Ireland - Day One

Ireland – Day One

The Contiki itinerary dubs this day as “The day your exciting trip to Europe begins!” so going with that the day I actually flew to Ireland will be day one. I guess I should explain why I chose Ireland. Honestly, I have no idea. I had never really dreamed about visiting Ireland before. But it was a good length (7 nights) and I wouldn’t have to bring a dictionary for a foreign language with me, and the flight was just under 7 hours from New York. Also I needed to choose a trip that I thought I’d be able to handle with my problem leg. The itinerary for this trip seemed less intensive then the other tours of multiple countries that I had really wanted to do. Also, it was cheaper than those other tours. Soo, Ireland it was. The more I read about it the more I really wanted to see it so if you’re wondering if I feel like I settled, not at all.

The tour actually began on Saturday, September 6th but I had to take an overnight flight on the 5th to get there for that morning. I was originally going to take off the day that I was to fly to Dublin but vacation days are sacred plus I wanted to be tired for the flight so I could sleep on the plane.

I had spent the last few weeks buying things I needed for the trip, clothes, travel blanket, alarm clock, carry-on backpack, travel pillow, dvd camcorder, etc. I think it just made me excited to buy things for the trip so I pretty much went completely overboard and spent way too much money on things that I didn’t really need. Oh well. It made me happy at the time!

So the day finally came for me to get on that plane, my first time flying alone. Since I was going to work that day and I work pretty much right across the street from the runway of JFK I decided that it would be easier if my mom’s boyfriend dropped me off at work with my luggage and my friend/mentor who I work with and who had used reverse psychology on me so I would go on the trip would drive me to the airport after work.

Honestly I think that was one of the longest days of my life. I could not sit still all day. My body was physically at my desk but my brain was nowhere to be found. I was nervous and scared and I had no idea what to expect. I didn’t know if I’d make friends, of if I’d be able to keep up with my leg. Also, I’m a plus sized girl living in a world better suited for the average sized so I was worried about the seat on the plane, the seat on the tour bus.. I just didn’t want to make anyone else uncomfortable.

I pretty much bounced around the office the entire day and counted the minutes on the clock until it was time to leave. My flight out of JFK was at 7:30pm and would arrive into Dublin a little after 7am in the morning due to the time difference. My normal time to leave work is around 4pm but I think we had waited until around 4:15 or so to leave since I didn’t want to get the airport and sit there bored out of my mind for too long. The one funny thing I remember about that day is that pretty much my entire office knew I was traveling to Ireland by myself because I couldn’t contain myself (it’s a huge office) and when it was time for us to leave for the airport I made my mentor who I will refer to as Yoda from here on out carry my backpack and I took the rolling luggage because it was easier and the entire walk down the hallway to the elevator everyone that I passed stopped to tell me to have a good time. I don’t even remember how many people said it, it was overwhelming and really nice to hear since things were still not very good with my mom.

As soon as we got into the car the nerves went up about 10 notches. My heart was pounding and I felt like I was going to jump out of my skin. I don’t remember being that nervous any other time in my life. I just don’t like the unknown and this whole trip was one big unknown. During the ride to the airport Yoda put on a song that I think was meant to calm me down although I don’t think anything could at that moment. It was Early Morning Rain by Gordon Lightfoot. These are some of the lyrics:

Hear the mighty engines roar
See the silver bird on high
She’s away and westward bound
Far above the clouds shell fly
Where the mornin rain dont fall
And the sun always shines
Shell be flyin over my home
In about three hours time

I haven’t listened to that song again since that car ride but just reading the lyrics now makes me smile.

We eventually got the airport (in reality, it took maybe 10 minutes) after what seemed like another eternity and as soon as we pulled up for a split second I thought there’s no way I’m going to be able to get out of the car. There was the moment when I really thought that I was not capable of doing this all on my own. But then Yoda kept asking me if I wanted him to park the car so he could walk me in but my confidence went back up and I knew I could do it, and I was going to walk into that airport on my own. It was like a symbol of how far I had come. So even though he felt uncomfortable just dropping me off and watching me walk in, that’s exactly what I did.

Then when I walked in I had no idea where I was supposed to go. It didn’t look like any of the other terminals I had been in before. The signs were confusing. I originally got on the wrong line, then eventually on the right one and they took my suitcase and it was time to go through security. Actually, once I gave over my suitcase and got into the line for security the nerves started to calm down a bit. I finally knew it was actually going to happen.

There was a girl at the back of the line whose flight was about to take off in 10 minutes so we all let her go in front of us but looking back, who gets to the airport that late? It seems insane now. Or maybe I’m just the crazy one.

Anyway as soon as I got to my gate, which was a pretty long trek by the way, I found a seat and took my phone out to call my mom and tell her I had gotten there fine. But first I noticed a missed call, It was from Yoda making sure I got to my gate alright. It struck me as funny that he seemed worried, since not once before that time did he appear to be worried about the idea of me going alone. I liked it. I guess I liked knowing that someone cared.

The few hours that I had to wait there I pretty much people watched and worried a little bit about how uncomfortable I might be on the flight. Finally it was time to board and when my section was called I went up and when they scanned my ticket they said my ticket had been upgraded and seat had been reassigned. This distressed me, my first reaction was “Am I still going to be on the aisle?!” the ticket agent said she thought so but wasn't sure and that I would change back to my original seat if I wanted to. In my head I had completely ignored the part that she said upgrade, or I thought that the upgrade was to a better part in coach or something.

I took the new boarding pass and started to walk down the corridor towards the entrance of the plane and after a few moments I finally looked at it and realized that it said "Business Class" underneath my seat assignment. My first thought is disbelief. I had actually kept talking about this prior to the trip, I've been pretty much upgraded in some way on every trip I've taken since I started traveling at age 18. Some upgrades were bigger than others, but I have flown first class before to Puerto Rico on an upgrade, I've stayed in a suite at the Hyatt Regency in Miami, you get the picture. But I honestly didn't believe my luck was going to keep going. But for some reason it did and I got to fly first class to Dublin.

I was actually really happy about it because I had been sitting all day and I have some problems with swelling in my legs and I knew I was going to be uncomfortable not having the opportunity to put my legs up within a 24 hour period. It was going to be murder. But the seats in first class reclined into almost a full blown bed so I was able to get my legs up and be comfortable for a while. Oh, and I was still on the aisle!

Back to when I got on the plane, I was so excited I didn't know what to do with myself. I called my mom first, she was really happy for me. She knew how uncomfortable I would have been if I hadn't been upgraded. Then I called Yoda, he was happy too. Then the flight attendants came around and offered champagne or mimosa's. So I took a mimosa and felt glamorous even in my sweat pants and sneakers. It was a really cool moment.

The flight was pretty much uneventful, although I wasn't able to really sleep. I think the most I slept was about 2 hours on the 7 hour flight. I was just too wired to really settle down. Finally they made the announcement that were approaching the Dublin airport and we would be landing shortly and I got my first sight of one of the many beautiful shades of green I'd be seeing during my trip. It was time to start day two!