Post Covid Travel vs. Me!

Hello! Hello! Hello!  

It has been such a very long time since I've last posted.  I want to say it's been like 3 years, which is crazy!  However, I just don't think that my life has been all that exciting or post-worthy as of late.  

Here is a brief life update since my last post: 

• I have moved 2 times since my last post.  Both of these moves have been career related. 
• In addition, I have also changed jobs a couple of times.  
• I am still single.... unfortunately..... and I still feel a certain type of way about it, but I won't bore you all with that.  Read my last post for that information. 
• I'm LOVING my current job and the people I work with.  This is the first time in a while that I have enjoyed working in education.  I have learned a lot in my current position, but I also have gained a new perspective on my professional life.  I know what I bring to the table now and I know my worth! This is probably something I should have always known, but my confidence hasn't always been where it currently is, professionally. 

I think that's all the life updates I have at the moment...  I'm sure there is something I'm leaving off, but I clearly can't think of it now, so I'm gonna stop there. 

Now let's move on to the actual post!!!

As we can all tell, a lot of life has happened since my last opportunity for international travel.  If my memory serves me correctly, the last time I was out of the US was when I traveled back to Korea for the PyeongChang Olympics in 2018.  Thinking about it, it doesn't seem real. Especially when, for a while, travel was my thing.  Living abroad I was always going somewhere, whether they were weekend jaunts to Hong Kong, a week long trip to Thailand for my birthday, summer vacations in Europe, or just simply weekend train rides to Seoul to see friends.  Now, I've got nothing.  My "travel" as of late has been to home and back on random weekends for holidays, birthdays, family gatherings and/or funerals.  If I'm not doing that I get to travel back and forth to work and every six months or so I get to travel back to the metroplex for a doctor appointment or two...  Exciting stuff, huh? 

So, when the opportunity to travel abroad presented itself, I was more than eager to take the bait.  I will, hopefully, write another post with details about the reason for the trip, so I won't include too many here.  It's not top secret or anything, but for purposes of keeping this post to a minimum, I will try to provide a separate post!

Enough rambling, let's get on to the good stuff. 

So, I recently took a trip to Lisbon, Portugal from June 10-17th.  Again, I have not traveled to this extent in a very long time.  So, in typical Jeremy fashion, there are tons of things to report. First of all, travel has gotten sooooo expensive.  Initially, I was going to make this trip a full vacation with stops in Lisbon and in Germany (oh the perks of having international friends), but I refused to pay $1700+ for flights!  Just flights!!!  That is crazy!  I think in all the times I travel to/from Korea I never spent that much money on flights!! Speaking of flights, who knew it would be involved trying to get from Texas to Portugal?  On the way there, I have to take 3 separate flights! ...And therein lies the drama...

