had told them we would arrive at the apartment. Well when we arrived the taxi bill was closer to 40 Euros which Roger said that it was posted that his rates would be more because it was a larger vehicle. I also am not sure if that they somewhat base it on the amount of people. I still think in this case it was our best options since we don't know the metro here yet, we didn't know exactly where we were going and that we were tired. Luckily we were dropped off just steps from the apartment and we were ushered up to the second floor with a flashlight and into our new home for the next 6 nights. We could not ask for more in the apartment. It is right on the corner of a main pedestrian walkway and what I would call a small alley for people to park their cars.
We have a very close view of the
Santa Justa Lift
and a distant view of
Sao Jorge Castle.
Once we got settled in we headed out to find something for dinner. There were plenty of places to eat close by but as usual we just kept walking and had to walk into every bakery we came across. We all agreed that we did not want to eat outside as it was a little chilly for all of us. Fred finally picked a place to eat and we shared two plates of a mixed meat (chicken/beef/pork) kabob.
After our delicious dinner we walked around a little bit.
and they actually purchased some pastries before heading back to the apartment and going to bed. Sorry no pictures they ate them before I could. Looking at the clock it was 2:43 Saturday afternoon at home so we have officially been up for almost 36 hours.
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