Shopping in Portugal

Being a typical girl, one thing I love to hear about other people's vacations is how the shopping was, so I had to do a post dedicated to the topic for you guys. I would say the best thing about the shopping in Portugal was that the tax is already included in the price.

This is a design of a table runner. I saw it at the farmers market but didn't buy it at first. Then I went back and found it later. It was 20 euros.

These are a bunch of cards with random pictures on them that represent the food, flowers, craftsmanship etc of the Acores. There are 17 in the package. You are actually supposed to cut them out and make a mobile, lol but I'm definitely going to frame them all instead. It was about 8 euros for the pack. 

Little elephant tray. I like to collect little trays and bowls to keep jewelry in. This was 4.50 euros. It is handmade. 

I am constantly seeing white lace-y shorts all over Pinterest lately. These are my version! They are more like a denim short and the front is more like a crocheted material and there is also some on the back pockets. They are from this awesome store called Stradivarius. They were 12.99 euros.

I also got 2 tops from Zara for 9.99 euros each. We do of course have Zara here in Canada but I have only been once and from what I remember it seemed a little pricey. Comparable tops I found on the website were in the $30 range. My cousin and I were talking about it and she said (what I was already thinking) that their prices are better there, even with the exchange because everything is European made. 

I also got this purse at Mango. Again, we have this store in Canada too, although I have never been to one here. Same as Zara, prices seem to be cheaper there. I got this purse for 36 euros. Remember thats tax included. I found it online and the Canadian price is $59.99, and thats without tax!

Hope you guys enjoyed the post, let me know what you think!

What I Spent on Vacation

Ok guys here is my recap of what I spent while in Portugal. I was not completely diligent in keeping track of every little thing. This is based on all the receipts I kept from most of my shopping and then some other spending that I specifically remembered. There might be a few little things that I didn't remember but this is basically it. I'm not going to give an itemized breakdown but just a few categories. The conversion is based on an exchange rate of 1 euro =  $1.30 Canadian which is what it was when I left.

Clothes for myself: 180€ ($234)
Souvenirs for myself: 52€ ($67)
Souvenirs for family/friends: 315€ ($410)
Food: 75€ ($98)
Baby shower gift for my cousin: 17€ ($22)
cough medicine: 7.50€ ($10)
whale watching: 32€ ($42)
garden entrance fee: 2.50€ ($3.25)
Dinner and drinks at hotel bar: 13.50€ ($17.50)

grand total: 695€ ($903)

I didn't pay for accommodation or much food. A lot of the food I ate was home cooked, more so than eating out, and most of the money I spent on food was for stuff that I brought home.

Theres a few other random things I spent money on like a few drinks when we were out and stuff but this is most of it. Overall, things were less expensive than I expected and therefore I didn't spend as much as I thought. I saved over $1800 and as you can see I spent about half!! You are probably wondering what will I do with the rest? Well I think I'm just going to leave it because I have my friend's wedding in Mexico in December and considering it's all inclusive I think the remaining $1000 will be enough for that trip. In fact, it's probably more than enough.

Portugal Recap

Even though I referred to my destination as Portugal, more specifically it was the island of São Miguel which is a part of the Açores which is a group of islands off the coast of mainland Portugal. It is the largest and most populated island, the entire thing has only about 140,000 people (less than my city). Here are some places that I visited:

• Sete Cidades 

It is a large crater about 3 miles across with two lakes at the bottom (referred to as the twin lakes) separated by a bridge. One is green and one is blue. The legend is that a blue eyed princess fell in love with a shepherd boy with beautiful green eyes. Their love was forbidden and they cried so much that their tears formed the two lakes. There is a little village down there which we went into. Its very small and you feel like you have stepped back in time, like way back.

• Lagoa do Fogo (Lagoon of Fire)

This is another crater and it is considered a nature reserve. My 3 cousins and I hiked down into the bottom of it on a very unsteady trail which was a little bit scary. One wrong step and you're dead! You have to be very careful. It looks so daunting but it was only about 30 mins each way which wasn't too bad. At the bottom we walked around to a beach area and went into the water. It was freezing!!!

• Jardim Jose do Canto

It is a large botanical garden with over 6000 species of plants. The construction began in 1845 and it includes a monument of the builder Jose do Canto, a manor house, a greenhouse and a chapel. It was really really beautiful and only 2.50€ entrance fee.

Rubber tree

• Furnas

Furnas is a town on the island that is famous for it's hot springs and geysers. We went swimming in the hot pools which was a cool experience. The water has lots of sulphur in it so it turns your nails a little orange which was kind of gross but when you get out your skin is sooooo soft!! Further into the town there is an area where you cook food in the ground. Basically you fill a huge pot with whatever you want (meat, potatoes, corn, veggies etc) and you have to go at like 5am for the workers to bury your pot. Then around 1pm they dig it back up and it is ready to eat! It's pretty cool! You can also drink fresh mineral water. 

