Visiting home 2023

Finally got to come home to see family this year. The trip was originally planned for 2020 but sadly was cancelled by Covid pandemic and lockdowns. So being cautious about sharing air in a full airplane of people.

So 7th July 2023 was our day to set-off to spend a month visiting family in Pennsylvania, Maryland and Delaware. And typical of me I got the timings wrong – but luckily by being too early everywhere! So the taxi came to take us to Birmingham airport an hour earlier than necessary, and we arrived in Dublin 3 hours before our flight to Newark….partly because Aer Lingus said to allow 3 hours to get through USA pre-clearance for customs and passport control. Actually we breezed through in about 15 minutes.

Lucky us the flight arrived early at Newark Airport – due in at 4.00pm but landed 3.30, and we collected our bags at 4.20 and the bus to Allentown was running late so we got the 4.30pm bus rather than having to wait until the 7.00pm bus. And my brother-in-law’s sister collected us from the bus to take us to the Ramada Inn in Whitehall, PA. so we were checked in by 7.00pm. And settled in with dinner in their bar.