Saturday, November 20, 2010

There's No Place Like Home

Well the night before I left I was homesick, lonely and very eager to leave.  I went to the hotel's Chinese Buffet and struck pay dirt. The food was fantastic!  I finally got to eat something yummy.  The Tiramasu cake transported me to the edge of heaven and taught me life's true nirvana, eating more of it!  I ate 3 small slices, it was amazing.  I won't tell them that it's not Chinese. I then went back to my room and relaxed for the night.

I did not sleep the night before I left because I was afraid I would NOT hear the alarm and the hotel staff never called at 4 am, which is exactly what I was afraid might happen.  So I stayed up watching TV, packing and getting all ready to go home.  I was chomping at the bit to leave, I was lonely, had no one to talk to and very tired of all the fear of getting lost and wandering around in a strange country.  I wanted to go home...NOW!

By 4 am I was at the front lobby checking out, paying my bill, and I had them call a cab so I would not have to wait in the dark by myself at a bus stop for God knows how long.  The cab was there within 5 minutes and the man who drove me to the airport was very nice. I really enjoyed talking to him.  He was griping about Ireland's massive unemployment and how bad the economy was.  Sound familiar folks?  He dropped me off at the door of the airport.  I hate the Dublin airport with a passion.  It's old, dirty, junky, and very very confusing (like their streets).  They are opening a brand new terminal within 2 weeks and it's GORGEOUS.  I am sure things will be much better then.  I don't appreciate dragging a heavy suitcase up and down stairs and I almost fell downstairs carrying it to the Customs Gate.  I had to go through security, customs, and immigration and then wait forever.  It was all hurry up and wait.  I met two other women who were traveling so we talked for several hours, all of us going from Dublin to Atlanta Georgia. They were Irish citizens going to visit family/friends in the US.  We had a nice chat. 

When we boarded I almost jumped up and down with happiness.  I hate small planes and this one was HUGE.  It was a 767 and it was amazing.  After take off the pilot announced it was an 8 hour flight!  I almost cried.  I have no desire to sit in a tiny assed seat for 8 straight hours.  I had a young man from Nigeria sitting next to me and we chatted off and on but I tried to sleep and did manage to snooze some as the flight was very smooth and uneventful. I drank some beer since beer and wine were free and had to run to the bathroom a few times but watched 3 movies, ate 2 meals and basically counted down the hours until I got back to the USA.

Once in Atlanta I had to muster up what little energy I had to go through immigration, customs, and I had to walk all the way to baggage claim even though I had no bags to turn in my declaration form of what all I bought overseas.  Then they made me go all the way through security again to get back to the terminal and I was LOST!  I hate hate hate hate hate Atlanta airport. I'd burn it down in a heartbeat.  It took me almost an hour to find out which gate I needed to be at and where it was in the airport.  They need to nuke that airport and start over as far as I'm concerned.  I met a few other people taking the plane from Atlanta to Flint and I was so relieved that I would be home in a couple hours. 

The plane was a DC-9 and I have fears about them because: they are old, and things can go VERY wrong with them unexpectedly so I was SCARED flying in this plane.  It didn't help we were all packed in like sardines and it was making LOUD squeaking noises whenever it stopped like the brakes were bad.  A few other people commented on that and I got really scared.  The plane looked like it was built by Wilbur and Orville Wright themselves, old and junky, dirty, not very pleasant but I didn't care at this point, just get my ass home!  The pilot that flew it kept banking the plane first one way then the other, I was wondering if he/she had a liquid lunch or something.  It was a very uneventful flight but the spiraling plunging landing and THUNK on the ground was not appreciated by this nervous flier.  I give that pilot a C-

Once back at home I met up with hubby and told him we were IMMEDIATELY going to Buffalo Wild Wings as I needed REAL FOOD and TRIVIA NOW!  We did and I stayed for 2 hours and then came  home and got some much needed sleep.  This morning I uploaded all my photos and relaxed and am ready to see my family and talk about my trip.  I hope you enjoyed traveling with me.  You have been a wonderfully supportive companion and I thank you for your time in reading about all my adventures.