October 28-30, 2024

We are hitting the road for a fall trip; once again headed towards Ireland and then the Yorkshire Dales in mid central England. Climbing out of bed at 5:30 AM on a dark Monday morning, October 28, our good friend Deb arrived at 9:15 and drove us along the continually ‘under construction” Omaha streets to the “under construction expansion” of Eppley Airfield where we boarded a United Airlines flight to Chicago and then, after a 20 minute hobble through O’Hare to terminal B, to board a flight to Newark. (Did I mention that, due to the arthritis in my lower spine, I am now frequently using a walking stick (Deb says “cane” although the subtle difference of no curved handle top escapes her.) The O’Hare walk was advertised as only 18 minutes, but with two rest stops, we made it in 25! 

The Newark flight was smooth and arrived a few minutes early. Again a terminal change, advertised as 28 minutes. We took nearly 20 minutes to get to Terminal C where we were to head to Gate 128. A young lady pushing a wheelchair saw me struggling and asked if I would like to hop into her chair. Deb encouraged this as she was tiring of having to stop for me to catch up. Although the ride was great, Deb, looking healthy, got to increase her step count for the day by trailing along, bringing up the rear. The young lady earned a healthy tip and we were fortuitously deposited at Gate 128. There was a bar serving food immediately adjacent. Not having eaten so far and now it was nearly 3:00 PM, we took advantage and enjoyed a glass of red wine and a plate of French fries for the tidy sum of $68.00! isn’t this country great! 

Our flight boarded on time and the Boeing 767 taxied away from the gate and arrived at the line of planes queuing for take-off. The pilot then told us there would be a bit of a wait as there was some “technical difficulties” in the Air Traffic Control Tower. Over an hour later we were finally airborne and our arrival in Dublin was pushed back. We had smooth air and the pilot made up some time - we arrived at 7:30 AM on Tuesday morning, only 15 minutes after the scheduled arrival time.

Deb was able to take a few short naps en route, Mark not so much. The food served on the flight was inedible, but we weren’t particularly surprised. I guess to make up for the wait on queue, we did get a gratis glass of red wine with our unknown meal (claimed as either chicken with rice or “pasta.”)

Good weather all the way, and we arrived in Dublin in good spirits. We passed through Irish Immigration and Customs quickly, and our passports were date stamped for October 29, 2024. In looking at our passport pages, we noted that we last landed in Ireland on the same date, but one year prior. As Yogi Berra famously said, “Deja’ vu all over again!” We always choose this time of year to visit as the Irish school system has an annual school break for Halloween each year, especially for us visiting “grandparents” to visit and see the little angels and cherubs take off their normal persona and replace them with witches, goblins, ghosts and skeletons begging for candy and treats, Isn’t it grand: the American traditions we have exported around the globe!

Zóe left got up at 4:30 AM, left home and drove three hours fromSligo at the western edge  across the island southeast to Dublin to pick us up at the airport. We had a breakfast and coffee at the airport restaurant and then headed back north for our destination of their newly acquired home to begin the five day visit. Husband Garth and Arthur “the prince,” were there to greet us! Later, Garth and Mark drove into town to pick up Iris and Esmé from swimming practice and for a grocery/wine run.

Returning home, we visited, drank some of the wine, joked with the children and dined on roast chicken, salad and pizza  for the kids. We managed to keep ourselves upright until 7:30 PM before finally crashing into our beds, fully 33 hours after arising in Omaha.

10 hours and 49 minutes later we crawled out of the bed at 6:00 AM, as Arthur sounded the 6:00 wake up call. Garth wisely headed off to work while Zoe prepared us some bagels and added some much needed coffee. Later we bundled the girls off to swimming camp. Arthur was relegated to sick bay as he had contracted a case of impetigo! A great start to the trip! 

2023 Adventure Wrap Up, Tuesday, November 7, 2023

As noted previously, we dined Monday evening at The Shack.We enjoyed a glass of Shiraz and each a bowl of Irish Lamb Stew that was suitably delicious. Deb wrapped it all up with a “Trinity Mess” dessert of meringue, whipped cream and strawberry jam. Mark was allowed a taste. We then wandered back to our hotel for final packing in preparation for our flights home tomorrow.

We were awake shortly after 5:00 AM on Tuesday and down to the lobby with our bags by 6:00. We checked out and our transfer arrived a bit early. Off to the Dublin International Airport for our 9:00 flight home. We  had already been notified that the flight was delayed about an hour so we had plenty of time. We received our boarding passes for the three upcoming flights and then headed for security. Dublin has a wonderful set up for returning U.S. passengers. After security, one proceeds to U.S. Customs and Immigration and then to the U.S. restricted gates. The whole process eliminates having to pick up your bags upon arrival on home soil, hauling them through immigration and customs and then loading them back onto another trolley for re-tagging for your next flight within the States. Very civilised and smooth.

We had plenty of time and so “enjoyed” the worst waffle with fried turkey bacon that exists on the planet. We could not finish it, but did enjoy the coffee. When we checked our bags, we were assured that although our two hour Newark connection time was now shortened to an hour, it should be no problem. Right!

A pleasant flight into Newark and we strolled off the jetway, stopped for a quick bathroom break, and walked down the three gate areas to our next flight, Newark to Chicago, arriving just as they were calling for boarding. Beautiful timing. However, United Airlines decided that there was no way we would have ever make the connection considering the delay caused by their late arrival of the original plane. Therefore, somewhere over the Atlantic, they cancelled our seats and rebooked us. (Artificial intelligence?) We placed our issued boarding passes on the reader, it lit up red, and the attendant told us we were not on that flight. I held up the boarding pass that clearly showed my name, the flight number and the proper city codes. She said no we weren’t on the flight. We stepped over to the counter to commence a huge argument with the ticket agent. She said we had never booked the flight. I said how did we get issued the boarding passes in Dublin. She said we had never booked the flight. Our travel agent pointed out to her on her computer that we had! Further discussion ensued. Clearly, UAL had bounced us, sold our seats to some other passengers and were not allowing us on the flight. 

We were “agitated and aggravated;” we were afraid the ticket agent was about to call airport security, so we grudgingly went on to the customer service counter and dealt with another incompetent part-time agent. She claimed there was nothing to be done and there were no seats on that flight. Further, our  Chicago to Omaha bookings had also been cancelled by their “headquarters” scheduling computer.

We finally negotiated two middle seats on a flight from Newark to Denver and then another two seats on the Denver to Omaha flight. Rather than arriving home at 5:30, we flew over Omaha by 500 miles and then returned, landing in Omaha around 8:45. Abigail was there to meet us and, amazingly, our luggage accompanied us on this odyssey. Nothing ended up in Amsterdam! We had been in transit from the time we boarded our airport transfer in Dublin until we arrived home. Multiple time zones and 20 hours sitting or flying. 

We were home and fell into our own bed. At least someone had left the lights on for us!