Northern Immersion - View from Behind the Wing

Today, we flew from Athens to Belfast.  In total on this trip, I have taken six different flights so far.  On every one of them, I have been in the row just behind the wing.  I have been on both sides of the aisle, in the window seat, in the middle seat, and in the aisle seat.  But no matter what, I have been in the exact same row relative to the wing of the plane.  My view out of the window is always the same view.  Every picture I have taken out the window has been a different landscape or skyscape with the exact same view of the wing.  I have two flights left before this trip is complete, and I have every confidence that they will see me sitting behind the wing as well.

We got a rental car from the airport, so we could drive around Ireland.  Russ helped us at the EuropCar desk, and not only was he extremely nice, but was a wealth of information.  He was a young guy and patiently answered all of our questions like he’d heard it all a hundred times before.  He was the perfect guy to be working that desk.  He hooked us up with free sat nav as well, since he laughingly took pity on the foreigners.  We ended up in a VW Golf, which proved to be interesting when we tried to fit our five suitcases inside.  But somehow we managed with some Tetris Level – Expert arranging.

Since we’re in one of those “backwards” countries, the steering wheel is on the wrong side of the car!  We thought this and the driving on the wrong side of the road thing were going to be issues for my wife.  But in the end, that isn’t what got her.  It was an unlikely culprit that caused her the biggest issue.  She claims the brakes on the car are uber-sensitive.  Every time she “gently” pushed them, I was slammed into the dashboard.  I had whiplash and a headache by the time we made it to the hotel.  Not to mention the backaches and neck strains from the 100-pound force of the two suitcases on the back seat ramming into the back of my seat.  I have never been so thankful to get out of a car in my life.

I think the driving on the wrong side of the road thing will slowly manifest itself as well.  Last night, we had a panicked moment when we got to the roundabout, and my wife had no idea which direction to take around it.  She chose to drive straight through the middle…I guess that works too!

We had trouble finding the Fitzwilliam Hotel, because even though the hotel is on a corner, the name is only on one side…and it is written small and fancy, making it hard to find in the dark.  We also found out that they don’t have free parking for hotel guests, so we had to pay for valet parking service.  I hope this isn’t like this everywhere we go, because this trip is going to get really expensive very quickly.

It was late, so we grabbed dinner at the hotel bar.  My wife said the Caesar Salad was good, lots of chicken, very little salad.  My Fitzwilliam Hamburger was terrible.  Breakfast will be interesting as well, since it’s not included with the room.