Hi there,
When we had been in Peru for 2 months, I had a crisis and I told Diego that we were no longer touring South America and that we were going back to Europe.
First, I was tired of finding dirty and poor-quality accommodation. I was tired of cleaning up other people’s dirt when we were paying sky-high prices to have at least the “minimum standards”.
Also, the excessive noise at all the destinations was driving me crazy.
Our initial idea was to travel throughout South America and then return to Portugal to buy a house, but the need to have our base to return to when we got tired of being digital nomads became very great.
We thought that being a digital nomad would be easy, but the reality is that it is not. If you like to work comfortably at a desk and office chair, if you like cleanliness, if you like to sleep on a good mattress, if you like to have a decent and well-equipped kitchen, if you like to be in a home where there is no noise, you will only find difficulties. We’re not even talking about luxury. This also means spending a lot of time solving problems that one would not have at home.
The minimum that is cleanliness, is not found in tourist accommodation. This was our biggest difficulty and what made us change our plans. When you’re not on vacation, having decent accommodation is key as that’s where you’ll be spending most of your time.
So, we started looking for flights.
We wanted to go to Porto since that is where we wanted to buy the house.
We bought the flight since we had seen a lot of accommodation at a good price for high season. As soon as we finished booking the flight, all the accommodations I had seen disappeared and only those that already in May cost between 2,000 and 3,000 euros per month remained.
I repeat, we are not talking about luxury. We’re talking about half-empty micro lofts that didn’t even have a dining table. I couldn’t believe that madness.
I began to contact the hosts to see if they would set up work areas for us and improve the kitchen equipment. Everyone’s answer was a resounding “no”. Paying at least 2,000 euros a month so that they wouldn’t even deign to buy a pasta strainer for you.
Here I was already in crisis because we had a flight and no accommodation, because I was not going to pay those prices with that lousy service.
We began to ask our contacts to see if we could go to Valencia or Turkey instead of Porto.
We found a woman in Valencia who rented us her apartment for 1,000 euros a month. In the video she sent me it looked good, and she showed a lot of flexibility regarding things we might need.
Although I hate Valencia and Spain in general, we preferred to be there rather than in Turkey because of its proximity to Portugal, so if we wanted to go for a few days to see houses, it would be less expensive.
Valencia was our “worst is nothing” to take refuge during the summer without spending too much money.
One good thing about being there is that, having Diego’s parents, we had a plan B in case we needed to stay at their house and their help.
Another good thing is that we would rent the apartment in Valencia, so we would be better located than when we lived in Almussafes.
The flight from Quito to Madrid was premium economy and the one from Madrid to Porto was in first class. This was cheaper than buying a tourist class ticket and add a suitcase.
Although many years ago I decided not to travel with Iberia anymore because the cabin crew were too bitter and rude, we decided to give the airline a chance since the ticket had a very good price.
Having decided to base in Valencia, we only had to buy the flight from Porto since they did not let us change the destination and it was not even possible to cancel the flight to Porto and stay in Madrid.
We had some money in the booking.com wallet and it was impossible to use it in the 7 months we were in Latin America. The surprise was that in Europe there were a lot of hotels that did accept it. So, we booked a night in a hotel near the airport and with the money from the wallet, we got it for free.
On the flight from Quito to Madrid we were in the first premium economy seats, so we were very comfortable with as much space as possible to stretch our legs. Also, we got a stewardess who was so nice and even gave us first class chocolates. Even when I asked for tomato juice which they no longer offer, another guy who had listened to me came to bring it to me.
In Iberia we also noticed the crisis and how the quality has dropped for everything: food, drinks (there is not even sparkling water), bathroom equipment, plane cleaning, etc.
Lately I always have a bit of anxiety on long flights and the last 4 hours are unbearable for me. But on this flight, I was so comfortable that I slept wonderfully, and the time went by fast.
As the next flight was in first class, we took the opportunity to enter the VIP lounge and I felt as millionaire as Kim Kardashian. We ate everything vegan we could find and took chips and almonds to go. It was incredible to see all the drunks having wine and drinks as if the world was going to end.
On the flight from Madrid to Porto we were the only ones in first class, so I felt even more of a millionaire. Traveling without people around was a luxury. The stewardess brought us cold cuts and when we told her we were vegan, she gave us all the snacks she had, and we even took pictures of all the food we had. That flight was a bliss.
We arrived in Porto and as we had 4 pieces of luggage in addition to the backpacks, a customs officer stopped us to ask us why we were carrying so many things. Even with our little Portuguese, we could understand each other, and the officer was so nice and did not even open our bags.
If it had been in Spain, surely we would have had a rude person who would have made us open all our suitcases.
We arrived in Porto and fell in love with the city again; everything seemed so beautiful to us.
That afternoon we went for a walk through Mercadona and Lidl because we missed seeing normal supermarkets too much. Then we went to dinner at our favorite vegan restaurant of Portugal.
The next day we went to Valencia, and I will tell you in other post how was the stay there.
Now I tell you about the Stay Hotels Aeroporto.
The most comfortable thing was to stay near the airport and take the train to go to dinner downtown. Although the night was free for us because we had money in our booking.com wallet, the night without breakfast cost around 60 euros.
When we made the reservation, we received an email to register online, and we were given a code to access the room directly. When we arrived at the hotel, we had to check in at the reception again because the check-in was not actually automatic.
Pros
- Close to the airport and a metro station.
- New hotel and good quality facilities.
- Comfortable bed, new and good quality towels and sheets, spacious bathroom, amenities (shampoo, soap, water, coffee tea)
Cons
- Poor housekeeping. The floor was filthy there was even food in the desk drawer. The hallway rugs were dirty. This ruined the review for the hotel.
- Slow Internet.
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