We experienced the most death-defying drive since we arrived in Ireland today: the Uber driver taking us to the airport. The whole drive there, at no time was it clear which lane he wanted or what colour light meant "go". Red clearly meant "race". But whonis complaining? He got us there pretty fast and even though we left well in advance of what we needed, his driving got us there with enough margin that we were able to sort out some complicated logistics checking in to Aer Lingus. As I checked us in , I was surprised that the process wanted me to pay to check Nan's suitcase. It had been so long since I booked our tickets that i had forgotten that I only prepaid for one suitcase sincen initially, ee thought onesuotcase migjt be enough for us both. And no carry-on bags for either of us. But a gal assisting people through the process said "sometimes they charge, sometimes they don't" so we presented ourselves at check-in and, sure enough, no charge for the extra suitcase or carry-on bags. This is what you get with the deep-discount European airlines. Fortunately, I HAD opted for seats, as opposed to standing room.
Since we are carrying our motorcycle helmets in out carry-on luggage, we had those to task us. We were flying on an ATR-72, the European equivalent of a Q400: an 80 seat 4 engine turbo prop airplane, and I can tell you space is pretty limited. My carry on bag would not fit in the shoe-box overhead bin, nor would it fit under the seat ahead of me so I ended up taking my helmet out of the bag, putting it overhead and jamming my bag under the seat ahead of me. Even with the helmet out of it, my bag would only go in about half way. No big deal. The flight attendants, who had clearly seen it crowding my feet, were nonplussed.
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| My knees, my bag between my feet, my distress if we are trying to exit the plane in a hurry. |
The flight to Edinburgh was just over an hour. Once we taxied up to the area of the terminal, we were told to stay put until the captain got on the blowhorn and yelled out "women and chdren first!" For several minutes, passengers sat, waiting patiently. The flight attendant at the front could barely keep herself awake and as restless passengers started getting out of their seats and gathering their belongings - still no word from the captain - she just ignored the passengers. People were looking around trying to decide what they should do but Nan could see that people were exiting off the back of the plane. It might have been in a chute, for all I knew.
Inside the terminal, we waited longer than it took to fly over from Dublin for our luggage to be released from captivity. No baggage handlers was our guess, though several flights arriving after ours got their luggage before we got ours.
We took a cab to the B&B. At the airport we were told by airport staff it should cost around £37-£43 but it ended up being £53. I said "that's considerably more than the airport estimate" The driver told me "they don't consider the tolls or the traffic". What tolls? Uber, next time, buddy. Even though you gave me your card for a trip back to the airport.
We got to the B&B and our hostess let us in and then promptly told us her life story of woe. We stood in her lobby for 15 minutes or more hearing every tale.about her kids and ex-husband an how she wants to run him over with her vehicle but she lo es the vehicle and doesn't want to damage it. Running him over. |
| Haggis Spring Rolls. I have my doubts about this being "real haggis". |
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| Nonetheless, this was the result. |
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| The view from our window at the B&B. |
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| A near by street. |
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| Local graffiti. |