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Oh boy oh boy, I'm off on a new adventure!
Totally thrilled to be waiting in an airport.
I'm still in Memphis. See that Grizzly looking at me over there?
But I had checked in online and I had scanned my passport into the Delta app and I had my boarding passes to Atlanta and on to Dublin right there in my iPhone Wallet and because I'd carefully packed everything into one carry-on bag and one personal item, getting to the gates and getting on the planes was a total breeze. OK, I got stopped at security in Memphis because I was carrying some prescription cough medicine in my bag, but after the friendly Homeland Security agent scanned my medicine in a mysterious box with flashing lights, I was pronounced good to go so off I went. And here's my Delta business class seat in Atlanta.
I like business class. You gotta splurge every once in a while in life. And this time, I actually slept on an airplane. I think it's a first for me.
Maybe it was because Delta fed me so well.
And here I am the next morning, waiting in an airport again; this time in Dublin. That's Tom and Candy over there. We'd get to know each other better over the next couple of weeks. Right now we are biding time until all the other Road Scholars arrive on their flights.
Which eventually, except for Gary and Mary Sue whose flight was canceled, everybody did. Just look at us all decked out in our fancy Road Scholar name tags, ready to go see Ireland.
And off we go, on the first of many long bus rides. We're headed from Dublin to Belfast.
Our first pit stop. I think it's an Irish Buc-ees. And I bet they'll have lots of unusual Irish taste treats to choose from. Lots of foods I've never heard of.
Oh good grief.
I did the best I could. The chicken and stuffing sandwich was supposed to be a traditional Irish treat and so it may have been. But it tasted just as weird and bland as you'd expect. The potato chips were nice.
And here's our Belfast hotel for the next three nights. It was fine.
I packed for cool weather but to my surprise it was quite warm in Belfast. I was burning up in my long sleeved shirt so the first thing I did was go shopping for a polo shirt. The hotel concierge pointed me in this direction.
I found the shopping district to be full of street performers. Apparently there was some sort of music festival going on.
I knew I would return for more of this when I had time.
But right now I needed some sportswear, and that little shop with the little blue sign had just what I wanted.
Do I look great in my Life Style Sports polo shirt with the genuine Adidas logo or what?
So decked out in my cool new shirt I joined the rest of the Road Scholars back at the hotel for a trip briefing from our group leader, Brendan Doherty. He was great -- one of the best Road Scholar tour guides I've ever had.
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