We all knew that was going to happen

I think Leela was as surprised as me when the alarm went off at 2.45, not that either of us had been sleeping much, she kept cuddling up to me and touching my face to tell me she loved me.

Pitch black outside , just the weather for a drive to the airport with wet hair and a t shirt ready for the heat of the airport and the associated running about.

LHR-DUB – apart from a hot English breakfast the flight was barely long enough to get bored once I had read the paper , arriving to a cold, grey place called Dublin. Now it’s a funny thing, I have been to Niagara Falls 3 times, Brussels too many times to count but never been to Dublin before, Dunc was in Dublin a lot but not me. Once I was talking to him on the phone and mentioned something about being an hour ahead in Germany, “well”, he said “They may be an hour ahead in Germany but I am in Dublin” never could keep track of all the places he went , sometimes I could pin it down to a country although obviously not with any degree of accuracy!

Sitting outside having a puff of fresh air, I noticed that everyone seemed to have tiny cases compared to mine, mine is the correct size to take on BA and AA and I had a whole weeks stuff packed in the one case, I am sure no one actually believes me that I can pack for a week away in 9.9kg of  hand luggage but that’s what the scales said at checkin, going to take a photo of it later to prove it to you all!

Anyway the small cases, easily explained, DUB is a (spit) Ryanair hub and they have some very particular hand luggage requirements, hence all the tiny cases being pulled about.

All a bit grey in Dublin.....what else can I say??

Managing not to fall asleep in the lounge took superhuman strength, seeing as it was 11.15 I decided to amble down to the gate and passed a pub with a clock.........

which was kind of ironic as when I got to the gate the following sign greeted me......

WE ALL KNEW THAT WAS GOING TO HAPPEN DIDN'T WE ?

so, after an hour's ground stop (Eurocontrol at Brussels still thwarting my efforts to get somewhere on time), The lady next  to me bursting into tears, a whole episode of the Horizon cat programme, a cold meat and cheese plate  for lunch and a trip from Terminal 1  to 5 on the Heathrow Express I am finally in the First lounge at Heathrow getting stuck into the first glass of  Tattinger Rose in plenty of time for a 5 pm departure to Boston

Finally on my way, or am I?

Now I can add to my list of things I have flown through , not only have I flown through a Haboob, now, I have flown through one of the legendary "Nor Easters"  just a bumpy ride with  a few drops thrown in (see I didnt need to go to Chessington with year 8) but more importantly a 40 min ride around the block eating into my precious 90 min connection!
Now 50 mins to connect international to domestic going through immigration, collecting bags, bust between terminals and security to get to the next flight well, thats a tall order
luckily I bought my ticket through American Airlines so its their responsibility to sort it out,
Also luckily, AA have a range of stickers and stamps for just this sort of issue

The first "ticket" is great, I was placed in a queue of 2 for immigration, got through in minutes and was on to the bus and back to check in again in no time.
 I did discover that now you are supposed to do the customs declaration at a machine before you get in the immigration queue , you end up with a printout with your photo which customs take off you at their control point.
Anyway, they were just calling my name as I got to the gate and I stepped onto the flight just in time
another disaster averted!

Photos
Why arent therre many photos out of the window like I normally post?
well most of the flights it was dark so here is a photo I took, it could be Boston, it could be Los Angeles, but its pretty much all I saw for the last 12 hours

Soo, the Travellodge in LAX isnt a hidden treasure type of hotel but as a chance to sleep flat and charge everything its fine.


See you in the morning.........oh, its already morning for you isnt it!