Planes, Trains and Automobiles and now back in Eire

This trip was quickly planned and made possible by the availability of buddy passes from WestJet courtesy of my friend Jesse. The seat was Standby and fortunately, there was a nice middle seat in Row 12 with my name on it. My seating companions were quiet, the flight was a bit bumpy (rather like driving over the potholes in Ottawa), but I would not say turbulent. And I managed to fall asleep for a few hours, missing whatever was on offer as the meal around midnight.

Saturday, 27 September was a busy one. Thanks to friend, Peggy, I was driven to the train station to start the adventure. Thanks to VIA rail I had a lovely trip to Toronto. The only problem was I had chosen my seat as one facing forward, in the direction of travel. I guess someone forgot to tell whoever attached Car #1, to turn it around. I ended up facing the direction from which we had come. Ah well, I didn't really notice as my attention was diverted to the Detective story I was able to start and finish on the trip.

In Toronto's Union station I got directions to the UP (train link to the airport), used my Presto card, and travelled to Pearson International. There I enjoyed a supper at Fionn MacCool's pub. Fionn (pronounced FIN) was nowhere to be found, probably because the ceilings would have been too low for him. If you don't know what I'm talking about, look him up. 

Security screening was a breeze - I got to keep my shoes on, they didn't even ask if I had any liquids and instead of an invasive pat down because of my titanium knees, I only got a lovely dose of x-rays as I stood in the machine. Can you see my nice warm glow?

I briefly met with Jesse, whose flight was heading to Edinburgh and she walked me to my departure gate and introduced me to staff. That is probably what got me the good seat. Thank you WestJet folks. I gate-checked my carry-on and only had to deal with my backpack on board. With the number of carry-on suitcases jammed into the overhead bins, this was a good decision on my part.

It did necessitate waiting for my bag to appear on the luggage carousel and surprisingly, the wait was pretty short. Thank you again WestJet for the careful placement of my bag.

Then it was on to Budget for my rental car. There was a shuttle of course but standing in the sunshine waiting for it was no hardship at all. Picking it up, having satisfied their many requirements, was also painless. If you are over 75, be warned. There are lots of conditions to meet in order to actually drive away. But wow was this car worth it. I'm now driving an Audi with bells and whistles I'll probably never learn about.

All of this activity was interrupted, and still is, checking on the Ryder Cup. It's looking very promising for the Europeans. Hurray! This despite the nasty heckling US fans.  

Once in the car I relied on the Waze app to guide me out of the airport. Well, I don't know who is the voice of Waze but it's not the voice of anyone who knows that route. I drove in what I soon realized was the wrong direction, found a friendly driver at a service station, followed him to the correct turn for the M50 and after that it was a breeze.

I thought I had turned off Waze and turned on Google Maps. I hadn't. Once on the M50 both apps were telling me where to go. By that point I was OK for directions but couldn't turn off the apps while driving. Then, to add a lovely few minutes, Waze started telling me, time after time, without interruption, Turn right onto Hwy 132. Again and again and .... Finally, grateful I had an iPhone, I asked Siri to turn of Waze. Siri couldn't understand me over that repeating voice. Eventually she did and then only Google Maps was providing "guidance."

All was well until I turned from Castledermot onto the Tullow Road. Suddenly my guiding voice told me there was a 5-minute delay or slowdown. Yup. I seemed to be in the middle of old cars and tractors, and one old mini-tractor, heading to some sort of show. 

Now what I have not said, is that I hadn't had any coffee and had slept a mere three hours or so - managing to miss both feeding opportunities on the plane. 

I got to my first destination of Egan's so I could meet Tomas, the new baby. He's beautiful and at seven weeks is keeping his parents on a great schedule - for him. And Lar made me two large cups of delicious coffee and Mary provided a delicious ham and cheese sandwich on brown bread. Music to my mouth.

Paddy and I talked about some family history issues which I'm going to pursue in more detail while I'm here. Mary Egan brought up the subject of golf. AND, we're going to play 9 holes at Coollattin tomorrow. Yay. I knew there was a reason to pack the newly-acquired Interclub shirt.

A brief visit to Coolruss provided not only a lovely chat and a piece of very tasty apple tart, Mary gave me chicken and potatoes for supper. I'm enjoy them now. And, there's bread and butter for toast in the morning and some fruit. Everyone is already spoiling me.

Thus ends today's rather wordy "much ado about nothing." Bless you if you've read this far. I promise to be more interesting in future posts.

And now I'll say Good Night and hope I manage more than three hours. I want to be sharp for the golf game. Maria has kindly lent me her newly acquired clubs and I have the honour of being the first to use them. Irish hospitality knows no bounds.

And now back to the Ryder Cup. I want to know that Europe won before I retire for the night.