Flight 1: Dallas --> Boston

The flight from Dallas to Boston was actually a relatively smooth flight.  Nothing out of the ordinary happened and the flight was pretty quick.  I want to say that the only significant thing that stands out in my mind from Boston, which this was my first time at the airport there, was how empty it felt.  I'm not sure if that's because I had just left the chaos that is DFW or if it was because things are a little more streamlined and less crazy there? Either way, it was nice and quiet inside the airport.  Oh, another thing that I remember is when I landed, I only has like an hour before my next departure.  This also meant that that flight would be boarding in like 20-30 minutes after my arrival.  When I step off the plane and look at the departures board it tells me which gate my next flight will be departing from.  Well, upon further investigation, the board stated that my gate was AT LEAST a 28-minute walk from where I was currently standing.  So, in Jeremy's brain, that means I have to sprint through the airport to my next gate!  Go figure!  "Sprint" probably isn't the best word to describe what I was actually doing, but my fast mall walk seemed to be effective.  But when I checked the next departure board, it again read 28-minute walk!  What the heck was happening?  Had I mysteriously gone backwards while moving forward through Boston Logan Airport? I didn't know what had transpired but I knew that I couldn't continue to just walk through the airport, but I definitely KNEW there was no way I could run/jog for 28 minutes, or its equal distance, either. Nevertheless, I powered on.  By the time I reached the gate, my knee was hurting, I was limping and probably had sweated through my shirt.... typical me!  Once I arrived at the gate, I noticed there weren't a lot of people in the waiting area and the information screen said we still have like 20-30 minutes before departure.  So, someone clearly lied to me.... Or they enjoyed watching me struggle for my life through the airport with my backpack and CPAP in tow!  At this point, I decide to grab some food, charge my devices and use the restroom because I know I have the longest leg of my journey to Portugal ahead.  After returning from the bathroom, I hear the lady, who is now at the boarding gate desk, announcing that if you haven't printed your boarding pass and/or verified your passport then you weren't ready to board the plane.  Well, when I checked in at DFW, I was given all of my boarding passes, so I figured I was good to go.  So, whenever they started calling group numbers to board the plane, I got in line with my group.  However, after we had all queued up for about 10 minutes, the desk workers come back over the announcements and say that if our boarding passes say "American Airlines" and not "Iberia" then we have not verified our passports, so we won't be allowed to board the flight.  If we needed to verify our passports, we needed come to the service desk and speak with the staff there.  So, me and about 75 other people get out of line and go form another line at the service desk!  I was probably number 70 out of these 75 people, so I had lots of waiting to do.  In front of me was a group of men from India (I promise this is significant) and behind me was an American (caucasian) family.  As they do when boarding flight and/or checking passports, they allow groups/families to all "check-in" together, so all 10 Indian men in front of me in line, go to the service desk at once and hand them all of their passports.  I, being a solo traveler, hold back and wait for next person to become available to check me in.  Well, the American family behind me get called up ahead of me, even though I'm next in line.  I can't remember exactly what I did/said, but I must have had an obvious reaction to being skipped over, because the daughter from the American family said, "Oh, you aren't with them?" and pointed at the Indian men in front of me.  I said, "No, I'm not.  That's why I didn't give them my passport when everyone else did... and why I'm still waiting."  She apologize for cutting in line, but kept her spot..... but oddly enough, didn't apologize for racially stereotyping me.  Well, I guess I can't blame her because right after he "apology" the lady helping the India men in front of me said, "Sir, if you're traveling with them (the Indian men), you need to give hand me your passport."  I, again, said, "No, I'm solo... I'm not with any group here."  To which she responded, "Are you sure?!" So, the only thing I knew to do was flash my US Passport at her... to which her response was.... "Oh!  Just wait a moment!" I guess that's one thing I'll never escape... 

