BIG NEWS – The Blonde Gypsy and Skyscanner, Europe’s largest flight comparison search engine, are working together – in Portugal! You may have already been aware of this if you follow me on Instagram or are a fan of mine on Facebook, but here are the delicious details…
Basically I approached Skyscanner a couple months ago to see if they would be interested in collaborating with me as I am a huge fan of their site and have been using it for years to plan all my trips around Europe. The function they have of being able to search “Everywhere” and for the entire month when looking for flights from a specific city or country has basically determined my itineraries depending on where I can fly cheapest from wherever I am or will be. It’s a pretty slick search engine and I seriously get excited every time I go on because in a way it literally becomes a game of “choose your own adventure”.
I also mentioned to them that I have a pretty ambitious plan to conquer Europe within the next year (17 countries to go, remember), and that for September I had my eye on Portugal as a destination. This was partly because the Travel Bloggers Unite conference was going to be happening in Porto, but mostly because I really knew nothing about this mysterious country chilling out on the edge of the continent. And so this #BlondeGypsyPortugal trip idea was hatched…
Skyscanner challenged me to book as many flights as possible with a small budget and do a little Instagram/Twitter live reporting from the road to share my experiences with the world. I accepted that challenge and am running with it (actually FLYING) over the next few weeks around Portugal with a quick side trip to Spain for TBEX, another travel blogger conference that will be held in Girona.
Here’s what the #BlondeGypsyPortugal trip will ultimately look like:
Porto
I already started off with a bang in Porto. It is going to be interesting to see whether any of the other places are going to be able to break up my love affair with this city – it is such a cool place! It’s gorgeous but also a little rough, totally up my alley. I’ve told a few people it kinda reminds me of a friendlier Eastern Europe, but no one has really agreed. Whatever. I’m sticking to it.
Faro
My next stop after Porto is Faro and if you are wondering why, check this…
Faro is the gateway to the Algarve which apparently has some of the most gorgeous beaches and coastline in the world. Most of it however is in the western part which is why I decided I should base myself for a few days a bit closer to the action. Still will be checking out Faro for a day and night though.
Portimão
I decided that closer to the action would mean Portimão. I hear Lagos is amazing but I knew well before I left that I would need some straight up relaxation at this point in my journey so I opted for a city where I would be less likely to be tempted by paties. It’s just an hour and a half away by train from Faro and in close proximity to Lagos, Sagres and Albufeira so easy to make day trips. Thinking about renting a car…that would be entertaining.
Seville
In order to make my way to Barcelona on the cheap I had to get creative since flights from Faro were not within my budget. Seeing as Faro is only about two hours from Seville, a city which I have never visited, and there were tons of cheap flights from there to Barcelona, I decided to add it to the itinerary. So killing two birds with one stone here -seeing yet another city and getting over to Barcelona in time for TBEX.
Lisbon
I’m going to be over in Spain about a week but when I head back to Portugal, it will be straight to Lisbon.
Pretty excited and believe that if any city can compare with my darling Porto, it will be Lisbon. I’m also hoping to get over to Sintra while I am in town, I hear that place is something else…
Madeira
With a bit more money left in a the bank and the desire to see more, I thought I would check flights from Lisbon and see where else I might be able to go for a few days. The outcome?
I know nothing about Madeira except that it is super cheap to fly to and looks beautiful from the photos I’ve seen on Google. I can’t even find anyone I know in my traveling network who has been there so I’m in for a surprise. It’ll be pleasant I’m sure.
After Madeira it will be back to Lisbon for a few days and then back to Copenhagen. I toyed with the idea of pulling a little Lisbon to “Everywhere” search for my last flight to make this story more interesting but I have some business to tend to in Scandinavia so just searched flights to Denmark and Sweden. Next time.
I’m only three days into this four week trip and I’ve already seen so much and met some pretty interesting characters. I cannot wait to see how the rest will unfold and I really hope you will join me. If you are on Twitter, just follow the hashtag #BlondeGypsyPortugal and same with Instagram.
Have you ever been to Portugal? What do you think I should do in all these places? Leave a comment, send me an email, or tweet me!
14 Comments
Pepershots
September 15, 2012 at 8:01 amI love Lisbon, I’ve been there in 2010, great city, nice people. Greatings.
Larissa
September 15, 2012 at 11:31 amI’m really looking forward to it! Heard it is a realy beautiful place. Greetings back :)
Javier
September 15, 2012 at 2:58 pmDo you know drungli.com, I think is cheaper for the option “everywhere” :P
Larissa
September 16, 2012 at 11:22 amI didn’t know drungli.com but from the looks of it they have no where near as many options. Skyscanner is cool because you can also search city to country or country to country. On a similar search I just did on both sites prices were about the same. I’m sure it could be cheaper at times but so it goes with most search engines.
crazy sexy fun traveler
September 15, 2012 at 4:35 pmSo cool! Enjoy it all and see you in a week!
Larissa
September 15, 2012 at 7:37 pmThanks babe! Can’t wait to hang again :*
Dimitri
September 15, 2012 at 6:03 pmPorto – drink some Port Wine!!!
Lisbon – see the architecture. It is awesome
Barcelona (ist actually not really Portugal… :) ) – one of the BEST Cities in the whole world. Go to Gothic City and eat in some native restaurant away from La Ramba, get some Tapas, see some of Gaudi-Buildings…
Larissa
September 15, 2012 at 7:39 pmWow, thanks for the recommendations! I think my travel blogger friends and I might have drank Porto dry – amaazing port! So excited to see Lisbon, I’ve heard the architecture is unreal and as for Barcelona…it will be my 5th time but there’s still so much I haven’t seen so could feel like the first all over again!
Rob
September 15, 2012 at 9:51 pmSounds egregious in the archaic sense.
Looking forward to it!
Larissa
September 16, 2012 at 9:15 amMe too, it’s gonna be wild. I should be an expert on Portugal by the time all is said and done (minus Lagos, leaving that spot to you).
Luis Bruno
October 11, 2012 at 4:31 pmYou should also go to Azores Islands!…
Larissa
October 11, 2012 at 8:30 pmI know, I really tried to squeeze them in too but flights were much pricier. Next time!
Sara
January 11, 2014 at 1:45 amI’m glad you liked our country.
Actually I agree with Luís.. More than Madeira, Açores is more worth watching. The landscapes and nature are amazing.. And look, I’m only a citizen. Born and raised at Lisbon haha But I’ve gone to both and nothing can compares with its beauty ^^
Larissa
January 11, 2014 at 10:22 pmOk, so one more vote for the Azores. I will get there, they really do sound incredible.