Day 23 – 29th August – a little tour then off to London
We walked to St Patrick’s Cathedral this morning. Lovely gardens and a very nice Church.
We checked out and made our way to a little village that’s on the way to the airport. However it became yet another mysterious adventure. The signs were there but no ‘village’. It’s always more fun than just touring because it really does appear that every time Tom wants to make a turn or pulls up in a driveway to check the route ‘someone’ is waiting to come out of the drive, box us in or simply be annoying! Hahahaha well it’s very amusing to ME!
Eventually we headed off to what we thought would be a good place to eat ‘signs saying open 7 days a week 9-9 every day! But NO. A guy stopped to see if we need help and he told us there was a pub down the road on the left. It really was where he said! Soup and chips and hot water later (thx guys for paying), we then headed in to Swords. Walked past the castle and on to the shops. No purchases just window shopping. It’s not hard to see why they go up to Northern Ireland to shop. (It’s VERY expensive in Ireland) Time to make our way back to the airport to drop off the car. Tom had a code to scan which gave him the directions to the drop off. This also proved a little elusive and we had to manoeuvre our way to a different area. All good (well all good after having had the woman bark at Tom- “you’re the wrong way around!” Hahaha) waiting for the shuttle bus (that I now know is half red and blue) and dropped off at Terminal 2. Couldn’t seem to figure out how to do the drop off baggage because there was nobody at the desk. Then finally I realised I had to tag my case. Nope this didn’t want to work either. Tom and Helen waiting patiently (well Helen was) then finally found a guy who told me to go to a different area because British Airways don’t allow checking in on line. (DOH!) Line up……and finally I get told that there is no seat for me because Aer Lingus have overbooked the plane and I am to wait 40 minutes to see if a seat becomes available. Spoke to a young guy (Daniel) for a while who was in the same boat-or not plane). Finally I was given the good news that I had a seat. I sent a photo to my cousin who will be picking me up (I’m only meeting her for the second time) and thankfully I haven’t had to tell her I’m not coming. Phew.
Well, what I had originally thought when I contacted this cousin was that I’d organised to stay with a different person to who I met early this year. Then, I thought that wasn’t the case. Lo and behold I arrive at Heathrow and it WASNT the cousin I’d met in Australia! OMG. I’ve asked a complete stranger (albeit a cousin) if it was ok that I stayed !?!?!?! Andrea and her husband will be coming to see me tomorrow. THEY are the ones I met! Ok – it appears that only ‘I’ can do these weird and wonderful things. Hilary and John are SO nice and I’ve had a lovely meal with them and we haven’t stopped talking since I got off the plane. Finally in bed. 9,005 steps.
Lady Boomer 