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The vacation I'll never forget

 One of my most favorite things to do is to travel, especially out of the country. During the course of our marriage,  we’ve been to either 13 or 14 countries. When we travel, we prefer not to do super touristy things, but we like to hang out where the locals hang out and eat where the locals like to eat.

One of our most unforgettable trips was to Portugal. Little did we know that this trip was going to be the kind of trip that we might not have come back from. LOL!


We started our vacation in London, England, visiting my husband's aunt and decided that while we were there, we would also go to France and Portugal. France was gorgeous and quite romantic. Portugal is a beautiful country.


The plan was to fly into Porto (the northern part of the country) and stay with my husband's other aunt, at her home a few hours from Porto. 

We got to the house and although it was a lovely home, and my aunt-in-law was very hospitable; she was quite the chain-smoker. We had decided that we weren’t going to unpack any of our clothes. As soon as we got up to our room, we took our suitcase and put it in an armoire. We thought it would be safe from the nicotine smell, but four days later when we went back to England, we realized that the smoke had completely permeated both our suitcase and all our clothes.


One afternoon, my husband’s aunt was taking us to see the sights and while in route, we found ourselves a few cars behind a very slow-moving truck going up a steep, windy two-lane road. (By the way, this road was on the side of a mountain, and the side of the road which had oncoming traffic had guard rails.)


Each car in front of us patiently waited for their turn to pass the truck safely. When it was our turn to pass the truck, it was obvious that his aunt was not confident about safely passing. I started to get a little frustrated and sighed softly, but she heard me. This made her angry, so angry that she decided to pass the truck while going around a corner, which meant that she could not see if there was any oncoming traffic. Thank God there was none! If there was, we would have ended up in a head-on collision, or worse, breaking through the guardrails and tumbling down the mountain side. This will serve me right for sighing or at least sighing so loud that she heard me. LOL!

 

A couple of nights before we were to head back to London, my husband and I had a private chat about how we were going to handle the ride back to the airport, given the various challenges we had already encountered. We decided that we were going to take a taxi or hire a driver. When he told his aunt that we had decided to arrange another way to get to the airport, she insisted that she would take us. However, we ended up compromising with her. We agreed that my husband would drive us in her car to the airport, and she would then drive back home. 


On the morning that we were to leave for the airport, she changed her mind and refused to give my husband the keys to her car. Needless to say, she ended up driving. While in route, we came to an area on the freeway where it was split. The two lanes on the right side were divided by concrete blocks for about one-quarter of a mile. This was dedicated for those who wanted to pay at a toll station. His aunt proceeded to use these lanes, and as she arrived at the pay station, she could not get her toll card to work. My husband noticed that she was inserting her card upside down and backwards. He then tried to assist her, and, in her frustration, she accused him, in her British accent of being “naughty.” LOL!!


After a few minutes of trying unsuccessfully, she decided to reverse her car all the back to the beginning of the concrete dividers, about one-quarter of a mile away. While we were strongly protesting this move (going backwards on a freeway), we were praying that there would be no oncoming traffic. Thank God there wasn’t! 


After making it safely to the left side of the freeway, as she proceeded to start driving forward, we noticed a police car, with its flashing lights on, quickly approaching from behind. Thankfully they saw everything. (We had never been so happy to see the police as we were that very minute!). They pulled her over and asked her to step out of the car. We heard them threaten to take her driver's license and have her car towed. My husband asked to speak with them and mentioned that she was taking us to the airport. They agreed to have him drive the rest of the way and that she would drive back home without her license. This was nothing short of God’s mercy on all of us. 

The miraculous thing was that while all this was happening, there were no vehicles behind us and the police were there and witnessed the entire ordeal from quite a distance away. 

Morale of the story: If you don’t know the person (family or friend) who you’re staying with very well, rent a car. LOL!



 

1 Comment


Guest
Aug 22, 2024

Wow!!! What a story!!! One of my family members, were a heavy smoker, every time I used to visited, I had to wash all my clothes when back home. It was disgusting. I know exactly what you went through.

Love,

AA

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