Our Irish Holiday: Day 1 – Day 2 – Day 3 – Day 4 – Day 5 – Day 6
Day 7 – Day 8 – Day 9 – Day 10 – Day 11 – Day 12
It’s been a wonderful week plus in Ireland meeting great people and seeing exciting things but all things must come to an end. We hit the sack around 11:00 pm here in the land of green and made sure we would get up at 4:30 am by setting three alarms , having the front desk call, and we asked Colleen to call at 8:30 pm her time (in New Hampshire).
We woke up early this morning in Dublin. The alarm clock went off at 4:30 am, and all the other alarms started going off at once. It was a cacophony of sounds that could have woken up the dead. I looked out the window and saw that it was already light outside. The sunrise is at 5:00 am in Dublin, and sunset was at 11:00 pm the night before. No wonder we were tired!
We had to repack our bags and wait for the hotel to bring a baggage trolley to take our bags to the waiting taxi. Unfortunately, the hotel couldn’t find their baggage trolley, so three men came up and carried our bags to the waiting taxi.
It was an interesting ride to the airport.
After driving in Ireland, the taxi drivers efforts were not scary.
My bride looks so beautiful in the morning and she gets better all day long.
We arrived at the Dublin airport and had to wait in line for an hour because we were traveling internationally. The airplanewas out on the runway so we have to take a buss to get to the boarding area. After the bus rider we had to walk eleven minutes to the shuttle gate to board the plane. The plane was a Ford Trimotor, which was quite an adventure!
We finally got to a small terminal and were getting ready to board.
Awaiting at the gate.
We boarded the plane at the gate. There was no moveable gate or walkway, so we had to walk to the plane. The flight to London was nice and only took 90 minutes.
That’s our ride.
We had to go from Terminal One to Terminal Five at London, and it was an adventure in and of itself. We rode another bus and then took a ten-minute subway ride that went under the runways and popped up at Terminal Five.
The airport was huge and required a lot of walking!
We had to take a bus to the terminal where the A380 was waiting. The bus ride took 11 minutes. But before we could board the A380, we had to take an elevator to the upper level.
Heathrow was a nightmare for the unfamiliar!
We had never been on am A380 before. The Airbus A380 is a wide-body, double-deck, full-length passenger aircraft that’s considered the world’s largest and most spacious. It has a typical seating capacity of 525 passengers, but can be certified for up to 853. The upper deck of the A380-800 model typically has first class, business class, and premium economy seating.
The experience was amazing! Business or First, the only way to go!
Mary and I were sitting next to each other on the plane, facing opposite directions. Right after we got seated, we each had a glass of wine.
Mama is in her seat and ready to go!
We were in Row 15 and had room to lay down and sleep. Plus, we had internet and an entire AV experience.
The A380 is quite an engineering marvel.
Mary yelled, “Get this sucker moving, we wanna go home!”
Ready for takeoff.
There were an endless number of airliners at Heathrow.
There were a load of British Airways airplanes at Heathrow.
Up, up, and away! Mary wondered about the slipstream going over the wing. The air over the wing is at lower pressure than the rest of the air around the plane, and this drop in air pressure also causes a drop in temperature. This, in turn, reduces the amount of water vapor that the air can hold. If the temperature reaches the dew point, excess water vapor will begin to condense, forming a visible cloud.
During takeoff the wing produced slip-stream was fascinating.
We were tired after our twelve-hour flight. Robin picked us up at LAX and we headed home. We were supposed to stop at Vicky’s, but the plane had suitcase unloading issues and we didn’t leave LAX until after 7:00 p.m., so we went straight home. We had a glass of wine and talked to Robin about our adventures. We also spoke to Dianne to let her know we were safe.
Robin is going to South America after the first of the year, and we may join her for a two-week cruise around the bottom of South America. That reminded me of my South American project from 1955, so I went to the library and found it.
They got a kick out of reading it, and remember, the report is seventy years old and I was in the 6th grade (for the second time).
Robin told is of her upcoming cruise to South America.
Mu very talented mother and I did the front of the report which was done in copper and attached to a plywood front and back page.
I suddenly remembered a school project I did back in 1955.
They read every word and proceeded to point, laugh, and giggle at my early attempt at writing. They had a good time and I was happy to share my work with them.
My spelling has improved since then (not by much)
By 10:30 pm, we were dead, so we got ready to crash.
Time for bed!
