So we are all loaded in the rental car... HA! just us and our carry on bags!!!Hubby printed directions for us on how to get on the right road to go to the Algarve and our first Hotel. Its about 10 am (5am) local time so Hubby pulls out the directions from map quest, such a pre-planner, of course the directions are in English and the road signs are in Portuguese. No Problem!... Problem, I being the navigator did not think ahead and didn't bother reading them until we were on the road. Yes I am fully aware I had an 8 hour flight! So we made our way out of the airport and got through the roundabout and somehow got on the right road, then our exit came up, but due to the language barrier and the speed of the traffic, we drove past our turn. Hubby was a little non pleased, no biggie we'll just get off the next exit and come back... The next exit is like 5 miles down the road. So FINALLY we are on the right road and somehow make it onto the Ponte De Vasco de Gama its a 7 mile bridge, maybe not 7 miles but very long indeed! Once we had gotten over the bridge hunger pains set in and we decided to stop at the next rest stop and see what we could find.
We get to the rest stop and found it completely amusing that although everything is out in the open all the parking spaces are covered. We headed inside and couldn't exactly make out the food being offered so we both settled for a bottle of water and back to the car. we get in the car and cannot get the car in reverse. It is on the shifter but we are unable to go backwards. No panic we just sat and thought we would just wait until the car opposite us left and just pull through. after 10 minutes we decided to flip through the owners manual, also in Portuguese, and from looking at the diagrams Hubby determined that he had to pull up on the collar of the shifter... VOILA! We got reverse! We are on our way. Finally we reach the end of the Highway, and are met with a toll booth. 18.60 euros to travel this roadway.
We reach Albufeira, our destination on the Algarve and go through 7 roundabouts and see a sign for our Hotel, we follow the sign and pull into the Hotel parking lot. Ahhhh bedtime I need a nap! Checking in was easy and I think our concierge was more upset than we were that we did not have any luggage. He was very nice we informed him that the airline is going to contact the hotel to deliver our bags when they arrive. He seemed satisfied with that and said he would take care of everything. Before we could get in our room we walked down to the beach to see the Ocean. It was so beautiful. We were tired. We headed to our room and took a nap....
Stay tuned for our shopping expedition in a foreign country...
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