Day 43: Airport Problems and Boston

Hey y'all!  Again, I'm kicking myself for uploading these so late but I will give you proof of my excuse in the post from our last and final day, the next post, Day 44.

So, today, we all woke up around eight and took our last minute showers and finished packing up our last tidbits from our fantastic Lisbon apartment.  You will be missed, my tiny little friend.  Upon leaving our apartment to the corner to meet our taxi, Antonio, the renter, came by to say goodbye and make sure our stay was great.  He's so cool.  After making sure everything was okay and we were packed into the taxi, he waved to us as we took to the crooked cobbled streets and were off for the airport.  Once we arrived, we got our tickets and headed to the information desk to make sure our plans were secure.  You see, we'd had a connecting flight in which we'd fly to Boston, switch planes, then fly to San Francisco.  But, you see, sometimes plans don't go that way.  Our flight had been changed to we'd fly to Boston on the thirteeth, spend the night, then fly to San Fransisco the next day.  Luckily, we had known these plans all week so it wasn't news.  Also, the airline would be providing the hotel for us.  However, when my dad came to the information desk for Sata, our flight, to confirm that everything was in place, it most certainly wasn't.  There were no records of our voucher for the hotel..... Okay.  So my dad explained the situation to the woman working there who made a few calls and said the voucher would be waiting for us in Boston.  She'd sent the forms to the Boston groundcrew so "They'll explain everything."  Okay then, friend.  My dad, however, was not convinced.  After making sure she wrote down her name and the proof of the voucher, he then was somewhat satisfied.  Also, Little Miss Blue Eyeshadow had told us countless times "IT'S FINE.  Everything will be okay!"  We'll see about that, honey bunches.  We had a bit before we boarded our flight so we'd grabbed some lunch (somewhat unexciting tortilla wraps.) and then, everyone on our flight was crowded into a room where we then were picked up by a bus that took us to our plane.  The flight was extremely uneventful, but went smoothly.

After landing, we looked for the groundcrew we'd been told about.  Yeah, rememer that?  Aparently, they're mythical creatures.  So we found an official looking fellow who said he'd take us to the right place.  After going through customs, he told us that he'd booked us a room and a meal with Embassy Suites. (SCORE, that's my favorite hotel!!)  We grabbed our luggage and headed over to wait for the Embassy Suites bus.  It came after about fifteen minutes, and took us to the hotel.  We checked in and were told that "There are no records here of Sata booking your room."  So, cool, Mr. Reflective Vest did not, in fact, send any emails for us back at the airport.  Luckily they did have two rooms for us but said they'd need to put it on our credit card for the time being until Sata replied to their messages.  We took our things up to our rooms and after looking around, Tony looked at me in wonder and said, "Sophia.  There's AMERICAN TV ON."  Ahh, it's good to be back.  We went down to the hotel restaurant to have our first actual American meal in six weeks.  MURICA.  I think you may cringe that I didn't have a burger or some thing actually American, but I had quite the veggie wrap, my dad got some intense cheesebuger, and my mom had a wonderful cob salad.  Tony hadn't been super hungry so he'd gone ahead up to the room.  After finishing our meal, we'd gone back up to the room and I'm pretty sure all of us slept extremely well.  It was a long day!

Thank you for reading!

-Sophia :)

Day 42: Tram Rides and Riverside Dinner

Hey everyone!  I'm so sorry about my lack of posting for the past three days but I'll catch you all up on why in the next few posts.  I had a good reason, trust me.

Today, we got up pretty early and headed down to the tram stop, the one that has the aparently oh-so-famous "Tram 28."  After making our way to the tram stop, we hopped on and rode about fifteen minutes to the end of the line.  After the last stop, our tram driver told us to get off and then reboard a tram in about two minutes.  Ok.  After waiting two minutes, the same driver opened up the doors and drove us back to the first stop.  Were those two minutes really necessary?   I don't beleive so.  After being taken back to the end of the line, we found ourselves near an outdoor market where you can find everything from spices to clothing to jewelry.  My mom found some pretty jewelry and a sweater, and my dad found some trail mix.  Also, there's this giant portable watermelon stand that sells cubed watermelon and watermelon water and everythings so I grabbed some cubed watermelon.  Afterwards, we made our way back to the apartment to relax for a few hours.  Then, my dad and I headed out for an hour or so to check out the restaurants nearby.  After looking around, we came back to the cute little apartment and got my mom and Tony.  We all decided on a very nice outdoor restaurant by the riverside.  SO PRETTY.  After ordering our food, I found my new favorite sandwich, a fantastic mozzarella caprese thing-a-majig.  WOW.  My mom ordered some pasta which she seemed to adore, my dad got some tri-colored ravioli which also seemed to be a hit, and Tony also got some great pasta.  The dinner consisted of a great view, great food, and a not-so-great moment in which the waiter witnessed me choking on a tomato.  It was very glamorous.  Later, he approached me and very sarcastically said, "So I take it you enjoyed your meal?"  THANKS MAN.  Very cool.  When we'd finished, we took one last walk down the cute streets filled with shops and went back to the apartment, up the seven outdoor flights of stairs (workin' off the pasta am I right?) and then realized we needed to go to the store.  After going all the waty back down the stairs we took a last trip to the store down the street, we came all the way back up and my mom and dad headed to the viewpoint to look at the gorgeous lights in the city while Tony and I hung out.  Then, my mom, Tony, and I watched "Stripes," with Bill Murray which was hilarious.  We then headed to bed to get rested up for some serious traveling the next day.

