Olá and hallo! Almost two months ago now, I went on a trip to Portugal with Mike and his family. We stayed at a friend's house on a golf course in the Algarve region and it was absolutely gorgeous. From the location, to the weather, to the food...everything was just perfect. We flew from Liverpool to Faro airport and we were greeted by sunshine and blue skies.
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| View from the plane |
We rented cars and drove to the house to unpack and unwind a bit. Please just take a moment to see how gorgeous this house was. If there was ever motivation work hard in school in order to get an awesome job...this is it.
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| Can I escape here every day?! |
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| Yes, yes please!! |
We spent the first day relaxing by the pool and soaking up every last bit of sunshine, and in the evening, we ventured to a nearby seaside town. I cannot tell you how good it felt to spend some time in nice weather, without any work, and on beach as well...absolute perfection. I have loved living in the UK for the past several months, but the weather has definitely taken its toll. Its just really depressing to wake up to clouds and rain 99% of the time. There aren't even any cool storms to redeem the poor weather, just rain!! Anyways, here are some pictures from the first night:
The next day we wandered around and found another nice stretch of beach. The sky weather was absolutely flawless and it was as if I could feel every ounce of stress leaving my body. I was so so so happy!!!
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| SUNSHINE! |
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| No complaints here... |
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| Can I just live in that cave? Please? |
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| Helen, Mike, and Me |
We had a meal at a restaurant overlooking this beach the next day in celebration of Sian's birthday! In true Portuguese style, we had a nice, long, and leisurely lunch out on the deck. The food was just gorgeous, the seafood so fresh and caught right in front of us everyday. Just thinking about it makes me hungry again. I feel so blessed and privileged that Mike's family has really taken me under their wing this year and made me feel as if I'm part of their family. How lucky am I? I have the best boyfriend, who also has the best family!
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| Sian and Me |
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| Poor British skin burns so easily! |
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| My prawn starter |
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| Monkfish kebabs for a main |
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| Chocolate ice cream for dessert! |
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| The contemplation... |
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| The running start... |
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| The aftermath... |
On our final day, we went to Vilamoura to have a walk around and go out for lunch. Once again, we were blessed with sunshine! Its safe to say I definitely was not looking forward to going back to the UK! I had no idea that Portugal was such a beautiful country, with gorgeous coastlines, landscapes, weather, food...I definitely want to go back sometime in the future!!
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| Ewwww sardines! |
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| Adeus Portugal! |
Shortly after our trip to Portugal, I was meant to be traveling to Germany to visit the lovely Natalie. Unfortunately, fate stepped in along my journey and said, 'no no no' to that plan. I was really nervous to take the train down to London from Colwyn Bay in order to make it to Gatwick for my 6 pm flight because I've had horrible luck in the past with public transport in Britain. With that in mind, I purposely planned to arrive at the airport about 3 hours early so I would have a bit of cushion if anything were to go wrong along the way. During the first leg of my journey, we were stopped on the tracks for about an hour because a truck driver had hit a rail bridge, so no trains could pass over. All the passengers had to get off the train and wait to be bused to the nearest station so we could restart our journeys. Unfortunately, every bus that arrived was already full of passengers from other stations, so a few of us opted to split a cab fare to Chester train station. At that point, I was thinking, okay, I've lost time, but if I make it to Chester I should be okay. Oh ho ho, little did I know, that Chester train station would greet me with absolute mass chaos, as all rail journeys from North Wales were being redirected here. The next train to London was not for another two hours, which meant there was no way I was going to make my flight. After confirming this with the rail staff, I sadly had to abandon my journey and wait for the next train back to Colwyn Bay.
I am still a bit shocked that this happened!! If I have anything to complain about in Britain, its the weather of course, but also the completely unreliable service provided by rail companies. Journeys are always getting delayed or cancelled, which has a domino effect on the rest of the rail services in the area. Not to mention, tickets are wayyyy overpriced, especially considering that most of the time, you're not even guaranteed a seat! Last time Mike and I travelled to North Wales, we had to spend almost the entire journey sitting on the floor between carriages, outside the bathroom, because there were no seats available. And we paid £40 each to sit outside a stinky bathroom!! Geesh!
Anyways, I'm still really bummed that I didn't get to make it to Germany, but I guess that means I have all the more reason to go in the future!
More soon...
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