theDIBB - New England Summer 2018: Day 1

It was now Saturday - the rest of the family had flown on Thursday but as I was suffering from a terrible vomiting bug (and believe me when I say it was grim - I an usually very hardy but this knocked me sidewards) I was behind them by 48hours!

So I was home alone and that meant me and me alone was responsible for shutting the house up! Scary!

The alarm went off at 3.15am. I had a shower and got everything that wasn't ready ready. I also had to go outside to turn the water off. Not fun!

The taxi turned up on time at 4am and We were at the airport 20 minutes later!

Check in was a bit slow - I had checked in online but heeded to drop off my suitcase! I took less than 1 minute...

The plane was already there but we boarded a bit later. I was last to board and had the nice surprise that I had been upgraded to business! Not that it was any different - even the food was the same!

We arrived at Lisbon on time!

My hand luggage - someone actually stopped me and said how much they liked it :D

Downside was I hadn't put a top in and I was freezing on both flights and at Lisbon airport!

At Lisbon I had a croissant with cheese - I probably could had happily not eaten but felt I needed to keep my strength up.

I went to the gate once it had been posted - gate 45 about as far as it could be!

The ESTA people checked everyone's passports! The guy checking mine gave me quite a hard time - I had to show proof of return flights(J said they breezed through 2 days earlier!)

We boarded on time - if you have no wheely case you can board early. So I was quickly on. I was lucky to had been assigned an extra leg room seat on the aisle. Was a great seat! I soon had a blanket on me as well as my flight socks (a nice look as you can imagine! ) to keep me warm!

We took off about 20 minutes late but the Captain said we would arrive 20 minutes early!

Lunch was served pretty quickly! Unfortunately I booked too late to ore-order a veggie meal but they has a tomato pasta.

I nibbled round it - again more to eat something than anything else.

The trays were cleared quickly. I watched The Liberty Seeker with Helen Mirren which was actually pretty sad. I then read my kindle and dozed a bit! The crew were not very active with bring round drinks.

The snack was a tuna sandwich.

We landed as promised at 1.05pm! I was off the plane and through immigration within 10 minutes! Even with a new ESTA I was able to use the machines!

My little wheely case took a while to come through!

J met me at the arrivals area! He had decided to leave the kids in the apartment. His view was we had just let O go to India for 2 weeks, an apartment in New Hampshire would be fine!

We caught the bus to the car hire area to put me on the rental agreement so I could drive!

The drive back to the apartment took about an hour! J said it was much easier than his first go - which had torrential rain!

The kids seemed happy to see me ;)

It was about 3.45pm and I needed to hit the road running!

We went to the surf shop next to the apartment block to get F a shorty wetsuit as she was suffering with the cold. Not good for her blood sugar levels!

We then went to an ice cream shop J had spotted. This was a kid's sized frozen yoghurt (black raspberry and mint choc chip flavours) - J and I couldn't finish it.

O had a brownie sundae - could have fed three! We realised that one sundae would be enough as a taster.

We then hit the beach! The fishes surfed!

Things never change ;) F found the wetsuit helped a lot!

The beach is contained by a wall! J said it gets quite fierce at times!

We had dinner - pesto pasta cooked by J. J and I then had a walk along the wall - no roads to cross ;) It was enjoyable and nice to chat but I was flagging

We got back at about 9pm and I got changed, brushed my teeth and then I crashed after a 24h day! I was happy to at last start my holiday!