Always on the Verge

Reflections and connections of a life-long learner.

We Land on the Islands: Madeira and The Azores

Having covered much of mainland Portugal we decided to spend our last two weeks checking out island life. First stop: Madeira The Azores! This archipelago in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean is comprised of nine islands. We stayed on São Miguel, nicknamed “The Green Island” (Ilha Verde). We flew into Ponta Delgada, the island’s largest city, and immediately jumped into our rental car and headed for the northwest corner of the island to Mosteiros,.. Read More

Three Cities; Three Vibes

For a country that is approximately the same size as the state of Indiana we are constantly amazed at the the diversity Portugal offers. By the time our latest adventure is concluded we will have driven the entire length of the country (it takes about 5 hours if you do it in one continuous trip) and even jumped off to a couple of islands. We are finding some wonderful cities to explore and have taken.. Read More

Porto: Thirty-Six Square Blocks and Some Road Trips

We are back in one of our all-time favorite cities! On our previous visit (pre-covid) our rental flat was in Vila Nova de Gaia, just across the river from Porto. (For a recap of that visit, photos of our beautiful views, and stories of various vagabond activities: https://conhan8.com/?p=2135).) For this go-round we decided that staying near the historic center of Porto would be an interesting change of pace. Bob did the research and found us.. Read More

Formula for Successful International Travel: (2P+T) x Fl / C + BA = Portugal!

WIth a nod to former math lessons on the order of operations, the above formula pretty much sums up our latest travel adventure: Twice the patience plus tenacity multiplied by flexibility and divided by covid and British Airways resulted in an overall happy landing in one of our all-time favorite places, Portugal. (An aside on British Airways: a challenge from start to finish. Poor communication, abysmal website, lethargic service providers, and the repeated excuse of.. Read More