Summary: Today marks our 21st day away from Hollister, CA, including travel days before we arrived in Europe. This morning we were up and at 'em by 6:45. Shower. Finish packing. An hour later, we walked out of our last hotel and down into the conveniently-located metro, directly to the airport in about 20 minutes! 8:25 check in at the airport. Good thing we were nearly two and a half hours early, because we had to walk through the unorganized, chaotic Lisbon airport towards our gate, but not without an extremely long and bothersome passport check point along the way (we waited for 45 minutes in that line!). Lara got scolded by the customs officer for having too little space left in her passport. We were finally at our gate by 9:45, boarded at around 10, and took off just before 11. We landed in Philadelphia 7.5 hours later for our 2.5 hour layover. Customs and immigration and more lines and waiting. Yay. Boarded our flight to San Fran around 3:45, but waited on the runway for about an hour, the delay being due to thunderstorms in the South and Midwest destinations, so other flights had backed up. 16 other aircraft were taxied and waiting on the tarmac in front of us when our captain came on the PA to report what was causing the delay. Nevertheless, we landed in San Francisco at 7:15pm Pacific time zone, and drive the couple of hours back to Hollister to flop into bed just after 10pm.
Awesome moment: we traveled back in time! How cool is that? We gained 8 hours back!
Blooper: Always a comforting thing to hear a flight attendant say (before takeoff), "Well I'm not cleaning up any puke. I will have nothing to do with that vomit stuff."
At the end of the trip, Lara left her hat on the second flight in San Fran, realizing it at baggage claim. All the way from Italy, through France and Spain and Portugal, and Philadelphia, to be left on the plane in CA, USA. Oh well.
Cheapest pleasure: At no expense, on our flight from Lisbon to Philadelphia, we got upgraded to the front emergency row. First ones on and off the vessel, and extra legroom! Woohoo upgrade! We were in the right place at the right time, checking in next to a family with a small child, which is against airline regulations to have a child in an emergency exit row. Yay for us! Public servants! We were even more grateful for our upgrade when, before the flight even taxied, someone threw up on the flight (see blooper). Back near the seats we had originally.
Awesome moment: we traveled back in time! How cool is that? We gained 8 hours back!
Blooper: Always a comforting thing to hear a flight attendant say (before takeoff), "Well I'm not cleaning up any puke. I will have nothing to do with that vomit stuff."
At the end of the trip, Lara left her hat on the second flight in San Fran, realizing it at baggage claim. All the way from Italy, through France and Spain and Portugal, and Philadelphia, to be left on the plane in CA, USA. Oh well.
Cheapest pleasure: At no expense, on our flight from Lisbon to Philadelphia, we got upgraded to the front emergency row. First ones on and off the vessel, and extra legroom! Woohoo upgrade! We were in the right place at the right time, checking in next to a family with a small child, which is against airline regulations to have a child in an emergency exit row. Yay for us! Public servants! We were even more grateful for our upgrade when, before the flight even taxied, someone threw up on the flight (see blooper). Back near the seats we had originally.
Laughed at your bloopers - save the hat. What a bummer. It was cute.
ReplyDeleteGod cares about the details - i.e. the upgrade away from the vomit!
What can you do about a passport that's full? Why the scolding?
I have to pay $50 to get extra pages put in.
ReplyDeleteScolding because some countries require at least two blank pages, and they've had to stamp the back page, which technically is meant to be saved for visas. Not country stamps.