Flight 2: Boston --> Madrid

After finally navigating racial profiling and passport verification, I was able to board my long haul leg of the journey to Portugal.  This leg would take me from Boston to Madrid, Spain.  Per the announcements, this was going to be a full flight, which I always love to hear.... NOT!  Anyways, I board the plane and start making my way to the back, of course, where my seat is located.  About 3/4 of the way through the plane the typical 3-4-3 seat configuration gives way to 3-4-2 configuration, which I thought was kind of unusual, but my seat was the aisle seat of the 2 section, so I was kind of looking forward to having a bit more room on this long haul flight.  That is until I reach my seat....  My seat mate was already there, of course, because I was detained with the Indian men at the passport check-in.  She was seated nicely in her window seat.  Now, this next part is not meant to sound as asshole-ish as it's going to, but upon reaching my seat I realize that the only 2 plus sized people on the flight, were going to be seated next to each other, me and my lucky seat mate!  Being a bigger dude, I hate noting more than having to squeeze past someone on a plane to get to my seat, so luckily I had the aisle.  The girl seated next to me was very nice and had already put her eye mask over her eyes by the time I arrived.  At this point it was 9:20 at night so I figured was just getting some shut eye, so I tried to sit down as calmly as I could and tried my best to keep my fat on my side of our seats, which that in itself is a full-time job.  From that point on, things went pretty well.... I think.  Well, I will say this.... I love an aisle seat because I don't like to bother people if I need to get up and go to the restroom or whatever, but also I like a window seat because I get a little more leg room.  However, on this flight, because it was full, I was only able to put my CPAP in the overbid and had to put my backpack under the seat in front of me.  Which, in turn, eliminated most of my leg room.  In addition, our safety vests were in a little compartment between me and my seat mate, so that took up some of our leg room as well.  So, I decided I would try to put my leg out into the aisle a little bit to stretch it out.  However, every time a flight attendant passed by, with or without the cart, they would bump my leg.  Also, since I was trying to contain my fat, I leaned a little into the aisle, so again I was bumped by everyone and everything that passed me mid-flight.  To add insult to injury, it always seemed to be right as I was starting do doze off! Sleeping on a plane is always difficult for me anyways because I usually wake myself up gasping for air, because of my apnea.... hence the CPAP that's stowed safely in the overhead bin!  With that being said, I was able to get some sleep on the flight and seemed to only wake up at meal time, naturally.  That's when things got a little more interesting.  The poor girl sitting next to me was served her food and she looked SHOOK!!!  After about 5-10 minutes of her sitting with her mask covering her eyes and cupping her mouth in her hands, I asked her if she was ok.  She said that she was great, but had really bad motion sickness when she flew.  So, she didn't think that she would be able to stomach her meal.  I asked her if I needed to move or switch places with her, but she insured me that she was fine..... and took a big bite out of her dinner roll.  After taking the bite she rang the bell for a flight attendant to come along and asked her for some water..... mind you, all of this is happening while her eyes are covered with her sleep mask and her dinner tray is teetering on the edge of her tray table.  Once she is given the water she requested, she immediately started digging in her bag at her feet.  So, I'm assuming she's about to pop some dramamine, which I figured she would have done before the flight, but instead she pulls out a giant plastic barf bag!! Again, I ask her if she's ok or if she needs to get up to go to the bathroom.  She responds that she's fine and can't get up to go to the bathroom at the moment because she's so nauseous and she's "ok.."  I jokingly, but seriously, told her that I would 100% swap seats with her because I wasn't emotionally stable enough to be puked on mid-flight. She kind of giggled, reapplied her eye mask, adjusted her neck pillow, placed the barf bag on top of her dinner tray and uneaten food and leaned her sick little head against the window.  So, now not only am I trying to keep my rolls contained to my seat, but I'm also side eyeing this chick so she doesn't spew all over me!  OMG!! I almost forgot!! I mentioned that me and Ms. Motion Sickness are the only 2 plus sized people on the flight and are having to fight for space in our 2 seats, but literally right across the aisle from me is this rail thin man with a center seat and NO ONE sitting next to him.  So is scrawny ass is laying down across all the seats with his complimentary blanket and pillow resting like he's in freaking business class! I was soooo annoyed and so jealous of this guy!!!  So, back to where I was.... We were served 2 meals on this flight and each meal was a repeat of this poor girl getting sick at even the thought of having food.  I don't even know why she woke up for the food, especially if it made her as sick as it did, but she woke up every time they came by.  Also, whenever the plane started its final descent into Madrid this pale creature next to me seemed as if she'd met her match.  She pretty much had her head between her legs with the barf bag dangling ready to go at any moment.  I felt really sorry for her.... and didn't know what to do.  We weren't friends, so I couldn't like hold her hair back or anything, but also I didn't want her to be puke.... especially in my direction, so I didn't try to talk to her in this moment because I was afraid she's turn her head towards me.  Finally, the plane came to its final resting spot at the Madrid airport and I thought the puking princess was in the clear, however it was at this moment that she actually started putting her barf bag to use.  She had successfully navigated the skies above the Atlantic Ocean, but couldn't survive the taxiing of the plane to our gate.  She tucked her poor head into her corner of the plane and let it rip!! Again, between barfs, I offered to let her up to go to the restroom, but she didn't want to.  That was until everyone started to deplane and the aisles were completely crammed full of people.  She asked in a her meek post-puke voice, "Can you let me out so I can get rid of this" and pointed to the barf bag.  Of course, I obliged because I didn't want to deal with it anymore..... She returned like 3 minutes later.... WITH THE BAG!!!!  I guess when she said "get rid of this" she meant just the puke, not her handy dandy bag! Shortly after this, me and my poor, sickly, puking seat mate part ways and I enter into the Madrid Airport!  

