Being one of the last to board the plane to Dublin (really, what's the rush to sit down for 7 hours?), I was shocked that the seat next to me appeared to be empty. The lady behind me loudly voiced her opinion that she should be the one to get two seats, and I told her that it was probably too good to be true anyways (but really thinking to myself how amazing it would be to sprawl out on two seats and lean both of them back into the whiny lady's space). I felt a twinge of disappointment when this woman sat next to me, but as it turns out, I couldn't have asked for a better seat mate.
"Where are you headed?" She asked me.
"I'm going to spend a few days in London, and then go to Spain."
"What are you doing in Spain?"
"Walking across it."
She stared at me, dumbfounded. "Me too."
What followed was one of the craziest airline experiences I've had to date, but I wasn't bothered in the slightest. It seemed like it was all supposed to happen. We sat on the tarmac with technical issues for an hour before the temperatures reached 90 degrees and we were forced to leave the plane so we didn't suffocate. I was unfazed; Robin and I chatted about the walk, compared gear, swapped tips we had been given, and shared stories of previous travels. Even though she was a bit older than me (with a sixteen year old daughter), we had so much in common, including having both graduated with degrees in Spanish. When they finally let us back on the airplane, it felt like I had known Robin for years and we were embarking on El Camino together.
When we landed and she had to rush off the plane to sort out her missed connection with a different airline, I hugged her and we agreed to meet along the way. American had already switched me to a later flight, but I still got to skip the customs line because I needed to get a new boarding pass and go through security all over again. The Irish airport workers are the most friendly and helpful I have ever come across, hands down. I had three people in chartreuse vests running around, using walkie-talkies to try to figure out if there was a way for me to not have to go back to the ticketing area to get my new boarding pass. The customs officer was more concerned with me getting to my flight than he was with asking me questions about the nature of my visit and stepped out of the booth to point me in the right direction. I definitely need to come back to Ireland.
K
Dublin, Ireland
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