I knew it would be rough, but I didn’t expect this. We are leaving in the evening and arriving mid-morning, around 10 am in Lisbon, Portugal. It was one of the only economy flights available. Otherwise, I would have opted for a different flight to our girls’ trip to Lisbon, Portugal. But trying to pinch a penny is how I ended up in seat 50E.
The morning of the flight to Lisbon, I am anxious. Eager to get to the airport as early as possible. I can’t help it, I am ready to get there, but once we are on the plane, time stands still.
The first few hours passed somewhat quickly as I disengaged by watching movies and playing songs from the “Road to Lisbon” playlist I had created for the trip.
Unfortunately, as the night goes on, my eyes grow sleepy, but being stuck in the middle row, I sit straight up. I can’t sleep. I desperately attempt to become a circus performer and lay my head on the table. The pillow is paper-thin but I attempt to rest my head on it. I try every sleeping position possible. Extremely tired, but there is no chance of sleep. My eyes go red from staring at the screen on the seat in front of me, counting down the hours for the flight to end.
Then the worst possible thing happened. I had to pee. With around 3 hours left and two sleeping passengers on either side of me, I had no choice but to hold it in and do everything in my power to distract myself.
Hour after hour I uncomfortably watch the screen play Oceans 11 as I cross my legs from side to side carefully as to not wake my neighbors and to know have a accident on myself. That would be one heck of a way to start the trip.
Upon arrival, we are delusional and sleepy. Like borderline sleep drunk, but awake enough to pull up the address of our hotel and call an Uber.
The Uber ride quickly jolts us awake. If I ever planned on robbing a bank and needed a getaway driver this is the guy I am calling. The constant stopping and starting and overall jolting makes me nauseous. The driver speeds up, changes lanes, and slams on his brakes. We look at the horizon and focus on not heaving out of the side of the car.
He drops us off at the hotel, but nothing in Lisbon is ever direct. He drops us on the street over and we lug our suitcases down cobblestone streets one bump at a time.
Expert travelers say not to bring suitcases with wheels for this reason, but I also can’t imagine carrying a backpack up the streets of Lisbon.
The hotel doesn’t look like a hotel from the outside, but I recognize the green doors from the website pictures, so we knock.
David comes to greet us. This is where the hospitality of the LR Guest House begins.
He provided us with recommendations, offered us water, and gave us a tour of the hotel. Although we were exhausted, it was terrific to have a friendly face as soon as we got into another country.
This kind of service is impressive.
Sinking into the chairs on the terrace, it is the first time we feel comfortable. Our rooms aren’t ready yet, so we dropped off our luggage and went off in search of coffee, but with each step, the exhaustion hit us from another angle. Neither of us could truly be excited because we were operating on NO sleep. However, we did manage to make it to the oldest operating bookstore in the world, Livrarias Bertand, founded in 1732, and a beautiful viewpoint- our first of many in Lisbon.
I wander into a jewelry store and don’t find anything interesting. I am simply too tired to enjoy anything on the first day. That includes shopping.
When our room is ready, we shower and finally get horizontal for the first time in 24 hours letting sleep overcome us. We rested for about 3 hours, then made our way outside to explore the local area and get dinner at Antonia Petiscos Portuguese.
The restaurant is small and cozy. Low lighting with wood tables. I order Bife de Frango, otherwise known as chicken steak with salad and fries in English and my friend Chloe orders the grilled octopus. Then we struck up a conversation with the table next to us.
Two South African guys struck up a conversation with us. Quickly, we realize they are twice our age and also more interested in flirting with us. We tell him we are from America, and he starts speaking politics with us. Our ideals may not have been the same, but the conversation is pleasant. There is something fun and exciting about meeting new people while traveling, because we were laughing all the way home about some of the things they said to us.
After dinner, we headed back to the hotel with a local bottle of wine to enjoy on the terrace.
After chatting for a bit, the hotel worker, Cristina, gave us a shot of Ginga wine. The Ginga shot is apparently a common Lisbon tradition. It tasted a bit like medicine at first, but the cherry aftertaste paired well with the rich, dark chocolate. Too tired to think clearly, we crash into bed. Eager to wake up in the morning for our first official day in Lisbon.
But this is only the beginning of our girls trip to Lisbon Portugal of a lifetime.
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