TAP Air Portugal. The national airline of Portugal
8H flight from Chicago to Lisbon
Layover flight to Porto
It is very rare to walk through the jet bridge to board the plane in Europe, because there are more flights than are gates
A bus transport takes you to your plane, and you board by the stairs. Different from America
Welbock to Porto
The metro in Porto. Very clean and nicely laid out. Direct transportation from the airport to the house
Porto sunset. My favorite city and country for sightseeing. Beautiful
Mirror Picture. My backpack is so big. As you can see, I overpacked. What's New
Bitoque- Grilled meats (Steak, Chicken, Sausage) with fries and sunny egg. Traditional Portuguese meal. 5.1/10 way too salty for my liking. The fresh tomatoes helped with the saltiness.
Night view of our street
No screens to keep out bugs and birds. This was closed before going to bed and would get so hot! Very rare to have AC in homes. And this place didn't have any fans!
Beautiful views though in the mourning
Another street view. All the roads are made of cobblestone. You need to be careful with potholes because you can twist your ankle. Especially at night. Almost happened to me a few times. ouch
Naranja Fanta. 4.9/10. Even though it's the same Fanta brand, it tasted different. I prefer the American one. Maybe because I'm more used to it. This was just too sweet
Most all homes in Europe have a bidet in the bathrooms. I didn't actually use it because I'm not used to it.
It gets so hot during the day that you will find people just walking into cafes, bars, and lobbies and buying some drinks to cool off and rest. My drink of choice this day was blue Powerade mixed with perrier sparkling water. 7.2/10
Philip III's statue on a horse
Plaza mayor
Streets of Madrid Spain
Spanish cured meats store. I found a new love for cured meats. A simple Jamón ibérico prosciutto sammy with chorizo and a good quality olive oil on a warm baguette topped off with COARSE black pepper hits the spot. I could eat one every day. I basically did 8.7/10
Sunrise
The rare jet bridge
Entering Paris. It was nice to have a flat rate of 28 euros (basically $28) with a taxi
Cool architecture
Flag of France
Paris Gare de Lyon- 1 of 6 main stations in Paris
The residential building architectures all look very similar.
One of the Stade Roland Garros tennis courts
Stadium for Stade Roland Garros
Rafael Nadal won back in June
city views of paris
who is that in the middle?
Eiffel
Tower and me
The REAL statue of liberty
very beautiful
Eiffel Tower
The park in the Eiffel Tower
ME
Seine River- A very nice walking trail right next to the river that stretches very long. Perfect for a run
Sunset in paris
ME and Sun. SUN and me.
People taking in the sunset
As soon as the sunset comes out a new crowd of people comes out to take on the night. You'll find people just chilling next to the river playing music, drinking wine, and enjoying life
The clock from the railroad station
Entrance to Le Parc des Princes
Outside of Le Parc des Princes
Going into my first professional soccer game
PSG- Paris Saint-German. One of the BEST soccer teams in the world
VS Montpelier. Another team in France
The energy in the stadium is crazy. The Europeans don't mess around when it comes to soccer. You will literally feel the ground boom with all the chants.
They won 5-2. It was a very exciting and high-scoring game
over 50,000 people trying to leave all at one time
My first Asian meal in over 3 weeks! Was very much needed. Grilled pork rice plate- 8.9/10
Beef pho! 8.9/10! Great price also. Probably one of the cheapest things I ate during the whole trip. And it was good!
If you know me, then you know sparkling water is my FAVORITE. Got to drink it from the country where they extract it from. 9.1/10
These are 1 Liter bottles! They cost less than $.25 per bottle! What a treat! 14:1 ratio of sparkling water to regular still water consumed 9.1/10
The bus tram that takes you to your airplane. Or vice versa takes you to your gate after you land.
Train to Rome Italy
A store in Italy called TIM
Spaghetti Carbonara. Simple but delicious. I now know what "perfect" al dente pasta is. That "firm to the tooth bite" was definitely there. 7.9/10
bruschetta- Tomatoes were the star. Very fresh. Again simple but delicious. 7.3/10
Margherita pizza. This was a bit disappointing. Maybe this was a little too simple. Wasn't very flavorful. Bland. 3.9/10. Jet's pizza kicks this butt
Italian Capocollo- this was delicious on its own. I couldn't stop eating it. You definitely need to flush your body with a bunch of liquids after eating this because of the high salt content, but definitely worth it! 8.2/10
Italian Flag
Pizza Napoli- Basically the same thing as a Margherita pizza but with anchovies. The anchovies give it this salty bite so I recommend this one more than the Margherita. It helps with cutting the thick dough crust. 5.1/10
Italian Potato Croquettes- Basically mash potatoes coated to get deep fried. A traditional Italian appetizer. 4.9/10. Was very bland. Needed like some ketchup or hot sauce to dip. Of course, you can't ask for that in an Italian restaurant. They'll probably kick you out
ciao e Pepe- Literally means "cheese & pepper". Max 4 ingredient dish. The first few bites were good. But then it wasn't very good after the pasta started to cool and congeal. And at that point, I was really missing sour kimchi. 5.9/10. Kimchi could've bumped it up
Italian eggplant dish. Almost like an eggplant lasagna dish without the pasta. This was an appetizer but could've been the main course. It was very filling and thick. The sauce was very good but wasn't a fan of the actual eggplant. I didn't like how it was cooked. 6.2/10
Bread and Olive Oil. Italian Olive Oil. Another simple but good. 7.1/10
Pasta bucatini all'amatriciana- A guanciale, cheese, chili, and tomato sauce base pasta. 7.9/10 really enjoyed the bites of the salty and chewy guanciale. Also enjoyed the pasta texture and the perfect al dente. Wasn't the biggest fan of the sauce. It was more on the thicker side and liquidy. And the flavor of the sauce was interesting. One of those dishes where the first few bites are really good, but after starts not to be as good.
