Hike Info : Description
Today is the big day! Our trip to Ireland is beginning. I woke up around 3:30, and must have gone back to sleep, but I am not sure I did. I kept thinking about the transfer in DC’s Dulles. We have less than an hour to get off our plane and onto the plane in Dublin. Before I could resolve it later in the morning, Steven had investigated it and found that it was not a long distance between where the arrival and departure gates. One thing off the worry list.
When I got up, I looked at the lightning from yesterday-none. I then had breakfast. We found a couple wasp nests and have sprayed them. I meant to knock them down yesterday, but forgot. So I did that this morning. Then got a few final things done and was ready for our trip. That was completed by 7:45.
Arida picked us up at 8:30 for our 10:45 flight on United to San Francisco-our first leg on our trip. We dropped off a checked bag at the counter and made it through the TSA line by 9:00am. TSA has announced a new policy that says we no longer need to take off our shoes. Yipee! Well almost. Steven and Sherri did not need to. But I got caught by a randomized check and my shoes came off. Guess I must look like a terrorist, with my beard and all.
Now it is sitting and waiting until 10:45, or 10:20 when we are to board. Well almost. Apparently there is some condition in San Francisco which prevents us from landing. So we are on hold for about 40 minutes. We then board and do the first leg to San Francisco in about 45 minutes. We landed at 12:09. Our next flight to Dulles in DC starts to board at 12:22 right when we get to the gate. We are among the last to board, so we get to wait around a bit. One thing which we counted on was having a meal at the airport, but that did not happen.
United did not like the size of our carry-on luggage. So it is being treated as checked baggage. We had another checked bag, so it should not cost us too much time. Theoretically it should be easier. We shall see on the other end, assuming all of our luggage makes it.
On the flight, I go through a lot of web pages on my phone, getting rid of 20+ pages, either reading them or thinking they are no longer relevant. Even though the phone is in airplane mode, many pages were still accessible.
About 2, Sherri and I have our sandwiches and chips. Wondering if it is enough to tide me over. The flight does serve a variety of treats. I take the stroopwafel. Why? Mostly because of Arida and her having served it in House Church.
The lady I am seated next to is reading a book by Tracey Wolff called Cherish. This is the sixth book in the series, she said. There are some similarities to The Game of Thrones from her description. She is a trainer for an exercise company and they are opening stores in the DC area. There is another female by the window which I did not talk with.
I keep busy finishing up my notes on our book group’s latest book, The Paris Library. Then I want to work on next month's book, which I read about two months ago, Colson Whitehead’s The Underground Railroad. I have my notes available, but Libby does not want to serve up the book. Oh well. Onward to writing up notes for an Osher book, Barbara Kingsolver’s Demon Copperhead. Now I have the reverse problem. The book is available, but the latest edition of my notes are not. But I am pretty sure Google will try to resolve that, so I will add my notes.
When we get to Dulles, it s about 9:15pm. Our next plane starts boarding at 9:22, I am not too concerned as it is in the same concourse. On the other hand, we will not have much time to do anything else, like grab a bite to eat. But our Dublin flight should serve us a meal.
Once we land, I find that United has sent a text saying our next flight has been delayed and is expected to leave about 11. So we do have time to eat. We stop in at a sandwich place called Potbelly. I have a chicken club, Sherri a cubano and Steven sweet heart pulled pork. Not sure if we were more hungry than we thought, but this was exactly the right meal for us. Apparently we got in right before they closed as the cleaning crew for PotBelly’s told us we had 10 minutes to eat.
We found some seats to wait at gate D4. An Irish couple strikes up a conversation. They suggest the Titanic Museum in Belfast. Also a Park close to Galway called Burren. Good to know. Looks like it will be a bit longer than 11 before we leave. I go for a walk and the expected leave time is 11:45, then 12:15 and finally 12:45. Good thing I did not book transportation between Dublin and Belfast as we would not have made it.
Turns out that we board before midnight. You know the female I was seated close to, but did not talk with, on the way to Dulles? She is on this flight as well. We talk for a few minutes before they board her before us. Sherri, Steven and my seats get re-assigned so we are all in the same row. We lift off a little after midnight.
