djenne g.

My first international solo travel

Hello all!

This year for my 27th birthday I decided that I wanted to go on a trip. I wasn’t sure where id go or of I wanted to go with anyone but I knew I needed to get the hell out of my home and celebrate my birthday.

For the past year or two I have been looking for places overseas that I could move to and have a better quality of life and Portugal has been at the top of my list. I also did a little astro-cratography and that is a place that would apparently do me a lot of good so I figured I’d take a trip there and see how it feels. 

(spoiler: it was amazing)

Lisbon, Portugal is an absolutely beautiful place to visit and I wish I stayed for longer. I was there from Monday the 16th to Wednesday the 18th of January. I wish I stayed for a week or two but I was so concerned about pet care, money and my family life. I do feel like my time there was well spent and I chose an amazing hotel to stay in. I stayed in one of the My Story hotels and everyone was so kind and accommodating. 

I took a shuttle from the airport to the hotel, the shuttle bus driver was very kind and I got to the hotel in one piece ( I was so worried). Thankfully I had full service once I arrived (thank you t-mobile international plan). I used my phone to track the car ride there just in case. 

I arrived at the hotel two hours before check in so I left my things at the front desk and with the advice from the woman at the front desk, I made my way down to the water. There were a lot of shops and food along the way there and the architecture was gorgeous. I was a bit hungover and jet lagged but I was so excited about being there. I had a nice little espresso and some freshly squeeze pineapple juice to go with my bagel with lox and cream cheese in a little square close to the water on my first day. I could not believe id actually made it out there on my own. It was amazing. 

On my first day, I tried to be sure to get everyone their trinkets. My mom always gets a magnet, my sister always gets an espresso cup and my first requested some rings. I wanted to try my hand at writing post cards and I still have no idea if they will be arriving but I really really hope they do.

All that said, day one was spent getting familiar with my area and getting a bit of shopping out of the way before I crashed. Once I was let into my room, I showered and fell right to sleep. I woke up at around 9 and grabbed dinner before falling asleep again.

Day two, I made my way up to Sintra. My cousin said I needed to do a day trip up there and my hotel was so close to the station. It was a bit confusing getting up there but I got there and everything was so breathtaking. It was this cute old looking village area and everyone was so kind. I’d woken up too late to see any of the castles but I did go on a nice stroll in the area and took tons of picture of the statues and old buildings. 

I walked passed a wine shop that did tastings for Port, there I met this older man whose birthday was that day and we bonded over being in Portugal to celebrate our birthdays and decided to do a tasting together. Port is now one of my favorites.

We went to dinner together at this very delicious restaurant before parting ways at the train station. He went to go gambling and I wanted to go right back to bed. I met these two people at the train station and they helped me get my ticket for the train. We chatted the whole ride back to Lisbon and even shared bread and cheese. After parting ways, I grabbed a hot chocolate, some wine and fell sleep watching the office.

 Day Three, I woke up late and rushed to check out. I left my luggage with the front desk again then made my way round my area again to see all that I hadn’t seen. I also realized I took no pictures of myself so I made sure I did. I took a few selfies and explored new areas. I bought a few last minute gifts as well before calling my uber and heading to the airport. 

I bought some goodies at the airport and had an amazing flight back home. I was pretty bummed when I saw that my luggage had been lost but it was returned after two days back home.

All that said, Portugal was amazing. I had a perfect birthday trip. I only wish it were longer.