Our flight from Zagreb to Lisbon on AirFrance via Charles de Gaulle Airport (CDG) feels like a wild episode of the Amazing Race! I can already hear the armchair travelers chiming in with gems like, “You should have checked it out!” or “You should have asked!” Well, guess what? I did! Surprise!

CDG may be the one of the largest and advanced airport in the world. However, I would confidently say that CDG would be the last place on earth to try connecting flights within brief timeframe unless there is no changes to the aircraft for your connecting flight or that you do not have any check-in luggage. This experience explains it all.

Flight Connections: I strongly do not encourage anyone from attempting to connect flights within 2 hours. Note that you may have to go from one departure hall to another, flights do not necessarily disembark passengers at the aerobridge of the airport building and if traveling with check-in luggage, it takes time to offload your luggage from one plane to load to another.

Upon arrival at Lisbon Airport, we realized that besides a priest, we were the only ones who made it to the connecting flight. Too soon for consolation, our luggage never turned up on the conveyor belt. More than an hour spent reporting loss luggage without any certainty of whether they were left behind in CDG or Zagreb or just mistakenly added with other baggage in Lisbon. This is not our first trip to Lisbon but definitely our first time losing our luggage.

To conclude the story of missing luggage and move on with this travel, we finally got our luggage returned after 24 hours after our arrival and 12 hours before our next departure.

Like most airports in the world, Lisbon Airport has a Baggage Storage facility. The area is open 24/7 at the far end of the arrival hall by Car Park P2. The charges are by per piece and per day. To store a baggage from 10 to 30kg, the cost works up to approximately EUR5.00.

Lisbon, Portugal’s capital city, is one of the oldest cities in the world. There is only one bus company serving the route between Fatima and Estação do Oriente. The bus departs around 13:00hrs and on-route to return at 15:00hrs.

A much more frequent bus and affordable, Rede Expresso from Terminal Rodoviário Sete Rios.

Getting to Fatima from Terminal Rodoviário Sete Rios if you are at Estação do Oriente: catch a metro to Jardim Zoológico. Cross the road from Jardim Zoológico to Terminal Rodoviário Sete Rios. The frequency of Rede Expresso bus traveling to and from Fatima is higher and seem to be well spaced out.

Fatima is a central Portuguese town that’s home to the Sanctuary of Fatima, a Catholic pilgrimage site. The Capelinha das Aparições  marks the spot where the Virgin Mary appeared in 1917.

A huge lesson learnt and we survived. Here is another sweet ending of our Portugal trip and one not to be missed! The Portuguese tart! The tarts look overcooked or burnt. Well, never judge a book by its cover. These tarts are delicious when eaten warm.