The morning of our flight to Portugal we take our packed things, that do not include my hair dryer or straightener, because apparently the voltage here is tons stronger than the voltage in the States (twice the power, if you were curious). I found this out when I innocently tried to use my hair dryer only to have it start up sounding like one of the electric air mattress pumps (the insanely loud ones, you know what I'm talking about), start smoking and smelling like burnt plastic and then shut off completely.
So a little side note: if you want to travel to Europe, either buy those sorts of things there, or make sure you have a transformer. It could get dangerous.
The flight is fairly easy and we arrive in Portugal in no time. We are picked up by Wesley's older brother, Steven (very charming and single, ladies) and his cousin Daniel (also very single and happens to be a model). The country club that everyone stays in is wonderful and the villa is beautiful. The family is so sweet to me and the cousins are a ton of fun! Of course, that night, we go out.
I can drink legally in Portugal, though I tell myself I need to be careful, because I don't want to make a fool of myself in front of his cousins. We go to a few bars, have a few drinks (where I received a free shot from a wonderful man named Miguel) and then end up sitting around in a fantastic lounge called Amore, where we all got a free shot. Soon enough, though, the night starts to wind down and Wesley and I are ready for bed (as were four others from our group). Our next task is to find a taxi that can take six people. Kindly, Wesley's cousin Alex (not single, sorry) takes charge. In drunken Portuguese he says, "Disculpe, è possivel seis pessoas?" Which literally means "Sorry, is it possible to six people?" The taxi driver starts answering in speedy Portuguese to which Alex says "I'm sorry. I tried, but I don't know what you're saying."
We can't take that taxi. Only a few minutes later we hear Alex, again, go "Disculpe, è possivel seis pessoas?" and have the same exact outcome. After quite a while of trying to round up a taxi, we manage to find a taxi for six people and head back to our villas, miraculously, alive. This driver was so fast, and had the sharpest turns that I had to sit in the back with Alex and have a conversation with him as to why this man can't crash us (i.e. his job depends on it, "I mean, he has to feed his family, right? He can't just go crashing into things! He'd lose his job!")
We get home safely, though, and I crawl into bed, willing the hangover to leave me alone this time. I was not so lucky, but my first night in Portugal was definitely worth it.
All these foreign places are.....well, so foreign to me.
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