U.S Trip - Part 1

Our New Year's trip to the U.S. did not get off to a good start.  We were due to fly out of Dublin on December 27th.  But the weather was so bad that our flight was eventually cancelled.  All the Aer Lingus flights were delayed, and they kept the flight time order.  The first flight we noticed was to JFK, which was about 5 hours late.  Next was Boston, also 5+ hours late.  We eventually had an aircraft lined up, but the crew was timed out at that point.  Apparently, two of the crew refused to fly because we were so late.  So, they cancelled the flight and chartered a plane for the next day.

Waiting for the airport bus on the day we were supposed to leave

LBJ had the brilliant idea to divide and conquer, so she stood in line for the hotel arrangements (with the kids) while I got out bags (they wouldn't store them over night).  We got a room with a sofa bed and a regular bed, and we convinced the girls that it was a special treat to sleep on a sofa that also turned into a bed.  Anyway, we divided and conquered again at the hotel, with LBJ lining up for the room while I got the luggage.  This reduced the wait at both places, especially since LBJ got in the wrong line at the hotel - the empty line that was for everyone EXCEPT those on the cancelled Aer Lingus flight.  We received dinner and breakfast (apparently an EU requirement).  The girls were great until dinner - they were just too tired.  Then, we could not figure out how to turn off the heat in the room, so we had an unpleasant night's sleep in an unbearably hot room.  At one point during the night I opened the window, but I foolishly closed the window 10 minutes later.  Oh how I wish I hadn't done that.

So everyone was tired and cranky the next morning.  We were told to be ready for the bus at 715, so we went to breakfast at 645.  Too bad breakfast didn't open until 7.  The line at the airport was extremely long despite being told yesterday that there would be a couple of dedicated counters for our flight.  Airline staff didn't seem to know what was going on.  But, since we were plenty early for our scheduled 11am departure, we survived.

Not surprisingly, we didn't leave at 11.  We finally left around 1pm.  The airplane was fairly nice, with individual tv screens.  Too bad that NONE of the 10+ movies on offer were appropriate for a 6 or 4 year old.  Good thing that the girls be-friended another 6 year old on the flight, and we happened to have an extra seat by us.  So the three girls had an enjoyable flight together, and LBJ and I used our airline vouchers from the previous day for beverages.

Finally, on the airplane - with stuff

FABJ and her new fan

Once we arrived in Chicago, everything was very smooth.  Our bags arrived in reasonable time (we had already cleared U.S. customs - for the second time in two days - in Dublin).  The shuttle arrived pretty quickly to take us to the rental car place.  The rental car place was quite fast.  The drive was uneventful - clear skies and clear roads.  The girls slept nearly all the way to Iowa, waking to eat a reasonable amount of Chinese food for dinner at the DeKalb Oasis on I-88.  LBJ and I were able to stay awake without problems.   We arrived at my parents' place before 8:30pm after leaving the car rental place at 4:03pm (not that I was keeping track).