Good afternoon from Madrid, ESP 
I know you’re sick of me saying that but trust me, it’ll be the last time as today we begin the very long journey home. After traveling Europe for almost 2 weeks, exploring Spain and Italy 
meeting family from both my mom and dads side, the small coastal city of A Coruña, the bustling metropolises of Madrid and Barcelona and to the historical capital of Rome. Overall, I had a very good time here in Europe and I can’t wait to come back although probably one destination to make things a lot less stressful and more time to actually fully explore these places. We’ll be flying with TAP Air Portugal once again for our way back home to Miami, FL 
first with a stopover in Lisbon, PRT 
in economy class on their Airbus A321neo. I’m glad you’re joining me once again, so let’s get to the airport!
If you’re sick enough of me saying freezings from Madrid, you’re 100% sick of me saying welcome back to Adolfo Suarez Madrid-Barajas International Airport. I know you’ve heard it like a million times by now but trust me, after this flight it ends for now that is. Anyways we got to the airport fairly early which was a good call as the TAP Air Portugal lines were BUSY. Mind you the counter also hasn’t opened yet as well but I guess people still like to show up early. But it is ultimately better to show up too early than too late. Flying TAP between the Spanish capital and the 305 via Lisbon is actually pretty common, on the way here, I noticed a lot of familiar faces waiting for bags in Madrid that I first noticed at the check in counters back at MIA. As you can imagine with the sheer popularity, checking in and dropping off our bags definitely took a good chunk of time. Security on the other hand, was very light and we were through within just a few minutes. I’ve already been in this terminal before so there’s no point of exploring it, and just like we did at Rome’s Fiumicino Airport almost a week ago, we just sat down in the food court area until we knew where to go. After eating some quick Burger King 
which was great by the way, we made our way to the gate to await our aircraft.
FLIGHT INFO:
Origin: Adolfo Suarez Madrid-Barajas (MAD/LEMD)
Destination: Humberto Delgado (LIS/LPPT)
Flight Time: 0:56
Airbus A321neo (TAP Air Portugal)
Server: None (Real Life)
Our ride back to Portugal
this afternoon will be CS-TXK, a 3 and a half year old Airbus A321neo delivered straight to TAP Air Portugal in December 2022. This however isn’t any generic A21N, it’s actually an LR, meaning it has longer range making it capable of conducting thin transatlantic. Before it flew to MAD, it had actually arrived from Belem, BRA 
and after arriving to LIS again, I’d conduct another long haul service
Boarding began not long after but just as you’d come to expect, it was a massive line down the departures hall. We however stood clear until it was actually time for us to board
TAP’s A321LRs have 171 total seats onboard split in a 2 class configuration. Business class is fitted with 16 Thompson Aero Vantage seats. They are arranged in a staggered 2-2/1-1 configuration rows 2 and 4 are the 1-1s with rows 1, 3 and 5 being 2-2. Economy class is fitted with 155 Recaro CL3710s in a 3-3 configuration, the same seats found on their Airbus A330-900neos I’ll be flying after this. Even the amenities all remain the same with the seatback screen, charging etc… I mean it’s also used for long haul flights.
I’m seated in seat 21F for this flight across the Iberian Peninsula. It’s comfortable which is more than enough for this short flight but vital for the long haul operations this aircraft serves. The seats feature seatback screens and power, haven’t seen any of these in a while. Overall, it’s the exact same seat on the A339, both on how it feels and literally. Soon enough, we pushed back, the safety video played and we made our way to MADs RWY 36L for take off!
Bye, bye Madrid! For the last time….
After a very turbulent but beautiful final take off from MAD, we reached our cruising altitude of 31,000ft over the Spanish countryside
Soon enough the crew began their inflight service which I actually partook in this time. Mostly because it was free once again, it was only water and chocolates 
like the LIS - MAD flight but it’s okay as it’s enough for this flight. I mean a service like this is the NORM in the United States 
even on the longer transcontinental flights that aren’t any type of premium or flagship route. If you still demand more, there is of course the option of paying up for other offerings from snacks, drinks and actual meals. That’s something that hasn’t come back to the states since the COVID-19 pandemic.
The entertainment system and WiFi on the A321LR is the same featured on their A330-900neo so I won’t go into any specifics on that. Internet access is of course an additional fee but you can access TAPs website free of charge to view things like arrival information and even a moving map. I simply spent the entire flight looking out the window, writing this trip report and documenting the flight for YouTube. I wanted to save using the IFE system for the long haul coming up.
About halfway between Madrid and Lisbon
Soon enough, it was time to begin the approach into Lisbon. We could continue our southwest trek passing by Setúbal and Sesimbra before making a right base turn to land on LISs RWY 03
Down below is Setúbal and a bit of the vast Atlantic Ocean 
we’ll have to cross later this evening/tonight
Here we are, final approach into LISs RWY 03, it’s looking like a beautiful day in the city
TOUCHDOWN! Welcome back to Lisbon, PRT
once again only as a brief stopover which is quite unfortunate as it looks like a beautiful city to explore. Anyways, I had a good experience on TAP this afternoon. The seats were great and it was nice to have an actual complimentary cabin service once again even if it was very limited. This flight being on an LR also made the entertainment much better than what it really needed to be. People are spoiled and often demand even on short 50 minute flights personal IFE screens. While they would be cool to have, they’re really unnecessary expenses for short haul aircraft. That being said, it is definitely awesome to see long haul aircraft being used on flights like these and if you ever see something like this, take the deal, it’s 100% worth it. As for TAPs A321LR, it’s an amazing aircraft and I’d fly it any day of the week even on their longest of flights
Welcome back to Lisbon’s Humberto Delgado International Airport, our aircraft will soon be heading to Boston, MA. After a brief and very cool bus ride, we were brought to the passport control
hall as we are now leaving the Schengen Area. We’ll be leaving it off here however.
We’ll be leaving it off here however and with that, this will be it regarding the first part of this journey home on TAP Air Portugal’s Airbus A321neo LR in economy class and I hope you enjoyed it. Stay tuned for tomorrow as I upload the long haul flight back to Miami, FL on the A330-900neo and as always between now and the next time, see you in the sky! 
