<< June 1, 2008 >>
travel is always fun

Shannon -> Limerick

let's see. first the woman who checks your boarding pass before you go through security was joking with her friend on whether or not she should let me through. i was there so early, i wasn't stressed out nor worried, however neither was i amused. then of course they had to go through my luggage, because in my frantic packing i had put my shampoo in my carryon. i apologized to the guy, because really i am sorry: my hair is going to be totally unmanageable until i get back to the states.

the flight was mostly uneventful. i'm pretty sure there was always some light visible through my window, or at least i could always see a glow on the horizon. as we began our initial descent, i thought i could see patches land below. looking more closely, this was actually little pockets of fog. when we did reach land, the fog continued, occasionally completely obscuring the ground.

as we approached the runway to land, the fog must have been pretty thick, because moments before we would have entered it, the engines accelerated and we started climbing again. apparently the pilot couldn't see the runway lights. we sat in a holding pattern for at least half an hour, perhaps an hour, before they tried again. if they missed it this time, we'd be diverted to dublin, which would be great for most of the people on board, but of course this time i have a hotel booking in limerick for a few days. however, i wouldn't mind taking an extra train trip from dublin to limerick, so i was hoping we didn't land.

now that i didn't want to land, of course we did, and the idiots in the back started clapping.

i tried to get money from an atm at the shannon airport, but they can't handle PINs with more than 4 or 6 digits. the airport also doesn't have any drinking fountains. i found a bus to limerick, where i wandered around for almost an hour before i found my hotel, waited for them to get a room ready (it was still only 9 or 10 in the morning), and took a nap.