The little annoyances in life...

Well, well, well, the fun has started. Pick up by the driver was smooth...traffic to the airport was smooth...check in was smooth...THEN...

We sat and waited... and Delta calls...never a good sign.

Our flight from SFO to LAX is cancelled...the next one is later... means we miss our connection to JFK...which means we miss our connections to Dublin.

They put us on an AirLingus (Irish airline) direct from SFO to Dublin.  HOWEVER, it is 9:30 AM and the flight leaves at 5:20 PM...

So what to do?  We had to go back to Delta, get our bags, go to the international terminal which was no easy feat, and we are sitting in little sidewalk cafe watching the people from all over the world.

BUT don't get excited yet.  I promised you drama from Ronald...he delivered.

When he had to exit the secure area to go to the Delta desk, he took nothing but his boarding passes...and since they put us on another airline, they took the passes from him.  All he had was his charisma to get him back through security again and that didn't work.  They said, Nope...gotta do better than that.

The security guard suggested he call me...and I came running like the dutiful little wife.  We then went to baggage claim to pick up our luggage from Delta to begin our TEN hour wait for aerLingus flight to Dublin, Ireland.  The day was boring...they say started by AirFrance strike...

Then we get to the aerLingus ticket counter only to find we are STANDBY and the panic starts.  We go through all kinds of scenarios in our mind.  We don't even have our car!  We took a limo there because parking at Park and Fly and the limo were essentially the same price.

At 4:30 they started calling the standbys ... #1, not us.    #2, not us.  BUT the last couple allowed on the plane was indeed US!  
Then I start worrying, Is this plane going to crash? and we shouldn't be on it...because that is how my mind works.

But we are in Dublin, Ireland now and things are good.  We are staying at an incredible hotel, the Merrion, in central Dublin.  Life is good.

asses back to Delta ticketing to solve the problem.  They take away his boarding passes since he is no longer on their flights and gave him an itinerary of the new flight on Air Lingus ... AND he can't get back through security! He begged and said my wife is down there...but they said, NOPE NOPE ... A THOUSAND TIMES, NOPE.

Stay tuned for our next adventure.  But I did ask Ron if Ireland was bombing Syria (you know, like ISIS would retaliate) and he said, No, but I do feel better not flying out of NYC.  Good point.

We are going to start in Dublin...then willy nilly down to Waterford...then willy nilly down and around the coast and end in Killarney...then to the west as far as we can go (which incidentally is the farthest western edge of Europe,) Ballybunion, Dingle...then up to the Aran Islands and Galway...and back to Dublin...stopping in the most interesting places on the way...15 days...and look at the mileage scale.  Ireland is a small country...

I am new at this...

Bear with me, friends...I am new at this.  My good friend Glen is laughing his head off at the moment as I struggle with this new place called blogspot.com.  His blog is gorgeous as they travel around the US for 3 months in their long travel trailer...and mine might compete with his soon.  Who am I kidding?
But I did find the "pencil" by myself!

THE BEGINNING

Since we were in our middle 20s, we have loved to travel...and with Ron's FF Delta points and his Marriott points from his years with the government and then Ernst and Young, luckily, travel to Europe has been possible many times.

I plan the trips...and make reservations...consult Tripadvisor and Rick Steves many many times...and drag Ron along.

So this year it is IRELAND...the birthplace of Ron's ancestry.  

Follow along with us as we brave the country.  We love to sample the food, sit in wayside outdoor restaurants and watch the locals, walk through the towns and talk to the people and other travelers (that is me, not Ron,) drive through the countryside as we meander through an unknown country, and come home immersed in a culture and customs found only in books prior to our travels.

...all journeys have secret destinations of which we are unaware...follow us to see where we go.  We have a rough sketch and direction, but the final destination might be a secret, even to us.