Hardin To Dublin

September 3, 2009 finally arrived. This was the day that we left on our trip of a lifetime. We got up bright and early 5:00 am, had to be on the road by 5:30 as Gary was taking us to the airport, but we had to allow enough time for him to get us there and for him to get back home in time for work. We also had to allow extra time for all the road construction going on. Called Mom to let her know we were on our way and she was waiting outside for us. We were on the road.

Arrived at the airport, said our goodbyes to Gary. We decided to eat a good breakfast at the airport since we had alot of time to use, our flight didn't leave until 11:40 am. Besides we didn't know when we would be getting a meal again anyway. It was nice to eat a leisure breakfast. Traffic at the airport started to pick up, so we made our way to check in and get our boarding passes. We were checked in all the way to Dublin. We got through security pretty easy and quickly. Even though there was a line, we were moved pretty fast. We all passed security without any problems, even though Mom forgot to take off her shoes. The officials didn't say anything. She did manage to set off the machine, but they also told her that she was chosen at random for a quick pat down. She must have been that magical number. We quickly made our way to the gate before she had to go back because she didn't take off her shoes.

We sat at the gate read our books and worked some puzzles. We were finally able to board the plane. The plane from Billings to Salt Lake is a small one, one of the Delta Connections. The air wasn't working very well on it so we had to wait until we were in the air before it cooled off. On this flight we got a complimentary coke and some snacks. It is a short flight just a little over an hour so once the flight attendant got everyone served and picked up the trash it was ready to land.

We were about 10 minutes early landing in Salt Lake which I was pleased because we only had 38 minutes to make our connecting flight, but we had to wait until our arrival gate was cleared, so much for being early. We quickly make our way to the gate and arrived just in time, they were just starting to board the plane with the first class passengers.

We boarded our plane to Atlanta, this was a 3 1/2 hour flight, we were all together on this flight. We just ate the snacks, they did have food for purchase but it was pretty pricey. $3 for a candy bar, $7 for a sandwich. Airline food is not the greatest and we weren't going to pay that price for what you get. We did get a movie shown to us. Jen and I had our own ear buds, but Mom had to buy a set for $2 so she could hear the movie. We watched "Night at the Museum 2". It was cute and funny, now will have to watch the first one. Again we landed in Atlanta early and had to wait a few minutes until our gat was cleared.

We had just over an hour lay over in Atlanta, just enough time to walk and stretch. We did end up taking the little trains to the concourses. Bonnie warned us that we had better and I kept thinking that we aren't changing airlines why would we need to take the train to a different concourse. The Atlanta airport is built a little strange. The concourses are joined together but you have a long walk to get to them, so they have this little train that takes you. We landed in concourse A and had to get to concourse D. By the time we got through all of this we had about an hour wait before boarding.

The flight from Atlanta to Dublin was our longest and by now we were getting tired of sitting on planes, but what do you do. We got seated and on this flight we got a dinner. Our choice was pasta or chicken. Mom and Jen chose chicken while I chose pasta. That ended up being a big mistake. The pasta did not agree with me and I got sick on this flight. That just made for a miserable flight all the way, I even had a huge headache. On this flight everyone had their own little tv screens on the seat in front of them. We were able to watch movies, tv shows, games and music. We were all given a pillow and blanket and complimentary ear buds. I didn't watch very much of the tv as the bright light was hurting my head. I was able to take a few cat naps on this flight. Mom and Jen I think took some cat naps too, but not too sure. We also were able to get the movable map of our flight. It was neat to see where our route was taking us. Just before we landed in Dublin we were served a breakfast snack. It was egg and cheese on a bisquit, orange juice and a granola bar. I didn't eat anything but did drink my orange juice.

We landed in Dublin about an hour early and had to wait on the runway for 20 minutes. While we were on the plane we had to fill out a card on where we were staying. Fortunately for us we had the hotel list and we put them all on the card. After deplaning, we headed straight for immigration. We had to have our cards and passports ready. I was the first in line, so when it was my turn to go through I had to show my card. I was asked how many days am I going to be in Ireland and who I was traveling with. He took one look at my card and said that I was on a tour. We got our passports stamped and we had to make our way to baggage claim.

While we were standing waiting to claim our luggage, Jennifer was asked by a couple of people if she was coming home. She just smiled and told them that she was just visiting. Once we claimed our luggage we had to put on our Trafalgar tags and then make our way to wait for our tour guide to pick us up. There are no signs what so ever informing us where to go. We asked where we were supposed to be and was told just to wait in the general area and they would find us.

I did see some other people with Trafalgar tags and talked to them, so we grouped with them. It wasn't too long when our tour guide arrived and tagged our luggage. He had us wait for just a bit more as he made his way around the airport looking for other people on the tour. Once he had us all gathered up we made our way out of the airport and to the bus to our hotel.

He advised that we only take about an hour nap, just to take the rough edges off, if not our sleep will be all screwy and it would take us the entire 10 days to get straightened. As we were driving through Dublin he pointed out points of interest and some history about it.

It was very strange boarding the bus on the left hand side and riding on the left hand side of the road.

I will blog about our very first day in Dublin tomorrow.