Something told me to check the app to see if my bag made it to the plane as I wasn’t 100% confident when Delta rep said she’d handle the issue (during my layover I received a text saying my bag was at baggage claim 2 even though it was checked through to Lisbon.). The app now said my bag was in the baggage storage office so the purser took me back to the gate agent who told me there was a glitch in the app and she was 70% sure my bag was on the plane (spoiler alert…it wasn’t).
I consider myself lucky I’m even here and I had a seat on the plane. We were 45 minutes late departing because the flight was overbooked and 16 people were not going to be able to take the flight. We had to wait until they figured out who would be the unfortunate 16. Then we had to wait for their luggage to be pulled. Finally those sweet words “ladies and gentlemen, the boarding door is closed”!
Shortly after takeoff, they had to soft reboot the video system. Well that didn’t work so they did a hard reboot. Still no luck so the captain worked with the ground crew to try to troubleshoot (not like he didn’t have anything more important to do like flying the plane!). All night they tried rebooting and all night just as I would get to sleep the reboot would end and randomly turn on my very bright overhead light. It would stay on until it was ready to turn off…a little possessed if you ask me. Part of the video system is the power/usb ports so I arrived in Lisbon with 20% power. Why didn’t I charge my phone in the AF lounge you ask? Well shock of shocks, there was only 1 power strip available and a family of 6 was camped out at it. Props to Delta as less than 3 hours after we landed, they had sent an email apologizing for the inconvenience and depositing a nice amount of points into my account!
Clearing Passport Control in Lisbon is a breeze. You scan your passport and a gate opens. You walk through gate and your photo is taken and a gate opens. A very friendly customs agent greets you (and was kind enough to let me practice my very limited Portuguese on him) and stamps your passport and off you go to baggage claim.
Everyone is huddled around carousel 10 wondering if they will be lucky and their bag arrives or if they were going to be one of those poor unfortunate souls in the very long lost baggage line. Given my previous spoiler alert, you know to which group I belonged.
The lost baggage process at Lisbon airport is relatively simple once you figure it out. Depending on your airline, you either go to the orange or blue kiosk and tap the letter that applies to your issue and your number comes out. Then you hang out with 100 of your new friends all starring at the monitor awaiting your number to come up. In case you’re wondering, they were on 52 and I was number 73. Fortunately, I was able to change my bus ticket to a later time because there was no way I was going to make it through the line, take a taxi to Oriente Train/Bus Depot and get on my bus in an hour.
It took about an hour before my number was called and a very nice agent took my claim and my address in Porto and said my bag would be brought to me when it arrives from Boston (but he didn’t know when that would be). Next I was off to get an Uber and head to the bus depot. Side note, if you’re ever in Lisbon and need to take a train anywhere, go to Oriente as all trains go there as a transfer point.
In Portugal, masks are currently still required for public transportation (even open air trolleys). Because I had to rebook an hour out, I got the last row of the bus. There are 5 seats and it was just me and another guy. We began playing the game “how far down are you comfortable wearing your mask”. We smiled as we lowered each time until we finally took it off. We figured we were at the back of the bus and no one could see us. I knew it was going to be hot in both Portugal and Croatia and I am not one that suffers heat well in spite of growing up in Charleston so I brought along my personal neck fan. Boy did it come in handy on the bus as it was rather warm.
Four hours later, I arrived in Porto where Elaine was waiting for me. We popped into a little cafe for a pingo (espresso with milk) and a pasteis de nata before climbing the hills to her place. I think I blocked out how hilly Porto was from my last visit. We had to take a picture for LuLu as she is Elaine’s stateside PA and she needed to see tow of her favorite people together.
After wandering through town, we arrived at her apartment and climbed the two flights. Once again, I am actually thankful my large suitcase didn’t arrive and they will have the pleasure of carrying it up the steps! Elaine took me to one of her favorite spots for dinner and it did not disappoint. She’s become friends with the owner and he treated us to wine while we waited and during dinner. What a great end to my first day in Porto!
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