Another trip added to our conquest of world travel! We departed Springfield, MO on June 7th for our multi-stop trip to Porto, Portugal. Our layover in Chicago was roughly two hours, so we had plenty of time to walk slowly and start to decompress as we moved into trip mode. I don’t usually completely relax until the wheels of the final flight to our destination leave the ground. Things can happen in the interim, so I’m still a little tense. It’s not noticeable, I’m just a realist and know things can happen. They did.
We finally boarded our flight to Montreal, which would then take us on to Porto. No biggie. I’m not typically a fan of multiple stops cause that can increase the likelihood of lost baggage. It’s happened, and was about to happen again. Once we were on our Air Canada flight and began to taxi to the runway, the cabin began to fill with smoke. It had that unique electrical fire smell to it. The flight attendant quickly got on the horn and began to tell us to keep our heads low and breathe through our clothing. Ha! OK. As we began to taxi back to the terminal we could see fire department vehicles moving our way. We unloaded the aircraft and watched as about 9 vehicles and roughly 20 firefighters moved to the aircraft. No bueno. Shortly thereafter we were informed that the flight had been cancelled and we’d be rebooked onto another flight. It wasn’t long until we got our notifications that we had been rebooked through Boston. Cool. What about our bags? “Oh, they’ll be reloaded onto your new plane”. Yeah, ok.
Again, I’m a realist and didn’t feel very confident about their baggage operation. BUT! All we could do was trust the process. Let go of things you cannot control. Right? Our flight to Boston boarded, the day got longer and we left for Boston. Once in Boston I began to track our bags. The last thing we saw was that they had been unloaded at O’Hare. That’s it. Nope, not feeling good about this. We talked to the gate agent and they assured us that they have been forwarded along with us. Uh, huh. Eventually it became time to board our flight to Porto. All we could do was pray and keep our fingers crossed that our bags were still with us.
We landed in Porto the next morning and moved the baggage claim area. It’s that unsettling feeling when the carousel stops turning and you still haven’t gotten your bags. I knew it! I tried to track our bags and it was showing that they were still in Chicago. Air Canada dropped the ball. I won’t travel with them again. We went to the lost luggage office in Porto and worked through the language barrier to set up bag trackers so they could get our luggage on the first thing smokin’ to Porto. We left, then went to our hotel with our carry-on bags to get checked in. The front desk gals were helpful in guiding us to the shopping area so we could buy some clothes. The next 24 hours involved me calling O’Hare, Air Canada, United and the airport in Porto. We only had a couple days in Porto before we took the train to Lisbon so we needed to act fast to get our luggage. I will say the TAP Air Portugal was helpful in expediting our debacle. After many calls, emails, customer support conversations, our bags were scheduled to arrive the evening of our second night in Porto. After hours. So, they’d have to deliver our bags the next morning. Won’t work. We were leaving on the train early the next morning. I found out what flight they were arriving on from Montreal to Lisbon, then Lisbon to Porto. I told my wife I wasn’t gonna wait around for them. If you want something done right, you do it yourself. Be proactive. So, I took a “Bolt”, like Uber, to the airport to retrieve our bags. I was using Flightradar24, an app, to track the aircraft our bags were supposedly on. I was tracking it from Lisbon to Porto and knew exactly what time it was supposed to land. I wanted to make sure I was there when the aircraft unloaded so I was standing at the carousel. Keep in mind, I didn’t have a flight to catch, no boarding pass and the luggage carousel was in the secure area. How was I supposed to get back there? That’s why I went early. The Army taught me to “backwards plan”, so I did. I arrived about 30 minutes prior to the aircraft arrival so I could coordinate with lost baggage and security to get back to the carousel. I had all the documents I needed to validate our lost baggage and the flight they were on. The security staff was extremely helpful and escorted me back to the lost baggage office. From there, I told the gentleman that the bags from that aircraft were being unloaded and I wanted to go to the carousel. He was a bit puzzled and asked how I knew. I showed him my Flightradar24 app, then he allowed me to go. Jill’s bag came off the carousel and I was stoked!!! But mine did not. Dadgum!! After all the bags had been unloaded I moved back to the lost baggage office and lo and behold, my bag was in their holding closet. He said it came in on an earlier flight. Success!!!
So yeah, our trip started off a bit rocky and we were finally able to get it back on track. That first and second day we wore pretty much the same clothes while we waited for our own. We also wore the brand new clothes we had bought in Porto. We didn’t let it interfere with our itinerary and kept moving along. Porto was pretty cool and I wouldn’t go back. One and done. There’s a difference between a “trip” and a “vacation”. This was a trip and we had lots of ground to cover to maximize our Portugal experience. We saw quite a bit in the time I had allotted for each town. We hit all the major tourist stops in Porto. We even walked across the bridge over the Douro River into the area Port wine is famous for. After our river cruise we went to Quevedo Lodge Wine Bar to sample the wine. Jill and I aren’t big drinkers and certainly not wine drinkers. Man alive!! That stuff was really good!!
I’d say about 2 days is plenty for someone to do all the interesting stuff in Porto. Here are all the pindrops and places we visited in Porto. Campanha Train Station, Church of Saint Ildefonso, Praça da Liberdade, Torre dos Clérigos, Livraria Lello, Átrio da Estação de São Bento, Se Catedral Hotel Porto, Luís I Bridge, Quevedo Lodge – Wine Bar.
After that long first day getting into Porto, we just wanted to eat. The whole, “We’re in Porto!!” vibe was gone. We were hungry and tired. So we ate Mexican food. Go with what you know, right? We settled on Mezcal Mexico Restaurant & Cocktail Bar for dinner and it was really good. The 6 bridges river cruise was a pretty cool and it was nice because we didn’t have to walk. It was also a bit chilly on the boat cause the Atlantic Ocean is chilly. There is a public elevator type thing you can take up or down on the north side of the Luis I Bridge. We walked down from Se Catedral and didn’t feel like walking back up. You’ll do your share of walking in Porto. Better have comfortable shoes! For me, the biggest bust was the Livraria Lello bookstore. It was very crowded and they didn’t have anything really unique I’d be interested in. I guess the whole deal is the history of the store. They charge you to get in and the line is pretty long. You’d better get your tickets beforehand. The shopping area is kinda fun to walk through. You’ll find that on R. De Santa Catarina street near Igreja Paroquial de Santo Ildefonso.
Whew! That was a lot. My takeaways and advice? Keep all airline tickets and receipts. We did and it helped. Pack what you may need in your carry-on in the event your luggage gets lost. We usually do. Get ready to do a lot of walking on cobblestone streets up and downhill. If you do need to get around, download and use the “Bolt” app. It’s more prevalent in Portugal and cheaper than Uber. In Spain we used “Cabify”. Don’t forget to eat the Pastéis de Nata. I ate 5 on our first day. Get your tickets to venues in advance. In the case of Porto that would be the river cruise and Livraria Lello if you plan to go. Honestly? Just walking around was fine for me. I enjoy the old architecture and the vibe of the town. As far as the immigration issue going on right now, Porto wasn’t too bad. Down by the river, across the Douro, you’ll find quite a few of the African immigrants peddling their junk to tourists. They lay their stuff out on blankets, but as soon as the policia start to roll down the street, they start signaling each other, grab the corners of their blankets and run off like Santa with a bag of toys. All-in-all Porto was a good first stop. Next stop, Lisbon/Lisboa.