From Home to Lisbon

3:00pm - We leave our houses to begin the journey.

4:00pm - Arrival at Newark airport, there are barely any lines. We have to show our negative tests to get a boarding pass at check in and it all is very easy. Only downside was that they didn’t have seats next to each other so we would have to ask at the gate. We got through security and we’re sitting at an airport bar by 4:25. No lines are great. The gate agent assigned us new seats in the emergency exit row after Corrine confirmed that we would help in an emergency. I was a little more hesitant given that if there was an emergency I’d probably be passed out from fear.
5:00pm - The airport bar served us a surprisingly delicious mushroom pizza…. We had two drinks each and around 5:30 I took my first Xanax, then all my vitamins, then my second Xanax.

5:45pm - We get up to board the plane. We saw that there was a line but figured we didn’t need to get on too early. When we walk over, the gate agent is calling our names over the loudspeaker. Shuffling up to the desk, they changed our seats. He said it was because the emergency row seats were assigned and paid for…I think they saw me popping pills at the airport bar and realized we were not suited for that spot.

6:00pm (11:00pm in Portugal) - And we’re off! I think I managed takeoff without crying, though I may have been singing loudly to myself. First hour was fine, I fell right asleep while Corrine was wide awake. She woke me up for food, thank goodness, because I love me some airplane food. Had a nice little salad, bread, chicken with potatoes, and some little cake. Except that it was hard to enjoy with the turbulence.

Yes somewhere in the middle of the night while we were eating there was enough turbulence for meal service to have to stop and the flight attendants had to sit down. Cor doesn’t like the turbulence either so we held hands tightly and talked about food and I said all the logical things that I tell myself when I get scared about floating in a metal tube in the sky like “it’s just a cobblestone road” and “turbulence doesn’t make planes fall”.
It got better and I went back to sleep. Cor stayed awake.

6:00am in Portugal (11:00pm at home)

We land in Lisbon! It was still dark when the plane landed. The five year old annoying child behind us who never stopped talking decided to yell out during the descent “I wanna see this plane crash!” And I turned around to give his mom a look…like cover that child’s mouth. Lol.

7:00am (midnight at home) - Through passport control relatively quickly. We are so drowsy, especially Cor who basically did not sleep on the plane. We find a little airport cafe and have some yummy breakfast. The bread and coffee and juice is just as amazing as I remember, even in the airport.