It's a Small World After All
Today we got up early to catch the first tram to Amsterdam's Shiphol Airport.. We should have grabbed an Uber because, despite arriving 2 hours early for a 10:20 a.m. Flight to London, over 90 minutes were spent waiting in lines for British Airways, airport security and passport control. What we had develop around us was near mutiny among the passengers as they stood in line to check in. I smirked initially and thought... No problem for us. But as 10 minutes turned to 20 then 45 minutes with no movement, we started to worry we would not make it. This was completely British Airways fault who thought it would be interesting to staff the check in counter on a busy Sunday travel day at a major International terminal with 3 people.
About an hour in 3 more arrived as the attitudes in the crowd started to turn to frustration and panic, I think we could have had a mutiny, at minimum a couple of fat lips.
Then just as we stepped up to check in, the agent we were working with announced they were having system problems.. But things got sorted out and we moved on to airport security check, which was actually more organized than British Airways. The worst part was coming up on the 10 a.m. Gate closing deadline and still seeing about 2 dozen passengers in front of us. Then finally our gate location was D53, clear at the end of the freaking terminal. All the odds were against making the plane, so I did the only thing I had never tried in this sort of situation, and that was to flag down the guy on the electric trolly car and ask him to drive us. It worked. We made the plane. It was one of the greatest moments of my life.
When we got to London UK Border, I was gob smacked to see a person from work there, and then seconds later someone else from work. What are the odds that a group of 30 California employees would be en route to Dublin for Sr. Executive meeting right at the moment when we were standing at the UK Border checkpoint?
After a short stop for lunch we jetted off to Belfast. The flight was less than an hour and uneventful other than the air hostess moved us to a row where it was just the two of us. The Airbus plane was roomey and a joy to ride on. In Belfast we got slightly turned around trying to locate the home we will be staying, but were pleasantly surprised when we did find it. Churchfield AirBnB is on a large estate, has its own entry and parking for our rental vehicle, everything we could ask for, and the owners, Victoria and Johnny are very friendly. I think we are really going to enjoy it here.
Uncle Norman and Wife Laurie came over for a visit, and we had a cup of tea, and spent time talking about Mum, and how things were for her when she passed away. They also shared a very touching video made of the funeral. I was sad to see a coffin in the ground, but felt a sense of comfort knowing my Mum is with her parents, and finally at peace. We will be going to the gravesite on Tuesday.
Tonight we went out for Pizza nearby. As we were speaking to the waitress about Disney World compared to Disnleyland, the fellow sitting next to us asked us where we were from, we told him Huntington Beach. He then raised his hand and said "Newport Beach." His name was Brad, and he moved to Northern Ireland with his wife six months ago. Turns out his wife of ten years is from Bangor, and her parents are aging and need more support from family. So they decided to lease the home they just spent the past 4 years building in Newport Beach, and moved to Northern Ireland for an extended period. Brad was at the pizza joint with his 7 year old son, who he wants to know his Irish heritage and grow up among the Irish. We spoke with Brad for almost an hour, he was super cool.
Tomorrow we will both be taking a train to the city and splitting up for the day. I will be going to the Power of Video Conference, which will have guest speakers like Ben Brown, Casey Neistat and Shaunduras. All there to talk about the art of making great video.
Stephani will spend the morning at Public Records of Northern Ireland to study family ancestry. We scratched the surface on this in 2010, and she has a lot more information to go in with this time, so it will be great to see what more we can find out about the shipbuilders in my family.
It is going to be a very awesome week, we are totally excited.
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