April 28, 2005 - Flying Home

Our landlady selected the "Grand Canyon at Noon" print as her parting gift and we took our leave for the short drive from Sixmilebridge to Shannon Airport.

We stopped off in the town of Shannon once again so that Monika and Lois could buy some chocolate at the Lidl store whilst I topped off the rental car at a nearby gas station to avoid a refueling charge. That accomplished, we drove through the 4 well-remembered roundabouts to get to the airport and I turned in the rental car. I have to admit it was with some feeling of relief that that I gave the young man my car keys and toted our luggage over to the shuttle bus.

After the short hop to the terminal we checked in and got rid of our luggage except, of course, for our carry-on pieces. We sat in the lounge for a while, using the free Internet connection to check our email accounts, and also visited the airport shops to use the last of our Euros. Monika found a brass thimble with a harp on it, and I bought a brass "Failte" (Gaelic for "Welcome") doorknocker to use at home since our bell is not working. We also found a good walking book that we might use to plan for another trip to Ireland in the future but one that would entail much more walking and much less driving.

Lois departed about noon and our plane left at last at 4:00 p.m. We had a last look at the River Shannon and then the Aran Islands before our long evening's flight into Boston was followed by the shorter hop out to Dulles Airport.

Our luggage, unfortunately, failed to keep pace with us, probably getting confused by our traveling on an Air Wisconsin airplane (and crew) flying on a United Airlines flight for US Airways. I was so blasted by jet lag and confused by the mélange of airlines involved that I had no idea whom to turn to in order to report our lost luggage. Fortunately a lady at a nearby counter had the appropriate forms and after filling out the form it was just a matter of getting a shuttle bus to take us home, paying $45 for the dubious pleasure of a 1-hour trip along the Beltway at midnight, and falling into bed. Our luggage did appear on our doorstep the next day, so to coin a phrase, "All's well that ends well."