We flew from Phoenix to Portland where we had a couple of days to get the last of our sorting to fit things in our backpack, visit with Kim, Kevin & Heidi and then we boarded our flight. It was so cool to see the peaks from the airplane as we left Portland.
After a layover in Reykjavík we boarded our second flight to London Gatwick where we hauled our stuff into an airport hotel for the night. We had a few hours left to try and stay awake so we took a taxi (which was a Tesla!) to a traditional pub only to discover the kitchen had just closed for food. So we walked to another fun pub where we selected very traditional Bangers & Mash. The view from our very tiny room looked right out onto the runway which was fun and we were happy to survive until 8 pm when we crashed for the night.
The next morning we boarded another flight which flew out over the green landscape of Southeast England and headed out over the ocean. About four hours later we reached our final destination, Madeira. As we came in to land it was amazing to see the landscape of the island. The clouds were hanging over the tops of the mountains and our runway ran right alongside the water!
We felt pretty worn out by the time we met our host at the Airbnb but she was wonderful and got us all situated and familiarized with the apartment that will be our home for the next two months. It's quite spacious with two bedrooms and a small balcony that has a view of the neighboring buildings and the ocean.
We still had a few hours to go before we could climb into bed (as we were working hard to make the time adjustment) so we walked around the main old part of Funchal (which is the capital of Madeira and where we're staying) and grabbed dinner sitting outside. When they brought me my Golden Bream I felt like we had truly arrived back in Portugal as fish is always served here whole and very very fresh. Yum! Then we found a grocery store to stock up and headed back home to collapse.
Watching the evening light up from the balcony (with my camera), reminded us of how lucky we are to be here in another beautiful part of the world and we can't wait to begin exploring!
October 2022
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