See you in Dublin

4 days, 3 flights, and more ticket changes than I can count, and I'm on my way to Europe. Yes, Europe, Stockholm to be exact.  I know, Stockholm isn't in Ireland.  But it is one step closer.

We decdided to fly standby for this leg of the trip because we had some time to play with before Galway 70.3, and, let's be honest, we're both cheap.  I don't think it occured to either of us that could be this difficult.  We arrived at the Atlanta airport Monday night, quite gung-ho about the start of our trip.  We sat and watched the standby list and waited patientlyfor our names to be called (maybe Dan a little more patiently than I).  At 9:40 we called it.  No big deal, we'll get on tomorrow.  Tuesday quickly became earily similar to Monday, and as it became clearer we were not going to be on that flight, we discussed other options.  It seemed we had more opportunities to get out of the States from New York.  So off we went, running down the terminal, to catch the 10:10 to Indianapolis where we would wait overnight for the flight to JFK at 6am, Wednesday.  We decided to spend the day at the airport to get some work done before the first of three flight opportunities that evening.  We thought, "three flights tonight, SURELY one of them will get us to Ireland".  Once again, we were wrong.  I called Delta to ask if there was anything we could do.  Their response created some frustration for Dan and I to say the least.  And I thought "well, I can pout and stomp my feet or I can put my efforts into finding a solution to this problem".  I chose the latter and immediately began investigating flights to Eurpoe where we could easily hop over to Dublin.  The possibilities were endless as far as I was concerned...London, Barcelona, Amsterdam, Malaga, Manchester.  So we came up with a plan of action and found oursleves a nice corner of the airport to call home for night.  Thank goodness for our handy-dandy fancy sleeping pads, and the wonderful lady at the Delta gate that gave us blanets and pillows.

We woke up Thursday morning with a solid 6 hours of sleep behind us, and a positive, refreshed outlook.  Today was the day.  We spent a good 30 minutes at the gate counter, explaining our situation once again.  Some great people helped us tweak our plan and got us booked on a flight to Amsterdam at 4:15.  Since we had some time to kill, we entertained ourselves with people watching, eating, pictures, postcards, and general quality time together.  Weird, I know.  The Amsterdam flight was looking really promising at 3:15.  But the minutes crept by and all the seats began to disappear.  I knew I wasn't getting on, but I didn't say that to Dan because  I knew there was a good chance he would.  When they called his name, we had already discussed that he would go, with or without me.  It was still early in the day and I had several more opportunities.  And worse case, I would buy the ticket to Dublin.  I made him go, and waited for the gate agents to announce the flight full.  As I watched the plane pull away, a sadness came over me.  I got used to him being with me on this adventure, and the airport quickly became a lonely place.

All the flights we discussed me trying to get on were not possibilities.  But again, the nice Delta people tried to help me and booked me on the flight to Milan at 6pm.  I knew I wasn't getting on it when I got to the gate.  I was starting to get desperate.  The flight to purchase was at 9pm and on another airline.  I'd still have to get my checked bag somehow and get to another terminal.  I called Orbitz to confirm I could get on and they informed me that I needed to book at least 6 hours in advance in order to go through them.  So I went to the source and called American.  Apparently they do not have the same pricing and it was going to be over $3,000.  Um...I think I'll pass.  I figured I would be spening another night in the airport, but this time alone.  As I looked for a gate agent to confirm the location of my luggage, another found me.  He said he was looking for me, he could get me on the flight to Stockholm.  I pondered for a minute if that was the best option.  I decided to to take it.  Probably mostly because the idea of the night in the airport alone made me sad.  And I knew it would be that much longer until I got to Dublin.

So I boarded my first flight to Europe, not knowing how I was going to get to Ireland once I got there.  Dan and I joked that we asked for an adventure... we never did specify when we wanted it to start.  See you in Dublin, Dan!