#Shiplife, you can never stay too far away from it.
In August they sent me to meet the Sixth Fleet flag ship in Rejika, Croatia for an exercise. We were there the whole week and were fortunate enough for one evening of liberty. 🙂
Happy Faces! REJIKA.
On the flight back from Croatia to Naples Italy, they even let me sit in the cockpit of the C-130. No way! The Colonel saw how excited I was just to be standing at the glass window looking at the plane and asked if it was my first time on a C-130, to which I replied, yes! Next thing I know, they tell me I can sit up front with one of the Captains. 🙂 🙂
Fast forward 2 months and now it’s November and they are sending us back to the ship again for another exercise. This time we had to meet the ship in Lisbon, Portugal.
Turns out the military was contracting United to fly us all there on the same flight. We were all treated like king’s. They came over to the base to pick us up and when we boarded they had boxed lunches for each of us, and they even had movies for us to watch!
I picked an Old James Bond movie, duh. In minutes we were in the air and then we on our way straight to Lisbon.
Coming into Lisbon hot. Can you see the land down there? That’s Lisbon as we approach.
After debarking we had to head into an area to wait for them to move our luggage on crates to the buses. We would pick it up once we got to the ship.
At which point I was MORTIFIED. I had left a bag of snacks on the plane and was so upset. We were going underway and I didn’t have my snacks. So I asked a Portuguese military guy how hard it would be to go back to the plane to get the bag I had left on board. He said it was impossible. So I walked away. I WALKED AWAY. Case closed.
Next thing I know one of the captain stands up on a chair and screams out across everyone, “WHO LEFT SOMETHING ON THE PLANE?!” Of course I wasn’t going to answer. I was over it. The snacks could go. I’d come to peace with it. Well I had made such a big deal about it when I was walking in that one of the guys dimes me out and screams, “CASSEY”. MORTIFIED.
I had to fess up to it. Minutes later I’m in a Portuguese military patrol car and I’m being driven back to the plane. Everyone was laughing. I was actually blushing, I’m sure of it. We get to the plane and he asks the flight attendants if I can go onboard to get my bag. Needless to say the snacks did not go wasted and they made it all the way to the ship! Again, MORTIFIED.
As soon as I arrived back to the group we were escorted through the airport and boarded the buses to be driven to the ship.
After we got settled in and completed the first few meetings out of the way, I decided to go to bed early for a sunrise workout.
There’s nothing much better than seeing the sunrise while you are working out topside.
So beautiful. Running laps and lunging all the way across (157 lunges) the top deck, I was beat by the end of it.
Beautiful sunny day.
Helo on the flight deck.
A couple of days after we’d arrived they finally gave us the #Libertycall we’d been dreaming of and a night out in town. We’d be getting underway the next morning, couldn’t run off the ship fast enough.
First of all, Lisbon Portugal has kick ass graffiti. This was painted onto a building right next to where the ship was docked at the port. How cool is that?!
Walking down the street, a couple of minutes later, we came right into the main square. Talk about a prime location in port.
These guys. Part of our liberty group.
This guy was blowing bubbles in the square and with this lighting and that background I had to try my luck at some photography skills.
Super cool. I would have stayed here for hours taking shots but alas, we didn’t have very much time and we wanted food and drinks.
My favorite bubble shot. Do you see the kid in the background doing a kick flip on his skateboard at the same time?
Taxi anyone? If you aren’t going too far, they’d be happy to take you for a small fee.
Yep, I want to head that way. The arch is beautiful.
Heading towards the side streets, markets were set up under the overhangs. Caught them bartering for the necklace.
The architecture here is wonderful.
The streets are so wide and so clean. I’m not used to streets like this in Naples, Italy.
Chestnuts roasting on an open fire.
More street art. As the sun goes down and we walk around.
This is all I need in my life, Hendrick’s gin, Tonic, Cucumber, and crushed black pepper. My favorite drink by far. I’m a gin fanatic!
Group shot! #Libertycall photo, round 2.
Normal shot, except Ale, what in the world are you doing right now?
It’s gotten dark by now and we are ready for some dinner.
foot shot?
Which brings me to the port wine shop. Lisbon Portugal is known for the port wine. Very old and quite refined you can get a good selection of port wines here.
My friend Khal bought a $200 bottle of port wine! It was so expensive it comes with the wooden box.
Whereas I opted for the 15 euro bottle of wine. Which was actually pretty good, and the reason why I took a photo. Definitely worth saving for later.
We found a fountain down the road to pose by. They agreed to open our wine at the store so we could drink it on the way to dinner. Typical rowdy Americans.
We even decided to take a quick photo at the fountain.
I always seem to find a photo that has Amanda with her tongue out, is it a theme? I think so.
Walking along the walkway we found a place to eat dinner and it was very good. There’s just one problem, I don’t remember the name of the restaurant.
Ravioli stuffed with smashed peas with pesto in an olive oil and tomato sauce. So delicious.
Desert. Chocolate cake but would you look at that glob of carmel? The best part by far.
After dinner we cruised around the town stopping for drinks along the way until midnight drew closer and our Cinderella liberty was set to expire. We needed to head back to the ship.
One last bit of graffiti as I head back for the night, wonder what it stands for?
And when we got back to the ship there was a McPoyle sighting! You know, the McPoyle brothers, from It’s always sunny in Philidelphia and their obsession with milk? Well I keep catching this guy drinking milk at the end of the night! Who does that? haha. Scott I love you, but the milk obsession is the worst. gag.
Anyway we were scheduled to get underway the next morning so we were all running to our racks to be up early to get underway. More on that next time.
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