The Journey Home

The journey home did seem easier than the journey there. On the way to Faro, Portugal I had a 5 hour layover at Heathrow and it went quickly but made the trip long and hard. It was just over 24 hours from the time I left my house until I walked out of customs and saw Cesar waiting. This will be the last year I have the United Premier Executive status which enables me to go into the lounges so I enjoy taking advantage of that perk! The international lounges are incredible and I will miss the luxury a lot when I don't have my same status by flying so many miles a year. They make a trip much more comfortable! They have nice places to sit and free internet in most cases, and amazingly good food and free drinks, well soft drinks and wine that is.

Heading home I left Faro in the late afternoon, arriving in Lisbon with just over an hour layover. When you land in Lisbon many times you are way out from the airport on a landing place and go down stairs and are transported by buses to the airport. That adds on quite a bit of time because the buses have to fill up before they head to the terminal. Thus making the connection time much shorter. And if the flight is leaving from the field it is the same way, you have to go very early to the gate to get on a bus that takes a big group of people out at a time. Traveling is quite a journey! So my layover on the way home from Lisbon, although it was supposed to be almost an hour and a half only left 15 minutes for me to enjoy the wonderful lounge in Lisbon. It is filled with different open faced small sandwiches, small quiches, snack items and traditional Portuguese pastries. I always take a bottle of water for the trip and enjoy my last taste of pasteis de nata, the small egg custard tarts that are so famous there.

I then boarded the flight that is almost 3 hours back to London Heathrow. Once you reach Heathrow it is about a mile walk to the customs/passport area, quite a trip! There are some moving walkways that help, but it is quite the distance! I arrived there after 10PM and spent the night at the airport hotel where I have been staying since I started my traveling. It is convenient and they used to upgrade me to a club room which basically meant I could go in the 'private club' room with drinks for free and some snacks and free internet. That has changed and I never am invited to do that anymore without a 35 GBP charge which is about $70, not worth it at all. However the 3 main concierge gentlemen always remember me and welcome me with open arms. That is the reason I go back, they are so kind to me. I got a taxi from the airport to the hotel and whenever I get in those cars I feel like I am in a movie! They are darling and it only takes me a minute now to relax with them driving on the wrong side of the road! The hotel was a welcome destination that night and thank goodness, the air conditioning worked so finally I had a cool night, even though I did miss my traveling companion.

The next morning I avoided the 17GBP breakfast at the hotel since it didn't come with the room and headed to Heathrow to get checked in and have a leisurly breakfast at the lounge. I got stopped in security, I had forgotten to take out the water bottle from Portugal. I travel with a great lavendar 'purse' a bag that expands to hold many things and it counts as a purse so it's nice to have. I would list what I always carry with me but the list would go on and on. Ever since my luggage was lost going from Lisbon to London I take all I can with me, just in case! So the very sweet security lady started emptying my purse and it was hilarious, more and more kept coming out. She was laughing and said she felt like she was checking Mary Poppins bag! Pretty funny! She finally got to the bottom and saw that the bottle was all I had so the purple purse was repacked and away I went, on my journey! I have to remember no matter how tired I am, to take out water bottles I travel with between security check stations! It just causes unnecessary delays.

I ate a bit of breakfast at the lounge and was glad that lunch was put out before I had to leave. They do serve a nice lunch, many different Indian foods I think it is, and many other choices including soups, sandwiches and salads. The ladies who work there are so friendly and it is a pleasant place to spend time. And before I knew it I was on my way to my plane for the 10 hr 18 minute flight home. Luckily I had been able to upgrade to business with miles and money and on this flight the business class had beds and individual screens for movies, so it was a pleasant flight home, and was just under 10 hours.

It was great to get home again. In customs with all of the people there I got a man I know from the kennel where I leave Bram. The customs dogs are housed there too and once in a while I see the customs agents who work with them. They know Bram more than they know me. So it was a nice thing to see a familiar face on arriving home. It was a very long way to go for such a short time but that is what life is about, taking advantage of all the opportunities that come your way! And so, one more trip to Europe is over safely and I'm inspired to get busy with my travel agent/cruise consultant training so I can book another international adventure!

Ciao y adeus mi amigos