And back….

During the week I had spent a lot of time relaxing, something I don’t get to do very often, reading The Lost Symbol, the Dan Brown book that had sat on my nightstand for over a year.  I never was that eager to read it because Mom had told me she read it and didn’t like it at all.

Well I was pleased to find that I enjoyed the book, enough to finish the entire 500 pages in 5 days or so, finishing it up Thursday morning.  Sure it isn’t as good as Dan’s two biggest titles, Angels & Demons and DaVinci code but I liked it.  I love how his books put a very different spin on religion and how the premises that guide it have been twisted over the years into something not remotely resembling the original concepts.

Later in the morning Ali and I took a longer walk, covering the full trail up to the bed & breakfast.  We enjoyed the walk except the couple times we inadvertently stepped into muddy water.  We both appreciated the raw beauty of where we were, knowing that more than likely we will never be in Ireland again.  We took many pictures as we followed the coastline, looking down at the deep blue water crashing on the rocks below.

Earlier dad had asked me if I could drive himself and Pat up to the bed & breakfast.  They were going to rent bikes and ride into Dingle.  When we got to Gormans we were told that it would be a little bit before they could rent the bikes.  The guy that handles the bikes also cooks breakfast which was in the middle of wrapping up.

Dad asked if we could get some coffee and take it outside.  The lady brought over a tray with the coffee, milk and sugar and handed it to me.  We were quite surprised when she said we didn’t have to worry about paying for it.  Geez.

As we sat outside overlooking the beautiful ocean view, sipping coffee, we were joined by Molly the resident B&B dog.  Molly is extremely friendly and was happy to interact with all three of us.

Finally breakfast was over and dad and Pat got their bikes.  Ironically at first I think dad got the same bike we had the other day with the bad back wheel, evidently it had not been removed from the rental fleet yet.  Luckily he discovered the problem before getting out onto the road.

I wished Pat and dad a safe trip.  The combination of narrow roads, cars and dad not riding bike for over a half decade had the potential for disaster written all over it.  The plan was we would drive into Dingle and meet up with them there around lunchtime.

Dad and Pat had scouted out a place to eat once they arrived and we met them there around midday.  We got to eat outside on benches.  Unfortunately there were some smokers on nearby benches.

After lunch we walked around and did some shopping where Ali and I grabbed a few souvenirs for both ourselves and others.  My Ireland souvenir is a green ireland bike jersey.  Ali got herself some jewelry and a genuine Irish wool purse.

Dad wasn’t real keen on riding bike all the way home so I offered to take over for him.  Pat and I left a little ahead of the group.  Since Patrick is younger, stronger and faster than I am I had to work pretty hard to keep up with him.  The task wasn’t made any easier by my right knee that was still pretty swollen from the epic run on Monday.

There was a long gradual hill we were pedaling up when Dad, Teresa and Ali passed us in the car.  Evidently I looked like I was struggling.  They actually doubled back and asked if I wanted to switch out.  Of course I said I was fine and I continued trudging along.  After that big hill the rest of the ride was very manageable.  It was fun riding along with Pat, obviously the opportunities I have to spend time with him are few and far between.

When we returned to the B&B I was surprised to see Dad and the crew were parked there waiting for us on the benches outside.  When we pulled the bikes back around back Molly came out and greeted us and followed  back out front.  We were playing with her for awhile, she is a very loveable dog and made Ali and I miss our pooches at home.

I let dad drive the short distance from the B&B back to the house.  Well that didn’t work out well.  As we pulled into the driveway dad swung the tight turn too wide and ran the passenger side rear tire up onto the landscape timbers that lined the driveway.  When we got out of the car Pat glanced down and noticed the tire now had a bulge in the sidewall, damn it.

This was not good.  A sidewall bulge is playing with fire.  It could remain intact for a prolonged period of time or it could let loose any minute.  Regardless, it was not the sort of thing you want to roll the dice with if you are making a 3 hour drive to an airport the next morning.

The first thing we did was call Hertz roadside assistance number.  I did the talking since dad’s phone didn’t have service in Ireland.  The woman on the other line said that tires are in no way covered by insurance.  She recommended that we get the tire repaired on our own.   Once again the Hertz, tough shit attitude was shining through on the phone.  Basically any repair whether it is initiated by Hertz or not will be on dad’s dime.

