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.
