Denver to Porto

I’m making my way across the pond once again, this time for a work retreat. I’m attending a team meetup in Porto, Portugal.

I ran the 2024 Mines High School Programming Competition on Saturday, and I had to be in Porto by Monday morning. Thus, I had to leave on an evening flight on Saturday in order to arrive in time. Unfortunately, the best flight I was able to get that left late enough on Saturday went through Munich with a 7 hour layover before the flight to Porto. My return flight goes through Frankfurt (it’s kinda annoying having to go out of the way to Germany to get to and from Portugal, but it is what it is).

Automattic paid for an upgrade to Economy Plus with some extra leg room. On top of that, the middle seat next to me was unoccupied! I slept for the majority of the flight and got to Munich airport in a reasonable condition. Immigration was easy, and then I found a bench to lay down on and took another nap. Then I grabbed some dinner and waited around for my 21h20 flight. It got delayed by around 10 minutes, and then we had to de-ice in Munich before flying to Porto. I was in an aisle seat for this leg and I slept most of that flight as well.

Upon my midnight arrival in Porto we had to take a bus to the terminal. However once in the terminal, I was greeted by a driver with a fancy Beeper sign. I felt very special. It was the first time I’ve been greeted with a cool sign by a driver at an airport. The driver took me all the way from Francisco Sá Carneiro Airport to the hotel where we are having our retreat Boeira Garden Hotel Porto Gaia. Check-in was easy, and I hit the sack immediately. I’m excited about what the next few days of the meetup will hold!