Our Tuesday started early with alarms set for 6:00 so we could pack and get ready for our final day of travel to get to the Canary Islands. The kids struggled to get out of bed, but we managed to get to the lobby with all of the kids and all of our bags a shade before 7:30. Our Uber driver was waiting and we were quickly in the midst of heavy Lisbon traffic on our way to the airport.
After an hour of stop-and-go traffic, we entered the airport and printed our boarding passes. As in previous visits to the Lisbon Airport, we were whisked to the priority line. Eilidh is older this time around, but Amanda carrying her in the Tula seemed to help our eligibility for the special treatment. From a distance, the standard line felt shorter than our separate line, but at least we were among other families with children who may have been more understanding of the extra time required to get bags on the converter belt and take out all of our medicine.
We expected to spend only a few minutes in the terminal before our plane boarded, but shortly after making it through security, a text message arrived that our flight had been delayed by 90 minutes. Instead of rushing to our gate, we headed to the food court to sit down for a fast-food breakfast of McDonald’s and KFC.
Before our healthy fast food breakfast, we picked up a package of cat tongue shaped chocolates.
Eilidh was happy to eat a bite of the orange-flavored chocolate.
Eilidh wasn’t interested in the pancakes we wanted and became increasingly agitated as the morning proceeded. The cough she had before we left for vacation also seemed to return and Amanda was convinced she had a temperature. That conviction was quickly confirmed after we purchased an old-school underarm thermometer from the airport pharmacy.
A gate was assigned for our plane, but that gate didn’t have a jet bridge, meaning we boarded a bus that took us to our plane. As we waited on the plane, we completed some informal online research on medical options on the island of Fuerteventura, where we were staying the next four nights. Taking advice from our Airbnb host, we had a tentative plan to stop at a private hospital before driving to our vacation home.
The TAP snack was upgraded from our previous flying experiences, which consisted of thick pieces of bread filled with a sliver of random meat salads.
There are few direct flights to Fuerteventura, so we had to fly through Gran Canaria, the largest by population of the seven Canary Islands. The airport provided an opportunity to have Starbucks for the first time on our vacation, where Eilidh and I split a green tea, Noah has his peach green tea lemonade, and Emmie tried the Phantom Frappuccino, a Halloween-inspired black-colored drink that wasn’t available in the states.
The Phantom Frappucino was made with black charcoal powder, coconut milk, and mango essence, accented with a lime-flavored slime. Emmie drank most of it, but I was able to taste it… and liked it.
The flight from Gran Canaria to Fuerteventura was refreshingly pleasant. It was operated by Binter, a regional airline company whose planes mostly flew between the various Canary Islands. Instead of a bus or jet bridge, we walked across the tarmac to board the turboprop plane. We picked our seats and were served KitKat-like chocolates and fruity mints over the course of the 40-minute flight.
Eilidh was in good spirits for our 40-minute intra-island flight.
Binter-branded snack bars, which tasted much like Kit Kats.
Eilidh inside the Fuerteventura terminal.
We apparently received a complimentary upgrade to our rental car reservation, but the upgrade appeared to be a nicer make and model, not a larger size. The kids and bags fit snugly and we began the 30-minute drive to our Spanish home, just outside of La Oliva in the north-central part of the Island.
Many automobiles in Europe take diesel, but ours took standard gasoline, as conveniently indicated on the gas cap.
Noah was excited to spend the next four nights in his own room.
Emmie and Eilidh were all smiles thinking about their stay in the cave room.
After our bags were unloaded and the kids settled into their rooms, we made the short walk down the street to Restaurante Mahoh, which had long been a part of our trip itinerary. We sampled a bevy of Canarian food including traditional wrinkled potatoes, fried goat cheese with honey, a salad served with more fried goat cheese, a ragu made with goat meat served with more potatoes, and a plate of Spanish ham. The service was great and the meal was filling, but as with most European dining experiences, the experience lasted a little longer than was preferred.
Pre-meal selfie!
Wrinkled potatoes served with a traditional Canarian sauce.
Iberian ham.
Salad with fried goat cheese and a sweet vinaigrette dressing.
Eilidh quickly learned how to drink her water out of the wine glass.
Salad with fried goat cheese and a sweet vinaigrette dressing.
Just after midnight, Eilidh had awoken with a consistent cough and seemed unable to return to sleep. After some discussion and debate over whether to leave immediately or wait until morning, I agreed to drive her to the emergency room to be seen and treated. I was apprehensive about driving in the dark on unfamiliar roads, but the 30-minute trip to the island’s capital city went smoothly, and we’d arrived at the private hospital near the town’s center.
Unfortunately, after unloading Eilidh from the car and entering the hospital reception area, we were informed the visit would require 600 Euros cash since we did not carry insurance from Spain or the EU. The receptionist suggested we drive five minutes to the public hospital, which would be significantly cheaper, so we did just that.
The emergency room was quiet at 2:00 a.m.
Reviews for both the public and private hospitals were decidedly mixed on Google. Our visit to the public hospital’s emergency room started poorly, as Eilidh was screaming and the reception staff didn’t seem particularly interested in helping us. Nonetheless, passports were reviewed and paperwork was completed, and we were into the triage room within a few minutes.
Thankfully, the experience with the nurse and doctor was extremely positive. They came into the room and calmed Eilidh down almost instantly. After some evaluation and a throat swab test, the Doctor concluded Eilidh had a standard virus. Her lungs looked great, and they expected she would get better with water, rest, and Tylenol as needed.
We collected our prescription and checked out at the reception desk, with no charge for our visit. My phone service had been spotty on the island, leaving my trusted Google Maps app unable to render directions back home. Fortunately, there are only a few handful of major roads on the island, and the hospital was near the airport, allowing me to retrace our initial drive to return to our vacation home. I debriefed with Amanda and we were all back in bed a shade before 3:00 a.m.