Ireland Day 8 - 1st Dec. 2004

We have to do WHAT in Dublin?

Quin to Urbana via Shannon, Dublin and Chicago
Ireland Weather: Overcast and Foggy - Low 50's

We awoke at 6:30am and got everything together. Breakfast was provided early (7:30am) and we headed for the airport at approximately 8:00am.

Following a local road out of Quin to the R470, we headed west to Newmarket on Fergus where we picked up the N18 towards Shannon. After dropping off the car, we caught a shuttle in to the airport and checked in. Dave, Laura and I were sitting next to each other and Josh and Sarah would be returning on Friday.

We went through the airport in record time…but we had to wait an hour before we could get on the plane. At 10:43am, we arrived at US Customs (they have a branch at the Shannon Airport) and a lovely lady with a cane hustled over to us and snapped, “We were waiting!” They were roughly 50 feet away from us when we walked up, but we were only too happy to let them go ahead and take the head of the line. She seemed like a very pleasant lady to be stuck next to on a plane for 8 hours.

They were going to Boston – their flight left Shannon 4 hours from then.

We got on the plane eventually and landed in Dublin approximately 30 minutes later…where we had to gather up all of our stuff and get off the plane.

We were all issued a laminated green bookmark and went up the jetway, down some stairs to the gate entryway…from there we waited approximately 15 minutes and then handed back the bookmarks on the way to our seats.

It all seemed like it was the first time any of us (airport staff included) had done anything like it.

We landed a little late in Chicago and got back to the car without a hitch, but Laura and I were held up at customs for a few minutes while they cleaned the cow goo off of our shoes…we had been staying at farms after all.

We left the airport $108 lighter and had a nice drive back to Urbana. I drove until we got to I-57, David drove the rest of the way…Laura fell asleep with a coffee in her hand.

We got home at around 6:30 – 7:00pm and tried to stay awake until about 10:00pm. Laura faded fast and was asleep by 9:30.

All in all, it was a wonderful trip…and Laura and I are both agreed that the next time we should try to take a trip that is just the two of us.