7am came mighty quickly on Day 32. Less than an hour later, I was saying good-bye to Luke and Wolfie, and Karen was driving me to the airport. And about an hour and a half after that, I said my good-byes and thank yous to Karen and headed into Manchester Airport. Checked in, cleared security, poked around the shops, got a drink of water, and then went to sit at "my" gate. Turns out I misread my ticket and I was not waiting at my gate. I was wondering why no one was there. So I rechecked my ticket and it turns out I was looking at the seat number NOT the gate number. The gate number was blank. So I went back to the main waiting area and checked the screen. It said a gate would be posted in 15 minutes, then 10 minutes, and eventually 5 minutes, and sometime later than 5 minutes after that a gate was posted, which wasn't too far from where I'd been waiting earlier. So I went back there and soon climbed onto the plane (yes, there were steps instead of the usual walkway thing). The flight wasn't bad. It was around an hour. No one sat next to me so I had some room. I had to change planes in Dublin. I was not expecting to have to go through security again. I had purchased a water bottle at Manchester Airport so I quickly chugged most of my water while I was in line and threw my bottle in the overflowing trash can--clearly, I was not the only person who had to chug a water bottle while waiting to unexpectedly go through security. Got my passport stamped by a nice Irish man. Then I went through security (even though I'd done it a little more than an hour ago in Manchester, but such is life). I had a three hour layover so I bought another bottle of water, snacks, and poked around some shops. Soon the message came on the screen for my flight to go to the US Customs pre-clearance area so off I went with my NEARLY full water bottle. Guess what? I had to go through security AGAIN Now I am all for safety and security. I would much rather go through security and be safe so don't get me wrong, but is it really necessary to go through security THREE times? Two of those times were at the same airport. Maybe it's a conspiracy with the bottled water companies (I don't really think it's a conspiracy, but I was annoyed with all the waters I had to get rid of). So bye bye water bottle and bye bye money I spent on it because as you know airport food and drinks are overpriced. That line was moving, no time to chug that water bottle. Through security again, through customs and the US customs officer was not as friendly as the Irish one. Oh, Ireland, I miss you all ready and I haven't even left yet. Then I bought my third bottle of water and I was hungry so I had to buy food from the ONLY food stand you could access after going through US customs. It was a good thing I had a decent amount of Euros left because the food was SO overpriced. And over an hour later I boarded the flight only to find I did NOT have an aisle seat. Clearly, I will not use this travel agent ever again. (I've never used a travel agent before this trip. I always book my own flights on-line and I ALWAYS request an aisle seat.) You expect me to sit in a middle seat for 6 1/2-7 hours? Are you serious? Maybe it's a good thing I didn't get to finish any of my waters since I will be dehydrated and not have to climb over strange men to use the toilet. And now I'm being really whiny, but the gentlemen to my right felt the need to use his arm rest AND my arm rest. Buddy there's two arm rests there because one is for YOU and ONE IS FOR ME. You do not get to take mine too. Thankfully, the man on the other side did not hog the arm rest. And I don't know what was going on behind me, but the man behind me sure liked to hit my seat a lot. And while I'm ranting, why is it the flight attendants can come by SEVERAL times with tea and coffee, but not water, especially, when it's actually hot on a plane--usually, I'm cold. I finally asked for a water on the last tea/coffee round and got about 3-4oz. UGH. Next time I will buy two overpriced bottles of water to bring on the plane. The food was edible, but not great. It was definitely better on the way TO Ireland. Anyway, I've complained enough. I had a wonderful trip, I don't want to to ruin thoughts of it with rants about my flight home. I should be happy I made it home safely, but can I please go back again? It was so much fun!
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