Madrid Airport

Now, right before we landed, and right before ol' girl was puking her guts out, the flight crew turned on an informational video regarding arrivals at Madrid Airport.  In the video is had animations that discussed the new Entry/Exit System (EES) that Europe had recently adopted.  This system now takes the place of passport stamping for non-European travels and requires biometric scans and pictures to be taken so they are able to track you easier?  However, the system is relatively new, I think it was rolled out in April, so all the kinks haven't been completely worked out.  Nevertheless, the system itself is super confusing to people who have never used it before (Me).... and it's extra confusing when you have no one at the airport who is able or willing to help you navigate the new system. Instead, they have 2 Spainsh women standing in random spots throughout the airport barking orders and waving their hands through the air.  I'm not 100% sure what they were saying, but one of them was motioning us to follow each other into the EES line and screaming "NO! NO! NO!" at the same time.  People approached her for help/clarification and they too were given the "NO! NO! NO!" accompanied by the keep it moving hand gesture. Once we are into the line for the EES, there is another older lady asking "American passport" and then directing us to a separate lane that opens up into 40-50 machines.... There are no instructions on how to use the machine besides to scan your travel document/passport.  Then it asks a bunch of questions like: Do you have enough money to stay in the Schengen Region?  Why are you traveling in the Schengen Region?  How long are you staying in the region?  Can you prove you have enough money to be in the region?  When answering these questions, I assumed that it was asking specifically about my time in Spain, which was only going to be an hour or so while I waited for my connecting flight to Lisbon.  So, I answered the questions as if I were answering them in regards to my time in Spain, which I later found out was not the case.  So, I basically lied to immigration, well the immigration computer, and told them that I was only going to be in the Schengen Region for 1 day/hour, when in fact I was going to be there for a week.  After answering these questions, I was followed the herd of "American passports" to the biometric scanners where they took my picture and let me enter into the Schengen Region officially.  I really wish there was someone there to give a little more information about what we were doing in that line or to explain things a bit better.  However, I saw 4 people throughout the whole process, the yelling/gesturing woman, the "American passport?" woman, a security guard standing a cubicle thing and yelling at us when we didn't walk through the e-gate fast enough after it opened and then another random person, who I assume as supposed to serve as an immigration-type officer, but didn't do anything or even speak to us.  I believe at some point we had to do security checks again, like walking through the body scanners and putting our carry-ons through the x-ray machine again.  This didn't make much sense to me since we hadn't had interaction with anyone else besides the people on the plane.... Like where would we have collected paraphernalia during our transatlantic flight?  It was all a bit confusing to me, but I if Europe is happy then I guess I should be, too. 

Honestly, I don't remember a lot about the flight from Madrid to Lisbon, so I'm assuming nothing significant happened here.  But I will admit that it was once I realized I didn't have to go through immigration in Lisbon that I figured out that I had lied on entry and started to get a little nervous about departing the Schengen area in a week because I didn't want them to flag my passport and/or biometrics as an "overstayer".  However, I was already in Lisbon and looking forward to having a great time, so I pushed this out of my mind, and made my way into the city to find my Airbnb.  

This post has already gotten so long.... but that wraps up my flights to Lisbon.  Returning to America was its own adventure.  

