A Few Differences

Hi friends: Writing from Houston, Texas! We’ve been back in the USA for about a week. Jet lag is starting to break!

My dear American friend in Portugal asked me to let her know things that hit me funny when I got back “home”. I thought I’d write a post about it. I think after flying back home from Europe several times for the past 8 years that I would not be surprised by things. I expect to be overwhelmed by the hugeness of SUV’s and trucks on the highway as well as central air and heat. So it has been fun to take note this time of what was unexpected.
Please don’t be offended by what I’ve noticed or commented on. I know the list might be long if you were to visit my other home in Portugal!  Here we go:

bling belts and purses at the sporting goods store

1. Girls with messy hair in sports outfits at restaurants and stores
2. Churches everywhere--not historical pieces of architecture but mainly khaki metal flat roofed buildings
3. The friendliness of Chick Fil A staff
4. Extremely soft toilet paper
5. Souped up cars
6. Yellow egg yolks! What are the chickens in Portugal eating that is different from here?
7. Enormous drinking glasses at restaurants and being sold in stores. A Portuguese might mistake them as pitchers.

Note the decal on the windshield!

We're headed to visit my mother-in-law in Alaska next. Another cultural experience ahead! 

Better Each Time

I’ve been back in Portugal for a week today and was actually able to get out of bed by 7:10AM!  Quite a victory when noon felt like 7AM days ago. I’ve been on a blogging hiatus for nearly four months. Several times I felt inspired to write while we were on our three month stint in America but… here I am now. I hope to recount some of the good things we’ve experienced still.

Before we left Portugal, I felt like the Lord encouraged me to believe that every mode of transportation would be better than the last for this trip. I had nine flights in the last 90 days. My husband had 14!  I didn’t keep count of miles driven. The return overseas flight was my least favorite to look forward to. We had 10.5 hours Houston to Frankfurt before flying to Lisbon. Normally we have a short 6.5 hour jaunt from Newark to Lisbon! I know people were praying {I had Facebooked that request—thanks if it was you!}.

Even though I am not a great plane sleeper, I got a little sleep every time I thought I couldn’t make it any longer—when slumber party nausea tried to set in—how you feel when you stay up all night and don’t eat. My kids and husband slept wonderfully. I really enjoyed a book I started reading, got some cards written even in the midst of prolonged turbulence and really felt encouraged in the Lord. Try listening to Bethel’s The Loft Sessions on a flight. Makes an hour fly by wonderfully!

On our last flight the daughter I was sitting with graciously said she wanted to rest rather than me help her with an activity. A little more sleep for me! It was a joy to be on a flight where people were excited to be landing in Portugal. Some were taking pictures out the window; many clapped upon our arrival. I was thrilled to have made it back.

Two years ago, I had been praying some declarations out of Steve Backlund’s book, Igniting Faith in 40 Days, and I had no idea it would affect me in travel. I had previously been dealing with fear including quite a bit in flying (not just having a crash but also getting sick as I had in the past flights). Within the first few minutes of our flight from Houston to Newark, I felt the Lord say in my mind “Be as if you never had fear,” and I was filled with an amazing peace and joy. I’ve had plenty of chances to test that word since then!

So, on this side of all the travel this summer held, I see that every time I was going from one place to the next, there was grace for me to respond in my heart better than the last, even with lots of turbulence.

Berlenga Island

Warning: Lots of photos in this post—it was tough to narrow them down!
There is an amazing island {or group of them—this is the biggest} just 45 minutes off the coast of Portugal, and we got to see it this week! We scheduled some vacation days and decided we’d better stay close to home, and fortunately Berlenga is!

We rode a boat that carries about 180 people—it was cheaper that way. We learned the hard way that not getting in line early means you have to sit underneath and face sea-sickness. {They even passed out plastic bags to the passengers underneath and not on top!}

 Unbelievable water, right?!  I didn’t make any adjustments in the photos either!


The girls wanted to learn to snorkel like their daddy, but they need to get a bit stronger in their swimming skills. We’ve had a friend who went scuba diving here and loved it too.

a view of the beach we were at and where my husband snorkeled from above

The walking trail takes you high up above the port. You can see the coast we departed from in the distance—Peniche is the city. We live in the area close to that hill you can see way in the background.

After quite some time of walking, you get rewarded with this view: Forte de São João Baptista das Berlengas.

The hike downward felt a tiny bit treacherous, but I’m glad we went down this only versus climbing up!

Like other castles and fortifications we’ve been to in Portugal, the bridge to the fort had no rails. There was even a girl standing there getting enough courage to take a dive from the ledge. We also saw a bride and groom taking wedding photos—talk about a location! You can actually rent rooms in the fort—probably great views over comfort.


We took a glass bottom boat tour for 4Euro a piece, and got to ride into caves like this under the fort. It was worth the price alone to not have to hike back to the main port with our girls!

This rock formation is called “the elephant’s head” I think?

