“You better come back home because I’m not coming here again!”

We did as promised in Bangkok and remained safe. What we didn’t do was catch our flight out of town. I misread our itinerary and as we were sitting in our hotel room at 0113hrs on Tuesday morning chatting with Glenn about when we would arrive in Ireland (Oh yeah, ps, on the way home we’re taking a one week detour to see Glenn Calderwood.) we both had a sudden realization that I had seriously screwed up and our flight had left Bangkok about 30 minutes ago. It’s really quite amazing what fear and panic can do to you, especially in a situation you’ve never experienced before.

We ran around the room simultaneously packing and calling the Calgary travel agent trying to figure out what to do next. After finding out that any customer service for BA is closed until 0800hrs the next morning the travel agent suggested we head for the airport and try and find someone there. In about 20 minutes we had packed and were seated in a cab for a very fast trip to the airport.

Upon arriving we spent about an hour wandering the airport looking for a BA desk and slowly coming to the realization there wasn’t one. We asked Customer Service and they referred us to the same Thailand phone number that we already knew wasn’t open until 0800hrs. So we found a quiet place, topped up our minutes on the phone and started calling. We had booked our flights with AMA in Calgary and they tell you straight off the bat that once you leave the city on your trip there usually isn’t much they can do for you until you get back home. Thinking back this now makes me wonder why the hell you would go through a travel agent (or at least that one), what did they do that I couldn’t have? Regardless of all this I called them for the second time on this Calgary afternoon and talked to the wonderful Kimberly. I told her what had happened and where we were now and asked for a number for BA in Calgary since it was obvious I wasn’t getting anywhere here. She put me on hold, actually, she put me on hold for a long time. I sat in the Bangkok airport wondering what the hell I should do while she put me on hold from Calgary for about seven minutes. Seven minutes seems like forever in this circumstance! As I finally started to convince myself that this was useless, I should hang up and go wonder the airport in search of WI-FI she came back on the line. She hadn’t gotten the number for me, but she had rebooked our flights for the same time the next night and she was working on rebooking our connector to Belfast.

With a moderate sigh of relief we headed back to the hotel where they graciously let us check back in for free. After an email to Glenn explaining that I’m an idiot and why we had suddenly disappeared off the chat we settled in for a VERY fitful sleep that was anything but restful. Stress is hard on your body!

By 1300hrs on Tuesday we were back at the airport and trying to check in and get the tickets we were told should be booked for us on the 0045hrs Wednesday flight (QF0001). We found the desk which was less hidden than the night before and started talking to a Lovely Thai Girl (LTG). It’s important to know that at this point we were certain we were going to have to pay for new tickets to London and Belfast but we weren’t going to offer unless asked. We explained our situation and she took our passports and looked up the information and somehow we walked away with new tickets to London for free! I don’t know how LTG did it or why but I’ve decided she must be close to a Saint. We now had just under 12 hours to waste in the Bangkok airport. It’s a big airport, but not that big. We couldn’t even check in until 1900hrs. We wondered, we ate, we slept on the floor, Eric fished, we got foot massages and pedicures, and waited! Finally 1900hrs came and we checked in with the same LTG we had talked to earlier. Unfortunately the flight had been delayed from 0045hrs to 0430hrs. We now had just under 9 hours to wait, but at least we knew for sure we had a seat on the plane.

After searching high and low for free wireless we decided the best option was to see if we could talk ourselves into the BA business lounge and send some emails from there. I had never tried this before and wasn’t convinced it would work but really what did we have to lose? We walked in and told the lady that we had been delayed four hours and needed to send some emails and she promptly gave us full access to the lounge during our wait. Pleasantly surprised we settled into the comfiest couches we’d seen in weeks and proceeded to enjoy ourselves.

