TODAY’S TOURING
We flew from SEA to LHR to LIS on British Airways (BA). There had been a scheduled pilots strike for September 27th but it was cancelled. The security at SEA was light for TSA Precheck. However, the TSA Precheck station nearest the British Airways counter was closed. We had to walk to the north end station and then go to the south terminal for our flight. The BA lounge was small and very crowded. The food selection was so-so. Still, it was better than waiting at the gate.
The transfer at LHR, Heathrow, went well. The FastTrack security bypass helped, but overall the lines were short. The flight to LIS (Lisbon) was uneventful. We were in Priority Class (EU version of USA 1st class). The only difference for Priority Class are:
- Priority boarding and exiting the plane
- Food & drink
The European Priority seating is odd compared to USA seating. The seats are regular coach seats, but the middle seat is fitted with a table across the seat.
At LIS, we met our pre-arranged car hire for the transfer to the apartment in Sintra; about a 60 minute drive in heavy traffic. En route we tried to contact the apartment owners via text (international texting is free with our T-Moble plan). No response. I tried messaging via the AirBnB website and got instant results. The owners would be waiting for us at the apartment.
The apartment is above an Ice Cream shop and we went to the shop to find the owners. The let us into the apartment. Fortunately, the apartment was on the European 1st floor . In the USA, it would be called 2nd floor. It was a very nice apartment. We struggled to stay awake until 10:00 PM Portugal time. We started our travel day at 8:00AM the previous day. We need to exercise and get exposed to sun to reset our body rhythms.
Note: Portugal time is 8 hours later than Seattle, so it would be 2:00PM Seattle time.
