A not-so-typical arrival in Lisbon, Portugal
The hot, sweaty days of Bali are behind me, and now it’s time for another country. After two weeks back home with my friends and family and a musical city trip to London and Portsmouth, I was on the road again. Or better yet, in the air again. This time, I didn’t have to worry about visas or COVID-19 test results, but that didn’t mean my travel day to Lisbon went smoothly. Not even close…
Eindhoven Airport
My arrival in Lisbon was quite the event, even if I say so myself. European airports are an absolute disaster right now, with massive staff shortages and people wanting to travel again. Hoping to avoid the crowds, I flew from a smaller airport in The Netherlands. But alas, Eindhoven Airport was just as bad as the stories I’ve been hearing about Schiphol Airport and Brussels Airport. I’m not joking when I say the security line stretched outside the airport building for at least 150 meters (500 ft.). My heart sank upon seeing that line. I was 3 hours early, but no was I getting through this line on time.
Luckily, there was a hidden system. About half an hour before each flight was about to board, those passengers could use the fast lane to security. Basically, you get to skip the lane. I really wish they would have told me this beforehand. It would have saved me a lot of worrying and stress! Anyway, I got through security thanks to the fast lane, and the plane left with only 30 minutes delayed. Not bad.
Oepsie, wrong country…
Except my troubles weren’t over yet. Somewhere over Spain, the captain gave us a not-so-welcome message. A small plane had crashed on the runway of Lisbon Airport and the airport was closed. We were being diverted to Madrid. And just like that, I was in the wrong city in the wrong country. Fuck. What am I going to do? Looking back on it, I’m surprised at how calm I stayed. Yeah, I was hundreds of miles from where I was supposed to be; I had no accommodation in this strange city, and no information about what was going to happen with our flight now. But I accepted there was absolutely nothing I could do about any of that right now, so I just kept reading and hoping the time would go by a little faster.
I flew with Transavia. Low-budget airlines aren’t exactly known for their customer service in this kind of situation. We totally lucked out with our captain, though. He was very forthcoming with information and even went against his own management to get our flight back into the air as soon as possible. In the end, we waited for 3 hours on Madrid’s tarmac, but we did get to fly on to Lisbon that same evening.
Absolute chaos
My 3-hour flight had turned into a 6-hour flight, but I was just happy that I was in the right country and the right city. Lisbon airport was a mess, however. Low-budget airlines land at terminal 2, which means you have to wait on a bus to transport you to the main terminal. With Lisbon airport being closed for 2 hours that day, it was absolute chaos. We waited another 45 minutes before a bus was available to pick us up from the plane. Baggage claim was even more chaos, but the true disaster was happening outside.
It was already 23u30 by then and I was exhausted from all the unexpected plot twists of the day. I’d planned on taking an Uber to my Airbnb, but there were so many people, taxis, busses, and random cars outside that it was impossible to get an Uber down there. The taxi line was even longer than the security line back at Eindhoven Airport. I had absolutely no interest in waiting in this chaos. I think autopilot took over at that point. My head got seriously overwhelmed by everything that had happened the past few hours and all the people and racket going on around me. I zonked out and let my feet take me away from all this.
The metro is the cheapest and easiest way to get into central Lisbon. In just 30 minutes and for only 1,5 euros, you’re standing right in the city center of Lisbon. I highly recommend escaping the craziness of the airport by taking the metro into the city center. From there, I was able to get a decent prized Uber to my Airbnb. Home, finally. Or at least for the next 4 weeks ;)
