CH250: A Look Back: Lisbon, Portugal

From the airport coming out of the undeground Metro, I was pleasantly taken aback by how beautiful Lisbon was. Maybe because the weather was fantastic, but that's the impression that's stuck with me upon coming out. Clean, white and pristine - well at least the city center or the area I came out of was. The weather cooperated pretty much the whole length of the stay. It was a European spring (start of it) so a fine amount of layering was in order :)

During this leg of the ~9-10 day trip to Portugal and Spain, I did not just stay in Lisbon but also visited Sintra (the Fairy Tale castle which is also a UNESCO heritage site) - of which, the tour there included Cascais, and the western coast of Lisbon - as well as did a whole day trip to the Belem district where there are more historical architectures (Palaces, Monuments etc).

Anyway, this is a "LOOK" back and not a "NARRATIVE" back hahaha, so after nearly a year (maybe 10 months) since I visited the place, enjoy the selected pictures! xoxo

CH220: Missed

So...I missed my Jetstar flight at 910 am to Bangkok. I woke up at 930 am initially thinking how restful my sleep was in the hotel I booked - only of course to realize I wasn't in Bangkok yet!

I was in a mad scurry to try and book the next flight out. The Jetstar at 1040 which of course I couldn't make cost 380 sgd! The next flight they had was 7pm for 180 sgd. But, I figured that's too late so i didn't go for it. Thankfully, despite the rush of thjngs, I realized that I have some flyer miles with Singapore airlines I could use. I called the booking hotline and arranged to use my miles to get tickets and I was able to! I was thinking I might not get them because the flight was just 3 hours away but I did! It was also the last seat they had for it! IT WAS AS IF EVERYTHING WAS MEANT TO BE! Haha

Also, in retrospect, it must have been rude to multitask brushing my teeth and talking to the Jetstar booking agent haha

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Speaking of missed, this entry is also about some people I met and chatted to in Lisbon. They're a group of guys from Amsterdam. 

There they are horse playing around in the hostel. They're very much drunk with a flight in 3 hours....yes, I asked the front desk person if they made it to their flight and they did! Lol unlike me.

I'm not saying I miss them, I'm talking about their friend who they miss. Apparently, they started a tradition each year. This is their first year coming together to travel to celebrate the memory of their friend that passed away due to ecstasy - yes the drug. It wasn't clear to me if the friend died of an overdose or just a bad pill as they say they took it with him. But, that's life, you never know what it throws at you.

They banded together for this trip and will band together to travel the next year to party wild to memorialize their friend. This is aside from the fact some of them got their friend's name tattooed.

I thought it was a really touching story. I even choked a bit chatting with them when I heard them talk about it and you can see the flicker of sadness in their eyes as they recount their story. Life's short. Love it. Live it.