Ok we needed some options.  I located the spare underneath the car.  I saw it was one of the donut spares with a max speed rating of 50 mph.  I started futzing with it trying to get the spare down so we could take the bad tire off and hopefully take it to a local place to get replaced.  While I was doing that dad walked down to the pub to get advice for nearby garage locations.

By the time dad got back I almost had the spare off the car, it was attached via a cumbersome wire and crank set up.  He said there was a garage a few miles away.   He said I should just put the spare back and we would drive to the garage on the bubble tire.

Time was a factor, it was now after 5pm.  Ireland didn’t seem like the sort of place where garages were open late.  Patrick came along as well.  Dad drove to the garage, ranting about Hertz for a good portion of the ride.

When we found the garage the roll up doors were open, a good sign.  Dad found the owner and explained our dilemma, we needed to get the tire fixed asap.  I breathed a sigh of relief when the mechanic said he had a correct size tire and he could install it. The price was 85 euros, cash, not cheap but we weren’t in a position to haggle.

The guy replaced the tire in about 10 minutes and then Pat and I waited another 5 or 10 minutes as dad had his typical BS session with the guy.  We got back to the house just before the catered meal arrived.  I felt very fortunate that the tire situation got handled.

Dad had made plans for our last meal in the house to be catered by the woman that also was responsible for cleaning the house.  He was under the impression the woman would be bringing the food, warming the food, serving the food and clean up afterward.  Well he got one of those four things.  The woman dropped off the food said, thank you, actually pocketing 20 more euros than what was first agreed upon and was on her way.  That kind of sucks.

Before the meal we headed outside for a group shot.  One with balloon hats and one without per dad’s request.

I was not all that impressed with the meal she made.  To be honest I think it was the worst food we had all week, everything that we had prepared ourselves was better.  The highlight of the meal was the two birthday cakes dad ordered for a belated birthday celebration for Caroline.  They were quite good.

After dinner Pat and I headed outside for an impromptu golf tournament.  The yard had tow “holes” in opposite corners and some old clubs and balls in the shed.  Unfortunately all the clubs were the right handed variety so I was forced to swing as a righty.( play golf lefty)  Todd, Damon and the kids eventually came out as well.  It was a fun way to wind down the last few minutes of daylight.

We all decided to head down to TP’s one last time to celebrate the end of our Irish vacation.  They had some live music playing.  I had a beer or two and then headed back, Friday was going to be a hellish travel day.  I had no idea just how hellish.

I was surprised that everyone was up and ready to go on time. We had everyone and everything packed up and in the vehicles at 7am as planned.  I was a bit sad as we pulled out and I saw the cows in the rear view mirror.  It was really a special trip that is unlikely to be emulated again in my lifetime.

The drive back to Shannon was lengthy.  The damp and dreary weather had returned for the drive, something we thankfully avoided for a good portion of the week.  We stopped to grab breakfast on the way as well as gas up the van.

Dropping off the rental vehicles gave dad an opportunity to bitch at Hertz staff face to face.  It didn’t do him much good though as the guy recited the company policy on tires and that he doesn’t establish the rules.  Needless to say dad has no plans to utilize Hertz for future car rental opportunities.

Checking back into the airport was more involved then coming into it.  We actually went through the standard, less thorough Irish screening and then had to go through a second screening that is reserved for passengers headed to the United States.  I actually got flagged for a pat down.  They opened up our carry on luggage and I had to raise my arms as the security dude ran his hands up and down my body, how thrilling.

The flight back to the US was much longer due to flying against the jet stream, 7.5 versus 5.5 hours.  I was not looking forward to it at all.  Luckily I decided to use the time to do a movie marathon which was a great way to pass the time.

I watched in total 3 movies during the return flight, Battle Los Angeles, Limitless, and Source Code.  I liked all three movies.  Battle Los Angeles had a very big Independence Day feel to it.  The action was non-stop with epic special effects.

