Day 64 (Wednesday, December 1, 2021)
Costs for the Day are in the Table below:
Today, I woke up at 8:00am and had a cup of coffee. We reserved a rental car from economycarrentals.com for pick up at 9am about 18 minutes away from our apartment. I checked to make sure that my credit card, Chase United Mileage Plus, will cover the auto rental collision damage overseas. It does so all good there.
I jogged over to Europcar to pick up the vehicle. I arrived a little after 9am and it probably took until 9:45am to actually drive away. There was only one couple in front of me. However, the service was professional and friendly and they did an excellent job of marking down any small defects in the car. In the US they usually refuse to mark small items but here they marked every single scratch. I wonder if they will be very detailed also when they receive the vehicle back. I added a Toll Pass to the rental for around 2.15 EUR/Day because the toll roads often do not even have toll booths and it would be a mess to try and pay later. So, the total bill was 76.46 EUR for Dec 1-8 and we also had to pay an online fee of 8.59 USD online to economycarrentals.com. I had to put down a deposit of about 800 EUR which will be refunded assuming no damage or tolls. They upgraded me to an Automatic for free which is nice because usually there is a big premium for automatics here. (Cost: 76.46 EUR + 8.59 USD/1.16 = 83.897 EUR so that is about 11-12 EUR/Day)
Then I stopped by the Municipal Building to see if I could get a parking pass. Unfortunately, the building was closed and empty today. I looked it up and found out that December 1st is Restoration of Independence Day and it marks the reinstatement of sovereignty after Spanish rule of Portugal from 1580 and 1640. The Portuguese Restoration War with Spain lasted 28 years and began with the Portuguese revolution on Dec 1, 1640 and ended with the Treaty of Lisbon in 1668 where Spain recognized the sovereignty of Portugal’s new ruling dynasty, the House of Braganza.
In the afternoon, Bi and I drove to Decathlon which is a huge store in Portimao that has all sorts of outdoor and sporting gear from surf equipment to climbing gear to biking, skating, fishing, etc. We bought climbing pants and some socks for Bi for her Birthday and Christmas and a few other small items we needed like climbing chalk, bike ringers, and hair ties. We were looking for a puffy winter coat for Bi but were unable to find one that she liked. (Cost: 46.90 EUR)
After Decathlon, we drove back to Lagos and picked up our friend Simon and then drove out to the countryside for martial arts lessons with Paul Philip Clark who spent 20 years in China training in martial arts and doing movies and movies stunts. (Cost: 10 EUR/Per Person X 2). The class was very interesting and touched on Taekwondo, Boxing, Stretching, and Joint Locks. Paul and his wife, Ashley, live out in the countryside and he has a dojo in his backyard garage where he trains people. The place looks like something out of a movie which is fitting since Paul has done a lot of work in various movies with some very famous actors like Jackie Chan and Keanu Reeves.
After the class, Bi and I dropped off Simon and then went grocery shopping at Pingo Doce. (Cost: 50.72 EUR) then we drove home. For dinner, Bi and I cooked together and made ginger soy steak, rice, and cucumber salad. It was fantastic!
