CHEGUEI - I arrived!

In the words of the inimitable Ludmilla - cheguei! It took 31 hours and 4 modes of transport, but I made it to Brazil safely, without having lost anything on the way.

Don't get me wrong - I definitely overcomplicated my journey. A previous version of myself somehow thought it would be a great idea to fly from Frankfurt, over Lisbon, to Sao Paulo. I thought my reasoning was sound... I wanted to fly with the same airline, to minimise complications with transfers and cancellations. Turns out TAP Air also flies Hamburg-Lisbon, so I'm honestly not sure what I was thinking there. There is also a direct train from Hamburg to Frankfurt airport, but again, I decided to take myself on a sightseeing tour and head to Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof before travelling on.

Mon 4. Sep, 19:00

But despite quite literally taking "the long way round", my journey went really smoothly. I got the train down from Hamburg to Frankfurt on Monday night and managed to directly hop on an S-bahn to the airport. This meant that I arrived just after midnight, leaving me with a very comfortable 6 hours before my flight. Definitely my record for most amount of time spent in an airport.

The relief of my suitcase weighing less

Tues 5. Sep 00:30

Frankfurt airport was truly a ghost town and despite finding the luxury of a bench, I surprisingly didn't catch much sleep. So I found myself queueing for bagdrop a good 2.5hours before take off. For the first time ever, I hoped for a long security queue to help pass the time, but no, I made it to my gate with 120 minutes to spare. I truly cannot tell you what I did there. Absolutely no idea.

Very sleepy, brushing my teeth in Frankfurt airport

06:30

Got settled comfortably on my flight to Lisbon. Had the joy of witnessing a group of older Germans play a game that looked like a mix of musical chairs and wife swap. Given I had the free option of selecting my seat, I can only assume that this game was a deliberate and concious way of starting their holiday.

08:30 (Lisbon time)

Landed in Lisbon and got myself a breakfast of champions after conveniently forgetting that I had snacks packed in my bag. A decision I do not regret. Also got the first chance to speak some Portuguese. Naturally the nice man didn't understand me and asked if I was Spanish. Ha.

I had four hours in Lisbon, but spent the time organising myself, cleaning my teeth, changing clothes and washing. Also wrote down a list of goals for this trip, which I will definitely not be sharing. Turns out all I want is to speak some Portuguese and get to know some Brazilians. Not sure I needed to fly 7000km and spent 1200€ on flights to achieve this goal. But, you know, Liv logic.

12:15

Got to speak some Portuguese whilst waiting for boarding. Understood approximately 50% and managed to say approx 65% of what I wanted to - this is a percentage that I really hope increases over the next three months.

12:30

Got on plane, got excited. Continued being on plane, excited, on tarmac for the next 90 minutes.

14:15

We leave! There's honestly nothing exciting to say about the next 9 hours I spent on the plane. I watched Tenet in about 6 parts, misunderstood massa (pasta) vs maca (apple), and slept for about 3 hours total.

19:40 Sao Paulo time (00:40 Berlin time)

Landed, saaaaaaailed through passport control. Truly. He took a glance, asked one question, stamped my passport and then laughed at me as a I walked into a wall.

I then got to spent 30 minutes getting increasingly tense at the baggage station. My rucksack is bright blue and hard to miss, but it was not arriving and I was getting very stressed. Luckily, I wasn't alone, and even recognised some people from my Frankfurt flight who were also waiting. Then, a voice over the speakerphone announced something about "Lisbon" and "rucksack". It was English, but I understood nothing more, so wandered around the baggage hall until I found the hidden treasure of extra bags!! The relief!!! Still feel so happy thinking about that moment.

I then got an Uber, whose driver tried to ask me some questions, but bless him, after having to repeat each question a minimum of two times to solicit an answer from me, he then gave up.

I'm writing this post a few days later, but just wanted to update you all that I have arrived safe and sound!