Family UK Trip 2022- Day 1

On Thursday we got up and finished packing for our trip.  Emmett and I dropped Everest off with his crate, and a large supply of food, treats, and toys at a home nearby.  We used the website Rover.com to find an in-home boarding set-up for him.  We even had a play date to make sure it was a good fit back in August.  We got our suitcases ready, cleaned things up a bit and went through our last minute check list for leaving the house.  Then we walked over to our neighbor's house and she took us to the airport.  Our flight was at about 1:30 in the afternoon  While we waited at the airport the boys enjoyed the escalators.  I found a phone with credit cards in the bathroom and turned it in to TSA.

Our first flight was from Idaho Falls to Dallas, TX...about 3 hours.  Emmett and Ezra sat next to each other and I sat with Elliott.  Emmett accidentally spilled Ezra's soda right after he got it and the flight attendant saw and got Ezra a new one.  Emmett did a good job helping to clean it up and Ezra did a good job not losing his cool.  

Our layover in Dallas was just over 2 hours and we rode the skylink train to our terminal, got some food at McDonalds and a pretzel place, and tried to get ready for an extra long flight to Dublin, Ireland.  I was able to get printed boarding passes for our last flight at our gate, which Jim had told me I should try to do.  He hadn't gotten one, which made his time in Ireland a little more tricky.  

We boarded our flight and I sat between Elliott and Ezra by a window and Emmett sat on the aisle in the middle section of 4 seats just behind us.  The seats were fairly comfortable for an airplane and we each had a screen in the headrest in front of us.  We could watch movies, TV, play games, track our flight progress, etc.  We took off around 7pm.  We got drinks, snacks and dinner and then most people slept or watched movies.  We all slept a little bit on the flight.  In the "morning" we got yogurt and granola and more drinks.  We landed around 9:30am and it was really windy and rainy.  We stood in a long line for customs and when we got to the front we found out that it was the wrong line since we had a connecting flight (I was pretty sure I saw a sign that said connecting flights had to go this way too).  So we were shown a different way to go and went through quite a maze with various checkpoints where we scanned our boarding passes and got our passports checked and stamped.  Then we had to take a bus to a different terminal.  Our flight kept getting delayed and we ended up hanging out in that airport for about 5 hours.  Elliott worked on his math homework that his teacher had sent and we enjoyed listening to all the accents around us.  

Elliott enjoying his screen and a window that dimmed

Dinner on an airplane, it was actually pretty good

Rainy weather in Dublin, Ireland

It cleared up right before our flight, but so very windy

The sun came out when it was finally time to board our flight (it had been so delayed due to weather and the air traffic control strikes in France and Germany).  It was still really windy and that flight was the bumpiest I have ever been on.  It was only about an hour.  The beverage service was not complimentary and they ended up stopping it after just a few rows because they were getting jostled around so much.  

Emmett has always wanted to stand up and hold one of these

In Manchester we got off the flight and boarded a bus to get to a different terminal to collect our luggage.  After collecting our checked bag and walking through customs (no stopping or stamps for our passport there) we connected with Jim who had just gotten to the airport to meet us.  It worked out well that our flight was delayed so that we were able to cross paths immediately.  We were tired and hungry and got some dinner in the airport and then took a train into the city to our hotel to check-in.  Our hotel was right next to the Manchester Piccadilly train station.  After doing some unpacking Emmett decided that he was hungry again and Jim hadn't really had dinner so they went to the Subway just downstairs from our hotel.  

Manchester Piccadilly Train Station

7th floor view

Looks like a basic kitchen with cupboards

Cupboards were hiding a fridge, dishwasher, and laundry machine

Everest and his new friend Bori

 We went to bed fairly early and found it was pretty easy to adjust to our new time zone (7 hours ahead for us).  We got updates with pictures and videos of Everest.  The family he stayed with have a golden retriever that is almost a year and a half.  They also boarded a few other dogs that came and went during Everest's long stay.