Week 1 + 2: Ston Easton - London - Porto - Lisbon - Azores
TL;DR: Got married (YES!). Attended my nephews baptism (we are his godparents). Travelled to Porto, Lisbon, and Sao Miguel island (in the Azores). Ate lots of delicious food (thanks TripAdvisor!), took a couple surf lessons, went canyoning and mountain biking.
Week 1 video: https://youtu.be/8wAx1axJ6Uo
Wedding video (teaser): https://youtu.be/NU4DRKWmKVY
This is the first update from our trip. It’s been a bit of a struggle finding time to edit 1 video per week. I discovered that it’s possible to capture TOO MUCH footage, as I then need to decide what to keep...
We had an amazing wedding in England. Sarah pulled out all the stops and really planned a special 3 days. I’m really grateful we were able to be surrounded by friends and family to celebrate.
We had a couple days after the wedding to relax (visiting manors, promenading through gardens, being massaged by hot sea shells...). I’ve really taken to afternoon tea. I think it’s an amazing way to have lunch and would like to do it every day!
We caught back up with the family in London for my nephews christening, and flew out to Porto, Portugal were we travelled with our friends Shiva and Sarah for 3 days. Porto was super neat. It’s as idillic as all the postcards. Super colourful, and lots of hilly, curvy steps and roads leading to and from the river. Best part of Porto was Pastel de Nata and bumping into my parents (who were on a separate tour) while we were walking around. We went for dinner together and had one of the most inviting experiences ever. 5/5 rating on tripadvisor will be left!
We took a train to Lisbon and really had some time to explore the city and culture. There was an old town area, a night life spot, historical areas and lots of stairs and hills to climb in between. We did a cooking class, walking tours, had more amazing food (thanks again trip advisor), took a surf class, rented some motorcycles, and bumped into some of Sarah’s friends from cadets. We went for a Pastel de Nata cooking class. We also had some crazy time with Lime scooters (imagine lots of tourists, crazy hills and cobblestone). I really fell in love with the city!
We flew over to Sao Miguel island in the Azores, and have spent the last week here. We rented scooters, had amazing food, went mountain biking, explored abandoned 5-star hotels, went canyoning, and caught some more waves during a surf class. The island is surreal. Views of the ocean everywhere and lots of adventure tourism. Coolest experience here was sitting in a natural pool where hot thermal waters meet the ocean. Watching huge waves come crashing in while we hang out in a warm/hot pool was surreal. This was one of the coolest natural events of my life.
We are starting to get into a bit more of a groove with travel, from making plans for the day, balancing activities, managing the weekly budget, and getting our bearings in new locations.
Next up: Poland and Turkey!