Departures and Arrivals

I finally made it to Dublin! The flight from Pittsburgh to JFK was fairly short and easy but trying to find where to make my connection was a nightmare. I think I was supposed to check in again with Aer Lingus when I got to NYC but the line was really long and I already had a boarding pass printed from Pittsburgh so I skipped it. When I got to security, TSA asked me why it said American Airlines on my boarding pass instead of Aer Lingus and then at the gate the flight attendants paged me to print me a new one. I picked up on a few things to do while waiting to board the flight from an Irish woman sitting next to me who referred to Ireland as "the Rip Off Republic" - which basically means I will be completely broke when I get home.


I usually have no trouble sleeping anywhere but the plane was so uncomfortable I slept maybe an hour or two. We had a tail wind that got us into Dublin about an hour ahead of schedule and customs was very easy to get through - well, after getting in the EU line instead of non-EU. I asked if I was in the right line and (obviously being American with my accent) Mr. Security Guy laughed at me and said no but luck would have it that the US/UK line was much shorter. Thankfully I got my bags and everything with no problem! (It helps when they're a bright purple and barely made it on the plane in time so they came to baggage claim first). The Aircoach only cost 9 euros - much better than a $30+ cab ride into Manhattan - to get me to about a block away from Holly Cottage. Teresa and Hughie (the couple who are renting out a room to me) picked me up - they are awesome and very friendly! They have a daughter Emma who is my age so that should be helpful for getting around and finding things to do. 


I was planning to stay awake all day and get adjusted to the time difference but that clearly failed when I took a 5 hour nap. Oh well. Tomorrow I'm planning to walk around Dundrum a little and get a few toiletries and groceries, then Monday starts rotation!