Well that was certainly a long trip. My booked flight to NY was canceled the day before I left, so I was forced to fly to Atlanta or endure a 7 hour layover in the City to board my original 9pm flight to Dublin. I opted for the former.
The flight to Atlanta was uneventful. I sent a few more “last” text messages via twitter and to other friends before we departed. Otherwise, I read Freakonomics and the 2.5 hours seemed to melt away. Before boarding though, I met a older woman and her mother who – with bright orange hair – were speaking Gaelic at our gate in Boston. I asked them if they were headed to Dublin, as if anyone else is crazy enough to fly to Atlanta first, but found out that they were continuing on to Florida. We had a good chat about sights to see, and was told that I must visit Galway. A few minutes later a Spanish-speaking woman came up to me and asked if she was at the correct gate, I suppose I must look like I could speak the language, but in any event I told her that she was (after looking at her ticket of course).
The flight to Dublin was not nearly as short. The most disappointing part of flying to Atlanta was that the flight path to Dublin took the plane directly over NYC and Boston. In essence, I flew a few hours backwards only to retrace those steps a short while later. The overall flight time to Dublin was roughly 8 hours and it would have been nice to shave a couple of those off.
On the plane, Delta neglected to add personal TVs for each seat, so not much had changed since I flew TAP ten years ago. I was seated in the middle row – thankfully on the aisle. We received a pillow, blanket, headphones, and could select from USA Today, the Financial Times, or the New York Times. I opted for the pink one.
Dinner service began somewhere over Virginia, with two options available: Chicken or Vegetarian Pasta. Since I had not eaten since my tone-a-hole in the morning, I opted for the chicken and devoured it rather quickly. While dinner was served, the first of three movies started: The Social Network. I saw it in theaters, but with not much else to do, I watched it again.
Shortly after the first movie ended, a second started: Eat Pray Love with Julia Roberts. Somewhere in the middle I fell asleep, but I still managed to get the gist of the flick. Roberts’ character decides her life is going nowhere and that she is unhappy, so she gets divorced and travels for a year to Italy, India, and Bali. Along the way she meets various “teachers” who return balance to her life. In true feel-good form, she meets her new husband in Bali, and fulfills the wise man’s prophecy.
After that flick, Delta screened a relatively older one – but still good: The Pursuit of Happyness. I saw it in theaters, but again with not much else to do, I watched it again. Towards the end of the film, the flight attendants served egg sandwiches and granola bars for breakfast.
Soon after watching Will Smith attain happiness, the plane landed and fortunately I was near the front to disembark. I headed through Immigration and was sent fairly quickly on my way, with 2 months to register with GNIB. I met my checked bag on the other end, and was off to find the Aircoach – which I took for 7 euro directly to Trinity. It was styled as a luxury bus, but I was the only one onboard – a private bus ride to campus was a great way to start my time in Dublin.
Once on campus, I went directly to the main gate – the only one open late at night (early morning), grabbed my key from a very personable security guard, and headed to the opposite side of campus to my apartment in Goldsmith Hall. I had not heard about my roommates before I left for Dublin, so I was not sure what to expect. But when I arrived, I noticed a number of wine and beer bottles (especially Budweiser) stacked along the inside of the kitchen wall. It seems like I will be joining guys who were here last semester.
My room is rather Spartan at the moment, and I will be leaving soon to purchase some food and other supplies. I will post this as soon as I have internet access.
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