Walter had delivered his wife Lillian and their daughter Mary to Charlotte airport. Neither of them had ever been to an airport and certainly never flown. The tension in the truck was electric as they arrived. Lillian had spent most of the drive giving Walter list after list of “Do’s and Don’ts.” Walter had nodded between each burst and stared straight ahead as he drove. He was worried. Not for himself. He and Albert would be quite happy for some peace in the house. No, he was worried that Lillian would find a way to offend someone and end up in some foreign jail unable to speak the language and never be released. He nodded again, responding to another barrage of instructions from his wife but also as he pondered her in a jail cell and him peacefully home alone with the dog. The last thing he wanted was to lose his wife and daughter in a strange land. For all its faults, life was good in sleepy West Virginia.

Charlotte airport was alive with people rushing, most dragging heavy luggage and looking nervous. Cab drivers and airport staff milled around amongst the fractious flyers, trying to be helpful or calm stressed folk. Too many stories and too many scary “what-ifs” would always keep people jittery in airports and no amount of soothing from helpful staff was going to change it. Nobody in the airport had ever experienced anything worse than interminable waiting, but this only served to heighten the tension. Lillian was no different. She had read only the other day about a plane that being diverted from this very airport. It had actually been due to a blocked toilet, but of course the story changed from kidnapping to hijacking, to whatever else her imagination could conjure.

They unloaded from the truck and made their way to the terminal buildings. Walter got as far as the door and dropped the bags onto a baggage cart.

“This is where I have to leave you, folks. I’ve got the bags on here but I think you’ll have to take them inside,” Walter said, shuffling nervously.

“But Walter, of course you have to come in with us. What if we’ve forgotten something?” Lillian replied, looking desperately into his eyes.

“Lillian, honey, if you’ve forgotten anything now, it’ll be back at home. I can’t just zip back and fetch anything. You’ve checked your stuff a million times. You have everything you need, baby. Now, I don’t think I can leave the truck parked where it is or I might get towed. Last thing I want to do is go hunting for the truck in the middle of Charlotte. Come here and give me a hug.”

“Dad’s right, Mom. Security and all that stuff. Only folks going on a plane are allowed through to the gates. If we forgot anything, then it’s just bad luck. We’ve got our tickets and passports. I’m not sure we’d be able to carry anything else anyway. These bags weigh a ton,” Mary said. She was nervous to the point of being terrified, but here they were and they were going through with it.

Lillian gave Walter a big hug. “Wish us luck, Walt darling, and take good care of the house and Albert.”

“Don’t you worry your head about here. Just get there safe and get yourselves back in one piece. I don’t know how I agreed to this madness, but here we are. Charlotte. Even the folk here speak funny. Can’t imagine how bad they’ll sound over there,” Walter replied, giving his wife a reciprocal hug then holding his arms out to Mary. “You take damn good care of your mother, ya hear me, madam? And make sure you have a good time while you’re doing it okay?”

“We will, Dad, I promise,” Mary said, squeezing her father tightly, not wanting to let him go now they were at the point of no return.

Walter watched as Mary and Lillian dragged the heavily loaded luggage cart into the airport. Soon they were swallowed up in a crowd of travellers. He gave a wave at the throng of bodies in the hopes that his wife and daughter might see it and slowly he turned and walked back to his truck.

Lillian and Mary were in the process of doing a lot of things for the first time. First time at an airport, first time at a security check point and eventually, the first time sat on a large passenger aircraft. The queuing, the checking, the queuing again and the eventual boarding had left them hot, tired and totally head-spun. They took their seats on the plane and Lillian gazed nervously out of the window. She’d hoped to see Walter somewhere out on the tarmac waving at them but of course he wasn’t there. As the huge plane engines fired up, mother and daughter gripped each other’s hands and stared at each other.

“This is it Mom! We’re actually doing it!” Mary squealed.

The plane taxied onto the runway and in a few moments was charging down it.