The BA lounge at Bangkok is similar to most I would guess and along with internet and comfy couches you have a full buffet, bar, tv’s and fully stocked ensuite bathrooms to indulge in. Basically it’s like waiting for your flight at home, with butlers. I liked it. Should I ever have a flight delayed again I will certainly try this option first. It saved us lots of money on food and drinks alone during the wait and was waaaaay more comfortable than the metal airport waiting chairs! While in the lounge we learned that Kimberly had not been able to rebook our connector to Belfast and we would have to see what we could get done in London when we arrived.
Finally our flight boarded and we were VERY pleasantly surprised to find that the plane was no more than 25% full. As an airline I’m sure this isn’t a good thing but for those of us desiring a full row of seats to stretch out on it was great news. Within ten minutes of takeoff we were laid out and fast asleep. I think this was the most enjoyable flight I have ever been on, we both slept for about eight hours and this put us right in line with the time in Ireland which was a huge bonus. When we woke up there were bags of snacks and water waiting for us and of course some Two and a Half Men to watch. This show seems to be on every flight and has quickly become a huge favourite for us in the comic relief category and it was good to laugh.

In London we took the train to Terminal 1 and headed to the customer service desk to see about a flight to Belfast. Despite having some of the grumpiest Service Staff I’ve ever met we managed to talk our way into new flights for just the price of a change. This meant we had been rebooked on new flights from Bangkok to Belfast for a grand total of 50 Euros despite the fact it was all our fault. And to top it off BA had paid for us to spend more than 8 hours wining and dining in their lounge. How the heck we did that I will never know. I am certain God must have been in a really good mood that day.

30-odd hours late we arrived in Belfast, picked up our rental and started towards Dublin. After getting completely turned around we did find Dublin fairly easily, but the task of finding Glenn’s flat was still ahead of us.

Dublin is a really old city. I don’t think city planning is a skill that anyone here practices. We spent more than an hour searching for Glenn’s house and drove at least two streets that had three different names in the space of three blocks. And numbering doesn’t exactly work the same as Canada either. I haven’t figured out how it works, but it’s not the same. We did manage to get a map book but I haven’t decided if the book is just really bad or if the streets are just messed up because all too often you get to a round-about-type-intersection and think you can turn left only to find out you can’t turn at all.

When we did find Glenn’s house we forgot to bring the camera which was a total shame because the look on Glenn’s face after he realized who was standing outside his door was as priceless as anything I had ever seen. To say the least he was super excited and we got great, long hugs and hellos. After a quick dinner we were all off to bed so that Eric and I could get up early and go with Glenn to work in the morning.

We dropped Glenn at work and wandered around City Center for most of the day Thursday. It was a blustery day and after coming from Thailand I was positively frozen. I could feel my tan fading with every windblown rain drop that smacked me in the face. We had taken the train down to City Center and by the time we made it back to the flat we were soaked and shivery but had found a shop where we picked up fixings for lunch.

The plan was to meet up with Glenn after work and make our way to a going away party for a friend of his. This time we drove the car down and didn’t have too much trouble finding a spot to meet Glenn but decided quickly to park the car and walk to the party. It was great to meet Glenn’s friends here and it turns out a huge portion of the people who work at his shop are not from Ireland. Unfortunatly/Fortunatly Eric and I had to leave Glenn and head to Dublin Airport to pick up Sharaya who had taken the opportunity to come see us while here.

Shray’s flight was delayed and by the time we were back on the road it was almost midnight. Shray had taken instructions from Google about how to get to her B&B and they seemed to line-up with what the map we had said so we set out to follow them. Twenty minutes later we were lost and pulled over trying to find a taxi driver to tell us where the heck we were. Turns out we had actually taken a wrong turn near the airport and had headed north instead of south. Forty minutes and a few more wrong turns later we were actually dropping Shray off for some much needed rest and on our way back to Glenn’s party to pick him up.

If you’re doing the math you now know it’s about 0100hrs and we’ve been driving for the better part of two hours in the dark and rain with maps that don’t work and city streets that leave a lot to desire. (Oh, and since we have Belfast plates on the rental we got egged on the way to the airport.) We needed to go back through City Center in order to get to the party and what should have taken fifteen minutes took around thirtyish and included a great deal of muttering, cursing, wrong turns, turns we couldn’t take, and house numbering that was more than suspect. By the time we walked through the door we were tired, cranky, down-right pissed and frustrated by our conquests for the evening. We found Glenn who looked at me and asked how I was doing and the first thing that came out of my mouth was “You better come back home because I’m not coming here again!”

I had a glass of wine shortly after this outburst and have reconsidered my position. I may well come back here again but when I do I will have GPS in my rental (turns out even the taxi drivers need it to get around here). And more than that, there’s a big chance I’ll just walk. Ireland is not that big, how long could it possibly take to walk across it really?