I'm finally back in the USA after nearly two months away... and finally back with family for an extended period of time. I woke up at 6:30am Dublin time (1:30 EST) and took a bus to the airport to catch my flight at 10:30. After checking my bag, I went off to the gate.
The Dublin Airport has a special section of its main terminal dedicated to gates that only service flights flying to and from the United States. I had to fill out my Customs Declaration form before getting to the gate and I basically went through the entire US Immigration Process while still in Dublin but when I got the gate, I was legally in the US already - passport stamped and everything, haha!
The gates, themselves, were decorated with pictures and memorabilia celebrating the long and valued history of Irish Immigration to the US so I guess that's why the US Border Patrol has such a great relationship with Irish officials and is able to set up this efficient process.
The flight was pretty smooth and I met a really cool girl who was flying home from two months in Europe like me. She had done her backpacking with her boyfriend a month ago, visiting Switzerland and Italy. Then she flew to Scotland to do a month long psychology-geology program there. We talked for a while and swapped traveling and airline delay stories... she won. I also watched Entourage and It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. I think Philadelphia will be my next TV show to get on the bandwagon of... so, so funny.
When we got to New York (on time!) we went right past the immigration offices and headed right to baggage claim to pick up our bags. I was forced to check mine in Dublin and waited nervously until my bag was literally the LAST one that came down the belt. Bags in hand, I headed to the Airrail Train to get out of JFK Airport and go to Jamaica Station. At Jamaica, I got tickets for the Long Island Railroad to Long Beach Station where I finally was able to meet my aunt Zhanna.
After a delicious late lunch (I missed home cooked food!) I showed Zhanna many pictures from my travels with the VGs and the London crew and am now doing a very necessary load of laundry.
Tomorrow I'm sleeping in and then going to the beach outside Zhanna's condo before going to stay with my cousin Alex and his family.
This is the last of my regularly updated blogs. It's been a pleasure sharing my travels with you and I hoped you enjoyed reading about them.
Cheers and thank you!
-Simon
Hours in Airports: 9:15... Lisbon, Frankfurt, Dublin, JFK (31:00 Total...Lambert St. Louis, Charlottesville, DC Reagan National, Miami, Panama Tocumen, David, Panama Tocumen, Miami, New York JFK, Shannon, London Heathrow, Lisbon, Frankfurt, Dublin, New York JFK)
= 1 Day, 7 Hrs or 1.29 Days
Hours in Airplanes: 12:00 (35:53 Total)
= 1 Day, 11 Hrs, 53 Minutes or 1.49 Days
Total Air Travels: 66:53 or 2 Days, 18 Hours, 53 Minutes... or 2.79 Days
I'm fighting the urge to sleep at 7:31pm in New York since I need to go to bed at a normal EST time to kill my jet lag... so bear with me.
Hours in Trainstations: 16:40 Total (London King's Cross, Cambridge, Cambridge, London Paddington, Slough, Windsor, London St. Pancras, Paris Gare du Nord, Paris Gare St. Lazare, Versailles, Paris Gare du Lyon, Montpellier), Barcelona Franca, Barcelona Sants, Madrid Atocha, Sevilla, Granada, Sevilla, Madrid Atocha, Madrid Chamartin, Lisbon Santa Apolonia)
= 16 Hr, 40 Mins or .69 Days
Hours in Trains: 38:58 Total
= 1 Day, 14 Hr, 58 Mins or 1.74 Days
Total Train Travels: 55:38 = 2 Days, 7 Hours, 38 Mins or 2.32 Days
Total Air-Rail Travels: 120:31 = 5 Days, 0 Hours, 31 Mins or 5.02 Days
TOO much travel time! But it was so worth it!
(Note: I'm not even going to begin to try to calculate buses!)
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