“Oh my dear God, what on earth have we done?” Lillian muttered, eyes fixed on the runway disappearing alongside them. Mary gently released her mother’s hand that was crushing hers. In an instant, they were airborne and steadily climbing into the skies. Charlotte sprawled out below them getting smaller and smaller.

“I hope the driver has a map. It’s a long way without one, I’ll bet,” Lillian remarked as she relaxed her grip on the arm rest and tried to gently sit back in the seat.

“I’m pretty sure the pilot knows where he’s going, Mother,” Mary replied, a huge grin on her face. They’d survived take off and she was loving it.

“Well we always think that about your dad. I’ll bet you he gets lost going home,” Lillian retorted.

The flight after that was long and uneventful. Lillian fell asleep soon after the plastic meal had been served and Mary slipped her headphones on to watch a movie. It was some hours later that they were both awake and alert as the plane began its descent into Amsterdam.

The airport in Amsterdam was without any doubts, huge. Mary and Lillian were in total confusion as they followed the herd of passengers to the terminal buildings, managing to get through immigration without a hitch before trying to find their connection to Faro airport in Portugal.

“What about all our bags, Mary? We’ll need to go and find them first,” Lillian said, panicked as she looked around the terminal. A constant chatter of a thousand different languages bombarded her brain and apart from her own, she couldn’t hear any English.

“They move the bags from one plane to the next, Mom. We don’t need to do it. It’s on the label where the bags are going. I hope,” Mary replied.

“Well, ‘hope’ might see them on a plane to Timbuctoo as well. I’ll feel a lot happier knowing they are with us.”

“Mom, these people do this all the time. Relax. Now somewhere in here is the gate for our next flight to Portugal. We don’t want to miss it, do we? Or we’ll never see our bags again,” Mary muttered the last bit as she dragged her mother in what she hoped was the right direction. It wasn’t.

After ten minutes of wandering around the huge concourse they found themselves outside looking in. A fleet of taxis stood in a row behind them. Cars and vans were speeding in all directions, taking travellers back and forth into the huge city of Amsterdam.

“Well, somehow I think we missed our door. Maybe we could get a taxi to the apartment?” Lillian sighed. “Do they deliver cases to the apartment?” she asked, bewildered and now incredibly tired.

“Mom, no! We’re outside. We’re in Holland, Mom. We’re going to be in big trouble. Come on, we have to get back in somehow and find the terminal or we’ll miss the flight.” Mary dragged her mother by the arm again, back through sliding doors they’d just exited.

There, looking amused and officious, stood a Dutch security guard.

“I don’t know how you did it, ladies, but you seem to have evaded our most efficient security by breaking into the Netherlands,” the guard chuckled.

“Oh good grief, Mary, we’re in big trouble. I’m too old to go to jail,” Lillian gasped, looking at her daughter in terror. “I’ve never been to jail, I can’t go now. Not even a Dutch jail! Do you think they’re full of water?”

Mary stepped up to the guard and gave him a pleading look.

“We are so sorry, sir. We seem to have got lost. We are trying to get to Portugal and can’t find the gate. All our luggage is going to disappear if we don’t find the plane,” Mary explained, not realizing that her frantic words made little sense.

The guard smiled at her with understanding and held his hand out for her and her mother to follow.

“Follow me, madam. I assume you are needing the Faro flight. It leaves in fifteen minutes.” He didn’t say another word about breaking the law as they began to follow like ducklings following their mother.

They obediently followed along behind the guard as he led them through the throngs of travellers back to where they’d originally got off the first plane. From there, a short turn left through another set of glass doors had them in the Faro terminal.

“Now ladies, if you promise me you’ll wait here until it’s time to get on the plane, we’ll have no need to put you in jail okay?” the guard said, smiling at them.

“Of course, of course, thank you officer. Thank you so much,” Lillian said quietly, looking around to see if anyone had heard them. Embarrassment was setting in as she realized they’d only been a few feet from their original destination.

“Oh, and by the way.” The officer turned back just as he was departing. Both of them looked at him nervously, waiting for the inevitable.

