Ok, it has been a while ago when I went to Portugal for 8 days but I wanted to make a blogpost of it because I have a lot to tell you guys. I don't know why people would read this but okay. If you've never travelled alone with your friend then read my experience and advices haha!


I went to Albufeira with a good friend of mine. A few days before we got to go, we received a message saying that we have to flight at 04:00 in the morning/night, whatever. Worst flight time ever! Oh and by the way, we went with this youth travel agency, Beachmasters. We found out that we had to flight with Corendon, a Turkish flight agency and that we had to be at the airport three hours before the flight. Finally, we were there two hours before the actual flight. At first, we didn't know where to go and by that I mean, the Corendon check-in and find the right gate. Eventually, we found it and we went to get some coffee (and tea) at Starbucks and we sat there untill we got to go. After the second check-in, we had to wait more.. When we finally were in the plane, we discovered that we didn't sat next to each other! So guys, don't forget to ask at the check-in desk if you could sit together with your friend. When we sat in the plane, I was to lazy to stand up and use the restroom but my advice is, if you need to use the restroom, GO! Because when I needed to use the restroom, the stewardess came from both sides with food and drinks so I had to wait (luckily for me I sat right in the MIDDLE of the plane.. NOT!). After 20 minutes, the stewardess went back to there place and I thought I could go now. Suddenly, the pilot said the we had some turbulence and that we have to sit and wait untill that small light with the belt on it turned off.. Gosh, the worst minutes of my life. I thought I died.


After 3 hours we arrived in Faro, the largest airport in Portugal which is 40 minutes away from Albufeira. Our plane was the first plane that arrived at the airport that day (06:00 am). When we stepped out of the plane, there was a bus waiting for us which took us to the airport where we could pick up our luggage. After waiting and waiting, I thought my luggage was lost but after 20 minutes, I saw my luggage, yay! Okay, after that we were like, so.. what now? We decided to follow everyone and at the exit we had to look for someone with a Beachmasters sign but my contacts were not at its best because of the long night and my friend didn't have her glasses on so we looked like zombies while looking for the sign haha! I was like, I think I see there something blue.. And luckily, it was the right guy. Now comes the best part, we had to drag our luggage outside to a yellow bus which was pretty far away. I had a stupid, old luggage which hadn't a handle. I tried to roll that frickin' thing but it didn't want to move straight! So frustating!! My second advice is, buy a trolley. When we almost were at the bus, my friend suddenly said, we could also use a cart.. Then we decided to go back (including my stupid no-handle luggage) and put our luggage on the cart haha. A couple minutes later, we almost sat in the bus (with other Beachmasters people) and suddenly we heard it was the wrong bus! But eventually we sat in the right bus which took us to our apartment Vilanova Resort in the new-town Albufeira.


Wow, poofy playsuit haha!
When we were at our lobby I discovered one of my four mini wheels of my luggage was gone.. That's why it didn't want to move straight. The way to our apartment was also an adventure haha. The stones were like the ones in Amsterdam, small little stones with large space in between.. A nightmare for me because I had to drag my three-wheel-luggage over it while the 35 celsius sun was hitting on me haha. Suddenly, a Portugese guy helped me out who I am very thankful for!

Anyways, our apartment looked great! It was really big because we booked a four-person apartment. After that we went to the lobby where we had to gather for the Beachmasters welcome meeting. They told us about what you could do in Albufeira with Beachmasters. We decided to go for the normal party package and Beachmasters card for €50,-. We got a schedule of the week and after that, we went to the beach which was pretty far walking (and heavy!). We had to go down the hill which was okay, but a little slippery because Portugese people clean their sidewalk/doorstep.. Weird right? The beach, Praia da Oura was wonderful! The rocks looked phenomenal! We chosed a place to lay down and in all of the sudden, a guy with long jeans (it was over 35 celsius on the beach) came to us, asking if we wanted to buy sunglasses.. Uhh.. I already had sunglasses on haha. After 5 minutes, another guy asked us if we wanted to buy sunglasses and we pretended that we were asleep but then we found out that we had to pay to lay on the beds on the beach. That was pretty embarrasing but funny though. We decided to leave and check-out the Strip. It's a famous street which is named after the Strip in Las Vegas because of the big neon light boards at night. During day time you can't see much of it but at night it looks amazing!


The first night we went to a lounge bar which looked very Greek, very beautiful. There were live performances and we had some delicious cocktails. After that we went to check out the Strip which was so much fun!! I don't know if you have this anywhere else but you get free shots at every club/bar. There were also lots of English people in Albufeira who celebrated their bachelor party, which was really fun to watch because one time, we saw this group and everybody was dressed up like a superhero! The second night we went to old-town Albufeira with the Beachmasters and GoFun people. Every bar looked like the ones in new town Albufeira but in old-town you have more Dutch bars. The third night we went to the Dutch night which was in a Dutch bar, obviously. In the beginning they gave me a weird plastic bag, I thought it for when you needed to throw up haha but it was to protect your phone and camera against water if you'd go to see the dolphins the next day. I didn't like the Dutch music much but it was very nice because you got two drinks if you order one. The fourth night was the Cocktail Flirt party in the Slam Café which was also a fun night. The fifth night was actually the bar-hopping night at the Strip but we already went there every night so we decided to go to the beach, talked with some weird people haha and went back to the Strip. I'll spare you the rest of the week and details!

Another thing that we noticed was that we didn't had an air conditioning!! We thought we had one, but when my friend turned it on, there came a horrible musty smell and warm air out of it. After three days (don't ask me why) we went to the reception and asked what it was and the lady said it was a HEATER! Why the hell do you need a heater in Albufeira?! Only the new apartments have an AC so we got three fans. Secondly, we noticed that the door of the bathroom didn't close well and I saw it was because there was a hinge missing. We went to the reception, saying that we haven't broke it and so on. The lady said it was okay and she's going to send someone to fix it. But two days later we found a bill/letter on our table with €100,- on it so we thought it was a mistake or something. The day before we went back to Holland, we got a note saying we have to go to the reception. Finally there, we heard we had to pay €50,- for that stupid hinge which we didn't even break! After a big discussion, we paid €25,-..


Oh well, that didn't ruin our great and sunny holiday!! We have had a great time and Portugal is a beautiful country. The next time no apartment for me because we were both to lazy to cook haha. The way back home went quite smooth, except for the whole luggage problem. Hoped you enjoyed reading it because it's a lot. Oh and I didn't bring my SLR with me because I was scared that it would be stolen so I'm very sorry for the blurry pictures. Perhaps I should do a vlog or something the next time!

What I have learned:
1. Check your apartment before everything.
2. If you need to use the restroom, GO!
3. Buy a trolley.
4. Portugese man shave their legs.
5. Portugese police men feel like machos.
6. Most Portugese food is coming out of a tin.
7. In Portugal you have to throw your toilet paper in a trashcan. (Gross!)
8. Portugese people clean their part of sidewalk every morning.
9. Bring enough cash with you because nobody uses a money card in Albufeira.
10. You get free shots.

- Cindy