Barely in Glasgow

1 May 2009

Barely in Glasgow

I said goodbye to Dublin on Friday morning around 6am. After packing up every last item and getting rid of the rest, I hailed a taxi to the airport. Mother Nature gave me a spectacular goodbye in the form of a beautiful sunrise. The sky was burning bright red with streaks of pink clouds. I paid my cab fare and dropped off my huge suitcase to the baggage storage so I could travel unencumbered in Scotland (and without paying huge fees for Ryan Air). The airport was swarming with travelers most likely because there is a bank holiday this Monday so all of the Irish were taking advantage of the long weekend. I had already checked into my flight so I went right for security, waiting in a long line to get through. I had plenty of time so I meandered through the Duty Free shops. Eventually I walked to my gate which ended up being quite a trek. I am guessing that because Ryan Air is a budget airline, they are stuck in this distant, dingy wing of the airport. I had to ride at least 4 of those moving walkways to get there.

About 30 minutes later people started lining up to board so I followed suit and was near the head of the line. There was a middle-aged Irish man behind me in the queue, I watched his bags at one point while he went back to get the “wee gift” he had left in the sitting area. Finally I get up to the security and show them my boarding pass. The man makes a bad face, “She doesn’t have the stamp.” That doesn’t sound good, and even worse when he says, “Sorry, you’ll have to get the next plane to Glasgow, you have go back through security and get this stamp on your boarding pass because you aren’t an EU citizen.” Now panic had set in…he did tell me that if I ran and made it back in time, I could still get on the plane. “Run!” he said, “Don’t waste any time!!”

I was cursing Ryan Air as I started my run…why did they have to be in the furthest terminal in the entire airport? Why the hell don’t they keep an extra stamp at the gates? Why did no one in security tell me about this? How come I didn’t need this last time I flew with Ryan Air? I kept on running…up a flight of stairs, pushing past crowds of oncoming passengers, past the 4 moving walkways (which were of no help to me as they were in the opposite direction). I was sweating, my heart was pounding, I was stripping of layers to cool off. My heavy shoulder bag was making me lopsided and certainly didn’t help with my speed as it swung around, bumping into my hips, rubbing the now bare skin of my shoulder. I went back through customs, quickly between panted breath, explaining to the border control what I was doing. “I don’t have that kind of stamp for you,” he said. “I know! I just need to get back to the check-in area!” I continued my run, stopping for a few seconds here and there to catch my breath. Finally I was up the escalators to the Ryan Air check-in desk. I pushed my way past other customers and up to the desk where I threw my boarding card at the woman. She stamped it and said, “Let me see if there is still any room on board…” I assured her that the man at the gate told me he would take me. She double checked and then told me to “hurry up, there are no guarantees!” So I was off on a run again with probably about 10 minutes now until the scheduled departure. Luck must have been on my side because the security line which was a few hundred people deep before was now almost nonexistent. I cut in front of people in line and of course, didn’t forget to take out my laptop, ziplock baggie of toiletries, and remove my shoes. Now that I was through security, I felt a bit more optimistic about making the flight, but I felt like my legs and lungs might fail me. I kept on jogging past Duty Free shops, airport bars, and gate after gate. When I got to my terminal, they waved me on, checked my now stamped boarding pass and said hurry up. The man actually had the nerve to say to me, “Don’t forget to get the stamp next time!” As if I will ever forget this experience!

I finally stopped running when I got outside to the tarmac. I can’t even begin to describe how good it felt to be out in the cool damp fresh air. I walked up the stairs to the plane feeling more than frazzled, and took the first seat I could find. It just so happened that I ended up sitting next to the man who was behind me in line, the one who had the “wee gift.” There was an American guy next to him and we all started chatting about my harrowing experience with making it onto this airplane. The man sitting next to me was a middle-aged Irish man from Galway named Liam “Bill” Finnerty. He is a social worker and was traveling to Glasgow for work. The guy next to him was Andrew Bennett, a sophomore in college at the University of Iowa which was also where he grew up. He had just finished a semester abroad in Spain near the Portugal border. He was heading over to Scotland to do a bike trip from Inverness to Edinburgh before meeting a friend with whom he would backpack Europe for another few weeks. The three of us struck up a conversation about our travels and goings-on. Before I knew it an hour had passed and we were touching down in Glasgow.

Since Bill travels to Glasgow all the time for work, he said he’d show us how to get from the Glasgow Picwick airport to the city center. Right outside of the airport was a train station. The three of us hopped the train together. When the conductor came around to collect money, Bill went right ahead and paid for the three of us! I was touched by his kind gesture. For the course of the 45 minute ride, Andrew and I shared all of our recent travel stories with Bill. His face would light up as he listened to our adventures; he was genuinely interested and excited to hear all about us. When the train arrived in town, we all exchanged emails. Bill was off to work but he said it was such a pleasure to meet us both. It was a lovely way to end my time in Ireland, experiencing the true warmth and friendliness that the Irish display to friend and stranger alike.