A few glitches but now at Dublin airport

I got to the Ottawa airport early which was a good thing, because my flight to Toronto was an hour late leaving. Was I a little anxious? You could say that and be correct. That gave me a generous 15 minutes to tote my backpack and carry-on from the D gates where we landed to the E gates from which the Dublin flight would depart. In the alphabet, D is next to E. In Terminal one at Pearson airport, it is about 1.5 km away. My 75 minute transfer time was now 15 minutes. Obviously I made the connection and didn't have to wait a single second to board. Can't remember the last time I moved that fast for so long, but needs must.

The trans-Atlantic flight was on time and very smooth. The food was good but I wasn't hungry enough to eat it all. I was really sleepy and hoped to crash for a few hours. I had a great seat and a nice helpful and quiet seat-mate who had heaved my carry-on into the overhead bin. 

After eating about 1/3 of my dinner I settled down to sleep. Hah! That sleepy feeling had gone. In the end I got a solid 30 minutes on which I will shortly have to drive around the trickiest roundabout in Ireland, or anywhere I suppose – on the left side of the road with a manual transmission. That is still to come. I have high hopes that the shuttle to the rental cars will already have bypassed it and we can head south to Wicklow/Wexford directly after getting our vehicle.

Bizarrely, making the rental car reservation was awful. Here's the short version. Online I was about to click to confirm the booking when the Hertz message said "sorry, no cars." So I went old school and used the phone. I had to book two back-to-back 2-week rentals. And those will take me to Nov 11. I'm leaving on the 14th. But I've been assured I can have this vehicle for 28 days without having to drive all the way back to the airport to say "Hi" and drive back. Whew! The helpful agent also said if I phone them before the 11th they can probably extend it for two days. I'm planning to overnight near the airport for an early departure when it's time to go home.

And being of a certain age, I had to provide a letter from my doctor saying I'm fit to drive (nobody asks me that at home), and one from the insurance company saying I hadn't had an at-fault accident for 5 years. Their letter said the interval had been 12 years, when I first started using that insurance company. Ta-da. And the doctor conceded that I was medically fit.

So, now I'm enjoying, well consuming, an egg sandwich and a large latte. The wait for the latte was longer than I'd slept on the plane. At least I found a little table where I've taken up temporary residence. 

And then there's the phone. My iPhone 14 is barely two weeks into its relationship with me. When I bought it and got it set up with Virgin Mobile, the salesman was very helpful. Or, I thought so at the time. I made if very clear that I would be travelling to this magical green land and needed it unlocked. He assured me that it was. IT ISN'T. When I got the SIM card here at the airport it was rejected because the phone is locked. I have to contact Virgin, which is closed right now, to get the code to unlock it. It's not an instantaneous process. I have to wait for approval. Can you read my lips? Best not to.

Now I'm pinning my hopes on Heather's phone being unlocked so that we'll have a local phone. In fact, because we'll be together pretty much 24/7, we can manage with just one. We really need one to use maps to get where we want to go. You have heard about my accidental visits to places not on my planned routes, haven't you? Some of those detours were Google getting even for some supposed transgression on my part. Some were entirely of my own doing, OK, MOST were of my own doing. 

So, I shall sign off for now and wait for Heather. Surely the rest of the day will go better. I have an hour to wait but can't find a spot to lie down for a snooze.