“AND WE ARE OFF”

Once again the Travelling Triumvirate, the Touring Triad, the Trip Trifecta …….are hitting the road on yet another adventure……this one begins in the Azores, a mid Atlantic Ocean, 12 day stopover, before continuing on for a 3 week stint in mainland Portugal. We hope to cover a lot of ground, and explore different areas of the island and mainland, hoping to identify locations where we might spend more extended time in the future……….for example, my trip planners have us staying in 4 different hotels on Sao Miguel, the big island in the Azores archipelago, and multiples when we reach the continent, so this should be most interesting and informative. I know many of you have preceded us to these locations, so your comments, suggestions, and direction, will be welcomed and appreciated…….unless of course they are absolute crap, in which case they will be discarded without comment.

We are flying with Azores Airlines. Direct flight that leaves at 10:40pm and arrives at around 7am in Ponta Delgada, setting us up for that all too familiar sleep deprived zombie day, before checking in to hotel #1. Having never heard of Azores Airlines (“AA”……unfortunate name) before, I must admit I was curious about their reputation and what type of plane we would be flying to the middle of the ocean, but I can see the ground crew from the terminal window, and they appear to be doing a masterful job twisting the rubber band, so we should be just fine. Truth be told AA was great from all I remember……..which is about 40 minutes into the flight, and 40 minutes prior to landing…….other than that I was gonzo. We literally waltzed through customs…….were promptly picked up by our rental car agent and taken to his off-terminal lot……he agreed to store our golf travel bags, which was a huge plus, as we are in a small SUV……Citroen C3 (I think)…….our playing bags and 3 carry-on sized bags fit just fine with with even a little room to spare. Very professional rental (Funchal Rental), and spotless vehicle with only 3,600km on it.

And so away we go…….the adventure begins.