Escape to Eire - Saturday

Other parts of this series:
Escape to Eire - the beginning
Escape to Eire - Monday
Escape to Eire - Tuesday
Escape to Eire - Wednesday
Escape to Eire - Thursday  
Escape to Eire - Friday
Escape to Eire - Saturday (this post)

Our last day in Ireland provided one last thrill for us.  We'd determined we needed at least an hour to reach the airport via the motorway, just to ensure we had plenty of time.  We skipped out on the pricey breakfast at the hotel to be sure we got on the road early.

The staff at the front desk offered us a directions sheet but we declined as we had our trusty GPS.  Once in the car we told the GPS to take us home and we set off.  The first curious thing was that the GPS did not have us turn on the motorway.  We thought perhaps it was trying to save us from the one toll section there. We appreciated that.

We then wandered through Dublin, passing by some familiar sites.  At one point we noticed we were nearing the airport so we stopped at the next petrol station to fill up.  Finally the GPS indicated just one more turn before we reached "home".  Unfortunately "home" was not the rental car return, but someone's home near the airport!

We asked the GPS to return us to the rental car facility.  It complied and we noticed signs pointing the same way we were traveling.  Only...the GPS and the signs pointed us to the outlot where the rental car return USED to be - not its current location.

A bit panicked now we had the GPS point us to the airport. That worked and then we looked for the rental car return.  There were two parking decks (we remembered we'd picked up the car inside one) and blindly managed to select the correct location.  We then had to wait what seemed to be forever to return the car as people renting out cars received their instructions from the staff.

We finally made our way to the ticket counter and were so glad we'd flown business class. We barely had to wait in line and then we were able to head to the lounge.  We managed to scoop up the last bit of breakfast food, which was just enough to tide us over until we could be served on the plane.

We loved being able to clear US Customs in Ireland so when the plane touched down in Chicago we just went down to retrieve our luggage as if we were a domestic flight.

Our escape to (and from!) Erin was complete.  We had a marvelous time and can't wait to return.