I thought this was meant to be a cheap holiday?! Portugal 2016 - Travel Day

[smithlane]

Friday 19th August
Alarm was set for 5.45 and it was no surprise none of us got much sleep. We have the two serial snorers, Jim and Hope then Sam who sleep talks! This is why we don't stay in hotels when on holiday!
We all quickly got dressed and re packed the suitcases then headed out to the front of the hotel. We were on the bus in minutes with 2 other couples heading to the South Terminal. The journey took about 15 minutes so not long at all.
I would definitely recommend the Best Western, yes it's basic but the staff are all very friendly and it's kept very clean. Apart from the shower mishap but I'm sure that could have happened to anyone, anywhere 😆
We were still a bit early for bag drop but we were second in the queue so I was happy 😃

It soon opened and with all suitcases comfortably under 23kg including mine which is always a bit of a gamble. I just can't pack lightly!
We headed straight through security which didn't have much of a queue and thankfully no extra pat downs
The terminal was heaving! After a rubbish breakfast in the Wetherspoons the last time we were in Gatwick we opted for the Wonder Tree instead. Only a small wait for a table, we were seated in a prime spot over looking the runway!

I quickly ran to Boots to get Hope 2 plain Ham sandwiches as she's a fussy mare that doesn't really do breakfast food so one was consumed now and one for the flight later.
Jim and I got the Big Breakfast with toast and Sam the children's breakfast with added bacon. Not cheap but really good food in a nice atmosphere.

The shops were now calling and I had a list of things to get in Duty Free. I literally never shop for myself throughout the year, I had only bought myself one new outfit for this holiday so it's nice to treat myself once a year on holiday.
First up Chanel for some Vitalumiere foundation, MAC for some lipgloss then Bobbi Brown for a compact foundation. As you can tell I'm not exclusive to one brand, I like to mix and match 😁

Now for the biggest treat, some Jo Malone perfume in English Pear & Freesia. My mum wears Jo Malone all the time and it really is true you only need a squirt or 2 and it lasts all day, so money well spent. Well that's what I'm telling myself anyway 😂
Last but not least some more Dermalogica Skin Smoothing Cream. I get this once a year for my birthday from my mum as its sooo expensive but I swear by their skin care range, I have been since I trained with them at the ripe old age of 18. When I worked in a salon I could get it at cost price but since I'm now a mobile beauty therapist I have to pay full price 😭

Then whilst paying I spotted these miniature Molton Brown shower gels. A bargain at £14.50

So now my bank balance had taken a severe hit we went to see if our gate had been posted. Well surprise surprise the flight was delayed. I swear I have never ever got on a flight that has taken off on time. Note to all, never get on the same plane as me if you want to arrive on time 😁
We have 2 hours 55 mins connection in Lisbon so are hoping it's not delayed by too long! So what do you do when you have more time at an airport, more shopping of course! We sat Hope and Sam down under strict instructions not to move and Jim and I went off to have a browse. They cracked out a game of Uno as soon as we had left! We didn't go far so I knew they would be ok. Had a look in Snow & Rock where they had Havainas reduced to £12 a pair so Jim bought me and Hope a pair and himself a North Face hoody. Had a look in Superdry where he bought Sam some funky swim shorts in the sale, a bit big as they only do men's sizes but if anyone knows this shop they come out ridiculously small. Anyway as my mum would say, he'll grow into them 😆
Once we had returned the gate was now showing so we headed off to gate 34.
As we were waiting at the gate we could see the Virgin plane waiting to take those lucky passengers to Orlando 😢

Still first world problems, we still have 2 weeks in Portugal to look forward to!
We waited around 30 minutes then began boarding. Overall we were an hour late taking off so we should hopefully make our connection. Anyone who read my travel day in my Florida trippy last year will know why I was sweating a little at the moment, I haven't got a good track record for indirect flights!
At least there's no immigration and our luggage is checked all the way to Faro.
Flight was good, we like Tap Airways as they don't sting you for food and drinks unlike other airlines, plus 23kg luggage as standard. We also had plenty of legroom, even for Jim who at 6'3" struggles with the space.

