Our final day had arrived. A few minutes before 7:00 a.m., we gathered in the lobby of the Albatroz Hotel, less than 10 hours after our arrival the evening before. While we didn’t have time to take advantage of a single hotel amenity, the location could not have been better. After a smooth, 5-minute taxi ride, we were at the Madeira Airport well in advance of our flight; so early that they had not begun checking in bags.
Emmie takes in the Madeira ocean view for one final time.
While Cassy kept our spot in line, Emmie and I went to the airport’s lower level in search of the recently-added statue of Christiano Ronaldo, widely considered the world’s best soccer player. The statue accompanied the naming of the airport in his honor and received worldwide attention when it was dedicated in March 2017 due to the odd design and near complete lack of resemblance to the star athlete. It made for a fun photo op to share on the blog and with our second-favorite Starbucks manager Andy, who is the biggest soccer fan I know.
Our supply of Eilidh’s food was almost exhausted after our week in Porto Santo, and all of our souvenir sardines were in checked luggage, so the security process was generally quicker than in Lisbon. It was Cassy’s turn, however, for the extra search of her backpack. Unfortunately, one of the zippers broke when she was repacking her belongings, so it required a little extra care when lugging through the airport.
We had a pastry breakfast in the Madeira airport; Emmie declared her meal to be the “best chocolate muffin ever!”
As has been our experience with every flight this trip, families with infants were given the first opportunity to board. But, in this case, the incoming plane had just arrived, so “boarding” actually meant scanning our passes and standing in a holding room until all passengers were off of the plane, and it had been cleaned.
Amanda quadruple-checks the boarding passes as we waited in our holding area before boarding the plane.
The flight was more crowded than it appeared when checking in, but we still had favorable seats with decent legroom near the front of the airplane. Cassy sat by the two older kids on the flight; Amanda, Eilidh, and I sat together. Eilidh napped most of the flight, we were served more cold sandwiches, and a delayed takeoff meant a delayed landing, reaching Lisbon about 20 minutes behind schedule.
We already had a short layover in Lisbon, and the late arrival only accelerated our trek through the airport. Fortunately, we had a jet bridge departure from the plane and because of Eilidh, we were signaled to the priority lane for passport control. We were able to take a leisurely walk to the gate and arrived just in time to have our passports again reviewed and board the plane.
While I’d attempted to get all of our seats together, we have sincs learned that TAP aircraft have specific seats where infants can sit in-lap. Those aren’t necessarily cross-checked during online check-in, so I ended up a row ahead of everyone else. Noah and Amanda sat furthest away, a row behind on the opposite end of the four-seat row.
Noah and Emmie received tins with a variety of goodies, including a make-your-own-passport activity kit. It also contained an eye mask which Emmie immediately loved and used to help her get some rest on the plane. Eilidh received a different gift bag with a couple of stuffed animals, a bath book, and a bib.
A photo of the bag provided for Eilidh; also the last photo I took during our long-haul flight to Newark as my focus was entirely on keeping Eilidh sleeping and/or happy.
Once the flight had reached its cruising altitude, one of the flight attendants brought a bassinet and placed in in front of my seat. I felt a little bad for my seat-mate who now has much less freedom of leg movement but was excited about the prospect of a place for Eilidh to sleep during the flight. However, the seatbelt sign was never turned off during the flight, so we were never able to see if it was beneficial!
Lunch was at least warm, a slight improvement from the fare we’ve gotten accustomed to via previous TAP flights. I found it a bit challenging to eat while holding Eilidh but we managed. She had a dozen small bites of the roll and several small spoons of the possibly-coconut-flavored dessert whip. Amanda was fine with our lunch, and Noah ate his entire pasta serving despite it being topped with sauce!
I was proud of my ability to keep Eilidh in my lap for nearly the entire flight and she was sleeping or happy most of the time. We bonded a bit over the eight hours in our single seat, slightly isolated from the rest of our travel party.
The flight arrived on time at Newark, which set into motion a string of required events when returning from an overseas trip. We declared goods and had passports checked at customs, in a line much lengthier and slower-moving than we experienced in either Iceland or Portugal. We re-checked our bags then made our way to terminal A, where we were set to board our flight to Des Moines.
The travel day home didn’t exactly have an ideal schedule; the sequence of three flights was stretched over 18 hours, with a lengthy layover in Newark. After the terrible food experience before we departed for Iceland, I was excited about a different terminal. Food options were slightly better, but the Mountain Dews enjoyed by Amanda and Cassy probably overshadowed the quality of their Chinese food or lack thereof. Noah had a hamburger, Emmie ate fries, then everyone except Amanda had a donut.
In addition to the customs experience, we were required to re-check our carry-on luggage. Eilidh’s bag always causes a challenge; while it was time-consuming in Lisbon, the process was far worse in Newark. Her omeprazole liquid somehow triggered an alarm which triggered a set of follow-ups that landed Amanda in a quasi-quarantine until it was resolved. I was nervous as to her whereabouts, to the point I was considering leaving the secure area and going back through security just to determine her status.
Emmie waited… and waited… and waited for mommy to get through security.
Noah shows off the stuffed animal he colored, purchased at a cool store called Ale-Hop in the Madeira airport.
She eventually made it through after a series of happenings too cumbersome to detail in the blog. I went to the United Club to catch up on blogging. Our flight was delayed a few minutes due to a late incoming aircraft, and an unknown passport issue caused Eilidh and me to be the last passengers to board, but we landed in Des Moines more than 15 minutes ahead of schedule!