Well that was a huge anticlimax, and in the best possible way! If you have been following my story you will know i was stranded in Holland for the past month.. waiting for the chance to go back home to India. That didn’t happen to instead i bought a ticket to Portugal and crossed my fingers that they would let me in. I was pretty nervous beforehand, not least because i have no where else to go, and when i spoke to any officials on the phone it seemed very clear that you need a residency visa to come. That is something that i don’t have!
Staying in the Easy Hotel in Amsterdam was a bit worrying.. mainly because of this woman who was sat in the main reception area coughing really hard, and it was one of those.. you know Corona Coughs!.. dry, empty, a painful sounding cough. I looked up at her and her energy looked really not, and she gave me this real weird strange smile! I took a few paces away, and almost grabbed my mask but then decided.. screw it! I guess ill know in two weeks how that turns out!
So what happened when i got to Lisbon airport? Well really the whole trip was a dream, never been easier. Leaving Schipol Airport was a breeze, and no security officer wanted to search any bags. Mine got flagged, it had quite a few issues.. including my lunch with liquids and what not. The customs officer gave me this knowing look like.. yeah normally i should pull this all out, but no way im taking the risk!
During the flight we had some food preset on our chairs, and a minimum of one person gap per seat. Most people wore masks, and the cabin crew were very relaxed. When we landed they gave us a photocopy of the rules for COVID in Portugal, not much really just the basics, and we de-boarded the plane.
Its a lot harder finding your way around when there isn’t a herd of people showing you the flow.. all so quiet.. quite strange.. it really felt a bit like there had been a nuclear holocaust and i was one of the few survivors.. Very strange indeed!....
SO, i found my luggage drifting around a conveyor belt, and went through the green channel... Looking expectantly for the final and most important step, the customs officers. I walked a bit, and then noticed that i seemed to be leaving the airport.. I saw the main exit door, and walked through it and i was OUT?! What where was passport control? No one even looked at me, asked any questions. I have NO idea where the entire passport control area was or even went?!..
And so it is! The difference between what we think from reading news, media, and even even speaking to officials is quite startling. I could have come back weeks ago if i had wanted, I didn’t even think it was an option!
SO lesson learned again. DONT BELIEVE THE HYPE. >
I’m writing this sat on an old and very un-level cobbled stone ground of a bus station in Lisbon. In a few hours I will take a bus up to Penamacor, and settle in to a small cottage .. to begin my new life
.. and OF COURSE... ecoVILLAGES!
OH AND>> CONGRATULATIONS TO HIVE! $0.90 is the price right now.. Hands up who's totally kicking themselves for selling at $0.20? MEEEeeee OMG damnnnnnnn!
I'm so happy for you. Stay safe.
A huge hug from @amico! 🤗
But I take it they're not just letting tourists in!
That is odd about passport control. I thought it was something when they took the ID checks off at the supermarket check-outs, but no passport control or baggage search, that really is another level of weird from usual!
Well it seems, today at least, u can walk in without question. I think ud have to pretty stupid to try go on holiday here right now.. just dont hang around I suppose..
Wow that’s absolutely awesome news Alex. May I ask how much was the ticket from Dam to Portugal? Same as usual ? I shall be very interested to hear about how life is in Portugal.... maybe I may head that way one day too. Sounds like a pretty cool country compared to some parts of Europe.
Thank u! Its so chill here i love it. So yeah the tickets r not cheap! I paid 250 euros, and saw many for as much as 450.. buy early thats for sure!
Where are u based?
Congrats on Your Journey!!
Say "Hi to the gang when You get there"!
👍🏼😁👍🏼
And Yep!
Hive is on the move!!!
Great to hear.
There was no passport control because you were on an internal EU flight and they haven't instituted border controls in breach of the Schegen Treaty.
I guess! Last month i came from uk and they did have passport control then.. no idea and im not complaining;)
yea, UK is not part of Shengen thats why...
Oh, I'm so glad to hear you made it! And reducing all the stupid rules everywhere is exactly what I was talking about in my QOTW reply. And I didn't even mention flying, which is just insanely full of that stuff. Nice going!
Wow, am so happy to hear this. You made it with ease to Portugal. You bet the hype kills us more then anything. Now you can be relaxed and settled. Take care and happy times ahead with the hive touching .90, looks like the energy is shifting and it's giving positive signs.Take care and wish you happy days ahead :-)
Much Love
happy to hear about that.
stay safe
Congratulations Alex and thanks for reminding us of this important truth to not be so trusting in the media!
Finally !! - I can imagine, the feeling inside.
cool, looking forward to seeing the setup for the eco village there in Penamacor. I loved living in Portugal and the country is really hospitable and beautiful. Careful about the fires though
Glad to know you are ok!.
BTW, On flights inside EU countries there’s never a passport control.
And here goes the neighborhood! Nice Alex, I'm glad you are able to follow your dreams, gongrats on making it to Portugal.
We're chilling in our little bubble of isolated land upstate new york... not much media to listen to, we're very busy building, cleaning and prepping a garden, but we are wondwring if the winter will ever come to an end! It still dips down to very close to 0° at night and it's been raining a lot!
Portugal is looking more and more like we want to be there for the Ecovillage!
Anyway, happy you made it so easily!
That's great news! Glad to read that Schengen still works somehow ;-)
In not-crazy times this flight would be dailiest thing on earth for a seasoned traveller and it should be!
(All those stupid daily changing rules and practices... when I finally returned to Germany from Mexico via Canada late in March, they handed out a corona virus form with many questions. After filling it out dilligently, nobody cared to see or collect it. Still have it as a souvenir.)
Stay safe and healthy! You have a good mindset and a mission - I can't think of a better way to maintain a good immune system.
I'm so happy you made it to Portugal and there will be no more waiting to get back to the project of eco-villages!
Looking forward to all the updates!