We arrived in Lisbon about 2pm and sailed through passport control where we had a very friendly officer. I always worry going through with the kids as they have a different surname to me so I always carry a copy of their birth certificates just in case. Not needed today, he just asked if they were mine. I replied unfortunately. I'm kidding! Kind of 😉
We were directed through security again and as I had bought out Duty Free's supply of liquids I had to reorganise them into another plastic bag. Quickly through with no issues we went to get some lunch at McD's. The departure lounge at Lisbon is really nice with a huge range of places to eat and shop but don't worry I kept my purse safely away!
Our gate was up so walked over and like a reoccurring theme the next flight was delayed 😡
Was meant to take off at 4pm but I think it was about 4.45 when we did. This was literally the shortest flight ever at just over 30 minutes. As soon as we were up we were soon coming back down!
As we had arrived as what I think are domestic passengers we didn't need to do passport control so went straight for our luggage. They were some of the first pieces off so that was good.
Sam looking lost in thought

We walked over to Enterprise which is now outside with all the rest of the car hire companies. Now when we came 2 years ago we flew into Lisbon and picked up our car from there then drove down to Vilamoura. We had an absolute nightmare with Enterprise who wanted nearly €1000 taken as a deposit which we really weren't happy with them blocking off our card. We need our credit cards as an emergency and that's a huge amount to have pending. So when I booked this years car hire through Alamo Enterprise I triple checked with them what the required deposit was and was told repeatedly only €300. So you can imagine our surprise when we got to the desk to be told they needed €1290 as a security deposit! Really not happy with this we called the manager over who couldn't do much and wasn't sure why we had been told that as apparently it's never that low unless you pay €15.90 a day to take it down. To cut a long story short we ended up paying a bit more to not have to leave such a huge amount as a deposit. She kindly upgraded is to a VW Polo so still tiny but was better than the Fiat Panda we would have ended up with 😳
Still not big enough for all our luggage plus us, Sam and I were still going to need to get a taxi. Jim managed to get all the luggage in so at least we didn't need to take any with us. We bid them farewell with Hope navigating in the front and made our way over to the taxi rank. This has to be the easiest point of the day so far. We literally went to the front of the queue where no one was waiting and jumped in the first cab there, gave him the address and we were on our way. Lovely jubbly!
20 minutes later we were pulling up right behind Jim and Hope.
The lady from the management company was waiting to give us the keys and to show us around. The apartment is lovely, exactly how it looks in the photos. She showed us how to get into the pool and gardens area using the key fob then left us to it. We quickly unpacked got changed then headed down to Oscars for some dinner. It was pretty busy but we managed to get a table for 4 right by one of the TVs so Jim was happy as he could watch the ever so important football game.
To order I had a passion fruit daiquiri and the Piri Piri chicken, Jim a Diet Coke and the same as me, Hope spaghetti bolognese and a Diet Coke and Sam a Hawaiian pizza and a lemonade. There was a bit of a wait for food but it was no problem we weren't in any rush.

I was a bit disappointed with my chicken, I'm sure it had changed since I last had it. It was just random hacked up pieces of chicken with loads of bones in it, you couldn't work out which bit was meat and what wasn't. After having to dissect my meal it didn't leave me with much appetite which was a shame as I really enjoyed it last time. Bill came to €62.80, not exactly cheap but certainly not the most expensive we had!

The wind had picked up by the time we had all finished and after what felt like a really long travel day we were ready to head back to the apartment. Played a couple of games of Uno then called it a night

[Melbatb]

Some good buys at duty free

Shame your meal wasn't nice - always disappointing when that happens!

[smithlane]

Originally Posted by Melbatb

Some good buys at duty free

Shame your meal wasn't nice - always disappointing when that happens!

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Thank you, yes some great buys. I do love Duty Free!
Thankfully there were more great meals than disappointing ones on the holiday