4pm took the train from Oxford Road to the airport & then walked to T3 with a man flying to Belfast, who I chatted to along the way.
5pm met Laura & checked in, couldn't get mums perfume or the go pro camera for Andy because the duty free is tiny & no cheaper anyways, but everything was on schedule & we boarded at 6.40pm no problem. We even met a lovely Portugese couple visiting family in Altrincham, Cheshire on our flight who were quick to offer us their advice & recommended we visited a town called Vilamora, just outside of Faro but not as far as where they were from in Albufeira.
10pm after catching up on the plane (as a distraction from minor turbulence) we landed to an abandoned airport & it hits home we're in Europe when we touch down & the customs guy says "chao" to us! After some false direction from the only other people around I managed to find the shuttle bus I'd researched earlier & it took us to town for €1.90, perfect!
10.45pm in the rain & in the dark, luckily our hostel was only two blocks back from the bus station (Blablabla Hostel - highly recommended!), the owner Antonio was so lovely offering to cook us dinner & told us we could help ourselves & feel at home! For €8 a night each, breakfast was included & the whole setup was ideal - his wife took us to a separate house where we had a private twin room & the entire place to ourselves including a kitchen, bathroom, rooftop etc with all facilities - even a bath! One other man was living there but he was lovely, the only catch was it gets freezing at night but we were quickly offered extra sheets which helped; I'm glad I packed by long pjmas!