We’ve been talking about and studying Portugal for a couple of years now. We were drawn to the low cost of living and the proximity to so many other places we want to see. Finally we planned a trip just the two of us to see this place we’ve spent so much time learning about.
We’ve been playing the credit card points game called Travel Hacking for awhile now. This allowed us to get the flights with points and just pay for upgrades to our seats. In total we paid less than $1,000 for both of our flights from Syracuse. This included Economy Plus for all legs except the trip from Lisbon back to Newark. For that leg we have United’s Polaris Business Class, which includes lay flat seating. It was a nice upgrade for only $400 each. Its something to look forward to at the end of our trip.
The flight was 7 hours long from Newark but uneventful. Our Economy Plus seats were predictably not well suited to sleeping but Joe says I slept about 3 hours, thankfully O haven’tseen the normal photo evidenceof my sleeping. I wish I had realized earlier that the disposable pillows they gave us split and became a neck pillow. I might have gotten 4 hours of sleep! We both wore our compression socks and that seemed to do the trick to keep the swollen ankles for me and calf for Joe at bay.
Border Control in Portugal was something different. Electronic Passports for All! The sign read. We were directed to the electronic line when we flashed our US passports at the attendant. It took a bit to figure out to place Passport flat and slide it across a reader attached to the entrance gate. Once you had it right, the universal sign for passing time, progressing dots, appeared on the screen mounted on the entry gate. I made it past that gate and was presented with another that had a screen that was scanning my face. Then, a second gate opened. Here’s where I turn around and see Joe struggling with the first.
I was coaching Joe on how to use it thru the gates, but he kept getting access denied. Another gentleman was able to get thru with my instructions, but his wife was in the same boat as Joe.
Finally, they both gave up and hunted down some help. They were sent thru the manual line with the explanation that the chips in their passports were damaged. About 40 minutes later, they were thru, and we were off.
Upon arriving in Lisbon we planned to take an Uber from the airport to our hotel which was a 15 minute car ride away. We ordered the Uber and thought we were close to the pickup point but that was not the case. To get there it seemed like we had to trek down the busy highway that led in and out of the terminal. After 20 minutes of back and forth and trying to find the pickup point for ride share we canceled the ride and took a taxi. So folks the Lisbon airport is not welcoming to Uber, I’d plan to take a taxi instead.
We spent our first day napping and walking around the city of Lisbon. We tried to remember the Portuguese phrases we learned but they did not come natural and it was too easy to fall back on English with so many people speaking English. With our groggy brains, the day was a blur.
Words of Wanderers 