I've been waiting for this since last November!

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Geo: 53.3331, -6.2489

Because I chose to fly on the Friday before Labor Day weekend, John decided we should leave for SeaTac early because of the likelihood of godawful traffic. So we left the house at 2:55 for my 6:45 flight. Less than an hour later, I was walking past the Starbucks after the security check. Of course, if we hadn't left early, we would've gotten stuck in traffic and I would have been frantic.

So John dropped me off, I went to the ticket desk to ask a question, and then promptly gave myself a paper cut, which will probably annoy me for the entire trip. This was the first time I had to go through the new scanners at security, and the TSA guy told me to plant my feet and give him jazz hands. I think that mostly the TSA agents aren't as bad as everyone likes to make out. They're just being blamed for the whole process. I suppose the thing I object to the most is taking off my shoes, and even then it's not the taking them off so much as the putting them back on while the conveyor belt keeps conveying. I wonder if the so-called Underwear Bomber prompted any serious discussions over at Homeland Security about whether to allow passengers to continue wearing underwear while airborne.

Katherine and I had agreed to met at the gate, so I went straight on to S10 (You did notice up above that I said I went past the Starbucks, didn't you?), where the gate agent told me that the flight was “extremely full,” to which my pithy and succinct response was, “Crap.” Katherine showed up about half an hour later, and she's just as excited as can be. (For those you reading this who don't know, Katherine is my friend from high school; her aunt will be on the tour too.) We didn't get seated next to each other on the flight because AAA – which had originally booked her into an aisle seat right across from me – managed to accidentally cancel her entire reservation. Fortunately, she found out about that a few weeks ago and was able to get it corrected. But she ended up seated about eight rows behind me in another cabin. Happily for me, there was no one seated between me and Mr. Window Man. Unhappily for me ... but no: I won't complain about the guy in front of me just because he had an entire row to himself, yet sat in the aisle seat and reclined for the entire flight, except for the last 20 minutes or so when he inexplicably switched to the middle seat.

British Airways has made a few changes. Coach class travelers still get a blanket and a pillow (though they're different than they used to be: the pillow is square and the blanket is an actual blanket, not a folded pile of static), and we still get earphones and the charity envelope. The little toothbrush and toothpaste is also different from what it used to be, and it's definitely an improvement. But we are no longer given an eyeshade and booties which -- even though I've got probably six pairs of booties and six eyeshades languishing in my travel crate at home -- was a little disappointing. And I do love that there's a whole slate of movies and TV programs to choose from on the screen on the seatback in front of you. But it's a touch screen, and it doesn't respond well to a light touch. Which means that the person in back of you will be pounding the seat right behind your head until they finally find something they want to watch. I didn't watch much, as I was actually able to sleep a bit.

We made it to Heathrow, then had to transfer to Terminal 1 for our onward flights. My Dublin flight was scheduled to leave at 2:15, but I was glad it was delayed till 2:30, as it takes forever to get from Terminal 5 to Terminal 1, and then it takes longer than forever to get through all the repetitive security and passport checks. I still had time to pop into Boots to get some toiletries and a Fanta, but only about five minutes to just cool down. And then it took about 10 minutes to walk to the gate. I always forget just how freakin' huge Heathrow is. Katherine asked me who Heathrow was, and I told her that as far as I know it's just the name of the town. But she has decided that actually it was named after Linus Heathrow, and she is determined to prove me wrong. I kind of hope she does because “Linus Heathrow” makes me laugh.

My flight didn't start boarding till 2:15, and then my suitcase was taken away from me at the gate. I spent Friday morning weighing it and re-weighing it to be sure it was within Aer Lingus' weight limits – which it was – but then the girl at the gate decided it was too big and she made me try the bag measuring cage. Well, come on: nothing fits in that cage! And I haven't had any trouble on Airbus with that bag before, so I was a little peeved. But it arrived in Dublin in one piece and on time, so I guess I can't bitch too much.

(The pilot announced himself as Jerry Duff but at first I thought he said Larry Duff, and I wanted to get the heck off the plane. And John is the only one who will get that!)

We landed in Dublin shortly after 4:00, and I took the Airlink bus into the city. I am now in Room 503 of the Harding Hotel, right across from Christchurch Cathedral. Thanks to Google's Street View function, I was able to “walk” from the bus stop to the hotel several months ago, so while rolling my suitcase along this afternoon, it all felt very familiar.

My room is nice enough, though I have the usual single traveler's view of yuck. And there's a bar downstairs with live music and a guy singing Irish songs. Right now at quarter to seven in the evening, it's pleasant enough, but I'm not sure it's going to be so cute at 1:00 a.m.

I think I'll go find some food now. Katherine and her aunt (who had to take a later Dublin flight) will arrive in 60-90 minutes, and I suspect they'll either have eaten something at Heathrow or on the plane.

It's been a very long day. I'm going to post this without proofreading it. See how relaxed I can be on vacation? :-)

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Comments

[Mom]

I wish I was there, too! Thanks for letting us know you arrived safely. I heard that foreign travelers should register with the American embassy in the event there's any trouble on 9/11, but suspect you're not likely to encounter any diff
iculties in Ireland. Happy travels!