Dublin Castle

We had a bit of a rocky start today. When we woke up, I noticed a reference to an Alaska Airlines alert to a schedule change. Most of these changes have been trivial, but we learned from the agent that British Airways had canceled the Dublin to London flight, our first leg of our trip home tomorrow.

We tried calling British Airways to explore other back-up options, and we heard recorded announcements to call back later. We decided to take an Uber to the airport to see if we could talk to a live person. 30€ later, we discovered that no one was at the BA ticket counter upon our arrival at the terminal. At this point, I kept trying to call Alaska Airlines back and the call dropped several times until we discovered that British Airways had rebooked flights from Saturday to Tuesday.

I should note that we know that air travel this summer in Europe and some cities in the U.S. have been quite a trial for many travelers. We don't expect to have some magical exemption to protect a cancellation from happening to us. But I did have a bit of a meltdown when there was just no one to talk with about a remedy. British Airways is complete "shite" 💩 as they say over here.

In the scheme of things, we're fine. We've booked a hotel for three more nights at a reasonable price in the heart of a really great city. The weather is expected be sunny and warm. We're not missing an important family event or an important work meeting. We will likely be reimbursed for most or all of our expenses caused by the delay.

My childish side still claims the right to some sulking and fuming time. I was happy to embrace my inner twelve-year-old. And admittedly I did revert to a few hours of life not being fair.

Jim C chose a walk in a park and reading a new book as a coping strategy. I chose being holed up in our bedroom and an eventual walk around the city with a quick culinary diversion of Dutch Apple pie.

Jim snd and I had a rendezvous at The George, and we has a great Asian meal of stuffed dumplings and noodles. We met up with an online acquaintance, and we had a great conversation with him. It was fun hearing about his hiking travels in Wyoming and Montana

When we returned to the flat, we had a great conversation with our gracious hosts.

In reflection, when I'm in a deficit mind frame, I have learned that a good cure is to make gratitude lists. That shift was catalyzed by a walk through Love Alley, a space where the walls were decorated with hearts and various affirmations and excerpt from song lyrics. One in particular caught my eye:

"We have enough.
We have each other.
We have everything."

Indeed we do.Read more