In Porto at last!

I have made it to my final destination, Porto, Portugal or Oporto as it is also known as. Flying in I saw some beautiful scenery. Lots of rugged, mountainous terrain. I tried taking a picture out the window, but it just didn't do it justice. I landed around 3:30 GBT time today. All of my luggage arrived as did all of my colleagues whom I met up with in Paris. We have not all had such a tremendous trip however, three of my colleagues were supposed to arrive several hours before me and were extremely delayed getting out of Lubbock and as a result missed every other connection and as of about 9:00 tonight were sitting in Lisbon expecting to be in Porto around 11:00 and had already been told that their luggage would not be joining them. And, from what I hear, if your luggage isn’t with you when you arrive… don’t expect to see it anytime soon. One of the ladies I was with today is one of our board members. She said on the last trip her bags did not make it – they were there for 17 days without their luggage ever showing up. In fact, she has never found that bag! I hope that is not the case here, because – like me – they all had to pack a lot of essential tools for this conference… we’re up a creek without them. So keep your fingers crossed for us!

The hotel where everything is taking place is the Porto Palacio – a magnificent hotel. I have stayed some amazing places, but I do believe this tops them all! Here are some photos of my room.

Don't you love the I Love Lucy beds?

The bathroom is gorgeous, the tub separates the "toilet room" and this area.

Now you see why I call it the "toilet room" - it is a room full of toilets...

... I don't even want to know!

And, my favorite part of any hotel room - the view out the window!

I will have roommate joining me on Sunday - a colleague from the Amsterdam office, Nany.
Tonight we had dinner here in the hotel – Italian food, yummy. And, they offered Coke to us. To this point of my trip all I have seen is Pepsi (will always choose anything but). I asked if they had Diet Coke, the waiter looked very curiously at me and he said “you want Coke Light?” I said, “sure”… what do I have to lose right? Lucky for me, it is Diet Coke! The can looked very similar (except for how they had it wrapped in a nice towel and poured it for me) and it said Coke Light. Good to know!

Following dinner I returned to my room – it was freezing. It might just be my mind playing tricks on me because the thermostat says 21 degrees (Celsius). So, a maintenance person was going to come take a look at it. I left to go find a cup of coffee to sip on while doing some work (and this) before turning in. I found some coffee, but the server wanted me to sit there and drink it… it is still European Sludge – just in case you’re keeping track.

Then I returned to a much more comfortable room, talked to Roy and the boys as he was just getting home from picking them up from school. I’m glad to be here and thank you for prayers – don’t stop. While I’m already ready to go home again, I’m kind of glad I have a few days before getting on another airplane – I feel a bit worn out.