Days Two and Three – Field Trip, April 2016

I would have posted yesterday but I spent the whole day and night travelling. I was up early yesterday morning and we were at the airport by 9:00 am. My husband went in with me to check in my suitcase and accompanied me up to Security. We said goodbye at that point and I entered into the secure zone of the airport. I was randomly picked to be scanned more thoroughly. I was asked that when they pat me down was there any sensitive spots to watch out for. My response was that I have fibromyalgia and that no matter where they pat they could hit a sensitive spot. They decided not to do the pat down.

I spent time reading while waiting for my flight to Toronto. I was more than three hours early and so had a lot of time to kill. We finally boarded and the plane took off. Three and a half hours later, I was in Toronto. It was about 2:00 pm. The next flight didn’t leave until 8:30 pm. So I spent the time reading. My brother joined me at the airport about 5:00 pm and we decided to have something to eat while waiting. We had a cheeseburger combination which was good. Another couple of hours in which I didn’t even think about pulling out my laptop, but it was time that my brother and I spent catching up. About 6:00 pm, we began to see some members of our group coming into the waiting area. About 7:45 pm, the remainder of our group arrived from Ottawa. Lesley gave me the backpack that she had for me as well as the extra information. By 8:55 pm we were on the plane and getting settled for the trip. 

There was another group on the plane as well. There were twenty-two girls from one of the high schools in Massachusetts along with six chaperones going on an exchange. We all settled in to try to get some sleep, but who can sleep well on an aircraft.

Finally, we landed. We arrived in Dublin, Ireland. Yes, Dublin. I have been waiting for this trip for about thirty years or more. Lesley Anderson had arranged a tour for us and also built in time for research in Dublin and Belfast. After going through immigration, we collected our luggage, gathered together, and went to our bus. We then went for breakfast at a café at the Glasnevin Cemetery. Breakfast had been pre-ordered for us. This was followed by a tour of the cemetery. It did not cover the complete cemetery because of the size, but covered most of the people who were the movers and shakers for the 1916 revolt and the civil war which followed later. Time was allowed to visit the museum, but I didn’t go in as I was not feeling 100% and needed some rest time.

We then travelled to the National Botanic Gardens and had an hour to explore. I stayed on the bus as that was what I needed at that point and slept most of that hour. I’m pretty sure that the rest of the tour members went in. The bus driver took us around some parts of Dublin and we were taken into Phoenix Park. The President of Ireland has the official residence there and the American Ambassador’s residence is also there. It is a huge park and the traffic was backed up.

Coming out of the park, we did a bit more touring before going to our hotel to settle in and get some much needed sleep.