We left for the airport later than we wanted to, but despite heavy traffic, the Detroit airport is pretty small and we checked in and navigated through security quite quickly, getting to our gate about an hour before we needed to leave.
....Which turns out did not matter because our very first flight was delayed....by 45 minutes (lesson #1 - do not bank on short layovers).
So we settled in near the closest outlet to read and charge our phones (pre-flight exhausted look).
From here, until we arrived, no other pictures were taken in the whirlwind that ensued.
While on our first flight, we learned we were going to land in Chicago about 5 to 10 minutes after boarding for our next flight closed. Enter in first set of tears (ok that was also the last, but we were only 30 minutes into our first of three flights, so it did not seem like a good omen).
But it is ok, we had a plan - the arrival gate was close to our next departure gate and we only had one carryon, so Blake was going to plow through and run like mad to the next gate while I grabbed the carryon, asked the attendant at the desk to call the gate to wait for us, and then I would rush shortly behind him.
As we are pulling in we notice we are not pulling up to the planned arrival gate in terminal B....but pulling up to terminal E. Well, that was not the plan. But that is ok, a little farther to run, but we would manage.
Blake rushes off, texts me when he gets off the plane first that the attendant said the other gate was waiting but to hurry, and then starts a mad sprint to the next gate. I, shortly after, run as well (which very very very quickly turned into a 'that plane is going to wait a little bit longer while I get there with my super duper fast walking').
I finnnnalllly get to the next gate - which is apparently 8 light years away from the one I arrived in - to find they had....not.......even.......started.......boarding..........yet..................................................................
Poor Blake, sweating and panting, while everyone else is sitting and waiting - apparently the plane needed 'maintenance'. That was comforting.
Finally we get on our Chicago to London flight, another good 45 minutes later than planned, and waited some more while they finished refueling. But, despite these delays, they were estimating we were still going to arrive in London early.
This was the main leg of the trip and the point where we planned to sleep. Boy did we try. We even had the Plus (read extra leg room) seats with an empty third seat. But sleep eluded us both - we really just tossed and turned and finangled into every possible position, all of which were failures for inducing sleep.
We did in fact land in London at the planned time, with a good hour until our next flight. Did you know that when you land in a new country, even if that is not your final destination and even though your bags already went through security, you go through it again? Yeah, that is a thing. There went the remainder of our bottled drinks we purchased in Detroit Airport to get us through our flights (lesson #2).
Also, London has the slowest.....security.....ever. I mean the attendants were having a good time laughing and were incredibly friendly. But come on people, there are places we need to be.
After security, you get to a customs attendant - he was kind enough to mention we would not make our flight. Wait, what? I look at the time - yeah security took way too long.
So despite having the full layover time available - here we go again, running across an airport, this time out of confirmed necessity. As we are jogging around the corner, we hear our names being called as a last call for getting on the plane. I wave - they see me - they let us in, thank goodness.
So we made it to Ireland, on time, and unsurprisingly looking even more ragged than when we left. I mean, have you heard of tossing and turning airplane hair cause if not, voila....
Ok, so technically the 'trying to sleep but clearly not' photo above is on Day 1! But it seemed fitting to put it here.
Also, although this sounds like we had a horrible time, all things considered, it went very very smoothly (though a lot of close calls and lack of sleep). Instead of being cranky, we were simply relieved to get where we wanted to be - on time! - and to start this adventure we have waited so long to do!
Also, I promise the rest of these will be far more pictures and far less whining. In fact I promise 0 whining - cause we're in Ireland baby! woot!
