Travel Adventures

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OK - so I finally made it to Dublin (only about 5 hours later than planned, but I got here). Here's a recap of the Charlotte fiasco:

1. Take-off time got bumped back from 4:30 to 5:00
2. We didn't start boarding the plane until 5:00 (then boarding only took about 5 years for some reason)
3. AFTER we pull away from the gate, the pilot says we have a weight/balance issue and will have to remove persons and/or cargo. So after we sit for awhile, they announce that they are going to remove one pallet. THEN, a family decides they don't want to stay on the plane because they're going to miss their connecting flight anyway - so we have to wait for them to leave and for the crew to pull their luggage.
4. So we're FINALLY ready to leave .... only problem is we have to wait 30 minutes to an hour for a 3-man crew to come give us a "push-back" or "push-off" or whatever a plane needs to take off.

So, when we finally land in Frankfurt (three hours late), the plane I'm supposed to take to Dublin is taking off without me. So I have to go to the Lufthansa desk, then the US Air desk, then back to the Lufthansa desk to be rebooked and get a new boarding pass for the afternoon flight scheduled to land in Dublin at 5:10 PM (keep in mind our class is supposed to meet in the hotel lobby at 6 PM to go to dinner). Luckily, I had emailed the professor and the class waited on me (and I ran into a second year IMBA student on the same flight who had interned in Dublin last year and helped me get to the hotel). So, in the end, I got to Dublin, my luggage got to Dublin, I got to the hotel, and I made it in time to have a nice dinner with the group at a genuine Irish pub (didn't take my camera, but I am going to try to get pictures from other people - these will either get posted during or after the trip).

Interesting side note: I also met a woman on the plane at Charlotte (who, if I remember correctly, is from Prague), graduated from Converse College in international business, works for Milliken, and is considering USC as one of her choices for an MBA program!! Small world!!

Lectures and company visits start tomorrow - I won't get to do much sightseeing until Friday, so I'm not sure if I'll be able to get any photos up before then. But I will be carrying my camera all week, so I should be able to get some.

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