Nos estamos indo a Portugal!

(posted by ange)

Can you imagine being able to leave everything behind for a month? Just pack up and make home somewhere else? A month off work. A month away from the usual daily grind. A month away from the your regular routine. A month in a different place, a different environment, a different culture. It's sort of like those lottery ads - "Can you imagine?"

Well imagine this: Leaving Vancouver on February 24, a day that in all likelihood will be raining and grey, on Lufthansa flight # LH49324 to Frankfurt, where you will make a connector flight to Faro, Portugal, where it will surely be warm and sunny (they do, after all, get 3,000 hours of sunshine a year in this, the Algarve region). After collecting your bags you'll take a short bus ride to the town of Albufeira where you'll check into your 1 bedroom apartment (fully equipped with fridge, stove, washer, dryer, etc) at the Cerro Mar, which sits atop a hill, overlooking the town and ocean. Here you will spend 23 nights living like the Portuguese before spending a final 3 nights at the more swanky and urban Mundial Hotel in Lisbon. You will drink vihno (wine) and cerveja (beer) by the pool. You will relax on one of many beautiful praias (beaches). You'll enjoy the view from your superior do telhado (roof top patio). Você tornar-se-á fluent no português. (You will become fluent in Portuguese). Well, okay, maybe I'm getting a little carried away with the little translator website here, but you get the picture. Can you imagine?

Well, that's what Dave and I will be doing come February 24. Yes, that is our flight number and our itinerary. Nos estamos indo a Portugal! We're going to Portugal! (Picture me jumping up and down and screaming to get the full effect of how this reads.) We're going to live in Albufeira for 23 days, hopefully get a chance to see some of the rest of the country by day trips and the odd overnighter and then end the trip in the country's beautiful capital, Lisbon.

I've already pinched myself like a thousand times and it appears that I am not dreaming. Rather, dreams actually do come true! I'll be writing up a storm as I research and get ready for the biggest trip of my life!