Thanks for reading!  Okay, so this post, yes, is from three days ago, I'M SORRY.

-Sophia :)

While walking around, we came across this color-coordinated drum band.

Day 41: Flea Market and H&M Shopping

Hey everyone!  I hope you're having a fantastic day.

Today, we woke up a bit early to visit the flea market that our renter had suggested.  After taking a taxi to a square packed with booths and second hand piles of who's its and what's its, we split up, my mom and I walking one way and my dad and Tony another.  After a couple of hours of shopping, it got HOT.  Like gross hot.  So we decided to take a cab back to the main square.  My mom and I both bought matching anklets, I found a pendant for one of my many empty chains back at home, my mom also got a little Lisbon painting, and my dad, for some reason, bought a leather computer....?  After going back to the square, we each grabbed some walk away food, then came back to the apartment to relax.  After hanging out for a bit, my mom and I decided to head to the H&M store along one of the popular shopping streets.  After spending a bit of time looking around, I grabbed a couple of plain t-shirts and a very Portuguese looking top.  Next, we looked around the street for a while and my dad and Tony joined us.  We then headed to a somewhat exclusive looking event by Super Bock Beer that had various food booths.  I say somewhat exclusive because it had actual bouncers at the entrance of the red-roped front and you had to buy tickets to get in.  You see?  Fancy.  We soon realized that we had no interest in the food they were serving, so we sat down with our iced teas and beers at the riverside and watched some pidgins duel for a stray piece of pizza, for like an hour.  We are an easily entertained people.  After finishing our refreshments, we ended up walking around and just grabbed some take away food and headed back to the apartment for the night.  After we all put on pajamas and everything, we rented the movie UP from Amazon and watched that before going to bed.  'Twas quite cozy.

Thank you for reading!  I'm currently uploading the pictures from the days before this so be sure to look for those!

-Sophia :)

The jam-packed flea market

Day 40: Roadtrip #4 and Super Cute Apartment

Hey everyone!  I hope you're having a wonderful day.

Today, we all woke up around seven to get ready to load the car and leave our little Portugal resort by the sea.  After packing the rental car, we got on the road and drove for about three and a half hours before arriving at the rental car drop-off location in Lisbon, Portugal.  We unpacked our little Scoda and returned it, then waited for our ride.  We'd be getting a ride from the man who'd be renting us our Lisbon apartment.  After he picked us up, he drove us on the very steep, rather scary drive through the narrow, colorful streets of Lisbon.  He parked pretty much in the center of the tiny ally street and took us up to the self-decorated apartment.  He's an interior decorator, so we weren't sure what really to expect but we sure aren't disappointed.  It's a pretty small space, but the space there is well used!  It's super modern with mostly black and white decorations and cool Ikea fold out beds and fun patterns everywhere.  Very nice.  After giving us the run-down of the place, he left.  We then decided it was time for lunch.  We walked down the many steps to the town fairly nearby.  After finding a restaurant that looked good we sat down and enjoyed a meal.  You would've been so proud of me, I tried a Seabass, right, and so I was like, "Ha, wow, I'm so adventurous." but then, the fish was whole.  Like, I've never eaten a fish that is still connected to it's head and tail.  It was somewhat terrifying.  But delicious.  After lunch, we stopped by the grocery store to get a few things and headed back to sleep for a bit.

After waking up, we all wanted to explore some more so we headed back into the town and found a really pretty view of the city.  Then, after walking around a bit, we found our way to the waterfront, along the Tagus River, the biggest river in Portugal.  There was live music, and food trucks and plenty of people having picnics along the river, it was such a nice atmosphere.  We walked along until we found the end of the line of picnicking people and snack bars.  By then, we all got pretty hungry again so after looking around for quite a while to find the perfect place, we decided to remember where we come from, The United States of America, country of dreams, culture, and McDonalds.  So we stopped into the golden arch kingdom and got some familiar food.  I know, I know, you're probably shaking your head at the screen right now and thinking, "Sophia, you're in Europe!  Eat some new food you've never tried before!" but that's what I've been doing, friend, and sometimes it's nice to have something familiar.  After having a bite to eat there, we wanted a little something sweet, my dad and Tony both found pastries at bake shops and I found easily the prettiest ice cream cone I've ever had.  And it was stroopwaffle flavored.  Let me refresh your memory.  Stroopwaffle is a carmel-y Dutch cookie that is the most wonderful thing in the world.  Refer back to the post from Day 16 to relive my Stroopwaffle Mcflurry adventures.  Anywho, it was stroopwaffle flavor and also in the shape of a rose.  What more could I ask for?  After that, we headed back to the apartment and now, everyone is asleep as I write this.  It's been a very nice day.

