October 2021 – Lisbon, Portugal

Madness was predicted and we were both eager to be a part of it.

I matched with D, a tall, handsome NY’er (we are everywhere) on Tinder the day of Lisbon’s “Deconfinement Night” aka: no more masks, no restrictions on bar hours or capacity, no vaccine requirements.

D had been to Lisbon several times before and was spending his last week of Euro travel there, after having traveled for the previous month.

We agreed on a meeting point just outside Bairro Alto, then to join in the party scene.

I was instantly attracted to him.  He was tall, dark and handsome and had an arrogance to him that I was drawn to.  He decided to give me a “tour” of Bairro Alto, since he was more familiar with the nightlife there then I was.

He gave a very entertaining, and comical tour: pointing out the “kiddie corner” where all the teenagers gather and drink questionably legal beers.  We stopped in the “pride corner” where several of Lisbon’s gay bars are and had a drink, then went to an Irish bar, followed by a bar-wanting-to-be-a-club blasting 90s and early 2000s tracks that we engaged in many sing a longs with. 

As the streets got more and more crowded, we decided this people watching was too good to be inside for and he planted me at an outdoor table and disappeared for several minutes, returning with big beers and a joint he procured from … somewhere.

We sat and drank our beers and shouted to each other while smoking terrible weed and took in all the energy of this incredible street party. 

Swayed by the energy, vibe, and freedom of the night (and drinks, terrible weed, and healthy dose of sexual tension) we decided to take a break and go to his Airbnb, which was just down the street in Bairro Alto.

After helping myself to the bathroom, some snacks, and a beer from the fridge, I joined D in the living room then realized he had a balcony overlooking all the bars and party goers.

I took my beer out to the balcony and was taking in the amazing vantage point when he came out and joined me. This quickly turned in to a pretty epic make out… that then turned in to our very own de-con-fiiiiiine-ment night right there on the balcony above thousands of partiers.

To say it was ‘hot’ would be a drastic understatement.

We collected ourselves, and our beers, and headed back out to the party… yup, we were committed.

Once back out in the streets, drunk and giddy and deconfined in all the ways, we met a group of very drunk, young Irish rowers (yes, rowers; like boats), who just happened to be in Lisbon for a competition on deconfinement night.

Seemingly enjoying their first night of freedom, the Irish rowers were like kids in Disneyland in Bairro Alto Lisbon, all drunk and rowdy and looking to party all night.  Deconfinement night D was all about taking the young rowers under our wing and leading them to Pink Street. 

The walk from Bairro Alt to Pink Street should have taken us about 15 minutes… but with 5 young drunk fra-la-la-la’ing Irish rowers, who I decided must be out in the world unchaperoned, for the first time ever in tow, it took a solid hour. We kept losing one of the two girls who kept running off to hug random strangers, and would sporadically stop along the way and declare what a GORGEOUS couple D and I were.

As we made our way to Pink Street, some friends D had made called and said they would also be at a club on Pink Street and he asked if I wanted to go. Already hours, many drinks, and a balcony foray, in to my night, I said I would see what the scene looked like when we got there.. but really was thinking there was no way my old ass was going to a whole club AT 2am.

We finally made it to Pink Street where the Irish rowers looked around wide eyed as kids on Christmas morning and bound off toward the closest queue leading to a strobe light lit, techno music thumping establishment filled with deconfined teens and twenty somethings.

Things my 37 year old self was not interested in at that moment: queuing (for anything other than an NYC slice that I was desperately missing in that moment), techno music, strobe lights, teens and twenty somethings.

Though I was interested in more Deconfinement Night D D, I knew he wasn’t ready to end his last night in Lisbon yet so told him to go meet up with his friends and to call me when they were done with their night and I took a taxi home.

I woke up to a pounding headache, 4 missed calls and 3 texts from Deconfinement Night D.

I called him back and he was in rougher shape than I was. We had a quick reminisce about our night and he told me about the rest of his.  Though we had a great time, neither of us were up to leaving our respective beds that day.

We said we should get together again when we were both back in NYC, but it felt like an empty formality… which was confirmed to be just that when I noticed his WhatsApp photo changed to him on his wedding day… before I even left Portugal.

Maybe they met on the flight home….