The boat in front of us was going through this passageway. When we passed through, my husband asked me if I felt like I was in a Disneyland ride—surreal for sure. I was reminded of Thunder River at Astroworld for some reason, for any Houstonians out there.

a distant view of the lighthouse we passed on our hike

headed back to the main port before our departure back to the mainland—quite an adventure!

More UK Fun and Food

Although we didn’t have a chance to do all the touristy things on this last trip to the UK, we sure appreciated things that were really British, like taxis.

or stone fences that divide the green {and usually sheep!}

or amazing homes that look like castles spotted from the train.

How about fish and chips?

Or hot cross buns? Really, I don’t think I’ve ever thought about them outside of our elementary school class learning how to play that song on a recorder. But they’re awesome--the closest thing to yummy raisin bread from the States that I’ve had in a long time!

And then there were some surprises that made us smile: {a speed limit sign}

Or our children:  Have you had a chance to try the walk-on-water balls? Our girls are pretty good at it!

 

And lastly, some Americana:  So fun to see and be able to buy, yet the prices kept us from splurging on foods we don’t ever get but really can live without!

 

Fun Times in Choco-land

Yesterday was the last day of the VIII Festival Internacional de Chocolate in Obidos, the medieval walled city 10 minutes north of us. We went three times! Helps we bought a season pass to all their festivals. Obidos in itself is a site to see, but they do put on some outstanding festivals!

I’m taking the pictures so you can’t see the chocolate on my face!

 

This was not just a child’s delight! Lines of people came to see unbelievable sculptures in chocolate…

 

amazing cakes and the artists at work (I think they’re making a chocolate roof here)…

 

great kid friendly and well planned activities like chocolate cake baking and decorating…

and of course, the chocolate food! I think our family tried chocolate cake on a stick, chocolate iced cookies, hot chocolate that’s more like a thin pudding, chocolate covered marshmallows and fruit, fruit in chocolate fondue, chocolate tarts, and chocolate filled waffles on a stick. Worth three visits so you don’t have to try all of that at once!

The air was lively there too with big cupcakes, bakers on stilts and the like walking around. By the way, does this guy remind you of an oompa-loompa  from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory years ago?

The place looks like a set from the movie or the Candy Land Game. See my friend Cristi’s post for more pictures. You need to plan on it for next year!

Through a Better Lens

My brother told us we needed to check out the new J.Crew catalog, not for clothes though. The setting of the shoot was in Portugal—talk about making the ordinary here look extraordinary!

J.Crew also has a Passport to Portugal page that is an amazing snapshot of all the good things to see, eat and do around here (“What to Expect”; “Location, Location”; “Language Lessons”; and “Best Place to…”). The shot Rocks of Love under “What to Expect” is Obidos, the castle town about 10 minutes up the highway from us where we visit often and bank at. There are 4 pics of Obidos plus many other wonderful places around Lisbon.

Please check it out so you can see what we get to enjoy here!

Travel Regrets and Reminders

On the heels of an overseas flight this morning/last night/whatever time of day it was where you were, I thought I should make some notes of what to do differently the next time we embark on a flight:

1. How I wish I'd had my camera!!! Somehow it got packed in a box that was checked in. I missed precious shots of the girls riding on the back of their carry ons as Scott pulled them through 2 airports (they had to walk as their carry ons got stacked on carts this morning!). So I have no fun travel pics to share this time. But to learn from it...

2. Put heavy items in our carry ons again to take weight away from the weighed bags/boxes checked in, but do not forget to include all the allowable travel size toiletries you can fit in a quart bag per person. I never thought I'd miss our flight (when I packed) after the first leg of our trip was delayed. Thankfully the airlines put us up in a hotel AND paid for our meals. However, we had no toiletries at the hotel except the few items they offered. Overseas flying can make you look and feel grimy enough. Add a day without all your routine toiletries--whew!

3. I had read from a well traveled friend of mine to always include a change of clothes for everyone on your flight. Thankfully we heeded her advice on a past overseas flight when one of our girls had a stomach bug and went through her clothes and her sisters! So, we had the second change of clothes covered for our unexpected additional 24 hours in the USA.

4. Check into special programs and credit offers with the airlines in advance to save money on baggage fees and allowances. We found out at the counter that we could have saved a lot of money had we joined Continental's elite(?) program but it was too late. We don't have the annual miles to keep it up but we would have been given the adequate miles if we'd signed up for their credit card. The annual fee would have been cheaper than what we paid!

5. Note number 4 also says we bought/got probably too much during our U.S. furlough! Of course grandparents and family want to give to us when we're home and especially at Christmas time--and we are so blessed by that! And then the Dollar is way cheaper than the Euro so it makes stocking up on kids clothes, coats, English books, etc. look really appealing. But I'm not sure if the savings remains once you have to pay to ship it! And the work involved--so glad it's all here now, but packing it all on the other end is not something I want to do regularly. I'm not really sure how to change this scenario for the next time, but we've got some time to ponder/pray about it now.