After a few years away from Europe, I've decided to visit Portugal this June. While I've visited most countries in Western Europe, Portugal has somehow eluded me and has been on my bucket list for awhile. Planning on traveling by myself, staying in hostels and exploring the country by train!
In this blog, I'll be documenting this trip from the planning stage through the end of the trip. For now, I'm trying to learn enough Portuguese to get through my trip and make an effort to speak with the locals. On previous travels in Europe, I've learned that people truly appreciate it when a traveler attempts to speak the language. I might only know enough to order a pastry or ask for a train ticket (queria um bilhete da ida e volte - I'd like a round-trip ticket). I haven't studied another language in at least 5 years, so this is going to be interesting. It's amazing what you can find on the internet to learn. There are tons of free sites with games and other easy ways to learn Portuguese. The struggle will not be mixing up the words with Italian or Spanish. Oh, romance languages...you kill me. Adios to Adeus, Ciao to Tchau, billiette to bilhete.
While I'm learning the language, my next step is to buy my plane tickets. Still waiting for the airfares to come back down...I hope. Currently, roundtrip tickets are $1500...eek! I'm hoping more for closer to $1000. My parents got me a Eurail pass for Christmas, so with that out of the way, I figure the rest of the trip will cost me about $600 in addition to airfare. That will cover hostels, food and a bit more for souvenirs for 10 day trip. Over the next couple months, I'll be paying close attention to airfare. If it saves me a bit, I may also fly somewhere cheap like Frankfurt and fly RyanAir to Lisbon. We'll see! Fingers crossed for cheap(er) airfare!
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