Thursday morning we all woke up before 5am. We had left the blinds open as we had wanted to get away at about 8:30 but the sun rises at a ridiculous hour, with still a month to go before the solstice. So after packing our belongings and a final continental breakfast, we checked out and got a black London taxi (with Willow being rolled straight into the back in her stroller) to Victoria Station. The taxi driver was a lovely old English chap and just how I'd hoped and imagined all London taxi drivers are.
Once at Victoria Station we hopped straight onto the Gatwick Express and in under 30 mins we were at Gatwick and checking our bags in. What a seamless operation! Once through security and into the departure gates however, there were people everywhere. I have never seen an airport so crowded, with people squatting on any spare floor they could find. We managed to somehow luckily get a quiet table in an enormous cafe where Ryan ordered the children's English breakfast. He had missed out on a traditional breakfast but after the hotel breakfast wasn’t able to commit to an adults sized portion.
After that, we prepared to get to our flight which, according to our boarding passes, was boarding at 11:15 for a 12pm departure. However it turned out there had been some fog earlier on (surely not a rare occurrence in London), which pushed back everyone's flights and we wouldn't get told our gate until 12:35. So onto another venue to kill time we went - this time to a Jamie Oliver establishment, which seemed to be doing a better trade than those in Australia. Willow found it so comfortable that one minute she was happily watching the tablet, and the next minute she was asleep!
Bang on the dot of 12:35 the gate number was revealed and off we trotted. Finally boarded, the flight took off a mere 2 hours late. At least I was seated to a nice Portuguese lady who gave me the hot tips on Portuguese cuisine. After her short nap, we figured Willow would have a sleep in the air, but alas she held out for that until the wheels hit the ground. Even the immigrations guy had a giggle at a sleeping Willow hanging in the carrier.
After a bit of kerfuffle, we eventually got the shuttle bus and checked into our hotel, where we got in touch with our mates Sarah and Chris and family and teed up a meeting place for dinner. After a few 6pm bedtime nights in London, we suddenly were switching to Portugal time and meeting at the late hour of 7:30 so who knew how we would fare…
Unbeknownst to all of us, today was some kind of Corpus Christi public holiday and so the restaurants were all very busy. Hoping to roll into an establishment that was highly ranked on Tripadvisor and get a table for 6 adults and 3 kids was pretty optimistic, so we were forced to go rogue and pick a venue at random. We hit the jackpot and found a tiny place down some stairs in a small sandstone room, where the friendly owner was very helpful and accommodating. There were only 2 other tables occupied that before long were vacant and so we had the place to ourselves! It was like having a private chef in your home. We ordered a bunch of food, and despite his concerns that it was too much, we stuck to our guns and proved him wrong! It was amazing! I had some hake medallions in shellfish sauce (which was basically a scattering of mussels, clams, prawns, pips etc). Fortunately for us, Willow was soon asleep in her pram behind us too! And Chris’ parents took their kids home for a sleep, so we basically had some adult catchup time over great food and wine. Our first meal in Portugal certainly did set the bar high!
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