Thank you for reading!

-Sophia :)

Ps. Yes, the camera is still charging so I'll hopefully get the pictures up soon.  Thanks for the patience!

Day 39: Pool and Portugal's Best Guitar Player

Hey everyone!  Sorry for the lack of posts, the past couple of days our wifi was spotty so I'm posting the past three days tonight. (This is the post from yesterday)

Today we all slept in pretty dang late which was wonderful.  After sleeping in, my dad made everyone some eggs and toast for breakfast.  We decided that since it's our last day in the resort, we'd kind of just hang out all day and not go anywhere.  Sadly, that means there's not a TON to write about from today.  We all read a lot and went to and from the pool and slept and ate and just had a very relaxing day.  It was lovely.  After a full day of being lazy, we all got cleaned up and went down to the restaurant nearby, Mama Mia's.  Tony got spaghetti, my mom got lasagna, my dad got some spicy pasta (which he was not very happy with), and I got some really good salmon pasta.  Afterwards, Tony hung back while my parents and I went down to the also very close by bar to watch a guitar player (according to all of the advertisements, he's one of the best in Portugal!  That turned out to be pretty accurate.)  After ordering some drinks while we waited, the bar quickly filled up with others from the resort.  Soon, after having heard him play a few songs on his guitar in a blues-y fashion, we discovered that he was, indeed, intensely talented.  My favorite part was in the middle of one of his more rock-type songs, a lady with a baby walked in and, while still playing the song, he walked up to them and played the notes to Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, SO CUTE.  A bit later, we remembered we'd be getting up somewhat early the next morning to get on the road so we headed back to the apartment to pack up and go to bed.

Thanks for reading!

-Sophia :)

Ps. I think we do have a couple of photos from today, but the camera is charging, so I'll have to add those later.    

Day 38: Hiking and Train Rides

Hey everyone!  I hope you're having a great day.

Today, we all left the house around eleven when it was still cool and made our way up the hill to the trail that would lead us to the caves we'd seen on our boat tour the day before.  We went down some stairs and walked through a stone doorway and found ourselves on an uneven, rocky surface that overlooked the ocean.  Every once and a while there would be a slight set of carved stairs.  We peeked around and climbed on the rocks and waved at the people going past on tour boats and ships.  (It was true friendSHIP.  Please hold your applause until the end.)  After spending about an hour there, we then wanted to find the natural swimming hole.  We walked around in the heat for a while before deciding to head to the next beach we found.  It turned out to be near a super fancy resort, so the beach was really uncrowded and nice.  The water was SO clear too.  And cold.  But very nice.  After that, we were all very hungry so we stopped at a little cafe on the beach and got salads while Tony got soup.  It was very good after all the swimming.  We then got a taxi and headed back to our room to rest up.  Then, my parents and I wanted to go into the town for a bit.  I decided to get a tourist-y colored braid wrap. (Don't worry it's cuter than it sounds.)  Afterwards, there's a little train that gives a tour of the town so we jumped on that and talked a bit with a nice local lady who owns a bakery.  After a lot longer of a ride than we'd expected, about forty minutes, my mom didn't feel great from sitting backwards the whole time so we went to try to find dinner.  Turns out that almost none of the restaurants serve food after like ten.  Cool.  So we decided to be rebellious and my dad and I had ice cream for dinner and after seeing the HUGEST SCORPION DEMON SPIDER THING my mom got some rolls to eat from the grocery store.  After that, we headed back to our apartment and went to sleep.

Thanks for reading!

-Sophia :)

Day 37: Caves and Really Great Italian Food

Hey everyone!  Hope you're doing well!

Today, we got up early and left the house around nine thirty.  We walked down to the nearby beach to get on a boat tour we had reservations for.  The boat was going to take us to each of the many caves along the coast.  These caves really are natural works of art, some of them have skylights or little beaches inside of them.  When we'd arrived back from the tour, we all were super sleepy from the boat rocking, so we went home and slept for a bit.  Afterwards, we all went to the pool and hung out with our new Irish friends.  After the pool, we all went back to our room and cleaned up and everything and headed into the town for a bit of dinner.  We found the most amazing Italian place that had Italian celebrities hanging on all of the walls and random slightly creepy statues of giant heads and everything.  We all ordered our dinners; I got a calzone, Tony got a pizza and my parents shared a salad, pasta, and pizza.  IT WAS SO GOOD.  I'm actually going to eat my leftovers in like .007 seconds.  Next, we headed back down to the village to grab a fresh orange juice and head back home.  After a bit of relaxing everyone headed to bed and I stayed up to talk with some friends for a bit.

Thanks for reading!

-Sophia :)