Let's Read the Last Page First

Saturday, March 24 - Sunday, March 25, 2018

Minneapolis, MN

Right. So where did I leave you guys? In the flight lounge. Not a bad place to leave off, but not a particularly good one either. Ugh, I could leave you in suspension, but as the type of person who reads the last page of the novel before reading the beginning, I can't do it. I can't. After much patience, I finally made it to Ireland!

Killarney, Ireland

"But how, Cristiana?! We left you with little hope, in the flight lounge. HOW DID YOU GET TO IRELAND?!" (You're probably not asking these questions so dramatically, but I'm the writer here so they're staying.)

On Saturday, I queued two flights to Philidelphia, again hoping to make a connection from there to London. No luck. Both were oversold, and I went back to the lounge empty-handed. I had the gate agent list me on the evening London flight, but at the same time, I was texting my family, "How does Cancun look? Might go for a solo vacation" (mostly a joke but also I was in a low place so also not a joke.) So I walked down to the gate at 4:45pm, already trying to come up with someone to ask for a ride home from the airport, when as luck would have it, my name was cleared. I had a seat assignment! Phew. So I was going to London.

On the flight, I sat next to a couple high school girls going on a school trip to London and Paris, first time out of the country! It was fun to talk with them and they gave me a piece of gum so you know, I've had much worse flights.

But this story isn't over yet. (Even when you know the ending, I can keep a little suspense.)

The London flight ends up getting into Heathrow late, and I have a few hoops to jump through before boarding a flight to Cork. I had to take a bus to the other terminal, go through security, customs, and get my boarding pass from the Aer Lingus counter. Meanwhile, other people were also late, and people were jumping in line and people were crabby and stressed. (I was too tired to be either crabby or stressed -- I would describe myself as "comatose".)

I got to the gate agent at 9:16 am, and asked her if she could still print a boarding pass for the 9:30 am flight to Cork. Bless her, she called down to the gate as she printed the pass, and told them she had a staff member coming. Then she handed me my boarding pass, and said, "You have a seat. Run!" AND SO I RAN! At that point, the past 3 days of trying to get to Ireland coming down to this moment, running to the gate, was so funny to me, that I took off at a sprint, and giggled the whole way to gate A22. I probably looked crazy.

Boarding Pass Acquired

Aer Lingus Plane

I made it just in time. I landed in Cork and made through customs. Yes, I accidentally went in the wrong customs line, and yes, I'm pretty sure the customs official thought I was super dumb, and yes, I know the US is not part of the EU, but he stamped my passport anyway and let me through so really alls well that ends well and I had so little sleep so we can cut me some slack...... *catches breathe*

I went out into the arrivals area and got a much-needed cup of tea while waiting for Dad and Grady to pick me up. (Also, slight tea tangent, but I have recently come to the conclusion that Earl Grey tastes like fancy soap. I don't particularly like it, but I respect that it tastes like fancy soap water and not your average bar of soap water.) We stopped at Starbucks (where I acquired more caffeine) and drove to their hotel in Skibbereen. There, we collected Mom, Grandma, and Grandpa, and the six of us loaded back into the Volkswagon rental van and drove off to Killarney.

I am so glad to be here, but now it's 10:52 pm, and frankly, I'm impressed I'm still awake. So off to bed with me. And tomorrow, I'll have to fill you in on Killarney and the rest of the day's adventures.

Night night,
Cristiana