Lisbon --> London

Leading up to my departure from Lisbon I had seen a bunch of instagram posts and news posts regarding Lisbon's airport and the new EES system.  Travelers were complaining about the wait times at the airport and it was suggested via text from my airline that I arrive 4 hours early for my international flight.  My first flight, from Lisbon to London, was departing at 7:20 am, so if I were to comply with the text I got that meant I would need to be at the airport around 3:00 in the morning.  I wasn't about to do this, so I settled for arrive around 3 hour early and taking my chances.  I Bolted (similar to Uber) to the airport around 4:15/4:30 in the morning.  When I arrived there were already what seemed like millions of people there.  None of the ticket gates had opened yet, and wouldn't be opening until 5:45 or so. I tried to be proactive and checked-in early for my flight via my cell phone and I paid for my carry-on as well, that way I hopefully wouldn't have to wait so long to check-in. I'd literally just have to drop my bag at the ticket counter and then head to security.  Well, when I got to the airport the Departure Board said that my flight would be assigned a ticket counter at 5:45 am. So, I waited with about 634989549 other people in the airport for everything to open up.  Well, 5:45 is quickly approaches and when I reference the Departure Board, there is no ticket counter listed still.  So I stand around for about 3 more minutes until it pops up on he screen.  Luckily, I was just few hundred feet away from where the counter was, so I make my way over there.  Well, when I round the corner I'm met with a line of people about 100 deep all waiting to check-in to British Airways.  In typical airport fashion, there is no one to answer questions so I have to stand in line with all those people JUST to drop my bag onto the conveyor belt.  When it's finally my time, the man at the ticket counter takes my bag and says "you waiting all the time just for that?"  Yes, sir, I did! I had no other options.  Then he hands me a new boarding pass and says, "we don't have a departure gate yet, but we always depart from gates between 35 and 76 so I would head that direction. Also, passport clearance is notoriously hectic and busy, so I would hurry if I were you."  Mind you, my flight is at 7:20 and I've been standing in line since 5:48 and it's not 6:30.  So, if passport clearance is busy, I might be screwed.  Luckily, the security check went surprisingly fast and the passport clearance as relatively empty so I got through the process in record time.  However, at passport clearance, where I thought I was going to end up in international prison for lying, there was one singular man working ALL the stations and e-gates.  I was ordered to go to the American passport e-gate, which didn't exist, but he let me go through the European passport e-gate.  My picture was taken and I wasn't detained so I ran through the airport to my gate to boar my flight.  Once at my gate, we start the boarding process.  Which involves us scanning our passport and boarding pass again, then being herded downstairs to a shuttle bus to be taken to our plane.  The shuttle service required 4 separate shuttles and ended up being about a 25-30 minute ride around the airport to find our plane parked out in a field. Well, it was more like a parking lot for planes, but it was a long ways away and all international flights seemed to be having to do this.  Finally we took off on our 3 hour journey to London Heathrow.  It was a pretty smooth flight from what I can remember, but most importantly, I was on an exit row, so I had leg room and there was no one in the seats on either side of me.  That's a freaking win if you ask me!!!!

