Mr. Thurston’s Trip – De Equitibus

By Rachel Dinh

You survey your surroundings and notice streets densely packed with honking cars, huge buildings stacked side by side, historical monuments on any corner, the occasional squirrel scurrying around, and life booming on every city curb and street. Yup, you could only be in Boston, Massachusetts. This is precisely where Mr. Thurston and his wife spent their first two days of spring break. They left for Boston’s chilly 40-50 degree weather on the last Friday before spring break.

Mr. Thurston describes his attachment to Boston: “Boston is a great place to explore because it’s the start of the American Revolution. We walked around the city and did, well, our Boston thing. I made a two-week business trip to the Boston-area decades ago, and that was the start of my love for the area. My wife is of Italian descent, so we like the North End, which is the Little Italy area. We eat at Giacomo’s every time we visit. My daughter even ran the Boston Marathon in 2015. In short, I think it is the history, the people (Boston Strong), the Metro, and the seafood that make Boston one of my favorite places in the world.”

After their busy but fun weekend, Mr. Thurston and his wife took a nearly 6-hour flight to Lisbon, Portugal. This trip had been in the works ever since June of 2015, when Mrs. Thurston booked the trip from their hotel room in Paris. In Lisbon, they stayed in a hotel that was near government offices and the subway. They took a day trip by train 30 miles to a small, quaint, hilltop castle in the town of Sintra. This castle that was built by Islamic Moors was later retaken over by Christians, who used it as an important strategic point during the Reconquista.

The couple then flew to Ponta Delagada, San Miguel Island, in the Azores, which is part of Portugal. “One of my favorite memories is driving on San Miguel. The views were beautiful and it was just a very relaxing time. I had to be careful with the rental car because the roads are generally narrow. On top of that, I hadn’t driven a manual transmission in many years, and there was no back-up camera.”

Mr. Thurston noticed some key differences between Portugal and America. “The sidewalks aren’t just regular concrete sidewalks. The Portuguese have a different, intricate design for almost every street. People can speak multiple languages, such as Portuguese, English, French, and German. Also, there are fewer cars because most people travel by foot, bus, or subway, so it’s rare to see an overweight person.” There were some similarities also. “I was talking to this lady about their presidential election because the inauguration just occurred and she said, ‘New president, same old Portugal.’ It struck me that they’re the same as us; they hope for change in the country.”