This Stuff is Getting Real.

 

Today marks three weeks and six days before I set off on an all-day journey that will take me to Portugal.  Tomorrow I will have to spend some time in the morning sorting out seats on the first two legs that that outbound flight.  Because of Covid the flight time for the YYZ to LIS segment has changed three times.  The last change made it an impossible connection.  So now instead of going DTW (Detroit) to YYZ (Toronto) and then on to Lisbon I am going DTW to O’Hare and then O’Hare to YYZ and then on to Lisbon.  With ground transport and layovers and TSA and customs you might as well figure my 14^th of August which bleeds into the 15^th will be a 24-hour deal.

 

In the past couple of days, I have been juggling stuff around.  Turns out I will in all likelihood be meeting one of my nephews in Lisbon. Then I will catch up with some good friends in the Algarve. A little later I will probably meet another Michigan friend in Lisbon.  If anyone else is going to be in Portugal in September or October let me know, I have some open slots on my dance card. But to make these connections work I have had to change some reservations. Grrr, but not really.  I mean that is the thing about travel, flexibility is crucial.

 

Got lots of books here on Portugal.  However, their approaches are vastly different.  One group is for the hostel oriented.  Another group is for the landed gentry.  Me, I clearly fall in between these two groups.  Thus, I picked up the above travel guide today.  It is sort of a Cliff’s Notes for all the travel guides I have.  The first two pages of each region’s entry are the equivalent of bullet points that say here is the must-see stuff and if you got time, here are the deep cuts.  Trust me I plan to allow for serendipity and I want to dig into those deep cuts.

 

Watch this space.  I will keep posting about the planning for the trip and the adventure itself.  There should be lots of pictures. Feel free to ask questions in the comments section. The shot below is of me in a seafood restaurant in Espino a couple years back.  A little table wine and some white fish can take you to places of delight.