DAY 1 - (Part 1) Getting There.

 Good Sunday morning from Kilkenny Ireland.

As is the case with any far away trip, our Friday (travel day) and Saturday (first day here) just blended into one really, really long day.

FYI: Ireland is 5 hours ahead of US East coast time.

Friday into Saturday (travel day):  We are preparing to leave and there is a Tropical Storm (TS) making a Beeline straight for Fort Myers.  We are scheduled to leave at 11:50 am.  The TS is scheduled to make landfall at about noon.  YEEE HAAA!

(All times in the next couple of paragraphs are US East coast times.) We flew on American Airlines.  We got to Fort Myers Airport about 8 am for an 11 o'clock flight.  We were worried about getting bumped or cancelled as a result of the TS.  Luckily, we got off without hitch and had a nice flight up to Charlotte.  The Charlotte to Dublin flight was about 45 minutes late getting out.  We were on the way to Dublin about 5:30 pm and arrived in Dublin at about 12:30 am (7 hours to save you the math.)  

The flight was very comfortable.  Very little turbulence. The plane was a Boeing 777-200. Big Plane. Neither of us had ever flown on one before.

In the Main Cabin it was 3 - 4 - 3 across seating. In the Premium Economy section it 2 - 4 - 2 seating.  All the seats on the plane had their own movie screen and there were lots of movies to choose from.  We were all given a chicken or ravioli dinner about an hour into the flight.  Then they left you alone to sleep.  About 1.5 hours before landing we were given a lite breakfast of fruit, cinnamon rolls and yogurt. So all in all it was a good flight.

We booked the "Main Cabin Extra" seats.  One (very tiny) step above the regular coach or main cabin seats.  There is a little more room (maybe 4-6") in front of you in this section.  Not really worth the extra $150.  Besides a tiny bit more room in front you, you do get a checked bag included - which is a $30 to $50 cost normally.  You also get complimentary drinks and a meal.  

We ended up moving up one more class at the airport to "Premium Economy"   It cost us $180 each more. And after making the flight and seeing all the seats - I would say if there was any way you could afford the total of about $330 extra per person - go for the "Premium Economy" seats.  They are wider with more room in front of them.  They also recline a little more than the other seats. Way more comfortable than any of the Main Cabin or Main Cabin Extra seats.  I am close to 6' tall and weigh 225 pounds.  There is just no way I could have been comfortable for 7 hours in the main cabin seats.  

Anita slept a good part of the trip.  I did not.  My slim girlish figure could not find a comfortable position to fall asleep.  In defense of the seats though, most people in our section slept a good portion of flight.  I have just never been able to sleep in a sitting position.  Even at home.

We had heard on NPR the day before we left that out of all the major airports in Europe, Dublin was #2 for being the most disorganized and suffering the most delays in handling people and baggage.  From our experience - we can say it was probably an accurate rating.  From the time we landed it was 3.5 hours to get our bags, get a car and get on the road out. Waiting on luggage took almost an hour.  But at least it showed up.

So it is now 4 am back home on the US east coast.  I have been up for 23 hours.  And we are about to start our 1st day in Ireland since it is now 5:30 am Ireland time. (Switching now to Ireland time) We can't check into the B&B until 3 pm local time. Another 9 or 10 hours without sleep.

That gets us to Ireland.  Next post will talk about our first day and the fun we had.  (Really, we had a great day)

Check back...

Anita and Jim