We finished our packing with the full moon on Friday and were ready to fly on Saturday morning. The AirBnB host even showed up to help us with our bags. He hefted the 30kg bag on his shoulder and went down the 60 steps like it was nothing. We checked our bags and headed up to the TAP lounge. It was super crowded and we barely found a space. Leslie motioned another couple over to sit next to us who knew at the time that we would really get to spend serious time with Heath and Thuanny. They came from a Miami flight that landed just as their next flight to Rome took off. So they were re-booked on our flight and were also flying business class. Heath is a Navy pilot and Thuanny is a Brazilian IT consultant. They caught a few minutes of sleep in the lounge and had a Aperol spritz drink. Once they announced the gate, we boarded the plane and everything seemed to be going fine. The drink cart was almost to us and the food was smelling great when the pilot announced that the service would be ended due to a "technical issue." That was merely odd but things soon got ominous when the flight attendants grabbed their personal oxygen tanks, strapped them on and sat down in their jump seats. Our minds raced, wondering what could be happening, loss of cabin pressure or bad fumes? I thought we would continue flying but we soon started to descend and landed in Barcelona. Our landing was greeted by firetrucks, paramedics, armed civil guards and airport representatives. The flight attendants were examined, the civil guards were intimidating people and cutting off any photos or videos and the firemen came on and sampled the air. It seemed like we may just take off again but then the busses arrived! The pilot did not make any announcements except to start the disembarkation process. So we got on to the bus, then off the bus in the terminal. We tried to keep up with the TAP representative but she was off to the races. By the time we caught up to her she had already made her announcements. We heard from others that we would have to meet up again at 6PM for an update. In the meantime we found that the new flight had been scheduled to take us to Rome. We waited for the update that never came and so we decided to head to the lounge. Our group pf four added another couple and we swapped travel stories and had a few drinks to while away the time. The departure time went from 9:50 to 10:15 to 10:50 and so on. It was after 11 by the time we took off again and past 1AM before we got to the hotel. What a long crazy day that was.
Nice sunset on our last evening in Lisbon
Full moon packing
A cool dog carrier seen in the lounge
Red lights mean no bathroom breaks for anyone
A third oxygen wearing flight attendant
Descending into Barcelona
Emergency and fire
Civil guard
Still breathing the oxygen
We had a big turnout
Flashing lights all around
Off everyone goes... Where to? We do not know
A long line of passengers trying to keep up with the TAP agent to get some answers
In the club with Ben and Cindy
Heath and Thuanny club #2 with this pair
Off we go again
Back on the plane
1:30 AM and we roll into the hotel
Big and spacious
All this beauty wasted on our tired brains
Off to sleep
