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Portugal – Tips, Info, & Sage Advice

Here are some random tips I’ve learned along the way. They’re arranged in no particular order, but each is important to know.

• Exit your plane quickly and walk fast enough to get ahead of the other passengers. Customs lines can take forever and this will help you get ahead of your flight companions. You’re welcome.
• Another important consideration for advancing quickly through customs is to install the Mobile Passport app on your phone. Having this allows U.S. citizens and Canadian visitors to expedite their entry process back into the United States.
• Try to arrange your flights so that you arrive in Portugal in the evening. Doing so will help you acclimate to the local time by sleeping during their night.
• Portugal uses the Euro for currency. One US dollar = 1.14 Euros (as of February 28, 2019)
• Lisbon is the primary town we’ll be shooting in. Your flight will arrive in Lisbon Portela Airport (LIS) and from there it’s a short ride to the city center. Transportation options include Aero’s (shuttle service), Metro (subway), Carris (bus), taxi, Uber, or direct door-to-door airport transfer service.
• Our on-location photo sessions will take place primarily in the first few hours of the morning, or the last few hours in the afternoon. They will involve a fair amount of walking so I’d recommend being in moderate shape to meet the moderate exertion required. And of course, pack appropriate shoes.
• Bored while on the long flight? Upload a Portuguese language app (I use Duolingo), put on the head phones, and learn a few useful phrases. The best phrases to master are universal; smile a lot, and be polite, patient and respectful.
• Your US telephone country phone code is +1, Portugal is +351.
• Here’s the address for the US Embassy in Lisbon: Avenida das Forças Armadas
  1600-081 Lisboa.
• The consulate phone is: +351-21-727-3300
• Pack as light as possible. Toting lots of bags is a pain in the ass.
• Make sure you take advantage of internet cloud storage to keep your vacation photos safe in case of loss or theft of your camera.
• Lisbon is 6 hours ahead of US Central Time. If practical try to adjust your sleep schedule in advance of your trip.
• While flying wear loose fitting clothes, drink lots of water and avoid alcohol or caffeine. Stretch hourly and get up to walk around as often as possible. For more tips to reduce the effects of jet lag visit: WebMD.
• You’ll be relieved to know that currently the US Department of State has no travel alerts for Portugal.
• Being late and missing flights, trains, or buses really puts a damper on our travel. So Ill leave you with a little advice I learned awhile back from one of my travel buddies; “You can kill time, but you can’t make time”. In other words plan ahead and get to the airport well in advance.