just got back from portugal and bringing the drone was honestly more stressful than it was worth in some ways. customs in lisbon wanted to see everything when i came back through and i had to explain what a lipo battery is to three different people. ended up being fine but took forever. also flew in the algarve which is gorgeous btw but the rules there were confusing, some areas require ENAC authorization and i couldnt figure out if i needed it for where i was staying or not so i just stuck to very low key spots away from people

footage i got was insane though so i guess it was worth it. just wish the regulations were more straightforward when your traveling outside your home country

EU has gotten pretty strict with the drone stuff since they unified the regs a few years back. Portugal falls under EASA rules so if you have an operator ID from your home country and its a C0 or C1 class drone you can usually fly open category without local auth but it depends on the zone. i flew there last spring and just used droneScout to check spots, worked pretty well

lmao the battery explanation thing happens every single time for me at customs. i just started printing out a little sheet that explains what lipos are and that theyre allowed in carry on. sounds dumb but it genuinely speeds things up