Saturday was my birthday and the day we would be flying from Cleveland to Toronto and then onto Dublin. We were up early (4:00 a.m. for me)–I never sleep well before a big trip. We packed the last-minute items for our flight to Ireland and dropped the dogs off at the kennel at 8:00. It was too early to go to Mom and Dad’s, so after stopping at the bank, we decided to go to Brookfield Diner for breakfast. Before breakfast, we ran into a Dollar General for new reading glasses for Dennis. After breakfast, we went back in for a Tide To Go stick for me. You guessed it–I spilled dried beef gravy on myself at breakfast.
Happy Birthday to Me
In the excitement, everyone forgot it was my birthday. Seriously. Well, except for my Facebook friends. Thank you. Thank you very much. At least I was getting a nice trip to Ireland from my wonderful husband (even if he didn’t remember it was actually my birthday).
Airport Check-in and Security
Mom and I had a bridal shower at noon, then Dad and Dennis picked us up to go to the airport at 1:30. It only took an hour from Mecca to Cleveland Hopkins International Airport, so we were there with plenty of time to spare.
Check in was easy. There was one Air Canada window, with no one in line. Dennis’s suitcase weighed 31 pounds while mine only weighed 25 pounds (and I had all the toiletries–full bottles of shampoo and conditioner). We all had TSA Precheck. Dennis and I had it because we signed up for it, but Mom and Dad got it randomly (or perhaps because they are over 60, I’m not sure). Dennis was still selected for a random search, and I had to go through twice because of my boots. Mom, however, had the worst time. Never bring a jar of peanuts through airport security. It will definitely be treated like a suspicious package. Finally, we made it through.
Flight Delays
We found our gate and waited. And waited. And waited some more. Then, we started getting notifications. Our flight (AC7408) was originally supposed to leave at 6:25 p.m. First it was pushed back to 6:50, then 7:05. Then it was delayed until 7:45 p.m. We ended up with eight different flight times! When I finally asked if we should get in the car and drive to Toronto, the gate worker assured me that we would make our flight to Dublin with time to spare.
Our plane ended up taking off at 7:34 p.m. and landed in Toronto at 8:19 p.m. The airport was not well-marked, and we lost our way once or twice. It was a super long walk to our gate–Dennis said two miles, but I think he was exaggerating.
Dinner
I was really looking forward to having poutine for dinner that night, but, alas, we couldn’t find any. We settled for Lee Kitchen. I had shrimp wontons and spring rolls. I wasn’t impressed. China Garden in Andover is much better and much cheaper!
After dinner we sat at the free use iPads and charging areas. Time passed quickly and we were ready to board our plane to Dublin before 11 p.m.
To read about the next segment of our Ireland trip, click here.
March 24, 2018
Oh my gosh, how exciting! hope you had fun! đŸ™‚
Love travelling on my birthday – it feels adventurous even if no one knows/ forgets haha!! I admire that you actually TRAVELLED this day !!
Happy Birthday! You did way more than I did on my birthday! Haha!
Happy birthday, sounds like you had quite the adventurous birthday.