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July/August 2017

After a year of planning & decades of dreaming, I left our home in Charleston, SC and 12 hours later boarded a British Airways plane in Philadelphia, PA, USA. Seven hours later I walked off into the morning sunlight in Lisbon, Portugal! Did I mention that I don’t speak any Portuguese?!? This is how it started…

Two days earlier my BEST sister friend Sherley, arrived in Lisbon with her family, returning after nearly ten years away from her Portuguese family and friends. Sherley and I were born of different parents thousands of miles away from each other, 5 years apart, but after meeting nearly 7 years ago we’ve found that we are so much alike! So when she told me “Cheryl, if you ever wanted to travel to Portugal, come when we visit family” I started planning and working to make those dreams a reality!

First of all, I’d like to let you know that hubby Mr. D is more of a “road trip”  guy than a “fly over the Big Pond” guy, and he loves me and has always supported my dreams. Even the scary roller coaster ones…so even though this was not “his” kind of ride, he hugged & kissed me goodbye with a promise to call daily, testing out our WhatsAp app nearly 5000 miles apart!

Soooo after lots of research and the commitment to be a “Traveler” &  not a “Tourist”, I dusted off my passport,  strapped my seatbelt on, and flew to Lisbon, Portugal… alone.  Well, not quite…it was a full flight…but I knew that I’d have to rely on me, myself, and I “with a little help from my friends”😊

Join me on this journey and let me share some great things to make your European travel roller coaster ride more fun!

What to pack in your carry-on for a 14 day trip away from home:

Let’s face it, we can have ALOT of gear, especially if we’re pretty sure we’ll be living out of a suitcase for a bit. Through the generosity and hospitality of Sherley’s family and friends, I had a bed and an address for my time in Portugal, but I still lived out of my suitcase. We all get the importance of a bed, but having the same address the whole trip made it very easy to schedule an Uber ride and get my geographical bearings so I could use public transport very easily.

I loved the use of a backpack on my trip, and after the serving in the Army, I promised myself I would never carry one again (except for my child 😊). Get yourself one. First. I mean it. Pack a lightweight foldable hat that you’ll wear. Essential is a shirt, pants (I packed a pair of Capri pants because of the heat), proper under garments, empty plastic bag for dirty clothes, cleansing cloths, deodorant, toothbrush & paste, & makeup if you want. Right off the plane in Lisbon, while my checked bag was in transit to the carousel, I headed to the restrooms to change clothes and freshen up… this really gave me a jumpstart on my day! Get an aluminum water bottle with a clip ring, you’ll be so thankful you did! Some airports have water bottle filling stations at water fountains and I always filled up there, and each morning before I left I made sure it was full from the sink and clipped to my backpack.

My backpack was smallish, named the Ravenna that I bought at Rick Steves’ website because it could easily carry 2 bottles of wine, and I knew I wouldn’t want to carry more than that! Put your charger and adapter for the country you’re visiting in your pack, after all, it’s going to be one of your carry-ons and you’ll need it accessible at all times. Put 2 packages of travel Kleenex in, so many uses, but you’ll really thank me if you need TP in a pinch. Put the rest of the travel packs in your suitcase, you’ll use them! Pack ear-buds for your phone, pen & small pad of paper, and a couple of packs of crackers with cheese or peanut butter, the protein can stave off hunger for a bit and they usually travel well. I also had a memory foam neck roll & lightweight piece of fleece for a blanket. You get a pillow and blanket on international flights, but during my travel I had a lot of waiting between domestic flights, and both came in handy! I rolled the blanket up small and hooked the neck roll to it and all of it to my backpack, easy and lightweight. I think my posture is better from carrying a backpack so much! 😊

I also packed a real, old-fashioned paperback book with 400 pages to read, one, because my youngest Elizabeth & I have our own “mother/daughter” book club (nice way to stay connected 987 miles apart) & I wanted this book to be “well traveled” when I passed it on to her. It really saved my cell phone battery too!😊 Second, this trip was a VACATION so I wasn’t going to stay plugged in with the world every minute….book went with me out to eat, to the beach, on public transport, and even to bed, so I was glad I made the decision to bring it. I knew if it got too heavy or I wanted to leave it somewhere when I finished I could.

There’s so much information about traveling out there it can be mind-boggling about where to start, but I always liked Rick Steves’ style of experiencing culture simply and to the fullest wherever you go. This is what helped me make realistic plans for the things I wanted to do, see, and taste. Click the link below to watch Rick’s video. Below that is the link to see the travel guide I bought at Amazon and used for my trip. Having a realistic ( not Touristic!) map was invaluable! I could write on it and fold it small enough to be portable, and the travel guide helped me to narrow down my sites to visit. I wanted to keep some time for “whatever” and not schedule EVERY day, so I wanted to be sure to see/do the things I DID plan.

Rick Steves’ Portugal

Rick Steves Portugal guide

Shortly after landing, Sherley and I met at this wonderful, local, grill just steps from the apartment my “hostess” Fatima owns. I seriously ate something here every day of my trip, after all they’re open 6 a.m. until midnight 😊 All the food is prepared fresh and much is grilled over a large charcoal stove, the wonderful scents coming from this grill just draw you in. Just try to resist!!

The menu is in Portuguese, but servers Claudia & Rita are so friendly and speak English, and true to the wonderful Portuguese hospitality are very willing to stop and talk with you on a variety of subjects including answering all questions about the menu!

I ate my first Portuguese meal here, a wonderful medley of dishes…including SNAILS! Not the big French ones where you can see their eyes, but these tiny ones cooked in butter garlic that I had to pick out with a toothpick! Rita was giving me instructions in how to eat them the easiest…

It did help to have some tasty Sangria near by!