“Yes?” Mary asked trying to glean a clue from the man’s eyes.

“Welcome to Europe, and more importantly, welcome to the Netherlands. Have a wonderful visit and a safe flight.”

He walked away, leaving two very deflated ladies behind.

Lillian waited for the security guard to disappear before she quietly melted into a waiting chair. She was exhausted and just on the verge of tears.

“Thank you, sir. We appreciate your kindness,” Mary called out. She was smiling as she joined her mother on a chair. She too gave a huge sigh.

Boarding the flight to Faro, Portugal, Lillian was confident she recognised her suitcase as the handlers transferred baggage from plane to plane. She wasn’t totally sure but at the same time it gave her some sort of confidence that something looking like her case had been loaded on board. She nudged Mary and nodded her head at the baggage.

“Well, I think mine went on. Don’t know about yours, dear.”

“I’ll worry about that when we get to Portugal. Not a lot we can do about it now is there?” Mary replied, fastening her seatbelt and gazing over the runway. “We’re nearly there, Mom. We did it. We got to Europe. All on our own.”

The flight to Faro was considerably shorter than the flight across the Atlantic and it wasn’t long before the plane began its descent. Mary gazed down as they flew over the shoreline. She pointed out the sandy beaches and turquoise sea they were skimming over the top of.

“Oh, good heavens. If we get any lower he’ll be rowing us to the airport,” Lillian said, startled. She gripped the armrests tighter as she saw the sea coming ever closer, before the plane turned into the airport and down onto the runway.

The airplane’s wheels hissed and screeched as it taxied gently to a halt and the announcements started over the intercom.

Mary and Lillian disembarked with the other passengers and this time made a concerted effort to stay with the herd and follow them through to the baggage carousel.

Lillian was delighted to see her suitcase making its way round to her and hauled it off with a loud exclamation, “See! I told you mine went on the plane!”

Mary grabbed her suitcase when it eventually came. “Well who would have thought, Mother? They put mine on the same plane too. How very thoughtful of them.” She laughed.

It didn’t take them long to find the exit and a taxi rank. Mary had a piece of paper with the name of the village and the name of the house.

“Excuse me? Do you speak English?” She asked a taxi driver.

“Sim, of course. I speak good English. You want a taxi?” The driver replied climbing from his driver’s seat to open the doors.

“Sim, I mean yes,” Mary said handing him the piece of paper. “We need to go to here okay?”

“Ah, Maragota. Yes, I think I know where that is. Please, please, let me get the luggage and I take you there, okay,” the driver said, as he loaded the suitcases into the back of the cab. Lillian and Mary climbed onto the back seat nervously. Neither of them, in all their lives had ever been in a taxi. There had never been a need. Anywhere they went someone would be driving. It was really that simple. Now they found themselves in a strange land, in the back of a car with a strange man they’d never met. It did however say “Taxi” on the side of the car and it was in a taxi rank, which brought both ladies some level of comfort.

The taxi pulled away from the airport and out onto the highway. Mary and Lillian watched in wonder as they drove past tiny villages of brightly coloured houses, all bedecked in blossoms. Any one of these houses could be the one, they both thought. The description of the house they were looking for was identical to any number of houses they’d passed.

“It must be the most beautiful place in the world, Mary,” Lillian announced after an initial silence. “Totally, and utterly beautiful.”

“Yes, I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything so incredible,” Mary replied. “Wouldn’t it be beautiful to get married here? I wonder if the air only smells like that in April? What is it?” Mary held her nose up to the window, inhaling deeply of the natural air freshener overpowering all the other smells.

“First time in Portugal, sim?” the taxi driver asked. “Beautiful place is Portugal. You’ll never want to leave. Air smells of laranja.”

“Laranja? Oranges?” Mary asked politely, hoping she didn’t offend.

“Sim, oranges, laranja! Is beautiful!”

After half an hour of driving, Mary began to worry because the taxi driver had been on his phone for some time. Neither of them could understand a word but every so often he would repeat “Maragota”. She knew because he’d repeat it very slowly, his gaze flicking to the address written on the paper he held in the hand gripping the steering wheel.

