Well, we are off on another Oceania Cruises adventure. This one begins in Dublin, Ireland and, thirty days later, ends in Southampton, England. We will visit the Shetland Isles in Scotland, seven towns and cities in Norway to and from three places in northern Russia, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Helsinki, St. Petersburg, Russia, Tallin, Estonia, a couple of small towns in Sweden and Denmark, and end up docking in Southampton on August 4th. Then we fly to Dublin, and then back home to Hartford.
Today we fly from Hartford via Aer Lingus. Because it’s an international flight, we must arrive three hours prior to departure. Given that it is almost the only international flight from Hartford, it seems unnecessary, but we obey, arriving there at 2:15pm for a 6:10pm flight. We google the flight to see what equipment we will be on to determine the quality of our 7C & 7D seat assignments are, and are delighted to see we both have aisle seats on this Boeing 757-200.
Boarding begins around 5:20pm, and we are on board by 5:30. Once again, we are delighted, this time because we have seats by the very entrance/exit to the plane, giving us virtually unlimited legroom. Thanks, Gallagher Travel! Cathy has the additional advantage of no one in the middle seat beside her. Except for the typical narrow seat, she has a great situation. Drinks are served at 6:30; dinner (beef stew) at 7:30. Lights are out around 8:30pm.
Cathy is almost instantly asleep. Steve is instantly insanely jealous of her. He tries to get comfortable. He takes pills. He squirms and contorts trying to find a position that will allow him to sleep. He finds none. Sleep alludes him the entire %$#@ journey. We arrive at 4:50am Dublin time. July 4this looking to be a l-o-n-g day.
