This day began with a quick trip to the gym - followed by a stop at Meijer's to purchase some last minute items (including a blanket scarf for my mom to wear during our flight).
Upon returning home, I once again went through my suitcase and purged 5 to 7 items that I really didn't need. "Keep it simple, Angie Good" was my mantra. I did not need 3 sweaters. One sweater would suffice - when turns out 2 sweaters would've been perfect...live and learn. A shout out to Pinterest for helping me stay focused during packing. Black, white, and gray with colorful accessories.
The suitcase shut and I did not have to sit on it to get it zipped. My fear of having HEAVY luggage and a ridiculous $100 heavy fee kept my wardrobe confined to the bare minimum. Also - my friend Debbie had said, "If you get there and need something you left at home, just buy it in Ireland and then it becomes a souvenir."
At 10 a.m. - with the time winding down to our 11:30 pick-up - I ran to Target to purchase 2 luggage tags. One for my suitcase and one tag for the suitcase that we might need to purchase should we get out of control purchasing yarn and sweaters. Preparation is the KEY...or so I am told.
Our chauffer arrived and delivered us to the VanGalder bus terminal where we happily waited for our 12 'noon bus which would transport us to O'Hare Airport.
The bus ride to O'Hare was not a bit memorable. I remember snapping a picture outside of the VanGalder terminal and hugging Lori goodbye and purchasing our bus tickets and sitting and waiting. I don't remember a single eventful thing happening once we were on the VanGalder. Maybe it's because it was a blur in a series of events taking us to Ireland? No idea.
We arrived at the airport and were guided to our terminal where we got checked in and waited. During our wait, we met a lovely gentleman from Ireland who answered our somewhat touristy questions and gave us some insight to what extra activities would be well worth our money and the experience. He suggested the Jaunty Cart Ride (horse and carriage) and the Saturday outing which would take us in to Northern Ireland.
Our flight began to board about 45 minutes before departure. The line was somewhat tedious but it didn't matter because the American Airlines airplane was about to take us across the pond to Ireland!!!
Once on board we got situated and listened to the emergency exit speech. It's a nice notion that they have those cute yellow rafts...but would those rafts really take us to shore should our plane have to land in the Atlantic? I had no clue.
Bryan and I had a system worked out. I would text him "No bueno" if something was wrong with our aircraft and it looked like we were going down. No bueno turned in to mom-and-my mantra at Goodwill when stuff was NOT GOOD. You know the things - the articles of clothing that were once "cool" (and I use that term LOOSELY!) in circa 1947...somehow now some gal somewhere thinks "vintage." We think NO bueno.
I digress.
The only glitch during our flight was our travel agent did not order us gluten-free. Thankfully - THANKFULLY - my friends Patty & Ruthie supplied me with a box of granola bars. Dark chocolate and dried fruits and nuts. Mom had brought some fruit. Needless to say - the gluten-filled food smelled deeeelish. Have you ever noticed that? Something that you aren't / can't eat smells good when you are hungry. Luckily the flight attendants kept serving water and beverages so I was able to fill up on good ol' H2O and those granola bars. I believe I consumed all but 1 granola bar.
Mark my words - the minute we landed - my first order of business was going online to American Airline's website and attempting to select our gluten-free meal for the return flight home. This did not work because I did not procure the tickets so I had to send several frantic emails to our travel agent in Tennessee. Three days and 3 emails later and our meals were switched for the flight home. (Yeah!)
When we landed in Dublin, we met a couple people from our group. We were delivered to our hotel - the Ballsbridge. We were checked-in and given a couple hours at our leisure.
We managed to find a grocery store to buy some breakfast/lunch/dinner...I'm not sure what meal to label that as we had been up for 18 hours at this point and everything was kind of hazy.
We purchased the most delicious - or maybe they were the most delicious at the moment because of our hunger - rice cakes which were topped with yogurt. Talk about a party in your mouth!!! I'm hoping Amazon carries these!!!
We hailed a taxi to take us to The Constant Knitter yarn shop located at 88 Francis Street, Dublin, Ireland. Our driver was a chatty fellow giving us random pieces of history before depositing us at 88 Francis Street.
The store was every bit as quaint as you would imagine an Irish yarn store to be. Quaint in a delightful and charming sort of way.
The owner was a warm, inviting gal who left us to our own yarn perusal. She answered our questions as they arose.
Our time before supper was running out so we hailed another cab and headed back to the hotel. When we got back, I remember thinking, We have an hour...60 minutes of beautiful sleep before supper...but then I came to my senses and realized that a nap would be a very bad idea. MUST. STAY. AWAKE.
Supper that evening was an introductory meal where we met our tour guide, Jill, and our driver, Jimmy. It was immediate like! They were both personable and helpful.
We enjoyed supper onboard a river boat. The meal was exquisite. What did I eat? I cannot remember. At this point in the trip, I was not keeping a photo food log...more on that around day 3. Sorry...you just will have to wait.
Kudos to the tour group who realized we would all be tired - supper was "early" and we were delivered back to our hotel early for a wonderful night of sweet slumber.
I fell into bed exhausted but energized because after 12 months of saving and planning, I, Angie Good, was in Dublin, Ireland for a 10 day visit to a country that I have only ever viewed on sappy chick flicks or PBS specials.
Someone asked me why I choose Ireland. I'm not Irish. I don't really have any Irish descendants. I choose Ireland...because I think as a child, I had written a report or watched a documentary on Ireland and I had fallen in love with it.
I'm soo thankful that my mom was in good health and able to go with me on this glorious adventure. We made so many memories and I'm super excited to be able to share them with you.
Enjoy the trip...
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