Limitless was about a guy that unlocks the full potential of his brain. Source Code I don’t want to say much about other than it involves time travel.  Believe it or not I would probably give all 3 movies an A to A- rating.  I was quite pleased with my choices.

I spent the rest of the time locked in a chess battle against the computer that was cut short due to landing.  I was in a pretty sticky position in the game when it shut off so it was just as well.

All of this entertainment did not change the fact that I was sitting for so damn long.  The last couple hours of the flight were very uncomfortable.  I just wanted to get off the damn plane.  I was so glad when we hit terra firma.

We made our way to baggage claim.  It took awhile for the bags to make their way to us, unlike the lightning fast JetBlue luggage experience we had before.  Finally everyone got their bags and we said our goodbyes.  Todd, Caroline, Dad, Pat and Meg were piling back into to Todd’s Tahoe to drive back to PA.  Torrin, Damon and the kids were spending the night in Newark before flying out the next day.  Ali and I needed to make our way to another terminal for our flight back to Florida.

We discovered there is a tram that circles the airport that could get us where we needed to go.  As we rode along Ali and recollected various aspects of the trip.

We checked into our terminal, got through security and arrived at our gate.  The 7:30 flight was marked as ON TIME, awesome.

We had landed from Ireland around 2:30 so we had a lot of time to kill.  We looked at the various shops that dotted the JetBlue terminal and then ate dinner around 5 or 6.

When we got back to our departure gate we were not happy.  We saw the flight was now delayed 2 hours.  Evidently there were some bad thunderstorms rolling into the area.  A quick glimpse out the window confirmed this as Ali and I saw very menacing clouds rolling in very quickly.

Things went from bad to worse.  The lightning from the storm got so severe that they had a complete ground stoppage, nothing was allowed to happen out on the runway.  Our departure time just kept getting pushed back and back, it happened so many times Ali and I started joking about it.

Passing the time in the airport was tedious.  I managed to keep myself occupied most of the time on the Ipad playing Tower Defense.  Ali wasn’t so lucky, she had reached magazine reading burnout and couldn’t take it anymore.

As we moved deep into the night we realized just how long we had been up when you factor in the time difference.  We would easily pass the 24 hour mark.

I got a second wind around midnight after downing another cup of coffee.  I decided to get on the laptop and start organizing and labeling pictures in Picasa.  I actually got through 400 plus pictures while buzzed on caffeine.

It was now getting ridiculously late.  The passengers stranded in the terminal were all taking on a zombie like appearance.  You saw many people creating make shift beds from a section of floor and a piece of luggage as a pillow.

I started getting the shakes at one point as I stood near the gate that they promised they would start loading from shortly but never did.  Finally, finally, finally we got on the plane somewhere around 2:30 am, a full 12 hours after we arrived at the airport.

Almost as soon as Ali and I got on the plane we closed our eyes, we were both exhausted.  Although I didn’t really sleep on the ride home I did do some deep resting.  I was pleased the flight home went relatively quick. By the time we landed I had become a bit more lucid and felt pretty normal on the drive home. Hell we even stopped for coffee/tea at our home Dunkin Donuts since it was now 6am.  I told Ali I wanted to more or less try to just stay up and catch up on my sleep Saturday night.

Mom was up when we got home.  I had called her earlier to tell her of our original delay but I didn’t let her now of just how late it got.  We sat down and gave mom a recap of the trip and showed her the pictures I had on the laptop.  Mom said everything on the homefront went well with no major issues which we were glad to hear. Of course Nicki and Sadie were beyond thrilled to see us.  They were by our side constantly no matter where we went, it was cute.  Sadie immediately claimed the miniature Irish Rugby ball as her own.

Mom didn’t stick around too long once we got back, she left after eating breakfast.  We thanked her for helping us out, it is a huge relief to know we didn’t have to worry about the care of the dogs.   We gave her a genuine made in Ireland coffee mug.  I also let her have the New York baseball hat I got worked for since I would probably never wear it.

It felt good to be home from our epic trip.  It was something that will be with the both of us for the rest of our lives.  I am very grateful that my dad pushed to make it happen, it took two or three years to finally come together but I’m glad it finally did.

Now if I can just shake this jet lag and cold…..

All of the pictures we took can be viewed here.