We landed in Lisbon and the first 24 hours in the city gave us our first impressions of the Portuguese people.
We had heard and read blogs from those passing through and those who
have chosen to move here and they all said how nice Portuguese people
are. Our interactions were not in the tourist areas. Nearly all of
the people we needed to speak with did have a grasp of English and
most were fluent. The ones that were not, always found someone else
to help us.
There was a young 20 something woman
that popped up next to Vince to help translate for him. She even
showed him where the next place to go was by walking him there.
A woman named Margarida who works at
the airport helped us with our 3 large boxes and guided us out to our
waiting car service driver that we had booked online. His face was
not pleased when he saw the boxes and said we never told him he
needed a large car. We showed him the print out of our reservation
where it was specific with sizes and how many and he continued to
argue that he wanted more money. Now, let me be clear here, the
taxis are notorious at the airport for over charging, but we have
found this is not the case in town. Margarida was quietly but firmly discussing to the driver
just what she thought of his rude behavior and that he was not to
continue it. “Take them to the hotel and be nice” was the gist
of her tone and body language.
There have been several times that
things like this have happened already. It reminds us of what the US
was like when we were children. People were polite, helpful, kind,
friendly, courteous and respectful. Here they not only say Hello,
but everyone says Good Morning, Good Afternoon, and Good Evening to
all they meet. What a wonderful way to start!
