DAY-42: Homeward Bound (Tue, Oct 3, 2017)

DAY-42: Homeward Bound

Day – 42: Tuesday, October 3, 2017

Starting Location: Dublin, Ireland
Interim Location: Dulles International Airport (IAD)
Interim Location: Norfolk International Airport (ORF)

Ending Location: Kitty Hawk, NC, USA

The morning was less hectic than many travel days as we had packed last night and had plenty of time to get to the airport for our midday flight. We had been warned of long check-in delays at the Dublin airport.

The hotel had arranged for a taxi to take us to the airport and promptly at 8 AM we were checked-out and en-route to catch our flight. The ride to the airport was counter to the morning traffic so in about twenty minutes we were in the terminal and ready to checkin for our flight home.

The United Airlines agent had some trouble with the baggage tag machine but soon bags were checked through to Norfolk and we were headed to security and then to the U.S. Preclearance for Immigration and Customs. The U.S. entry process is managed at the Dublin airport thus enabling passengers to arrive at their U.S. destination as domestic passengers requiring no more security or entry checks.

In less than two hours from the time we left the hotel we were sitting in the airport gate area lounge. The two security lines were relatively quick and the use of our "Global Entry" access resulted in no wait to clear U.S. customs and immigration.

Though we wouldn't see them as their flight home was later in the afternoon, Pat and Jack were also departing from Dublin today. They would fly to Richmond via Boston.

Did I mention the sheep we've seen while in the British Isles and Ireland?

We waited for our flight in the 51st & Green Lounge, a shared lounge amongst the airlines with flights destined for the U.S. This was a typical airline lounge with Internet, comfortable seating, shower facilities, and of course food and beverages.

There were certainly a lot of green airplanes around this morning.

"El Cheapo"

For whatever reason we were late to the gate for our flight even though it was no more than 200 feet from the lounge. Actually we were two of the last three passengers to board.

The flight departed Dublin a few minutes early and we were ahead of schedule throughout the crossing to Washington. 

For Ireland there was the green ...

 

and the clouds ...

and our final glimpse as we crossed the Irish coast just south of Slea Head on the Dingle Peninsula.

As usual the cabin crew fed everyone soon after takeoff and hoped that sleep would set in even though it was the middle of the day. 

Salad and Salmon Starter

Beef Short Ribs

Our crossing took us west over Ireland and south of Iceland and Greenland. 

Our first land sighting was along the southeastern coast of Newfoundland, crossing the U.S. coastline just south of Cape Ann and passing over Boston. 

Cape Ann, Massachusetts

We crossed the Hudson River north of New York City near Newburgh 

Newburgh, New York

and passed just east of Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania 

Three Mile Island

descending over the Maryland panhandle and Potomac river landing in Washington about 30 minutes early at 3 PM.

Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD)

Our wait in Washington was uneventful with an on time departure. 

We arrived into Norfolk  a few minutes early at 6:15 PM completing our latest transatlantic journey.

Carrie came up to drive us home to Kitty Hawk where we dined on Coastal Provisions sandwiches, BrieLTs and Country Ham for me. 

Soon we realized that our body time was 1:30 AM, two guesses what that meant.

We had traveled in Scotland, England, Wales and Ireland logging thousands of miles, meeting people and seeing wondrous things along the way. We had been on-the-road for 41 days but now the British Isles/Ireland trip was over.

We're happy to have had the opportunity to travel with Chris, Diane & Greg and Pat & Jack and look forward to another SMART opportunity. The trip was a good one but I'm sure we would agree that it's good to be home or as translated by Google into Irish "Is maith a bheith sa bhaile!"

DAY-41: Closing Out The Experience (Mon, Oct 2, 2017)

DAY-41: Closing Out The Experience

Day – 41: Monday, October 2, 2017

Starting Location: Dublin, Ireland

Ending Location: Dublin, Ireland


We had to be up early today as the breakfast service closed down at 10:30, well I guess that's not too early.

We woke up this morning to news that Chris arrived safely into Phoenix and Diane and Greg arrived safely into San Diego. Both made comments about the beautiful sunsets and great weather. Scottsdale was apparently the best, no it was Carlsbad, wait I'm not sure, was it Scottsdale or Carlsbad? In any case I'll grant the weather in Arizona and California was better than here in Ireland though we did have sunshine between 12:25 and 12:52 this afternoon and again at about 2.47 and 3:12 to 3:17.

Happy to hear that they're home with the washing machines churning away.




For myself, I was able to get a bit of Helium work done today as well as some family work so I'm easing back into the routine.


Our final objectives for the trip were shopping and pubs. 

It's not as if we haven't had time for shopping, after all this is only our 41st day away from home, I guess we were waiting for the exchange rate to improve.

Thinking we can buy Irish Whiskey at home.

In any case the shopping exercise was completed around 2:30 after which we settled into the hotel for a bite of lunch. I did not indulge in the "Gentlemen's Tea" experience 

but instead had beef barley soup and a Guinness while Sheila went for the "high tea" experience, the champagne, the itty-bitty sandwiches, scones, jellies, etc., mine was the best.

After resting for a few hours we moved on to the pubs. Today we actually visited about six pubs, some very briefly without even a drink. But we can check off three pubs where we actually consumed some form of beverage including The Quays Bar with wall-to-wall people and a mix of folksy and popular music.

We listened to music by Meg & Mick at The Norseman 

where it can be tough to select a proper brew ...

In the end we settled back in to The Temple Bar Pub. 

They seem to have the music we expected to hear and the crowds have been butt-to-butt each time we've been in. Both nights we've been able to work our way through the crowd and end up with excellent seats for the entertainment, that being the musicians and the crowd as well.


Just as a note, I think I experienced a first tonight; we sat with a father and daughter and the daughter is in school at Oxford. Don't know that I've ever met anyone from or going to Oxford. I felt smarter just being at the same table.

By 9:30 we had returned to the room and the final pack-out had begun. 

Tomorrow we return to the U.S.A.!