Lisbon or Bust

Thursday 26 July 2018 (Kate's turn)

Starting our holiday today by travelling to Sintra in Portugal.

Early wake up at 5am today. Did a final pack, said goodbye to Lucifer (the cat) and to the neighbourhood I've called home for the last two years. Caught a bus, train and two tubes and arrived at the airport at 8:20am, where we were questioned and had to provide documents to prove we were returning to the UK (I blame mum's dodgy aussie passport...).

Security was simple and we enjoyed a nice morning tea of bacon and eggs for me and strong coffee and a chocolate croissant for mum. We also had a very enjoyable walk around duty free, lots of lovely things to buy!

Boarding was a bit late and the complications continued from there. First a delay for takeoff and then a screw was discovered in one of the tires, meaning we had an extra 45 minute delay. After the 45 minutes was up we were informed that the mechanic hadn't shown up yet. Then they had to change the tire so we were all loaded off the plane. We were promised a food voucher and had just received ours when they told us to get back on the plane. Mum did her pleading bit and asked to go to the toilet and we were free! Managed a toilet trip, drink bottle refill and used our food vouchers before they'd even begun to reboard.

Then the delays continued with a plane blocking our exit! Finally took off at 3:15pm. Landed at 5:45pm with the scariest landing ever. We slammed onto the runway and  tipped sidewards as we bounced up into the air again before finally touching down, scariest landing ever!

After a tube and a train followed by a walk, we finally made it to the Nice Way Sintra hostel. Packet of chips and a free sangria for dinner after arriving at 8:30pm and we were well and truly ready for bed! Looking forward to exploring Sintra tomorrow!

Take two!

Sintra finally