Postcards from Portugal

Today was the earliest of all my mornings this trip. I gathered up my belongings and headed to the airport. After waiting for security to open and then to get a gate assigned I headed to my gate the bored the plane.

The plane ride to Lisbon was uneventful. I got through boarder control shortly after getting to the airport. I tried to find a locker to put my bag in but was unsuccessful. I decided to take it with me and got an Uber.

After a long ride to downtown Lisbon, lots of morning traffic, I got to Parce de Figurera where I caught a hop-on-hop-off bus. I decided this was the best way to see the city in the little time I had. 

I enjoyed the tour. I made sure to get a spot on the top of the bus and we started driving around. The tour took us around for 2 hours before circling back to the starting spot. There were lots of great things to see along the way. I hope to come back and explore them more in the future.

After getting off the bus I did some postcard shopping and found a place for lunch. While I ate I watched the city around me. You could tell this was the touristy area of the city by the way people acted and the shops. There were also some cool places to see there.

Worrying that I would face the same problem I had in Amsterdam with security at the airport, I headed back to the airport with a little less that 4 hours to my flight. It was unnecessary. There was plenty of time and security and boarder control were fast.

I spent an hour at a coffee shop waiting to even find out where my gate was. For my next visit I will know I have more time and what sites I would most like to see. While I waited in the airport though, I chatted with a lovely woman from England who was heading on holiday and that passed some time.

There was another set of additional security at the gate. They checked some people's luggage and went through everyone's passports again. They also asked some additional questions. 

After that we got in line to scan our boarding passes. Then we got on a shuttle to the plane. It is a very large plane, but not the largest I have been on. Thankfully I have an isle seat. The fight from lisbon to JFK was uneventful. I tried to get some sleep but didn't. 

When we arrived in JFK it took us a while to actually get to our gate. Then once in JFK it was back to customs once more. I caught the air tram to the correct terminal and hustle through security once more.

I thought I was going to late to my claim but I wanted to try and grab food so when I do I had a minute I went and got pizza. It turned out I had plenty of time as our plane was delayed due to staffing issues. 

The flight out of JFK took well over an hour beyond when I was supposed to take off to actually leave. Thankfully this was also an uneventful flight. Thankfully the plane was also pretty comfy so I got maybe 20 minute nap in between announcements of updates of what was going on. Then I was home to Syracuse.