My diary - March 19-21, 1972

My Pan Am Junior Clipper Stewardess pin

Pan Am Airplane March 19, 1972 Sun.

Dear Diary:

I sleeped on the roller bed. It’s 40 degrees outside. Ate breakfast in hotel. I had eggs, sassages wrapped in pancakes. Went to airport. The airplane to New York only had 4 seats left so Dad stayed behind. We landed in La Guardia & took a taxi to Kennedy Airport. On the airplane I sat next to man. He was nice. He explained me many things. Uh! Its cold in New York. We got their around 2 & finally left at 8:15. We sat & read. No real shops. I took a walk with mom looking for stores. Dad finally came at around 6:30. The first airplane he went on engine went on fire. We got on plane to Lisbon.

BYE!

Note: Flying standby is exciting but nerve-racking, worrying if you will get a seat or not. You never know who you will sit by. I wonder what this nice man explained to me? I am glad my dad made it and I wonder what happened with the plane’s engine catching on fire.

Lisbon, Portugal March 20, 1972 Mon.

Dear Diary:

The flight was 6 hours & 8 mins. Mom & Dad sat in first class we kids in economy. They showed the movie “The Boyfriend” I saw most of it. It was stupid. No sense in it. We got to hotel Tivoli. 2 rooms. Both are small but nice I guess. We took a bath & went to sleep. When we got we went for a walk downtown. I wore my red, blue & orange pants & boy! Noone here wears bright colors. The people all seem sad. I dont know if I’m going to like it here. We ate in the hotel Terrazzo. Food good except desert of egg & sugar uh!

BYE!

Note: I remember those pants had big flowers on them! I bet they were a bit loud for Europe. I wonder what the dessert was as I love flan but this must have been different. 

The folklore of Barcelos is about a dead rooster that crows to prove an accused man's innocence. There are many variations to this story and the rooster is a common symbol of Portugal.

Gallo de Barcelos figurine and postcard

March 21, 1972 Tues.

Dear Diary:

New word: Obligado-gracias. We got up, us kids, at 9:30. Mom, David, Becky went downtown. I bought 5 ash-trays for teachers, 6 post cards. Mom bought, me, Becky, herself & one for Missy a doll of Portugal. The guys here are very atrevidos. They come up to me & say “Hello Darling” or the boy in the restaurant I smiled at him but when I was laughing or smiling at David, Mom etc. but when we were leaving he goes something of linda & I like a dodo smiled. Uh!! We looked through shops & we walked home. Lunch was 40 some dollars. We went to this restaurant & it ended up it was a whore house. We ate at another real good restaurant.

BYE!

Note: Most of my teachers smoked so an ashtray was a good gift. Nowadays it wouldn’t be. 

Atrevido means daring. 

I remember we were walking around that night looking for a restaurant and saw one that had few lights on with some being red. Dad said for us to wait outside and he would see if they had seating. It turns out it was a whore house and they directed him to a nearby restaurant. We had wandered into the red light district!