2014 Portugal Adventures: I'm Off to Portugal

Whoo Hoo!  All my bags are packed and in just a few hours I'm heading off to Portugal for 3 fabulous weeks.  After a brief 10.5 hour flight from LA to London, a 5 hour layover in London and another 2.5 hour flight to Lisbon, I'll arrive around 6:00 pm Portugal time on Friday. Whew! It's a long travel day but once I get to my destination the long flight, layover, cramped seating and plane food will be nothing but a distant memory and as soon as I get checked into my apartment I'll be ready to start exploring.

Lisbon, Portugal is a city that is considered to be among the top 10 most beautiful cities in the world.  It's a city that offers amazing scenic viewpoints and is steeped in rich history and charming old neighborhoods like the Alfama District where fisherman still live and where the residents know each other.  Lisbon is also a city with a young vibrant and hip cafe culture with trendy neighborhoods like the Barrio Alto, Chiado and Baxia Districts. Lisbon is positioned on a series of seven hills and runs along side the Tagus river with the Atlantic ocean only a 20 minute train ride away.  It is a maze of cobbled stoned picturesque streets and colorful pastel, tiled homes which is going to make wonderful subjects to photograph.  The Portuguese people are considered to be warm, friendly and very welcoming.  And the food and wine are the among the best in the world.

I will be visiting the many attractions in Lisbon and nearby Belem, but I also have overnight day trips to Porto (home to Port wine), and Obidos (a medieval town).  Additionally, I'll do day trips to Sintra (Castle), Cascais/Cabo da Roca (Beach towns) and possibly Fatima and/or Evora.  I'll be using public transportation (combination of trains/buses) to get around in, but I'll also be clamoring about Lisbon on those famous electric Trams. 

With work and the cost of international travel I can only manage to make one big trip a year, so when I travel I like to make it count and record every magical moment. I'll post here on my blog and on my other social media platforms listed on my sidebar. I've temporarily moved up my Twitter feed as I tend to tweet more often than I blog. My goal is to try to post something new, creative, unique, spontaneous and fun each day. That's the plan, anyway.  And girls, be on the look out for my traditional Hottie post from Portugal. :)

I feel so thankful for this opportunity to travel once again.  I want to express my gratitude and appreciation to my wonderful parents (who I feel watches over me when I'm traveling solo), my sis and her family, my friends and co-workers and to all of my travel/blogging virtual friends for all the support and inspiration.     

So there you have it.  Now, although I won't be doing any break dancing or high up in the air splits like you see here on this video (Ha! Ha!), I'll definitely be very HAPPY enjoying the beautiful city of Lisbon and a few of the surrounding nearby towns in Portugal!

My next post will hopefully be coming to you live from Lisbon.

And the Dream Lives On . . . .