Irish Adventure: Belfast, Dublin & the Northwest Counties Day 1

Day 1 – Sunday, September 9, 2018 - Depart U.S.

After a gorgeous late summer weekend, we left Buddha, our cat, and our home at Elephant Rock and negotiated The Gap. There are 17 miles of Interstate 25 from Monument Hill to Castle Rock that have only two lanes going north. The growing traffic and congestion have guaranteed slow going every weekend. Last week construction began to widen the road.

Luckily, the traffic gods were smiling on us and our journey to Denver International Airport took less than an hour. We had plenty of time to park the car at the Pikes Peak Lot and take the shuttle to the main terminal.

After checking in and dropping our bags at the United ticket counter, we went through security. Even though we were Pre-Checked, the lines were super long but moving quickly. We took the train to the B Gates and Vic bought a breakfast sandwich while we waited at Gate 42 for our first leg of our trip to Newark, New Jersey.

The gate crew began to board the aircraft at noon and as soon as we settled in, we were offered a beverage. The flight was overbooked so it took awhile for the gate agents to sort out those who were willing to take a later trip. There were also concerns about too many large carry-on bags.

Our captain welcomed us and told us the first two hours of our three hour and fifteen minute flight would be smooth but the last hour would be very turbulent because of storms on the East Coast. She reminded us to be ready for a bumpy ride.

It was about 10 minutes after our designated departure time when we pulled away from the jet-way but we had another delay on the tarmac. At 1:14 our 12:50 United flight left Denver and we were on our way to Newark.

After a light lunch and afternoon nap, the friendly skies were a bit more hostile as the captain’s prediction came true. Once we crossed the Mississippi River, we were cloaked in a think gray blanket of fog. Landing again on terra firma was a relief. We taxied to the C Concourse and deplaned at Gate 92 at 6:19pm.

Our son, Eduardo was also scheduled to fly into Newark for a week’s worth of business meetings in New York City. His flight from Austin was to land at the C Concourse at 8:18pm. However, due to the weather on the coast, his flight from Austin was delayed for several hours. We were not able to meet him – the stars failed to align. Bummer….

As the rain poured down outside, we sat in the new United Polaris Lounge while we waited for our connecting flight to Shannon, Ireland. The agent at the front desk told us our flight would be on time as scheduled, so we kept our fingers crossed as we watched the storm.

We made it to our Gate 125 and prepared for our overnight flight to the Emerald Isle. The next time you hear from us, we will be in Ireland. Thank you again for following our adventures.