Today was just one of those wasted travel days!
We got up at about 8 and had the included breakfast in the hotel. We got a taxi just before 10 to take us to the airport. Our flight was due to leave at 12:35.
The baggage drop / check-in counter didn’t open until about 11. By then the queue behind us was almost out the door and they had only two desks open (one of which was for business class). Plus they had a work experience kid putting the luggage tags on!!
We eventually got checked in and lined up for security. So far everywhere on this trip we have not had to remove liquids or iPads etc from our hand luggage. Not in Marseille! We had to remove practically everything. And with only two belts operating, that took ages too! Clearly our flight was not going to be leaving on time.
We got to our gate and there was no plane, so we settled in to wait. We had lunch. And waited. No announcements or anything at all. Other flights were landing and taking off, but the terminal was filling up with people! Some passengers decided on having a concert in the terminal, which provided some relief.
Eventually we noticed an Air Portugal plane landing so people at our gate were happy. But the plane didn’t come to our gate. Some time later (around 3 pm) we were called to the gate and boarded buses to take us to our plane. Once on board we’re were advised that we would not get a slot for takeoff for at least an hour! Which turned into two hours. Turns out that the French Air Traffic Controllers were on a go slow, especially for Air Portugal.
We finally landed in Lisbon just after 7 pm local time (8 pm Marseille time), around 5 hours late!
We took a taxi to our apartment. It was dark and drizzly, so we couldn’t see much. We met our host (I had been keeping him informed) and he showed us around. It is a lovely apartment and it will be nice to relax and regroup here before the cruise.
We quickly went out to find food and we round a restaurant nearby. We are in a very steep part of Lisbon, called Bica, some steep streets and lots of stairs. We each had a serve of gyoza and then shared some great ribs and fries. I walked up the steep street to get some basic supplies - water, yoghurt, milk etc - and we headed back for a well-deserved sleep!
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