We arrived at JFK airport a bit early today to avoid potentially hectic Sunday afternoon traffic, and while Chris sat there enjoying his glass of French Bordeaux, I sat with my earbuds and listened to YouTube videos on my computer re-introducing myself to Portuguese. I actually learned a decent amount of Portuguese about four years ago when preparing for our Brazil trip. I even practiced my accent to get it more accurate. I had read that in many parts of Brazil, even in major cities like Rio, there were many areas where English wasn’t known very well, so it would help to at least know some basic Portuguese phrases. Remembering how fun it was, I sat and tried to re-learn some basic phrases today. Once you don’t use a language, you really end up forgetting it.

Voce fala ingles? (do you speak English?)

Ate mais! (See you later)

Muito obrigado! (Thank you very much – to a man)

But what I’ve read about Portugal, though, is that English is far more widespread, especially in major cities like Lisbon, the capital, and Porto. So while it would be polite to learn some basic phrases, it wasn’t as needed as in Brazil. Suddenly, the desire to practice started to die, and I just wanted to relax and think about all the delicious bread, cheese, and wine I’d soon be having in a country that is oftentimes seen as Spain’s less popular and more understated cousin, but probably is the sexier and more alluring of the two.