adapting

Lisbon, 2019

After my husband and I booked our first trip to Portugal in 2019, I found out that I needed extensive ankle and Achilles surgery, to be followed by weeks of convalescence and months of physical therapy. Pre-surgery, walking was painful for me and hills were particularly challenging, and of course, Portugal is known for being very hilly. Canceling the trip seemed like a wise idea.

We decided to go to Portugal anyway. Priorities, yo.

The first time we traveled abroad together, we were in our 20s. We went to England and Scotland and planned an itinerary that had us on the move from dawn to dusk (and beyond) every day for two weeks. It was exhausting, but that’s what we thought travel should be — maximizing every minute of every day.

A quarter century and dozens of countries later, we travel differently. Generally speaking, we’ve gotten better about slowing down our travel. Not filling every waking hour or worrying about seeing everything.

We like to get up, walk, explore, and learn about a city at a walking pace. We inevitably see so much more — interesting architectural details, human interactions, graffiti, and more — when we wander.

And we walk a lot, sometimes as much as 8-10 miles a day.

So, Portugal.

The country is hilly, as I mentioned. And the streets and sidewalks are made of calçada, which is a type of cobblestone and as slick as snot when wet. These two factors are not great for someone with an unstable ankle and a compromised Achilles tendon. After learning about my need for surgery, we strategized and adapted our plans to accommodate my needs.

Once there, we slept in a little most days, lingered over our coffee in our Airbnb, and then set out to explore. We wandered slowly, stopping in cafes for coffee and people-watching while I rested. We did less each day than we would have 25, 20, or even five years ago. We definitely were not on the go from dawn to dusk.

As our ten days in Portugal passed, I was able to do a little less each day. We continued to adapt our itinerary for my jacked-up foot and had a marvelous time. We weren’t worried about doing it all because we had fallen in love with that beautiful country and knew we would be back.

Of course, we all know what happened in early 2020. Consequently, we didn’t make it back to Portugal until 2022, when we were back to walking miles and miles every day. Up and down hills for hours at a time. It was marvelous.

Unfortunately, after we returned from that trip, I started having issues with my other Achilles tendon. This had been a recurring problem for more than 15 years but said tendon had largely behaved itself for a few years. This time, however, it flared up again and never calmed down. Once again, surgery was necessary, which happened six months after that glorious trip to Portugal.

After five months of healing and hard work, we were back in Portugal for our trip earlier this year. Once again, we had to adapt a little, but not as much as in 2019, and we still managed to walk mile after mile, hill after hill. If we had a full day one day, the next day was less full. Balance and moderation and all that.

The good news is this: I have only two Achilles tendons and both have been repaired, so hopefully this is the end of that saga.

(Hopefully I didn’t just jinx myself.)