The Bookends

Well we've made it back safe and sound and as expected there are lots of stories to tell. I will start with flights. This is mostly because I cannot fly uneventfully. Then I will post random stories and some pictures. I can't do big long posts. You guys know this about me.

We arrived at the airport in plenty of time Sunday afternoon for our "overnight" flight to Ireland, thanks in part to lack of construction and Drunk's ninja driving skills. Happily we were unloading our suitcases from the Trailblazer just as A and Toula were unloading from their taxi. We headed to the check in desk and got sent off to security without incident. One complaint about the O'Hare international terminal, there's no food after security. It would have been a much better time killer to eat after security, but oh well. Turns out though, two hours with nothing to do in a terminal with not much more to do makes us a little immature.

After we boarded the plane, well that's when things started taking a downward spiral. I semi heavily medicated prior to boarding so I was fading fast. There were three boys under the age of five sitting in the two rows in front of us. They were loud. Really loud. Everyone slept for around ten minutes. I slept for about four hours I think. Apparently I kept glaring at Drunk Driver. I don't remember that. It was the sleep aids. At one point I woke up to the one kid screaming like a howler monkey. The plane was completely silent other than that. It all made for a rough Monday as everyone was understandably exhausted. We all ended up napping, but it made for another story.

The following Sunday we arrived back at the Dublin airport bright and early only to find out our return flight had been cancelled. I turned to very obviously look outside at the perfect-for-flying weather conditions before asking why. She says me to "we tried to call you." Yeah lady because I'm on vacation in a foreign country. The point is no cell phone for me for a week (and it was glorious). We were sent down to the stand by desk where the lady told me that the 6:30pm flight to Chicago the night before had been cancelled so therefore our flight had been cancelled. They created a new flight instead that had a different number and left fifteen minutes earlier to cover the fact that they were just blatantly giving our seats away to the other passengers (I felt bad for them, it just wasn't my fault). I know what you're thinking, this made perfect sense to me as well. Apparently in Ireland if the flight before you gets cancelled (by the way there were three or four other flights between them), those passengers get preference on the next flight out while I get screwed for no reason. I clearly stated to her that I was aware this was not her fault, but WHAT THE BLEEP? She didn't care. So we waited. She told us to come back in a couple hours to check and see if they knew anything more. A, Toula, and I were 8, 9, and 10. She said there were nine open seats so it should be no problem. I held back the "you obviously didn't major in math" comment. Drunk and his Driver were 13 and 14. They were also the next people in line. I have no idea how that happened either.

So we went back later to check and there we were. Herded over to this tiny corner like cattle actually hoping to get chosen for the butcher. There was at least a thousand people all together in the Aer Lingus section of the airport. It was chaos. Finally they started calling names and we got called. After they finished checking me in I looked at Drunk and his Driver and asked what they'd do if they didn't get called. They both calmly shrugged in unison and said no big deal. I said "I mean I'll leave you here I don't care, I just don't want to." Apparently I said that rather loudly as several people, including the stand by desk lady, laughed. From there we hauled tail to security, customs, and security again. I was getting my bum in that seat as fast and possible and not leaving it until Chicago. As we were running off Toula said she heard D&D get called and I was relieved. While in line at customs and man that was in our same situation tapped me on the shoulder to tell me my friends had made it. I reassured him I didn't actually want to abandon my brother and his wife in a foreign country, it was just something I was willing to do if it came down to it. As it turns out, we actually landed a half hour before originally scheduled. Big Bad, please stop rolling your eyes about all the reasons I shouldn't fly. I get it.

More to come...