The Best of Portugal Day 12
The Best of Portugal
Day 12 - September 11, 2002 - Lisbon to USA
We got the wake-up call at 4 AM and I was sleeping very soundly. We were out of the room by 4:37 and as we got to the lobby the concierge called the taxi that Trafalgar had booked for us.
We got to the Lisbon airport around 5:20 and went to find the check in. There was no posting on the overhead board nor mention of what gate. We finally found the Lufthansa gate and there was only the flight to Munich. We stood in line, and finally the Frankfurt window opened. When we were to be checked in the counter person told us that there was no record on the computer for us even though we had a ticket.
We were told to go to the Lufthansa office and after a walk there we were re-booked with good seats. She was a very nice person. We walked back to the check in counter and cut in front of everyone, apologizing in Portuguese to everyone. We got on the flight, walked to the gate and waited an hour and a half to get on the plane. It was a little late taking off but we were able to get to Frankfurt in good time.
At Frankfurt, Germany we still had to walk quickly through their large terminal but as we got to the area to check in for our US flight we had to go through three security areas. One where they patted us down, made me take off my shoes, etc. The plane sat away from the flyway so we had to take buses to the plane.
We were on one of the last to go and when we got to the plane and arrived at our seats we saw that we were not sitting together even though
we were on the same row number. The window person on the short side was a woman of 25 years who was severely overweight. Her backside overlapped the seat by six inches and we could not use the arm rest between the two seats. She was very nice but it was a long flight.
It was made longer by the fact that once the plane began to taxi away, they found that the cabin pressure was incorrect and there was a malfunction on the plane. We had to go back, and for over two hours we sat on the tarmac and waited for it to be fixed.
Once we got airborne it was fine, I was able to get some sleep but as we at the exit row, directly across from where they put the parents with babies, there was a lot of noise. One child, Indian, was pretty good, she only cried about 4 or 5 times. The boy on the other side screeched for most of the trip and it was so loud that it was difficult to sleep. His parents and grandparents thought it was so cute that he expressed himself that way.
Everyone around them was not that thrilled. We finally arrived in Denver at 5:50 local time, went through customs, where they did check our luggage, and then we were out, got on the Pikes Peak Shuttle Bus and got to the car.
We stopped on the way home to pick up some groceries at Castle Pines Safeway and drove home. It sure is nice to be home. Gennie started a load of wash, I checked phone messages, and we were in bed by 9 PM.
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