Flight home from Dublin, Ireland...Boeing 757

[Kevin]

We just got back from Bulgaria and my wife's family. Usually, we try and stop on the way home somewhere, to see a new country and sort of break up the trip. This year it was Dublin, Ireland! What a great place. Also, Dublin has the unique advantage of having US Customs right there in the airport. You go though them on the way home before boarding the plane. It was an interesting setup. The Customs guy checking our passports has an Irish accent, not sure where he was from though. The ticket agent explained to us that it's because the US has such close ties with Ireland... It also really speeds up the trip.

Here is the cockpit of the 757. My daughter just climbed right into the pilots seat. :D I heard him explain the different throttles and what the buttons do. He told her to come back after college and become a pilot. I got a chance to talk to the pilots as well, they were nice enough. One of them said it was his first trip to Dublin.

Let me sort though my pictures, and I'll post some of Dublin. I'd never been there before and really liked it. Except it was darn expensive.

Oh, and one more picture. From Sofia to Dublin, we flew through Istanbul. They have just recently opened up a new airport. It must only be a couple years old. Pretty fancy.

 

[blume357]

Damn that is just too cool... what a great treat for your daughter... can I go next time?

 

[Kevin]

Our hotel in Dublin was pretty small, just one bed. I ended up sleeping on the floor. But we walked enough I was dog tired so it didn’t matter. My wife has a pedometer on her phone and one day it counted 20,000 steps.

 

[Bob Wright]

Kevin,

Far more interesting to me was how on earth did you and your wife meet? There is a slight gap between Bulgaria and Texas.

Bob Wright

 

[WendyZXZ]

Looks great and sounds like a fine treat for her!

 

[Colonialgirl]

When we toured the SST in Manchester England, I booked the "Technical Tour" on a Sunday; Limited to 20 people and conducted by a former SST Pilot/Co-Pilot. Ashley liked to "fly" the SST on a computer flight sim. When we got to go up to the cockpit, I MADE SURE that Ashley was first in line and got to sit in the Captains seat as the former pilot explained all the dials, gauges, switches, etc. The tour was a bit more expensive than the regular tour which DID NOT include boarding the aircraft.

 

[Kevin]

Bob: I first went to Bulgaria in 1993 on a college exchange program. We lived in the dorms. That’s when I met my wife. :D Later I came back with the Peace Corps and taught at a high school. We got married over there. My parents who had just retired came over for the summer and stayed in her grandparents apartment. (They went to their farmhouse out in the village.) My mother in law was a card carrying communist. :D

My college roommate went with me on the exchange trip. He ended up marrying my wife’s friend, one of her classmates from their college.

But her parents were extremely strict. No “sleep-overs” until we were married. (About 3 years after we met.) Nowdays, her mom loves me, and her dad is slowly warming up..

My parents paid her grandparents rent for that summer. Not much, like $100 a month. Her grandparents never spent the money and when they died, my mother in law gave us back the same bills.


Ok, Bob, your turn, how did you meet your wife? Is she originally from Memphis also? Did she ride horses as well as you?

Inquiry minds want to know...

 

[Kevin]

Oh yeah, our dorm room was on the 14th floor, they turned the elevator off on the weekend and we didn’t have hot water that first year at all.... probably because we were Americans :D

 

[graygun]

I worked on AF flight sims (for the T-37,T-38,T1) from 89-99 and would sometimes take guests there and fly them and let them try it if they wanted to. Post-9/11,it probably is not as easy to do this.

 

[redhawker]

Nice! I don't fly much at all but I was under the impression that you couldn't get near any cockpit due to security concerns, even if the plane was on the ground. Maybe that's just the US, or maybe I'm completely wrong due to my inexperience.