Up, Up, and Away

Today was the day for a new country! 

Which means; I am currently sitting in Lisboa, Portugal.

Olá mundo! We woke up this morning and took our time getting ready... ready just for the plane. We hung out and figured out the bag situation. Let me fill you in. I came with 2 big bags. Full. They were full bags, and I bought some more fun stuff in France and when flying from France to Portugal they want you to only bring ONE measley bag. Problem rises there. So, luckily my manfriend is made of only simplicity and I bought space bags before we left, and all of his one month supply of clothing fit into a carry-on bag... By gosh. I'm slightly rediculous. 

So fast forward to us arriving at the small, baby Nice airport where the trial of our suitcase theories is put to test. We are only allowed one check-in per person and therefore, Luey had one of mine and I had one of mine... and I had one of mine... Pack lightly is not something that I'm aware of, okay? 20 kilos per bag, and if you're over... you get to pay 15 euro per kilo. Too complicated, I just wanna fly with a bunch of junk... So, fortunately we were only slightly over the weight with both of my bags and we had our carry-ons in tow. We said our goodbye's to the Baptista parientals, and they were full of "thank you's" and maybe some swelling of the tear ducts on the girls' part. 

Going through security with unloading our lives onto a fancy metal security, we made it through and we sat down to drink our last Evian water and eat our last true French meal. Which, happened to be a baguette with fish for me and toasted bread with melted cheese on top. Adieu douce France! 

We showed our passports and our boarding passes headed to Lisbon to the flight attendants, and found our seats on the Portuguese airplane. Someone put Luiz and I in the emergency exit, and somebody thought we would be able to rescue a whole plane load of people if matters came down to it... Little did they know about us. Psh, it just became a nice little recline for our legs. After bobbing our heads from sleep and not knowing where to place our heads, we arrived in PORTUGAL! 

PORT! PORT! PORTUGAL!

Once we arrived we played around on the suitcase carriers and sang Disney songs in two different languages while waiting at the baggage claim, we loaded our stuff up and found Luana awaiting our arrival. That's when I breathed in the new country smell... and it. smelt. good! We squirmed our way through traffic and turned quickly around the compact streets and the multiple round-a-bouts. 

We grabbed our sweaters for the breeze that the Windmill restaurant was sure to bring in the evening. Luana drove us to meet some of the YoungLife Portugal friends, and we drove in a British car which made my world turn upside down. Driving straight into what looked like clouds, we made it up the mountain to this quaint place where we were taking in the view and greeting Luiz's old friends for dinner. Playing and having a good time except for when little kids get picky about who's grilled toast is who's, we ate what was a replica of Mexican food, and it was gooood. 

Portugal was more a city. It was a little more realistic to me. There was graffiti on the walls, big highways, and random little nooks to eat at. The vibe was similar to that of California's and in fact, many of the city's attributes were extremely similar to the laid back suburban life the sunny state; tall and compact living spaces, the sandy beaches & mountains, and the strong breeze that went by. 

We ended the day with playing Apples to Apples (or Kittens to Kittens, whichever) with two new friends, Adam and Christa, and the game really gave of us a sense of who we truly were through the little green cards. Walking the dogs when arriving back to Luana's place and listening to Luey play worship melodies on his old guitar was just the right way to sign off for the day.

Boa noite meu pepinos poucos!