Yesterday was a long day of travel: Washington to Boston to Ponta Delgado to Lisbon to Madeira, about twenty-four hours on the move. We needed to leave our apartment in Columbia Heights early enough to miss the rush hour getting to Reagan National. Waiting to board our flight, we got the message of a 55-minute delay from Delta; that left us with 25 minutes in Boston to collect our luggage and get from terminal A to terminal E for check-in. Previously in Boston, we had spent that much time just waiting for luggage. We plotted our route from A to E and were fortunate that our bags were first out; we made our check-in deadline.
Then it was onto our Azores flight and our 10:30pm dinner. Three hours later and a four-hour time zone change, we arrived in the pre-dawn at Azores. After a 1.5-hour layover and sunrise, we flew onto Lisbon. At Lisbon our aircraft parked on the far side of the airport complex (along with most other flights). Down the mobile staircase, into a bus, and around the periphery of the airport to the terminal. Following a long hall into the terminal, we entered a large room with at least 500 people waiting in a snaked, single-file line for passport control. By the time our passports were checked, our flight to Madeira had already departed.
Time to find the SATA airline desk to get rescheduled. Four hours later, our new flight lifted off for Madeira. Arriving in Madeira, we needed to contact our car rental company. Our ten-minute wait turned into 45 minutes before we were taken to their office. After renting a nice Jeep Renegade (a diesel, six-speed manual) with GPS, we finally found our way to our hotel, Albatroz Beach & Yacht Club, in time for a 7pm dinner. There is no beach nor yacht club, but the boutique hotel is very nice. We sleep with our room open, with a view and the sound of ocean waves.
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