The pools

geysers of boiling water

mineral water

our pot of food 

I also visited a few churches, walked around the city a lot, went to lots of outdoor parties, swam in the ocean and did a lot of shopping. Check back for another post about the stuff I bought! 

Back In Canada

I'm back from vacation! I had a pretty fabulous time but at the same time I'm glad to be home. Towards the end of it I started to not feel well which really sucked! Here are some initial thoughts before I start going into details.

Flying:

• The flight there was my first time on a plane and I wasn't a big fan. It wasn't quite as bad as I thought but I was barely able to sleep and was totally exhausted when I arrived. I was really worried about the whole ear-popping thing but it wasn't too bad. Actually my ears were totally fine until a few days before I came back!
• The flight back was much much better. I got a window seat with nobody beside me so I didn't feel so cramped. And even though the flight was technically longer it didn't feel as long, probably because I wasn't as anxious as the first time. 

Life In Portugal:

• It is a simpler way of life over there, which is what I expected. They are a pretty laid back people, with a sort of life-is-one-big-party attitude. Family is everything over there. The whole family goes out together most of the time which is different from I am used to because I go out with friends way way more than I go out with my family. 
• They eat dinner really late. Like 9pm. It was weird for me because we eat dinner at like 5 or 6. I didn't like eating so late! lol 
• I don't know why but it surprised me a little that they listen to a lot of english music. Britney Spears, Rihanna, JLo, etc etc. We went to outdoor parties a lot with live bands and they sang a lot of songs I know which made me feel a little bit more at home. 

Random things I noticed:

• They wear their shoes all over the house.
• The signs on the shelves in the grocery store are all electronic! 
• When they answer the phone instead of saying "Hello?" they say "Yes?" lol
• In the food court at the mall nobody cleans up after themselves. You leave all your garbage on the table and someone cleans it up for you. And they give you real cutlery. Not plastic
• When we went to the outdoor parties they had a food area set up and someone came to the table to take our order. Usually at something like that in Canada you are expected to go up to the counter and get food yourself and bring it to your table.

Here are a few pictures. I will post in more detail later about the stuff I did with more pictures! 

I'm Off!

Today is the day that I am off to Portugal. I have been excited for this day to come for about 6 months, since I booked it back in January. I am excited, anxious, terrified but mostly excited. I mean there is a little nervousness about going to a new country where I don't speak the language, I'm not used to their customs and the food is a lot different. But I know its going to be an adventure that's all my own.

I'm not sure what I'm expecting from this vacation. I guess all that I can really say is I hope to come back having learned a lot about the culture that is such a big part of me, and hopefully picked up a bit of the language as well.  Whatever does or doesn't happen, I have a feeling I won't come back the same person.

Recently something happened that has sort of put things into perspective for me. A somewhat friend of the family has passed away. Well she was really more a friend of my Aunt, but still someone I really liked. It's really hitting me because nobody saw this coming. She was perfectly healthy (or so we all thought) and it all seemed to happen so fast. We later found out that she was sick for a long time and chose not to tell her family and friends.

After hearing about this it made me really glad that I am doing this trip. I've wanted to go to Portugal since I was a teenager and I honestly can't believe I waited this long. I kept planning to go in previous years but something else would always come up that I felt was more urgent. If I could give any one of you advice about something like this it would be this: Just do it! Just make it a priority. Put money aside and don't take from that savings for anything else! So many others talk about making paying off debt a priority, how they put every single extra penny towards debt. You can do the same to save for a trip, all you have to do is decide that it is a priority. You never know what is going to happen in your life so you need to do the things that make YOU happy.

So I'm off. I'll see you guys in a few weeks. I'll have another Pinteresting Wednesday and another Sunday Social post saved and I'll try to post some pictures with my Blogger App while I'm there. But until then I leave you with this:

Packing for Portugal Volume 1

Yesterday after many hours of procrastinating I finally began the torturous process of packing. Well sort of. Basically I took a bunch of clothes and laid them in a heaping pile on my bed. Then I laid out "outfits" on the bed and took pictures of all the combinations of tops and bottoms. I figured this would help me visualize what goes with what and how many outfits I can get from each piece. This way I can look through the pictures and if I only see a certain top or bottom once I know its not a good idea to bring it.

I did so many searches online of "packing for Europe" and what not, mostly on Pinterest and what I find interesting is that nobody mentions pyjamas. So what are you all sleeping in? hmmm..