Heathrow

Once we arrived at Heathrow we deplaned as usual.  There was woman who worked for British Airways holding a tablet at the end of the exit ramp of the plane that had connecting flight details on it.  I saw flights to San Francisco, New York and Chicago on her tablet, so I stopped to inquire about my flight to DFW.   She asked me where I was going and when I told her she said "I don't know, you'll have to look at the board when you get into the arrivals area."  Like why be there with limited information and not all connecting flight information?  Or why not have everyone figure it out when they get to the arrivals area?  Anyways, I have to pass through security again when I get into London, so my carry-on and CPAP are passed through an x-ray machine and I am body scanned all over again.  While I'm waiting for my backpack at the end of security I notice the it gets fed to the other side of the checkpoint so it can be inspected by the security people.  So, I patiently wait my turn then I step up to the security lady and she asks if it's my bag and if I can unzip if for her.  She rifles through it a bit and takes out my Ziplock bag that has my toiletries in it.  She asks is she can open the Ziplock and I tell her than she can.  She proceeds to take out my tiny bottle of Head and Shoulders shampoo and tells me that she needs to test it.  Mind you, it's already cleared security in Portugal, so I'm not really sure why she's testing it, but I say she can.  So, she puts it into some little machine for about 3 seconds and then hands it and my bag back to me and tells me to have a good day and that it seems that the soap is spilling.  So, I'm guessing because the soap leaked it had to be scanned for illegal substances?  Anyways, I get my bags back and look at the giant departure board to find what gate my flight is leaving from.  It designates that we are leaving from Gate D46.  So, I look around for a bit and can't seem to find the D gates.  Finally I stop an airport employee and ask for help.  He tells me that I need to go down two levels on the elevator and take the train to the D gates terminal.  At this point, I'm annoyed and hungry and sleepy since I hadn't slept all night because I had to be at the airport so early.  So, I decide I will go to the D gates and get some breakfast while I wait to board my flight.  After my quick 2 stop train ride, I arrive at the D gates terminal and step out to find NOTHING but duty free, Starbucks and a vending machine.  

After I get over the disappointment of finding nothing of substance to eat at the D gates, I decide to sit down, charge my phone and ponder if I'm really hungry or if it's disappointment laced with boredom wrapped up in my lack of sleep.  I get pre-occupied with charging all my devices and people watching that my hunger pang subsides, so I just decide to stay unfed.  Right around the time my phone has reached a full charge, a voice booms through the PA system at the airport (the D gates) and informs us that our 12:20 flight to Dallas has been delayed until 1:30 due to a "maintenance issue that needed to be handled before but wasn't able to be completed until now."  After hearing the announcement, my initial thought is IMAGINE THAT!!!!  Then I started to wonder what they meant by "maintenance"....  Is it maintenance in terms of sweeping/mopping/emptying the toilets or is maintenance in terms of the left
phalange is missing and had to be replaced? Either way, I guess I'm relieved they are addressing the issue before I get on the plane.  

To be honest, the 70 minute delay was hardly noticeable..... There were plenty of people to watch in the airport, plus another long haul flight to New York was boarding at the gate next to us, so there were what seemed like millions of people in the tiny D gates terminal.  To add insult to injury, the crew at the gate kept walking through the crowd screaming for passengers going to NY!  It was both annoying and hilarious watching people climb over other people trying to get to the NY gates before the plane took off.  I'm pretty sure I watched a 60 year old woman hurdle a row of airport seats to get out of the mass of people gathered at our gate in order to make her flight bound for New York! One thing I learned while waiting out this delay was that my flight from London to Dallas was going to be on a double decker plane.  I've never experienced that before, so I was excited and cautious.  And it turns out, I was right to be....

