Off to Portugal... Looooong Day of Flying

Friday, May 30, 2025 – Saturday, June 1, 2025

Today I began another lengthy trip – this one would take me around the world, from Europe to the South Pacific, over the next two months. While I was obviously excited about starting my latest adventure, there was one thing that was making me very sad and regretful about it: my husband, Thinh, was not able to join me and thus we would be separated during this time. He will shortly be starting a new job, requiring him to be home (obviously), but the other major factor was the sheer number of visas he would need to visit all of the countries on my itinerary. Since he has a Vietnamese passport, he must go through the painful process of obtaining visas for almost every country we visit. On top of all this, he wasn’t particularly interested in what I have planned for this trip, which is entirely fair. He has been fully supportive of my travels – one of the many reasons I love him so much.

Thinh went with me to the airport this morning – he is always good about seeing me off each time I leave on a trip, no matter how long or short. We left my apartment at 04:45 and I was relieved to find the airport relatively quite when we arrived. I got checked in with ease. The line for passport control wasn’t long at all (though the line for VietJet passengers was ridiculously long). Thinh and I spent a few more minutes together before it was time for me to head through to security. I gave him a big hug and several kisses – I was so sad and upset about leaving on this trip.

Passport control and security were quick and easy – which isn’t always the case for Noi Bai Airport. I wanted to get a coffee at Starbucks, but neither location had opened by the time I reached the departure terminal. Finally, at 06:30, they opened and I got myself an iced latte shortly before it was time to board the flight. My flight departed for Singapore at 07:35 and I spent most of the flight sleeping.

I had a ridiculous flight schedule to reach Portugal. I had three separate flight bookings:
(1) Hanoi to Singapore
(2) Singapore to London
(3) London to Lisbon
Each booking required that I exit through passport control, check-in for the new flight and then clear security, etc yet again. It sounds like total madness, but it ended up saving me a significant amount of money.

We landed just before noon and I made my way through passport control and then baggage claim. I had an eight-hour layover in Singapore, which I planned to spent at the Jewel mall located at Changi Airport. Unfortunately, the mall was packed with people and I couldn’t find anywhere to hang out for the next few hours. I ended up returned to the airport arrivals hall, where I hung out at a café for a while.

Around 17:00, I got checked in for my next flight and went through to the departures hall. I grabbed a light dinner at Pret a Manger, did some work, and then boarded my next flight. To reach London, I had to fly via Bahrain. I had an aisle seat for this leg and it soon seemed like the seat next to me would be vacant for the flight. No other passengers were boarding… but we also sat around for nearly half an hour, missing our scheduled departure time. Finally a very large group of passengers began boarding the flight. They all appeared to be part of the same group because each one had a pink shoulder bag with something about a Bahraini group written on it (I surmised that the group was from Bahrain). One of the latecomers sat in the open seat next to me, dashing my hopes for having some extra room during the flight!

The flight to Bahrain departed at 20:00 and I again spent much of the time sleeping or watching movies. The man next to me fell asleep as well and began man-spreading his legs, invading my personal space. I knocked against him with my leg to get him to stop. Throughout the flight, he kept crossing his legs, putting his bare feet near either my tray table or the one of the man sitting on the other side of him – it was disgusting!

I was relieved when we finally landed in Bahrain around 23:00 (local time). I had a short layover there and soon boarded my flight to London. I had a window seat for this flight, but it was at the front row, so I had a ton of extra leg room. I was thoroughly exhausted from the long day of traveling (which was nearly 24 hours since I departed for Noi Bai in Hanoi); I soon drifted off to sleep for the majority of the flight.

I landed in London just before 07:00 and my six-hour layover at Heathrow began. I had a light breakfast of scones with jam and cream at a restaurant in the arrivals hall. I then moved over to a coffee shop, where I spent some time reading. Around 10:30, I made my way over to Terminal 2 so I could check in to my fourth (and final) flight – to Lisbon! Once through to the departures lounge, I had lunch at Pret before hopping on my flight.

The flight landed in Lisbon at 17:00 and, after clearing passport control and reclaiming my bag, I took the metro into the city. I had to walk down a long cobblestone sidewalk to reach my hotel from the metro station. When I arrived at the hotel, I discovered that the jostling from the bumpy walk had broken the extending handle on my suitcase! It had completely broken and come out of the slots in the bag!

I went up to my room to relax for a short while before heading out to get a quick bite for dinner. I grabbed some McDonald’s and then went right back to the hotel so I could go to bed. I was asleep by 21:30 and slept soundly throughout the entire night.