An Italian version of cioppino. "Seafood stew". 8.3/10. Great great dish. Lots of seafood and very fresh and flavorful. Soup was on the saltier side so you can't straight up drink it unless you want hypertension, but it's good to dip some bread. Reminds me of cioppino. This wasn't on the menu and you have to ask for it separately.
Gelato- 5.9/10. It was good, but I felt like I've had better. The price was fantastic though. $3 Euros ($3 USD) for the cup. I got just the classics. Strawberry, Vanilla, and Chocolate. Because it was my first time, I wanted to play It safe.
Great parking skills
One of the best sandwich places in Rome. It was good, but I felt like I could've just gone to the market down the street and made it as good for less price. It wasn't too crazy in price, but it wasn't the best. 7.3/10
The BEST sparkling water ever! The carbonation was so strong and no off-putting flavor in the water. This bottle was $5. I mean at that price it better be the best. 9.3/10
Creamy mushroom pasta. This was a set menu so I couldn't choose the food. The noodles were great. A thinner version of fettuccine noodles. The sauce was creamy but could have used more flavoring. It didn't seem like they used cream but used pasta water to make it thicker. The soft mushroom caps were surprisingly delightful and reminded me of eating eggplant. But the harder stems, I didn't mind for. If you know me, I'm not the biggest mushroom fan. 6.1/10
Strawberry cheesecake- 8.3/10. This was a very delicious dessert. There was a thin layer of strawberry fruit leather type. Basically, a thicker fruit roll-up was placed on it. It was chewy and not too sweet. The actual cheesecake was soft and fluffy. It was whipped instead of solid. And the bottom gram cracker layer has a wonderful crunch and balances out the whole cheesecake. It was served very cold also, which I think helped with the taste and keeping everything together.
This was almost like a roast beef salad. Thinly sliced cook perfect medium rare steak on the bottom topped with chunks of parmesan cheese, micro-greens, and like a thousand island/ big mac dressing type sauce. Also with slightly roasted sweet tomatoes. This was also very delicious. 8.5/10
6.9/10 Wanted to stay in for a night so got takeout. I asked the waiter what he recommend on the menu, and he spoke some Italian and pointed to an Italian menu and I just nodded my head yes like I understood what he was recommending to me. This is what came. Basically, a steak dinner. WAY overpriced. And not worth it. It wasn't bad, but for the price was not worth it. This is $27. The steak was small and overcooked, and the whole thing was lacking flavor. It needed more salt. I added a bunch more salt and pepper after and it was more enjoyable, especially the roasted eggplant, potatoes, and peppers.
"spicy" Italian capicola pizza. 4.9/10. Not a very good pizza. It wasn't spicy at all and lacked flavor. The dough was thick so you needed something to wash it down with. Sauce and cheese were good, just wished they added more of it. It reminded me more of a flatbread you would get at Panera than a pizza from the capital of pizza. But I will say the price was very cheap. $2.50-$3.00
A touristy type restaurant that is open till 4 AM. The prices here were more expensive but surprisingly the food was good. Usually, touristy type restaurants are just expensive and not tasty. I guess in Italy they do it different
La Base
Thin and light pizza with peppers, and spicy chorizo. This pizza was actually good. And circular! 7.9/10
Nutella biscuits from Italy. 7.8/10. Great biscuit cracker with strong Nutella flavors. Great snack
I am a big fan of potato chips. Especially Lay's. I was eyeing the classic but thought to be a little adventurous and got this one. I think this was salsa flavored chips? It wasn't that good. I should've just gotten the regular. Everything from the texture of the chip to the flavor. The chip texture had less of a crunch and the flavoring was sweet and a little artificial tasting. 6.7/10
This was Wow. 8.7/10. If you like snickers like I do, you will love this. It's literally melted down snickers in a liquid form. I felt like a kid drinking this cause it was so unbelievable they would make this. Definitely a great dessert.
Pizza box. Look at this dude's face. Lol
This was the go-to grocery store in Portugal. They were playing k-pop! I believe it’s twice. Very interesting
Porto is a coastal city, so there are a lot of seagulls. And no window screen..
Lots of birds. And yes that’s a cat on our street you can hear.
Went to a breakfast buffet in Madrid. The price was reasonable at $13. There were people behind me so I felt a little rushed in the filming lol
The main market in Madrid. Lots of cured meats, and seafood
Going into Paris
Just like any big city, there’s always something going on. This was some dance gathering event. Along the whole river on both sides in Paris you will find something
Constant chanting and VERY dedicated fan base
A goal being scored at 0:26.
Some of literally the best players in the world on this team. Messi, Neymar, Mbappe, Ramos, ect
The tower at night
This was cooler in person
Not as cool from watching on a screen
Hype tourist trap restaurant with surprisingly good food.