Years ago Day and I went to Portugal, with K & J. If you are a traveler and Portugal is not on your list, it should be! By far, one of my favorite places thus far. Traveling can be stressful, four people traveling together could be horrific. Traveling with K & J is never stressful, they are easy travel companions. K calls to say, “we are going to Portugal, are you guys in?” Well, Day and I can never turn down a vacation, so off to Portugal, with no agenda other than, we will be in Lisbon. Of course, there were things we each wanted to see and do, but we were all happy to meander around Lisbon, explore, and sooner or later with little effort, we would get to do and see the things we each wanted.

A vacation soon becomes a distant memory, there are always pictures, and blogs, and in this case, one single memory or event that defines your trip.

Lisbon has a great public transportation system: trains, subway, buses, funiculars and the trolleys. For five or six euros a day, you have unlimited access to all of them. I know what you are thinking, what is a funicular. You could click on the link, or simply put, a funicular is a trolley that goes up the hill and down the hill.

Tram 28 was the real highlight of the trip though. Tram 28 is a trolley car in Lisbon center, that follows a specific route. Tram 28 is popular with locals and tourists, and is the star of Lisbon.

I had suggested we get a Lisboa Card, a pass that you can load any number of days on, for unlimited public transportation. Where to find these cards was a little unclear, and was the topic of a number of discussions. I suggested asking someone, or to go down into the subway, which was ignored, silly me. Well one morning we set out on foot, in the rain, to explore and find something to do, in the rain. It wasn’t to long before we all saw how silly this was. It was raining quite hard. Soon enough, we all grew a little irritable and annoyed with each other, K with J, J with K, I am sure, all with me, and Day was silent, hoping nothing would escalate. “Are we going to walk around in the rain all day,” someone would ask. “Lets jump on the trolley,” I would throw out there. “Oh that’s right, we don’t have any passes.” Poking the tiger is one of my many gifts, this went on for a while before we saw the error of our ways, and decided to call it a day and go back to our apartment.

Once at the apartment K & J retired to their room, I am assuming to have a “discussion.” Day wasn’t happy either, and just wanted out of the apartment. She decided to find a hair salon to get her hair straightened, not my idea of a fun time, but given the events this morning, whatever makes my wife happy, right? So off we went in search of a salon and found one quick enough, Espaco Brasil. She doesn’t speak Portuguese and he didn’t speak English, but he understood straighten, and to work he went. My wife was loving life, big huge smile plastered on her face, as a good looking Portuguese guy straightened her hair, her dumbass husband taking pics.

They were getting close to being done and Day asked me to go buy an umbrella, apparently once your hair has been straightened, it can’t get wet, and it was raining.

So I was sent out on a mission to find my wife an umbrella. I walked up and down the streets of Lisbon in search of an umbrella and along the way, I went down into the subway, and there it was, a kiosk where you can buy the elusive Lisboa Card. Easy enough, swipe your card, enter the number of days you want on your card, and off you go. Unlimited use of public transportation at our finger tips, for the four of us. I could not wait to gloat, but before I could, there was still the umbrella. I found a little store, picked out two umbrellas and went to pay with my card.

The store keeper, did is best to explain to me in his broken English (which is way better than my non existent Portuguese) they do not take credit cards. I had no cash and told him I would be right back with cash, he motioned me to take the umbrellas with me because it was raining. Well that’s trusting, and refreshing. I took my new umbrellas to the apartment, got the cash, and back to the store to pay this very nice man, grateful for his trust and kindness. Back to the salon I went, with my wife’s new umbrella and a cheery attitude.

There she is, straight hair, new umbrella, and a smile from ear to ear on the streets of Lisbon. What began as a crappy day, turned out to be a great day with my wife, friend and travel companion (not a fan of the straight hair though). I was pretty happy about the Lisboa Card, which we used the rest of the trip with ease and pleasure. All day, every day, we would jump on and off Tram 28, an old time trolley car. This is the same transportation locals would use, so you don’t feel like a tourist, but part of Lisbon. We had unlimited use of the subway, which we used and the train we took to Sintra, and of course the trolleys, what a great deal. Tram 28, and the day in the rain was the highlight of the trip (or was it the electric cars in Sintra) memories I will cherish for a long time.

So I am publishing this post, but WordPress has made some changes recently and seems to be a bit glitchy. Photos are difficult to insert, font sizes are weird, I can’t seem to indent for new paragraphs, plus a bunch of other crap. It a fun story though (if I do say so myself) and I think you’ll enjoy it regardless of publishing issues. So, here goes nothing…

Luv ya,

Curly