I don’t know how long I have desired to travel abroad, or if I have. However, as I started planning my fifty things to do before I turned fifty, I decided I wanted to leave the North American continent. I wasn’t sure where I wanted to go, I just knew I wanted to go somewhere, anywhere! There are so many beautiful places to see in the world, narrowing it down was going to be tough. Everywhere I looked seemed like such a great place! I had not travelled anywhere, so it was all new to me!

Then I got the email from my sister-in-law. “Hey, do you want to go to the Azores with me?” It sounded like a good idea, the pics looked good, the price looked right, I said sure. But we did some digging, I did more research, and it didn’t seem like quite the destination for us. We looked around some more and finally sorted out a final destination.

Portugal. This seemed like the proper place for us! Later November seemed like the right time too. Not as busy, but still available for tours, decent weather, but not too hot, and better ‘off season’ pricing. It seemed like the best idea. While we had some trouble finding a travel agent, we finally got our trip set-up and booked. Departure was set for November 18!

But, the best laid plans, as they say… The morning of our departure, we received a message. Our flights had been cancelled. We were now booked on a later flight to London, instead of through Montreal and Amsterdam. Still good, we’d make our connections and get a day in London! Still a winning plan! Until it wasn’t and our flight was delayed again. We did make it to London, but with only a few hours and no time to tour around.

Ahhh… The joys of travel. We ended up missing our connecting flight to our destination and got a bonus day in Lisbon… This was a bonus, but also a sad thing as we had no luggage and if my sister in law hadn’t suggested I pack my good walking shoes in her carry on, I wouldn’t have made it far, as I couldn’t have walked very much around the city!

Eventually, we made it to Portimão, Portugal – our home for 9 days (should have been 11). We arrived at 2am, so it seemed even shorter, but we were there. We had a hiccup with our room, and ended up moving (and almost moved again, because we had an ant problem) but we sucked it up and had them spray for the ants). It was a journey, that’s for certain.

Our room overlooked the marina, and we were a stone’s throw from the ocean and a beautiful boardwalk with restaurants. I can only imagine the chaotic scene it would be during the height of tourist season (I keep seeing pictures shared of the area now – and it’s chaotic). I took a couple of walks on my own as my sister-in-law took full advantage of being away from family and napped at her leisure, I did too on occasion. Definitely nice not having a busy schedule.

We toured some sites, in one case, they ran the cave tour just for us! It was just us on the boat. They kept us out a little longer than usual and gave us extra information about the area and how the area was developed. Part of the usual tour in summer was to take the boat inland and allow guests to swim. I suppose late in November, they figured it was too cold. As we discovered later in the week, the ocean was just lovely for swimming.

As we were only a two-hour drive from Seville, Spain, we made the drive there one morning and took in flamenco dancers too! It was a great side trip. Sipping champagne and enjoying the dancers was an experience not soon forgotten.

As I alluded to, we swam in the ocean. On our last day, we decided to try it out. We walked down to the ocean. Now, my sister in law wasn’t sure we’d go in, and wasn’t going to wear her suit, but I was adamant we wear them. No point going down and not in. Good plan, as we couldn’t resist and spent the next, at least forty-five minutes in the ocean. It was perfect and the most amazing was to end our trip to Portugal. A trip filled with laughs, so much delicious food, and lots of wine!

My three takeaways from this trip were:

1. Pick good travel companions! My sister-in-law and I hadn’t travelled together before and really, didn’t know one another well prior to this trip. It could have gone one of two ways! Thankfully (as we expected) it went well! She’s a great woman, a wonderful travel buddy, and has great enthusiasm for all things (that was noticed by all who met us)!
2. If you can, upgrade your fare. We travelled “Premium Economy” for our international flights. YES! Best choice ever. This gave us better reclining seats, complimentary drinks in-flight, and warmed towels. Small things but they matter.
3. Roll with the punches and divide and conquer. Our ‘take off’ from Canada sucked. If it could go awry, it did. When we landed in Portugal, I got the luggage, my sister-in-law got the car, and I found her. If we hadn’t done it this way, we would have been stuck at the airport with no rental car as the place closed, she made it just in time.

It was an adventure and an amazing one at that! I ate pastel de nata and drank coffee in Lisbon on my own and made conversation about Celine Dion with strangers when I got my Euros and Canadian dollars mixed up! Pro tip: Always know a couple of Celine Dion songs! I highly recommend getting lost, travelling on your own, and random travel delays.