This past January, just before lockdown restrictions ended in the UK and after almost 3 years of staying put in London, I finally boarded a plane and travelled.
Travel prep, testing and documentation was a mine field, just about enough to put you off from going anywhere. But with all the paperwork done and negative Covid test results confirmed I was Portugal bound taking with me my all new ‘Rena Go’ bag.
Well, I did design it to be a bag on the go, so only right to test drive it properly.
The airport was deserted, only 15 of us boarded the flight (I had to count), hard to describe just how alien it felt.
The flight was a direct flight to Porto, I was warned it rains a lot in Porto and it did exactly that. But I loved it, what a beautiful town, such friendly people and the bakeries… oh my, take me back.
The old port , bridges ,blue and white tile clad buildings and steep cobbled streets make it a fascinating town to visit and discover.
A 3 hour train journey which ended being a 5 hour journey from Porto to Lisbon was not great, if I am honest. The steep walk from the station up the hill to Alfama was picturesque. I’m not sure what I expected, but it certainly surprised me , so very quaint for a capital city, living in London you expect capital cities to be big and crowded.
One advantage of travelling during Covid was just how empty and quiet everything was. I understand Alfama is a bustling tourist district, not so when I visited. I appreciated the sunshine, views, colours and silence.
Lisbon is an absolute gem, beautiful, vibrant, interesting, tasty.. and if I’m talking tasty , a meal at Pharmacia is a whole different experience. Especially if you can sit outside on a sunny day. Don’t miss it!
There are plenty of short excursions to be had from Lisbon ( another reason I will be going back).
I managed to visit Cascais, a short train ride from Lisbon along the coast to this old fishing village. Inside the walls of the old city is the Cidadela Art District with it’s galleries and museums. It was too cold to swim in January but the white sandy beaches were beautiful all the same and the old port with it’s outdoor dining hub was buzzing.
Did the Rena Go pass the test drive?? the intention was to create a ‘down sized’ bag for the times… we live out of our phones after all so travelling with a big bag is unnecessary. We do need compartments for our phone, passport, masks, sanitiser, book… The Rena has just enough space for all these necessities plus a sewn- in key fob and card holder. With it’s wide, adjustable and detachable webbed cotton strap, I think we did good.
Nadia Minkoff London 