London --> Dallas

Like I mentioned before, this flight was on a double decker plane.... So, naturally, that means 2 times the amount of passengers, which also means 2 times the amount of time spent boarding the plane.  Once again, I was one of the last groups to board the plane, but I was seated somewhere in the middle of the lower deck.  Again, I was given an aisle seat (thank God) but this time it was in the middle section of the plane.  Unfortunately, when I first got to my seat, one of my seat mates, a 80 year old looking man, was already seated.  He was in the other aisle seat, so I was hoping we were going to have an empty seat between us for the duration of the flight.  But, just as my luck would have it, the flight crew chief announces that boarding is complete and up saunters our middle seat buddy.  She is a middle aged woman, with a GIANT purse and a carryon.  She wasn't able to put her carryon in the overhead bin, so I helped her because she made awkward eye contact with me and motioned with her head that she was seated between me and Father Time.  So, after squeezing myself out and back into my seat, we finally were boarded and ready for takeoff.  We watched/listened to the safety video, closed all the overhead bins, the flight attendants completed their crosschecks and we pushed away from the gate and were Texas bound.... allegedly.  After taxiing around the airport for about 30 minutes or so, the captain came over the speaker system and told us that there was some sort of "luggage discrepancy" and we needed to return to the gate so that it could be sorted.  That involved us taxiing back to the gate which took another 10-15 mins. Once back to the gate, the captain announced that the ground crew would be rectifying the "luggage discrepancy," which he anticipated would take anywhere between 30 to 45 minutes.  So, we waited...  Then the captain comes back onto the speaker and tells us that the luggage has been sorted, but since we had taxied for so long we needed to be refueled.  This too, he anticipated, would take another 30 - 45 minutes to complete.  So, again, we waited...  Finally the captain came back onto the speaker and announced that the luggage was sorted, the plane was refueled and we were ready for takeoff, but we had to wait for a grounds crew to come and push us back from the gate again.  Which I didn't know that planes couldn't go in reverse until this trip, but I guess I never really thought about it!?  Anyways, he didn't give us a time frame on this, but again it took around 30 minutes before we were backing away from the gate.  Finally, he announced that we were in the line waiting for clearance for takeoff.  Which again, took a bit of time....  I think in total we were delayed somewhere around 3 hours after boarding the actual flight! Imagine that!

At some point during these delays, the old man that was bookending the middle aged woman with me decided to call the flight attendant over and make it know that he was not comfortable sitting next to us.  I'm sure it didn't have anything to do with our sizes, because again the two plus sized heifers were beside each other on a long haul flight.  The flight attendants were more than accommodating to the old man and found him an exit row seat to sit in.  The real task was getting his old ass to hear that they had found him a new seat and then to understand that he couldn't move his carryon with him because all the space in the overhead bins was taken.  So, he argued for about 5-10 minutes with the very accommodating flight attendant until he finally got escorted to his new seat by an annoyed stewardess.  In all honesty, he wasn't kind in the way that he asked to be moved away from us, but screw him because we had room now.  Well, sort of had room, the woman's purse took up most of it and wouldn't fit under the seat in front of her, so it just kin of sat there in the floor the whole flight and kept falling over and she would have to re-arrange her whole universe to try to pick it back up.  Also, at some point she lost one of her shoes and spent about 30 minutes looking for it, when it was underneath her giant purse the whole time.  With all that being said, she and I had an empty seat between us for the long 8 hour flight home, so I wasn't complaining much.  I will say that one blessing that came from Methuselah moving away from me and our other seat mate was that I was comfortable enough to sleep. I slept probably 6.5 hours of the 8 hour flight.  However, I will also add that in the times that I was awake there was a toddler about 3 rows back from me that was screaming and crying at the top of his lungs.  This is absolutely something I cannot stand on a flight... but to make things worse, his parents didn't do anything to try to keep him from screaming and crying. They didn't shush him, cover his mouth, ask him to stop, feed him, give him a toy/tablet, rock him, or choke him out! I was dumbfounded.  Luckily, I was sleepy enough and was using noise cancelling headphones, so I didn't have to hear him all too often.  However, I did notice the poor woman seated in from of him would wince in pain every time he shrieked during our final descent into DFW, which lasted at least 45 minutes.  I felt really bad for her, because I don't know how she didn't snap and take the plane down after listening to that the entire flight.

Wow!  I have officially been working on this post for like 3 days....  I'd write a little, sleep, write a little more and then sleep some more. If you've made it this far, I'm sorry for how long it's been.  But also, thank you for sticking it out.  It's been a couple of years since I last posted, so I figured it should take you about that long to read this post just for good measure. 

I'll be posting more about my trip to Portugal, with pictures, soon! Hopefully it won't be this long, but I don't make any promises. I have so much things to say!!!!