Day 12--IRL to NY to TX

The alarm went off at 4:45am this morning. Our wake up call was scheduled for 4:50am, so Mom was just going to get us up when the phone rang. But it didn’t. We got up at 5:20am, which left us 10 minutes to set our bags out for the porters and 25 minutes to be downstairs to catch the taxi. Got to the airport and had just a short wait to check in. Actually checking-in, on the other hand, seemed to take forever. Got a wheelchair for Grandma and got to go through security faster because of it. Straight over to the VAT refund desk, which was relatively quick considering the number of refunds we had. Ended up with just time enough to walk (briskly) past/ through the Duty Free stores on the way to the gate. Surprised that the tour director put us that close to boarding time for an international flight. Got express boarding because of the wheelchair and finally took off at 7:35am, 15 minutes late. I slept the entire way to London. Arrived on time, but the lady we checked-in with in Dublin didn’t book the wheelchair for London. We managed to get one because the person it was intended for walked past the attendant (and then ended up needing it after all). They are apparently supposed to refuse anyone who is not booked, but the wait would have been 45 minutes and not soon enough to catch our connection. She took us to the lift to get to the Heathrow Express (Tube) to get to Terminal 4 (from Terminal 1). Had to get moved to a shorter check-in line to make our flight on time. Requested a wheelchair and made sure to book it for JFK too. Slept again for an hour, then managed to stay awake to watch “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.” Ate dinner and got started into “Punch-Drunk-Love” and passed out again. Woke us somewhere over NE Canada/ U.S., which was quite beautiful from the air, so I had to take some pictures out the window. Arrived early in New York at JFK about 1:00pm, got through customs quick—because of the wheelchair—and made it out to wait for the bus about 1:30pm. The attendant said it would be a ½ hour till the bus for LaGuardia came—it was nearly an hour. Got to LaGuardia about 3:15pm and had time to grab lunch. Sat and talked to a lady from Atlanta for a bit. Also looked for a birthday gift for another friend, but no luck. After boarding the plane, we were told that a brake change would delay us for 45 minutes. Sitting in a first class seat is comfortable enough to wait it out though. Only 10 minutes after our scheduled arrival, we got off our plane in Dallas. We were greeted by a skycap with a wheelchair that helped us to collect our luggage and get to the rental car. This time we got a Toyota Matrix XR very roomy and comfortable to drive. I just might have to get Daniel to test drive one. We met Foy at the Jack-In-The-Box in McKinney at about 10:30pm (1 ½ hour drive from DFW). Grandma cried of course, but they were “Tears of Joy” according to her. Returned to the DFW airport area around 12:00am and stayed at the Country Inn and Suites. Took a much needed shower and watched the news for a bit. Daniel told me earlier today, when I called him from New York, that they heightened the terror alert in the downtown area of New York today. Looking at photos on the news, there are armed guards at many of the sites we visited jus a week ago. I had pulled Mom aside to tell her about it and said I wasn’t going to tell Grandma. Mom called Dad to find out what he knew, which was that the concerned areas are downtown like the NYSE, City Hall, Wall St., etc. Mom decided to tell Grandma just in case she saw something on the news in LaGuardia. The day went pretty smooth overall, and if Grandma was concerned about the threats in New York, she didn’t show it.