Leaving Ireland...

Saturday morning. We pack up and look out the hotel window at Dublin for our last few glances. Downstairs, the hotel was kind enough to pack us a "bag breakfast" (it is 6:45am). We get on the bus with seven of our other tour group members. And it's off to the airport!

At the airport, we say goodbye to Tony and the other tour members (quickly exchanging emails, so we can keep in touch!), then all go off in our own directions to catch our flights.

Once in the airport, we encounter chaos! Lines upon lines to stand in - to check in, for security, to fill out customs forms, to have our passport checked, etc, etc. Mike and I counted seven different security checks before getting to our seat on the plane! Craziness! (We did manage a quick stop in the duty-free zone for some Jameson Whiskey to bring home...) We got to the airport with two hours before our flight - and got to our gate 20 minutes before the plane started boarding... We did good.

Our flight to Atlanta was nine hours on the way home - strong headwind. Ugh. We had a nice lunch, a horrible Keanu Reeves movie (...I can't even remember what it was called... but he was an alien...), the new James Bond movie, and "Flash of Genius" (a movie about the guy who invented intermittent windshield wipers), then a nice dinner, and some TV shows. I did a lot of reading and sleeping on this flight (although, I was happy to see an episode of "John and Kate plus 8")! I was reading the book, "Round Ireland with a Fridge" - very funny, about a guy who loses a bet and has to hitchhike around Ireland with a small, two foot by two foot fridge. It's true story that happened in the '90s - and the girl sitting next to me on the plane had lived in Dublin when it was taking place! She laughed when she saw the book and told me all about it! That was kind of fun...

When we finally arrived in Atlanta, it was a foggy, rainy day - I was sitting in the middle of the plane, and the little bit I could see out any windows, was just white. I knew we were descending, but had no idea how low we were - when all of a sudden we touched down! I jumped and shrieked - and so did most other people on the plane! When we realized we were just lower than we thought, everyone cheered and laughed. Goodness.

The Atlanta airport was a little crazy with all the customs checks to go through. Once again, many security checks, claim your baggage, check your baggage, go through security again - then get to your gate at the opposite end of the airport! Trying to get all four of us through this without getting seperated was very difficult - and we barely made it to our gate with 5 minutes to spare!

The flight to Chicago was short and sweet after the international flight. Had to like that! Once we touched down - we were almost home free. We went to collect Mom-in-law's and Annie's luggage - Mom's was lost... What a bummer. She handled it well, though. We got the paperwork filled out and headed for our ride to where our car was parked. This time the van was full and people were tired and cranky.

We got our car easily enough and began the two hour drive to Milwaukee. (From now on, Mike and I will be flying direct anywhere we go. The amount of travel time on this trip was insane.) I had gotten a sore throat on the plane, which was turning into a cough... So I slept most of this drive. We dropped Annie off at her house and said our goodbyes - I think we were all a little sad, and a little relieved, to have the day over.

At Mom's house, we had a snack, showered, and went to bed. We were exhausted to say the least!

Things I am thankful for today:

1. Our hotel staff packing us a simple breakfast for the road!
2. Being organized and prepared for easy travel through security and customs.
3. Tony, our tour guide. Loved him.
4. Good airplane food - a nice surprise!
5. A conversation about my book with someone who remembers it happening - very funny!
6. Knowing the Atlanta airport already - making it easy to get where we needed to be - quickly!
7. Sitting next to Mike on the flights - and getting a window seat on the last flight.
8. Dozing on the drive to Mom-in-law's house.
9. A long, warm, shower.
10. Bed. So tired.