I often research places obsessively before I visit them. Just remembered when we visited Lisbon, the first time, we were only there for not much more than an hour before picking up the hire car to travel down to the Algarve. Why not just fly to Faro? We were visiting my parents who were staying on the coast for a couple of weeks, spent a few days with them before driving back to Lisbon for a few days of our own there. It worked out very well. The driving was lovely and we had a good car for the time we were there.
Trouble was, no sooner had we stepped off the flight from London to Lisbon, gone through security, collected luggage, sorted the car hire, a process I loathe because of all of the questions, taking an inprint on your credit card etc. We emerged from the car park straight into the city. I had to keep my nerve. Luckily the road running along the river up to the Vasco da Garma (apologies if spelt wrong) bridge which is huuuuuuuuuuge and looooooong was a breeze and then one on the motorway, we took no more than 3 hours to reach our next stop.
Great adventure!
It does sound like quite the fun journey! I love researching and having a list of places I wanna visit, but during our trip, we also ended up discovering so many hidden jewels just because we decided to take a few hours and just walk around. Discovering another country, whether by foot or car, is such an intoxicating feeling!
I feel you on the rest too though. I love vacations but I dread airports. The airport in Lisbon was pure chaos. I'm not even sure how I managed to find my gate on time 🤣
P.S. I'd love to be in your parents place for those few weeks! We're stuck with cold weather here 😅
Faro airport is worse but that was awhile ago and the refurb is probably finished.