Home again, Home again

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Got up with plenty of time. Went to The Buttery for a nice leisurely breakfast. Since it was a Thursday (not Saturday and end of exams, like last week), there were a number of conference-attendees there, very different crowd. Bus to airport, no problem (sounding like pros with the Dublin transport?--NO!). Picked up luggage.

Then the fun began. The 'automated' check in stations were interesting, as they had been on our way to IOM. The first one we chose had a broken printer, I was told part way through. Moved to another. Somehow, we got our passports scanned, boarding passes printed, and luggage weighed and tags printed and (thanks, Mike) attached correctly. Then, you put them on the conveyor belt that weighs them again (so, no sneaking more skeins of yarn in at the last minute) and scans your luggage ticket and routes it.

Dublin is the only airport outside the U.S. that has U.S. Customs preclearance which means you do it all there and walk off the plane to your car in the U.S. That part (in the U.S.) was nice and I'm sure (because I heard several Europeans say they purposefully flew to the US through Dublin) that people fly to the U.S. via Dublin to go through Customs there rather than JFK or Dulles or wherever.

So, we went through Dublin Airport security. Then we (everyone heading to the US) went through American preclearance security (I'm assuming that's what that was--it wasn't explained and wasn't much different--I did have to take off my shoes for the first time), then in line for Customs. Wondered what you have to do to score that assignment as a Customs agent? They sure sounded like Americans.

Great flight. Knitted and watched a couple films. Man next to me (other side than Mike) had a good one too--ordered a Jameson, a beer, a wine for with dinner, then another wine later. He was from Killarney and his golf club, Tralee (Representing the first European design of Arnold Palmer, Tralee Golf Club is one of the most beautiful courses you will ever encounter. Having completed his masterpiece Palmer commented “I have never come across a piece so ideally suited for the building of a golf course. I am happy that we have one of the world’s greatest links here.”), has membership from around the world and they exchange rights so he goes to different cities and golfs with his buddies. He'll do Congressional and 3-4 other here in DC.

Landed, NO customs--already done, and Hillary and Elias were there to meet us! Happy ending to a great trip.

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