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We fly to the Azores via
Lisbon
and embark the Island Sky
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Our holiday actually
started on the previous evening because we spent the night
at the Hilton Hotel at Terminal Two in order to avoid the
stress of early morning traffic from our home to the airport.
We were treated to a lovely sunset, as well as a view of
the runway from our room. |
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After a short walk from
the hotel to the terminal, we were able to check in quickly
and to make our way to the Lufthansa business class lounge,
which Air Portugal uses here. Yes, it is a little early
for champagne, but we are on holiday! |
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Our plane, Air Portugal's
Airbus A320-251N, which would fly us to Lisbon on the first
leg of the journey. |
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Departing on time, it
wasn't long before we were deciding what we might like for
lunch. |
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A couple of views of
the Isle of Wight. |
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About two hours later,
some fine views of Lisbon and the surrounding areas as we
came in to land. |
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Lisbon airport was busy
and slightly chaotic and the sign-posting could have been
a lot better, but we found our way to TAP's business class
lounge eventually (having been told by an airport employee
that the lounge was closed for renovation!). We had around
two hours before our next flight, which turned into two
and a half hours because of a delay, but we were cool and
comfortable and Geoff had managed to find a stock of pastel
de natas, so all was well! |
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While were were in the
lounge we resumed a conversation with two people, Pat and
Bob from San Francisco, who we had started to chat to in
the check in queue at Heathrow. When they heard where we
lived, Pat told us that her cousin used to live very close
to us, but had long since moved away. It turned out that
Geoff actually knew them more than forty years ago. Later
on in the trip, Geoff and his friends (who also remembered
Geoff) were reunited through Pat's intervention. What a
small world! |
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Air Portugal's Airbus
A321-251NX, which would be flying us to the capital of the
Azores, Ponta Delgada, had been delayed on its flight from
Barcelona and only arrived at the time that we were meant
to depart, but we were amazed how quickly they managed to
empty it, clean it and get us all on board with a delay
of only about 45 minutes. |
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Taking off from Lisbon,
we had some more excellent views of the city and the shoreline
of mainland Portugal, as we headed out across the middle
of the Atlantic towards the Azores. |
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This leg of the flight
was of similar duration to the first leg and about two hours
after departure, we were getting views of São Miguel,
the biggest island in the Azores, where we would shortly
be landing at the airport near Ponta Delgada, the island's
capital. |
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It was lovely to see
the familiar sight of our ship, the Island Sky, from the
plane as we came in to land. |
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Ponta Delgada Airport
was really quiet. Our luggage was offloaded and in the arrivals
hall incredibly quickly, especially considering that it
was a domestic flight and all we had to do was walk a short
distance from the plane, without any immigration contols. |
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We were met by several
people who were co-ordinating our transfer from the airport
to the ship. Within minutes, we had boarded one of the three
coaches lined up outside and were being driven the short
distance to the ship. |
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Despite the amazing
efficiency of everything, it was getting late and we still
had to have a safety briefing before we could sail, but
we even managed to unpack before dinner, which was served
at around 9:00pm. |
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At 10pm, we sailed for
Praia de Vitoria on the island of Terceira. For now, this
image was only a small reminder of São Miguel island
and its capital, Ponta Delgada, but we would be returning
here for a proper look after we had visited all of the other
islands. We enjoyed the beautiful view before going to bed. |
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