“Are you sure you know where you’re going?” Mary asked the driver, nervousness starting to set in.

“Sim, sim, sim, of course. Maragota. We’ll find it, have no fears. I know all these places. Lots of times, sim!” the driver replied, with a not so convincing grin of reassurance.

The grin didn’t convince either Mary or Lillian as they watched village after village disappear behind them.

Soon the taxi turned into a side road that took them deep into an area of orange orchards with small houses nestled within them.

“Could be very close now, ladies. We find your house.”

He slowed to a crawl and looked at the mail boxes and house signs for clues. Unlike in America, Portuguese houses didn’t all have numbers, some simply had names where numbers should be.

“Well this is Maragota, ladies. But I don’t think this house you are looking for is real, you know?” the driver said, desperately glancing down side roads and through driveways.

“Of course it’s real, we rented it and paid for it! On the internet. Of course it’s real,” Mary huffed.

“Ahhh, sim! Internet, yes. Lots of bad people on there. Take your money but no hotel, understand? Maybe you met one of those kinds of people, sim?” The driver replied, his frustration and confusion mounting.

A few hundred yards down the lane they were driving down, a man was standing beside of a large villa, covered in bougainvillea. He was looking towards the taxi that pulled up to him and stopped, the engine ticking over.

“We could ask that guy there,” Lillian said pointing at the very handsome man.

“Yes we could. Can you ask him, driver?” Mary said, she’d noted how handsome the man was too, but her recent experience had taught her a lesson about handsome men.

“Sure, we can ask. But I don’t think we gonna find it ladies, sim?” the driver shrugged as he eased the window down to get the man’s attention.

As the driver rolled the window down, the man looked at the taxi driver, his face knowing. Mary’s face lit up as the driver began speaking with him. She opened the passenger door and jumped out, pointing at the sign on the wall of the house.

“Quinta Paradiso” the sign read.

“This is it! This is definitely it!” Mary yelped turning to where the driver was talking to the man.

“Welcome to Portugal, ladies. I’m Ben, your neighbour. Let me help you with your bags,” the man said, as the driver climbed out and went to the back of the taxi to get the luggage.

“He said it didn’t exist!” Lillian glared at the taxi driver.

“That’s why I was stood waiting. Not an easy place to find, even for taxi drivers apparently. But you’re here now and it’s getting late. Let’s get your stuff inside,” Ben replied. “If you’d like to pay the taxi driver I’ll take these ahead for you okay?”

Mary paid the driver and waved him off with a thank you. Then she and Lillian followed Ben through a wrought iron gate into a large courtyard and into the sliding glass doors of a huge converted barn built into the villa. Following behind Ben, Lillian poked Mary in her ribs with her elbow. “Don’t you try it, lady. He’s a dream come true and he’s all mine,” she whispered snickering.

Mary growled back, her cheeks flaming. “Mom! Please!”

Ben, hearing the muttering behind him, stopped to turn around.

“Everything okay?” he asked, a dark blond eyebrow crooked.

Mary felt her heart skip a beat as she looked at him but kept it to herself.

“Yes, Ben, thank you. You’re so kind.” Mary smiled back at him, hoping it didn’t come across as awkward or goofy, even if that was how she felt as she looked up at him.

“Again, welcome to Portugal. It’s quiet here, but I’m sure you’ll have a wonderful time,” Ben said, lowering the cases and making his way out the doors as they called out their appreciation once more.

Ben made his way back to his own apartment leaving the two staring at his disappearing back with amazement. He really was quite a handsome fellow, and so nice, Mary thought.

“I think he’s English, Mary. He sounds like a film star. And soooo sweet don’t you think?” Lillian said softly, still staring at the patio doors.

“Yes, Mom, I think he is.” After her recent experience, she was too tender to do anything but appreciate just how beautiful the man was. “Shall we unpack? I think this might be some kind of a vacation already.”