Ireland: Day 9

We headed home on day 9. The first discovery was that the Dublin airport was very crowded. It took about 30 minutes to check in and we were only 5th in line. The conveyor belt broke, so luggage was being stacked everywhere. Thanks to the stroller we were able to use the priority line in security. They didn't make us put the stroller in the x-ray machine, which is what normally happens. Emily purchased the Trinity College sweatshirt she had been looking for the past eight days. The flight was bout 45 minutes late, which is never good when traveling with the under 3 crowd.

I tried to get a fairly inexpensive flight, so from Dublin we flew to Munich and then to Zurich. Rowan was a bit sad because he wanted to ride a 747 and the plane was an A321. Since the flight was late we had to hurry to our connecting flight at the Munich airport. Unfortunately, the airport was not well designed for strollers and wheel chairs. First, it took about 10 minutes for the gate checked strollers to be delivered, then there were stairs that had to be climbed. There was also an elevator, but only employees could operate it and there weren't any employees in sight. The stroller was carried up the stairs and then we raced to security where the stroller had to go through the x-ray machine. I then had to carry the stroller down the next jetway, as I didn't want to wait for someone to operate the elevator. We had to ride a bus to the airplane, which Rowan enjoyed. He freaked out when we got to the airplane, because it was a Dash 8-400 and he wanted the "big white airplane" (747). The good news is that he got to sit right by the wing so he could watch the landing gear go up and down. The plane also flew fairly low so he could see the scenery.

Once we got to the Zurich airport we had to clear customs. I think we arrived just after a plane from the Mid-East, as the line moved very slowly. Once we got to the front the stroller couldn't make the corner, so I had to disassemble it to get to baggage claim. We took the train from the Zurich airport to Morges. I splurged and got first class tickets for three reasons:

1. First class coaches are almost always empty, so the kids can run around. (our coach was empty almost the entire trip)
2. There is more baggage storage in 1st class, so I don't have to carry are stuff around until we find a seat.
3. The seats are wider, so the kids have more room to play.

The only problem with the train was that it left right after we arrived, so we didn't have time to get water/dinner. We decided to get water on the train, but the restaurant car in our section of the train was closed. Rowan and I got off the train at one station and went to the other section of the train(this train was actually two trains linked together). We got the water and then went back to our section of the train at the next stop.

All in all is was eight and a half hours from the time we left Dublin until we arrived in Morges. Dinner was purchaed at the McDonalds in Morges.