Thursday, 25 May

Our Uber driver, Ricardo, was a few minutes early and we had an uneventful ride to the airport. Even though the airport does not look that big, after security Dolora and I had to navigate the maze of duty free shops.

Dolora and I had the most pleasant officer at passport control. Usually they are all business. He told me that I had the name of a king, Albert. He told us we should stay longer in Portugal that four days was not enough. The passport check at the gate was more business like.

When we went to our gate to board the plan, it was out to a bus where we were packed like Portugal sardines for a ten minute ride to the TAP, Air Portugal, plane. At least the plane boarded from the front and rear speeding up the process. Plane food is usually nothing great. The initial meal and snack before landing were the blandest food I have ever eaten.

Dolora and I arrived at Dulles about 15 minutes early. There is an app for your phone, MPC or Mobile Passport Control, that lets you fill in a questionnaire before getting in the passport control line. There is a separate line for MPC. We were through the line in less than ten minutes. The other line looked like a half hour or more.

Greg picked us up at the airport. We dropped him off at his house since that is where we left the car. The trick now is to stay up tonight and try to get back on schedule after the five hour time difference.