‘Skip the line’: European nation shows up Australia with one sign

A tiny sign on the other side of the world has stunned a young Aussie mum – and revealed what’s wrong with Australia.

OPINION

I’ve always hated queuing.

But I’ve never disliked waiting in a line more than since I became a parent.

One of the worst experiences had to be when I was waiting at Dublin airport to board a Ryanair flight to Portugal last December.

Trapped in a stairwell, my six-month-old son was that delightful combination of both tired and hungry.

The line for priority tickets (that we had paid extra for) was actually longer than the non-priority queue.

I got plenty of sympathetic looks from other passengers as I did my best to comfort my son as the line crawled down the staircase, across the tarmac and finally onto the plane over the next 20 minutes.

During that time, my husband kept busy carrying our hand luggage which consisted of (I wish I was joking) two wheelie suitcases, his backpack, my handbag, our baby bag and travel pram.

If ever I had wished to skip to the front of the line, it was then.

But lucky for me, by the time our flight touched down in Portugal for the next week of our holiday, we could do just that.

A family photo from Portugal. Picture: Hannah Paine

The European nation has sweeping laws that require all public and private entities to provide priority access to one of the biggest cross-sections of people in any country.

Any business or public service providing an “in-person service” has to give preferential access to not only the elderly and those with a disability, but also women who are pregnant or caregivers with a child aged two and under.

It’s a law which we saw strictly enforced everywhere we went in Portugal, making it one of the best places to visit with a baby.

We felt the benefit of the law the minute we landed in Lisbon airport when we breezed through customs thanks to the priority access line – our baby was now like a theme park ride fast pass.

Spending the first leg of our trip in Lisbon, we visited all the major sites – the Castelo de São Jorge, Jerónimos Monastery and Bélem Tower.

At each location we were directed straight to the front of the queue and let in, no questions asked.

The priority landing lane at Lisbon Airport. Picture: Hannah Paine

We were directed to the front of each queue. Picture: Hannah Paine

While the law is accepted by locals, it did draw envious (and sometimes annoyed) looks from other foreign tourists.

At Bélem Tower, arguably one of Portugal’s biggest attractions, there was an hour-and-a-half wait time to get in.

But one of the staff members simply saw our child and stamped our ticket with a priority pass and prompted us to go straight to the front and show security the stamp to be let in.

As we were showing security, we were interrupted by a Spanish tourist who wanted to know what ticket we had purchased to skip the queue. We simply pointed to our son and shrugged our shoulders in apology.

In online spaces like Reddit, the Portuguese law creates further division among would-be tourists. Some with children worry they will “seem rude” if they go straight to the front of the queue.

Others think you simply shouldn’t be going to the front of any line if you’re not a local, full stop.

“Does it work? Maybe. Is it a d**k move? Yes,” one Reddit user bluntly put it.

Maybe I should have felt guilty, but I couldn’t help feeling a bit smug at constantly being able to skip queues while in Portugal.

The insane Belem Tower line. Picture: Hannah Paine

Enjoying Sintra. Picture: Hannah Paine

Anyone who has a baby knows there is nothing worse than being stuck in a line when they’re tired, hungry, needing a nappy change or even just bored.

Knowing we wouldn’t have to waste time in a queue put us at ease and made the trip so much more enjoyable.

During our day trip to Sintra, a small town outside Lisbon famous for its Disney World-like castles (and crowds to match), there were long lines for the buses that went up the winding mountains to the Pena Palace and Moorish Castle.

With buses the only way to access each site, we were waved by drivers to the front of each queue. Other visitors had to miss two, sometimes even three, buses while they waited in line.

In Porto we visited Livaria Lello, a bookstore famed for its beautiful interiors that inspired the Hogwarts library in Harry Potter.

We not only got to skip the line out the front to get in (which given the cold that day, I was grateful for) but also the 10-deep queue to purchase books at the cash register.

A sign showing the priority law at the shop’s cash register. Picture: Hannah Paine

‘I’d never felt so welcome as a parent’. Picture: Hannah Paine

Honestly, I didn’t want to leave Portugal at the end of our week there because I’d never felt so welcome as a parent.

It wasn’t just about the priority access. The Portuguese also went out of their way to make us feel comfortable and accommodated.

Whenever we went to a restaurant, the staff greeted us with a smile, gave us toys for our son and stopped to play with him. Portuguese patrons were the same.

At Jerónimos Monastery, a staff member kindly directed me to sit on a roped-off bench inside the 500-year-old building when I asked if there was anywhere nearby I could breastfeed.

‘The Portuguese also went out of their way to make us feel comfortable and accommodated’. Picture: Hannah Paine

The stairs can pose a challenge for those with babies. Picture: Hannah Paine

Sure, there were some bits that made Portugal not-so-great for babies. The streets are narrow and cobblestoned with lots of hills or stairs, so it’s not exactly pram-friendly terrain. Most attractions also weren’t pram accessible, so we ended up leaving the pram at our Airbnb and just using our carrier 99 per cent of the time.

We had also hired a car, thinking it would be easier than getting public transport with a baby – but didn’t factor in the crazy traffic.

But overall, I left Portugal thrilled with how a simple rule had made our trip so much better.

It’s a law I have wished for more than once since returning to Australia, most recently when I was at Service NSW queuing to renew my driver’s license.

I spent the hour-plus wait with my son praying he wouldn’t need a nappy change or anything else that required me stepping out and forfeiting my spot in the queue.

It was a far cry from how relaxed I’d felt being able to skip to the front in Portugal.

But at least I’d also been able to spend the time waiting imagining how good it would be if the same law applied here – a girl can dream, right?