So my new life will start in... Porto !

[LeSedna]

Just in case some of you are from Portugal (Eduardo... )...

I have just received my base appointment from my airline, and for me it will be Porto, Portugal. I'm overall happy, I could be based in so many less interesting places, so I'll go there with a smile !

So any of you keen to give me tips of where to look for an appartment ? (not too far to the airport, maximum 1h from it is my legal limit but to avoid tiredness cause I often have to be at the airport at 4:30 or 5 in the morning, and problems if traffic jam, maximum 20mn and if possible closer are more interesting), if it's okay to buy a place cause I wanna avoid wasting money in a rent when I can buy in a very short future, but I don't know how is the market there.

What useful things to consider, how are called the local entities, the local websites, the things that work with chicks (and if they actually are hairy), the good things to do in Porto, whatever !

 

[Empathy]

Haven't the slightest fucking idea about the place, and I honestly couldn't point it out on a map, but congrats and good luck to you sir!

 

[Pedro Teixeira]

Although I dont live there now, i was born and raised in Porto, lived all my life there till 2 years ago, i miss it everyday, its a fucking awesome city, im pretty sure youll love it, no, the chicks arent hairy, quite the opposite actually Im on my phone now so I cant look at much stuff, ill send some links later on.

The food is great, youve got shit ton of places to go at night, the city itself is beautiful, its that kind of city that you need to explore and walk around to find hidden gems. Im pretty sure you'll like and get used to it really quickly.

 

[LeSedna]

Aha nice for actually answering my silly question about portuguese girls

Yeah, it was one of the few destinations that got my interest (Faro is a possible base for us too), along with Barcelona, Budapest, Palma de Mallorca (i have flown from there this week, too touristic but awesome place to operate from), Las Palmas/Lanzarote etc.

I like that the Base Info we got in our intranet starts with 15 to 20 pages of cultural history, restaurants/clubs/touristic infos, where are the beaches, what we can drink there, and all. If the base captain is a nice guy, it would be a pure win !

 

[Pedro Teixeira]

Haha yeah, that was definitely tongue in cheek

i can make a list of cool stuff when i get home for you if you want, either today or tomorrow

 

[LeSedna]

Nice of you ! I like that it's also a not-too-big city considering it's the capital of a country. Paris, although wonderful, is also a nightmare to get to and live in, no matter what parisian people will tell you

 

[Pedro Teixeira]

Its not the capital, Lisbon is, Porto is the 2nd biggest city. There's actually a lot of rivalry between both cities, since people in porto dont even like to be associated with them, cause its got its own "culture", there's a saying about that, "O Porto é uma nação." which means 'Porto is a nation' lool

this is mostly because being so far up north its less "mediterranean", so to speak.

 

[LeSedna]

Yeah sorry I just realized 30mn ago it is not, forgot about Lisboa because we don't have a base there and so it doesn't show up in our map !

 

[Nuno Filipe]

Eduardo lives in opposite side of the country. I think he lives near Algarve. South of Portugal.

 

[Jevil]

You have Galicia (Spain) very close, nice seafood there!

 

[LeSedna]

Alright ! Oh by the way, very important for me, which are the best phone carriers there ? I need good coverage because of my standby days, which are days when I'm not working but have to be able to be ready in the crew room in an hour if they need replacement of someone sick, or whatever, and I can't afford not to be covered in some places for more than a minute (if they call me and I don't answer, it's added in my records). If possible it would be nice if they had a deal with apple since I wanna stick to the iPhone !

 

[DanLights]

You have Galicia (Spain) very close, nice seafood there!

And me! I´m 3 hours from Porto, been there once, awesome city! I might even visit you a couple days, I wanna go back. When are you moving in?

 

[LeSedna]

What if I don't want you to visit me ??

I have no idea, around the end of the month. They don't give me extra time so I'll have 4 days off between my last flight in Frankfurt Hahn, and my first one in Porto, including driving my car from there to porto... !

 

[DanLights]

What if I don't want you to visit me ??

I have no idea, around the end of the month. They don't give me extra time so I'll have 4 days off between my last flight in Frankfurt Hahn, and my first one in Porto, including driving my car from there to porto... !

holy crap you're a pilot and you have to drive from Frankfurt to Porto? Sounds like a fun trip hahahaha

I don't care if you don't want me to, I'm going with my wife and we're fucking staying at your place like it or not!!

 

[LeSedna]

Well yeah I can take the plane but my car would stay there, you silly !

If your wife has cute friends, we have a deal

Come whenever you want, and when I can, obviously ! She'll have the couch, you'll have the blanket on the ground or between the table and the fridge

 

[Ashgarth]

hahahaha
I believe Dan will sleep on the floor haha

Shame they didn't send you to Barcelona!!

 

[LeSedna]

I'm having such a hard week, I can't even start my Portuguese lessons !

 

[Machinated]

francesinha - get on it.

I love Portugal, been loads of times. Only been to Porto once, really enjoyed it but it's not the biggest place. Was in Lisbon the other week and totally fell in love with the place.

 

[LeSedna]

I'm in Porto now ! Just southwest of the Douro river. Love it so far, the airport is nice, my base is very nice and people seem to talk to each other which is a big improvement over my previous base Food seems good as well, just the fact that a simple sandwich at the airport's cafés tastes good is a good sign (from experience from UK and germany) I don't know where your country/city finds the money to build such a nice airport and such malls like the NorteShopping (it's totally crazy, even in Paris we don't have such a quality designed mall).

Need help for data plans now ! I would need something close to :

1 to 2h calls
unlimited text or at least a decent amount that is virtually unlimited to an average user
data plan 1Gb

BONUS : is there a tether/modem option somewhere, I couldn't find it by googling it ? By that, I mean, enabling the smartphone to be your ipad's/laptops modem router and use its 3G connexion.

what would be the possibilities ?

I'm scared at the price you pay in this country to use your phone. it's like twice the price as in france for the same service (I used to have several hours + unlimited text + unlimited (2Gb + reduced speed over it) data for 40e and the same equivalent I found here is around 100e), and with the new low cost plans that cost 20e for unlimited call/sms/data+modem we have now in france. There is one for 2h/unlimited sms/2gb data with modem , I feel raped each time I read the vodafone/tmn/optimus prices !

I heard vodafone is the best all around, is it true ? What is a good idea for someone who uses his smartphones regularly outside with googlemaps, occasional googling/wiki et, texts regularly, and calls little ?

Damn it's hard to find a solution for both here and france without being ass raped ! I'm considering keeping a second number for france with a low cost plan.

EDIT : here in france when it says "data : 1Go" it means 1 Go at 3G speed and then you can still use it but at a lower speed (around Edge speed). If I'm right, in portugal, when it says 1go and if you go beyond, it's stopped right ?

 

[LeSedna]

francesinha - get on it.

I love Portugal, been loads of times. Only been to Porto once, really enjoyed it but it's not the biggest place. Was in Lisbon the other week and totally fell in love with the place.

Looks like a Croque-Monsieur with meat in the middle ! I'm definitely on it !