Well… Week one of work is officially over, as is my first trip flying out of Barcelona and it was AMAZING!! Following my long day of work on Friday, I had tome to run home {aka taxi back to the apartment}, rinse off my body from the hot Barcelona air, and cut an avocado. Because we were unsure about timing to the airport and we weren't sure how long security would take, we got to the airport early enough to walk around all the shops provided, make a couple of spontaneous purchases {aka matching bras}, and then we headed to our gate.
By the time we landed in Lisbon and waited for our free checked carry on luggage, we were on our way to our AirBNB, BUT that’s when our language barrier was in full swing. The man who was driving us spoke NO English OR Spanish… only Portuguese, so our trip to our location probably took a lot longer than expected {and he was yelling at us the majority of the time}. ALSO, he literally yelled at us to “SHOOOO” when we got to the drop off area.
Now picture this: three American girls who were dropped off basically at the bottom of a MASSIVE city center full of cobblestone with three extremely loud suitcases. Oh, and did I mention that we happened to book our weekend in Lisbon without realizing that it was they're HUGE party weekend?! The streets were PACKED, beer was everywhere, music was blaring, people were shoving; and then there were us three tugging along our suitcases through the narrow streets at almost one o'clock in the morning. To say the very least, the locals were not too ecstatic about our luggage BUT when we finally made it to our place, we got changed and joined them on the bustling streets. We lasted for about two hours… Enough time to get beer, churros, and crepes, and figure out where we were in relation to things. Before we knew it though, we were back in the comfort of our un-air conditioned AirBNB and climbing into the loft for cuddles.
The next morning, I used my mother’s talent she gave me {of using Yelp} and found THE BEST breakfast place EVER!! We explored the festive streets and wandered around until we finally located the breakfast place {and we arrived before the HUGE wait}. After filling our tummies with delicious and nutritious food, we were on our way back to the loft to pack up and get ready for the beach BUT we got a little sidetracked at a couple of stores along the way {sorry dad!! Intimissimi is decently cheap compared to Victoria’s Secret AND it’s Italian… A girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do}. After a couple of credit card swipes later, we finally made it back, hopped into our kinis, and were on our way to the big blue.
We spent the entire half of our day soaking up the sun and salt water. The weather was absolutely perfect and we lasted until the beach’s entirety was cleared out and our tummies were rumbling. When we packed up, we made our way back {taxiing thirty minutes}, showered off, and got dressed up for a cute little Italian dinner. Since some of the op rated restaurants {on Yelp} were about two miles away though, and the streets were POPPIN, there was absolutely no way for us to grab a taxi or walk in wedges. As we made our way out the door, and started to walk in search of some sort of transportation, it was as though a man had read our minds because a little trolly bike dude pulled up next to us and offered to ride us to dinner. Honestly, we could have probably walked to our destination A LOT faster than he biked there… He kept telling us that he knew where he was going and that his bike motor was going to run out of battery; yet, he also kept asking me to pull up the location on my phone and direct him where to go. Eventually, twenty euros later, we had FINALLY made it!! The food was DIVINE and we had absolutely no complaints {aka: I highly recommend going to ___ for some BOMB Italian food if you ever find yourself in Lisbon}.
By the time we made it back to our little humble abode, we were too full of pizza and bread to walk around the city, so we decided to curl up in the loft and watch a movie instead. By the time we fell asleep and woke up the next day, we were frantically trying to figure out what to do in regards to our checkout and the AirBNB. We had a slight little issue that didn't cross our minds until the last minute and realized we had to be checked out by even in the morning, even though our flight back to Barcelona wasn't until almost ten at night.
With the help of Yelp {hey mama aren't you proud of me?!} we managed to go to a little cafe for brunch that was PACKED, which meant it had to be yummy so we stuck around. During our wait we had met two of the cutest girls in their mid twenties who ended up inviting us to sit with them and we discussed EVERYTHING in regards to world travel. Both were fluent in a multitude of languages, both had lived in a variety of locations throughout the globe, and BOTH dreamed of living in California so they freaked out when they found out that’s where I was from and I haven't been home FOREVER. Once a couple of hours had passed with our foreign friends, we said our goodbyes and went our separate ways.
Now, because Lauren, Faith, and I had all of our luggage, we decided to make our way to the Four Seasons Hotel, where I attempted to work my magic into us staying there for a little bit. It seemed to work out to some extent: we were able to store our luggage, and we were escorted up to the spa. Little did we know though, that we had to pay about two hundred euros EACH in order to use the hotel’s amenities, so after we had already gotten into the spa robes and eaten a couple of their apples, we were kindly escorted out. Yeah, it was kinda embarrassing, but it was kinda a funny story to tell our parents because we were like the three lil nomads that had NO idea what to do in Lisbon with our luggage. For about an hour we wandered the main shopping street of Lisbon, where Lauren and I treated ourselves to a SUPER cute pair of Portuguese sandals, but because many of the stores were closed on a Sunday, we made our way back to the hotel and called up and Uber.
Figuring we were just going to arrive at the airport a little early {by about two and a half hours… cause that’s what my dad taught me}, our Uber driver thought we were insane and took us on a tour instead. He turned off the money monitor, we went and got some ice cream {mama, I didn't get any!!}, and then we talked about how he used to be a private security guard for the rich and famous. It was pretty cool learning about his past and how he was open to spending his day with three young girls for free to pass time until our flight.
Still with an hour to spare, we made it to the airport, checked in, and were on our way back to our cute lil apartment in Barcelona. Overall, I ADORE Portugal, and I was texting my mama the ENTIRE weekend telling her how much I would love to go back. The streets were so colorful, the people were so nice {for the most part}, the mosaic tiles plated the buildings, and their was so much that I know I could have explored but I didn’t. Next stop though, Ibiza… So stay turned if you wanna hear about a wild weekend because Lauren and I booked our Ibiza trip ALL the way back in February!! Can’t wait to keep y'all posted.
xoxo V