Ok so a couple questions regarding carry on luggage:

1. Does toothpaste count as a "liquid or gel"?
2. What about a pack of face wipes? I mean they are soaked in cleanser so...?

I'm sure I have more questions but that's all I can come up with at the moment. If you think of any tips, let me know!

Looks like all those countless beauty subscription boxes and P&G Brandsampler boxes I signed up for are coming in handy. I've got travel size kleenex, shampoo, toothpaste, sunscreen, an extra razor and toothbrush and who knows what else!

19 days to go

19 days to go and I'm getting more excited and anxious by the day. Excited because I anticipate this being a somewhat life altering experience but anxious because it's my first time flying and therefore obviously my first time going overseas. What if I forget something really important?? What if I run out of money? What if I lose something? Gah!

Heres everything I've done so far in preparation:
- I've called both of my credit card companies to notify them of my trip
- I've also spoke to both my banks about accessing my accounts overseas and got both to put notes on        my file about it
-Ive registered with the "Registration of Canadians Abroad" service through the government. It was pretty easy.
-Ive borrowed luggage and an electrical adapter/converter thing from my co-worker.

I still need luggage tags. I wanted to get some super cool ones off Ebay but I waited too long and then I was paranoid about spending my money and possibly not getting them in time. So I will probably just go buy the generic ones they have the luggage store at the mall. I'll probably also look for a cheap scarf or decorated tape at the dollar store or something to put on my luggage to make it easier to find at the airport.

I've bookmarked my banks currency exchange rates page and check it every day. I'm waiting for a day when it looks good to place my order for some Euros. Since I only plan to bring a few hundred euros in cash they said they don't really need that much notice because they always have that much in stock.

I also have to call the travel agent to confirm the weight limit for my luggage. I checked the airline's website but I found it really confusing. Silly portuguese airlines!

Anyways I guess all that's really left to do is figure out what to pack in terms of clothes. Should be pretty simple...yeah right! lol

I'll leave you with some travel related pins I'm loving right now:

Pre-Portugal To Do List

With my Portugal trip only 1 month away, I've made a list of things I need to do before I leave. I thought I would post it and that way if you guys can think of anything I've missed, you can let me know! Here's what I've got so far:

• Renew drivers liscence and plate sticker (because I'll be arriving back shortly before my birthday, it has to be done before I leave) Check!
• Make photocopies of: passport, drivers licence, birth certificate, health card, benefits card. I'll make two copies of each and leave one copy at home with my parents and keep one copy with me, separate from the originals. 
• Call VISA and AMEX to notify them of my vacation incase I have to use one of them while I'm away, they won't think its stolen and block it
• speak to bank about how I can access my money overseas ( I  was planning to bring a few hundred euros in cash and the rest in travellers checks, but  need to be aware of how I can get more money out if needed). I don't think you can just use debit directly at the point of sale.
• register with Canadian Embassy in Portugal? Maybe this is paranoid but I heard it's a good idea to register with the embassy where you are visiting, incase of an emergency it allows for things to get done faster. 

Um this is all I've got so far. All you seasoned travellers please tell me if I have forgotten anything!!

Flight Booked!!

I officially booked my flight to Portugal!!!! After years of saying I was going to do it, then not saving enough money, saving money then using it for something else, I finally made it a priority to save for this trip, no excuses! And I did it! I'm so proud of myself right now. I will be going for two weeks in July and the total cost of the flight including cancellation insurance is $763. It's a great price for going during the summer because summer is always the most expensive. Right now my travel fund is about $2770 so even after I pay off the flight on my credit card I will still have $2000 left! :)

Did I mention this will be my first time flying?? And I'm going across the ocean by myself. I might be a little insane!

Anyways, on to other topics. I still don't have my iPhone. I called a different Bell store yesterday and the girl said they have been only getting a few at a time. I hate waiting! :(

Today I went to Value Village because I had a WagJag voucher for $15. I ended up buying a globe and a j-crew sweater, and only paid about $5 out of pocket! I'm starting a globe collection after being inspired by pictures such as this one on Pinterest:

I'm also on the hunt for maps after seeing this picture:

Anyways, I found the exact J-crew sweater that I just got online. This is it:

Apparently it's about $98! It was priced at $12.99 and the tags were still on!!!

Going to start learning portuguese!

I bought a Portuguese Phrasebook today! It's the Lonely Planet Portuguese Phrasebook, and I'm really excited to start learning. I got a $20 gift card to Chapters for Christmas from a friend and I thought I would put it to good use.
I eventually want to buy some sort of cd-rom for more in-depth learning of the language but this will do for now. It's basically got a bunch of sections to do with travelling, as well as a menu reader and a two-way dictionary.
It looks really cool and I can't wait to start reading it!