April 22, 2022 - Portugal and Happy Birthday to Me!

 I really thought we would not get here - here being Pechao, Portugal.  The past couple of weeks have been absolutely crazy.  A couple of weeks ago we started hearing rumors from daughter #2 and son-in-law that the State Department might be giving them orders to leave Shanghai, China because of the Covid shut-downs - and where would they land in the U.S.?  At the same time my husband and I are trying to pack for our upcoming trip to Portugal expecting to leave 4/19/2022.  Of course they can come and stay with us.  They can use our house while we are in Portugal.

We also have a non-profit in Accra Ghana and need to fund the next 5 weeks financial needs before we leave the U.S.  We had heard that WISE (a way to send money to a foreign company) was completely safe and much cheaper to use than wiring from your own bank.  I had set up our account on WISE 3 weeks before our expected trip and had no problems sending the first wire - which was money sent to Spain.  A few days before we were to leave I logged into our WISE account to set up ach transfers to send to our Ghana non-profit.  I barely logged on before I saw some strange upcoming transfers - all going to Great Britain.  As I watched in disbelief more transfers to unknown persons in GB appeared.  I immediately called WISE and was told they could not talk to me because I "was not the owner of the company"!   My husband was at a long Doctor apt.  I finally talked them into putting a hold on the transfers and I would have my husband call them as soon as he got home. 

I go back to the my WISE account and see more pending transfers.  Finally Husband gets home.  We call WISE.  Yes - they will definitely stop them from going out.  So far there were no pending transactions at our bank.  I check the WISE account.  Their are even more pending transfers to GB.  I check our bank account again - now there are pending WISE withdrawals from our bank account.  We frantically call WISE again.  They are closed - as is their fraud department.  I call our bank - which happens to be Wells Fargo.  I am put into an endless loop and the automatic voice will not transfer me to an agent.  I call our local WF bank and am given another phone number.  I finally reach someone in person in the fraud department at WF.  They can put a stop payment on the Vendor - WISE - so any further pending transfers would be stopped.  Now all we can do is wait for the bank sweep that happens at midnight to see what happens.  

Next morning - I check WF account - everything is fine.  I get an email from WISE - they have closed our account.  It was an entire day lost - but thankfully no money was lost.

While I am dealing with the fraud issue - I am getting emails and texts from Lisa - Yes, they are coming to ABQ.  They will have to fly from Shanghai to San Francisco then on to Washington DC.  She will get tickets from there to fly back to ABQ.  They will arrive on Sunday.  No, wait a minute our trip to NM was approved - we will fly to ABQ and be there tomorrow.  No - they can't change our routing - but I (Lisa) canceled our flights to ABQ!  Now I will have to rebook!  Oops - yes they were able to change the booking we will see you tomorrow!  

And they did arrive in ABQ on Friday.  Now we have to get them settled and bedrooms arranged.  Much grocery shopping must be done.    I need to shop for clothes for me for our trip before I can pack.  Somehow it all gets done and Husband and I leave for Portugal on Wednesday, April 19 as scheduled.

The travel gods were with us - and all of our flights and connections worked perfectly.  We arrived in Lisbon on time, got our rental car, and drove to Sines where we spent the night.  (No need to go to Sines - nothing to see there!)  The next morning we drove south to Pechao a small town in the Agarve region of Portugal.  

Today was raining and cold, but it is my birthday so Husband found some candles (not birthday) in the house so we had lit candles on the table for our dinner!  Happy Birthday to ME!