So I've made it. Starting at 5.30am this morning, it is now gone 11.00pm 'my time' and I am sitting in my cheap-as-chips motel room somewhere near Baltimore Airport, surrounded by what appear to be various 'auto-parts' shops and other airport hotels. The room is lovingly fragranced with a rather pungent air-freshener, but it has free Wi-Fi, a restaurant across the way (via one of the said auto-parts places) and what looks to be a comfortable bed. Okay, so the first room I checked into rather alarmingly contained a man painting the bathroom, but hey... guest services were on hand to find me an alternate, i.e. 'finished' room, so no harm done.
What a journey... 7 hour flight to JFK on squeaky clean and cheerful Aer Lingus (although one had to pay for alcoholic beverages, which is a bit rum!). Watched two and a half movies, all instantly forgetable and generally fudge-brained all the way across the Atlantic. Mind you, there were some astonishingly large people on the flight. There was a couple who could easily have taken up four seats between them. It was quite entertaining to watch them try and squeeze themselves into the toilet from time to time.
I have never flown to the US from Dublin, so got my first taste of US Immigration Pre-Clearance i.e. US Immigration is at Dublin, so the actual flight is viewed as a domestic US flight. The man on the Immigration Desk was terrifying and very grumpy, but I maintained my winning smile and against his obvious better judgement, allowed me into America. He even suggested I was planning to go and live in Australia once I'd finished with the US... the very idea!
Unloaded at JFK, and after a couple of crafty cigarettes, was whisked across to La Guardia by cab (past the World Fair site, which was a treat, plus Flushing Meadow) in double-quick time, which meant I got there five hours before my flight to Baltimore. Clever woman on the check in (Althea) got me onto an earlier flight (and direct, no change) for a small renumeration, so was able to get here much sooner than originally planned. Well, I say sooner, but given the flight from La Guardia was on a decidedly elderly Dash 8, the interior of which looked like it had been designed around 1979, and pretty much sounded like a broken washing machine from the moment it's propellors started up to when it landed, there were moments when I thought perhaps I wouldn't make it at all. Peering out the window, I kept thinking we were awfully high up for such a flimsy plane. The flight attendant gamely did her bit with the beverages trolley however, and in 55 minutes I was once again walking along miles of airport corridors trying to find the baggage retrieval. Hopped on yet another hotel courtesy bus and here I am.
The courteous bus will apparently take me straight to the car rental place in the morning, so I may actually get a bit of a lie in! Maryland be warned... I will be behind the wheel on your highways tomorrow.
Somehow I doubt they purvey Sauvignon Blanc in these here parts... lite beer anyone?
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