Final Entry – Field Trip, April 2016

Well, I am home again. I arrived about mid afternoon, this afternoon. I really didn’t have enough time to write a blog post yesterday. I thought that I might have enough time as I was supposed to have about six hours between arriving in Toronto and leaving Toronto for St John’s. However, the plane that we travelled back to Toronto from Ireland was very late in arriving in Dublin. We were supposed to leave shortly after 12:00 pm Dublin time but it was well after 2:00 pm before we were able to.

Once we arrived in Toronto, we had to go through Customs and Immigration. Customs has installed scanners to scan our declaration paperwork as soon as we disembark and it gets checked right after we go through Immigration. Before we can pick up our baggage, it gets checked again. Then we have to collect our baggage, then go through Customs where it gets turned in. If we have a connecting flight, we then have to go to the check-in counter for the airline that you are flying with and check your luggage in again. You then have to go through the security check point again.

You know, it would be nice if Customs got their act in gear and allow the baggage that has to be transferred to go directly over to the connecting flight. This system that they have set up has your paperwork being checked about three times with the luggage being there only once. If there is a possible problem, they could easily contact the traveller before the flight leaves and pull that suitcase or let the next airport know that the suitcase has to be checked. It would save a lot of grief and frustration on the part of travellers.

I mentioned earlier that I should have had about six hours between flights yesterday. I ended up with much less time as the flight travelling from Toronto to Dublin was delayed as I mentioned. When we finally were able to board the plane, we were advised that the tail winds were quite good and that we should be able to arrive in St John’s ahead of schedule. Then we were delayed because the plane was waiting for two travellers.

I was hoping to get some sleep on the flight from Dublin to Toronto, but that did not happen. I knew that we would have an opportunity to have something to eat not too long after take-off, so I forced myself to stay awake. I did not want to be woken up or miss the meal as I was beginning to be hungry. After eating, I waited a bit of time, and then tried to go to sleep, but couldn’t. However, I was able to sleep for about a half hour on the flight to St John’s. We arrived in St John’s about 1:40 am this morning. Because I was in a window seat, I had to wait until my seat mate was able to leave. I still had to get my carry ons down and I let everyone that I would have held up go before I tried to get them down. Because I was the last on the plane, the steward lifted my carry on down. As I headed to the exit, I passed the pilot on the way and the three of us walked together to the luggage retrieval area together. There, my husband was waiting for me. I was so happy that he was there when the plane landed instead of me having to wait for him.

Once I retrieved my large suitcase, we headed for the car and drove to the Comfort Inn, Airport, in St John’s where my husband had already checked in. I had made the reservation before going to Ireland. I was very glad that I had thought about this. I was asleep about three minutes after my head hit the pillow and wasn’t up for the day until about 8:45 this morning.

We missed the continental breakfast, but I was okay with that as I knew that I needed the sleep more. After checking out, we went to Tim Horton’s for breakfast, then headed for home. I was able to stay away for about half of the travel time and then fell asleep again.

Once we were home, the cats insisted on a very thorough greeting. Even Angel insisted that I make a fuss of her and she usually just tolerates me. After all, I do feed her and clean the litter, and apparently, my head scratches are totally acceptable.

After the greetings from the two cats, I headed upstairs and proceeded to fill up my laundry hamper. It’s laundry day tomorrow and I will have a full load. After all, I was gone for more than two weeks and I only wore two shirts twice. The rest were only worn once while away. On the other hand, I did wash the underwear halfway through the trip.

I spent the rest of the day trying to finish the unpacking and going through the mail. It was mostly household bills. I was able to pretty much stay within my budget. I knew that I would have to use a credit card for some of it, but I was able to keep it at the minimum.

Well, my trip to Ireland is completed and I am back to look for a job, fill my church responsibilities, and work on my family history and blog until the next trip which will be for five days in Ontario for a wedding. I have already booked the flights for that trip. But more of that at a later date. Please watch for future posts where I fill in more details about each of the visits that we made in Ireland.