19 September
In Chester, it was very foggy this morning. We had breakfast and headed for Holyhead & the ferry to Dublin.
The tank was getting low, so we stopped to fuel up the Skoda Octavia. I was really impressed with this car; very solid and excellent milage. Enough trunk for four of our small suitcases and more.
The fog went away soon afterward so we ran right along on the North Wales Expressway to Holyhead. We got there very early for our 1150 departure, arriving around 0930. So we read books and played games until we turned in the Hertz car, then checked in at Irish Ferries.
Foot passengers board last. We continued on up to the club level to take advantage of free nibbles, cokes and wine. The two hour trip went swiftly. Our taxi driver had quite an accent and was quite talkative but we held our own with him as he took us to Wynn's hotel. This time (for the first time) we have a room on the back (south) side overlooking rooftops but nothing else.
We'll take it easy for a bit and then go snooping and dinner.
We walked over the Liffey (on a bridge) into Carroll's, an Irish shlock-shop. D bought things for the grandsons and I paid. We hiked around a little more, re-crossed the Liffey on the Ha'Penny bridge and wandered back to the hotel.
The hotel's carvery sounded good, so we had Guinness and wine until it opened, then did Turkey the way we remember it from Thanksgivings. It was very nice.
We've returned to the room and are preparing to go to the airport tomorrow morning. We clear customs and immigration here at DUB rather than at Newark. So we land like there like a local flight and can walk away with our bags.
There's no decent connection to JAX after we land, so we'll spend the night and go to JAX on Thursday.
No Photos today.
20 September
The thrust of things today is to get us into a hotel (Hilton) at Newark Liberty.
We had breakfast in the dining room, checked out and walked a half-block to the taxi rank (on the advice of hotel staff). It took perhaps 15 minutes for the three in the queue ahead of us to get their taxis, then we got ours. He took us to the airport without conversation. There, we entered the maze.
First a kiosk demanded information but finally printed our boarding passes and luggage tags. We applied the tags and proceeded to bag drop. There, we placed our bags one at a time onto a conveyor; a camera took a picture of the luggage tag and admitted it - sending it on it's way. Proceeding then to Fast-Track security, we did the normal things to go onward - they were suspicious of my MacBook and took it aside to scan with a wand of some sort. Then we went on to US Customs Pre-Clearance kiosks where we entered our information and received a piece of paper with our photos on it. Then we encountered another security area and once again removed our shoes and laptops, etc. Again, the wand was applied to the Macbook. Going on, we came to a customs office who asked a few questions and took the Pre-Clearance form. Now we entered the cleared area, so we won't have to clear anything when we arrive at Newark. All of this traveling took place on various levels of the airport and the signage wasn't all that good since the guards insisted on standing in front of them.
Onward then to 51st & Green, the business class lounge (you could also pay your way in for 39 Euros) where we settled on seats at a bench with power outlets that looks directly out onto the runway and the Wicklow mountains beyond.
As an aside, the gates past which we walked had planes going to several US airports including Washington, San Francisco (delayed), Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago, etc. Perhaps this place is becoming a hub to rival Heathrow, which would be good as far as I'm concerned. The problems with this idea are that DUB only has one long runway, and that the group that owns British Air also owns Aer Lingus so they'll have a big say in future plans at both places.
Wine seemed like a good idea, so we obtained some, and now I'm typing these notes with a Chilean Sauvignon Blanc at hand.
1800 Ireland Time, 1300 EDT: We took off almost a half-hour late, then bumped and banged our way north and northwest to join what I think is the most northern flight path over the Atlantic. Coincidentally, we crossed over Fanad Head, the place with all the weather while on our tour, as we departed the Republic. The air smoothed out after a bit.
The on-board service has been very good and the food was prepared well. I got in a nap from southwest of Iceland to the middle of the Labrador Sea, so I missed going over Greenland's southern tip. We made landfall on Labrador well north of Goose Bay and began our southerly course toward Newark.
I remember well sailing under the waters of the Labrador Sea some 57 years ago, and the guys who did it with me, many now gone.
The wifi service in business class is complementary (for 400mB) so I got off a note or two to the kids. I also checked in for our American flight tomorrow morning; that felt odd being on one flight and checking in for another. I was reminded that it's an early flight out of EWR; we'll have to get up at zero-dark-thirty. But we can do that, and wear short-sleeved shirts for a change. I'm ready for some warmth.
We landed about on time and fought our way through the baggage claim, the air-train to the shuttle buses, and the shuttle bus to check in at the hotel. Had a drink, went to the room and plan on going to sleep when our bodies tell us to do it.
It's warm. About 87* when we landed.
No Photos today (who needs any of Newark?)
21 September
We'd planned to get up around 0530 to get to the airport around 0630 for our 0810 flight. Instead, we got up before 0530 because we couldn't sleep any longer and everything came together so that we arrived at our gate at 0603. We waited and read until boarding.
The flight to Charlotte (picture of airport & distant downtown, right) was the best kind - boring. We changed terminals in Charlotte to get to our flight to JAX & home, a 1.5 hour flight.
The flight to JAX was similarly boring, so all was well.
We gathered our luggage, took it to the curb, and Lana picked us up there. She gave us a rundown on family as we drove to their house. We saw sick grandson Ryan at the house and said our good-byes until sometime this weekend.
The blue van had a dead battery, so we jump started it, then both D & I drove a van home.
… and that's where the saga stops. Thanks for coming along.
No photos today.
PS: Some statistics.
We traveled on seven flights, one mini-bus tour, two two-hour high-speed ferry runs, two rental car trips totaling 800 miles of left-side-of-the-road driving, one rental right-side-of-the-road drive of 300 miles, two boats, one steam train and some taxis.
Of the UK's fifteen National Parks, we've now visited eight. Of the Republic's six National Parks, we've now visited five.
