Well, we got to the San Antonio airport in plenty of time, and we went through security with time to spare. The flight was perfectly on time landing in Dallas. We had plenty of time to get to our next flight, and our flight in Dallas took off on time. That was the last time things went well.
As far as we knew, everything was going smoothly. Then, once we were about to get to Philadelphia, the captain comes on and tells us that there is a huge storm hitting the city right now, and we didn't have enough fuel to circle until it passed. So, we were diverted to Baltimore to fuel up. The problem was, once we fueled up, the storm hit us in Baltimore. One it had finally passed, we were finally able to fly into Philadelphia ~ 2 1/2 hours late. Luckily, I had a buffer of 4 hours before the flight to Dublin. I thought we were still okay, no problem. Wrong.
We arrived at the airport with enough time to grab a Philly Cheese Steak (I couldn't help myself...we were in Philly!) and go to our gate. However, once we got there, we were told that there would be a delay due to it arriving late. Okay, fine. Then, another announcement came on, telling us they had to fix a minor mechanical problem. Okay... This went on for 2 hours. Finally they let us on. Win! Well, then we sat on the plane for an additional 2 hours while they continued to fix the mechanical problem. Way to make travelers feel safe. A mechanical issue that took 4 hours to fix??
We were finally cleared to leave, and we were off. The captain assured us that he would get us there as soon as possible, and we apparently had a good tail wind to help us on our way. Unfortunately, it was not enough of a tail wind to get us there soon enough. By the time we landed, our plane to Cardiff had taken off 30 minutes ago. Great...
So, we went to go talk to the representative to get our flight re-scheduled. When we talked to them, they said that they could not help us, and that we had to go out of the secured area, through security, and go out to the booking desks, by check-in. Um...alright. So, we did, and then they proceeded to tell us that they would not book us another flight since the flights weren't "linked." They were booked at two separate times. So, according to them, they fulfilled their contractual obligation and got us to Dublin. 2 hours late. And they made us miss our next flight.
Fortunately, we talked to a very nice representative of the other airline who was going to take us to Cardiff, and they only charged us a re-booking fee instead of charging us for a brand new ticket (which they were technically supposed to do). There were only 2 left. Perfect! The problem? They weren't taking off for another 8 hours. Yep. Stuck at the airport for 8 hours.
We decided to make the best of it. Before going through security again, we decided to get a nice big breakfast and set-up shop with my computer. While taking a leisurely meal, I Facebooked some of my cousins in the UK and tried to arrange seeing them while I was over. After we finished out tea, we went back through security and explored a little bit. We found a cozy corner to read our books, and then did what any self-respecting tourist in Dublin would do to pass the time: we found a pub. We each had a pint of Irish beer (well, I only had half a pint) and tried to simultaneously relax but not fall asleep ~ jet lag was starting to hit pretty badly.
Once we were done with our pint, we were able to find our gate, and we read, slept, and drank coffee until our flight finally got there. Luckily, this one came in early, and we were in Cardiff in no time. It's just a hop over the sea. My Grampy met us at the airport and drove us to one of my favorite places in the world: my grandparents' house.
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