The time has finally arrived to head off on our adventure. I had organised to have both the Monday and Tuesday off work before departure and this helped by me actually being ready a full hour before the shuttle bus arrived to take me to the airport!
I was the only person on the bus so it was a straight forward trip to the airport and I had arranged to get there before the others arrived. I sat down and wrote the tourist bios for the blog whist waiting for the others to arrive.
Neil was the first of the others to arrive. He is really excited about his first overseas trip.
He had driven down from Echuca to Melbourne and then had to get a plane up to Sydney to meet up with us. He got the train around from the domestic terminal to the international terminal. Being originally from Melbourne and then Echuca and always having driven to Sydney before he commented on the fact how big the airport was and that we had actually had two terminals I told him to wait till he sees Dubai and Heathrow Airports !!!.
His other first in Sydney was it was also the first time he had been on a double-decker train.
Dave had driven up from Wagga and left his car at Barry’s home and they both caught the train in the airport together. They arrived at about 5pm and although the check in said from 6.10pm there was Emirates staff at the check in counters getting people boarded for another flight and I asked if we could check in early. They said that was o.k. As there was no queue we were able to check in straight away which was really good.
We have a 30kg luggage limit on Emirates but only 20kg on the Aer Lingus flight from London to Dublin so I warned the boys to pack light as I was sure we would be getting a lot of Beer souvenirs to add to our weight on the way home. Both Barry and Dave were way under the 20kgs but I had 22kg in mine. O.K for Emirates but will be over-weight for the other flight. I have a lot of things to give to the boys and to give away in Ireland so I had packed a lot of the stuff into a back pack that was sitting inside the case. It had just over 5kgs in it and I could take it out of the suitcase when we got to Heathrow.
Neil also was over the 20kgs, he had packed about 15kgs of merchandise from his museum to give away in Ireland, they were to be thank you gifts and also he is hoping to swap them with beer stuff from the different pubs and bars we go to. We sorted some of his extra items into the other 2 cases so he was under 20kgs, it will make it a lot easier when we get to Heathrow and have to change airlines.
I had also arranged with Neil to get some tour shirts made up with a logo on them for the trip, they read - 4 Mates 2 Dublin Tour, May 2011 and have our nick names on them plus a leprechaun design. He actually got two made for each of us with also the Beer Shed logos on them and gave them to us as a gift. It was really good of him to do that.
Once through customs we looked around the ever increasing number of shops between customs and the departure gates, the walk seems to get longer each time you leave Sydney.
I was the only person on the bus so it was a straight forward trip to the airport and I had arranged to get there before the others arrived. I sat down and wrote the tourist bios for the blog whist waiting for the others to arrive.
Neil was the first of the others to arrive. He is really excited about his first overseas trip.
He had driven down from Echuca to Melbourne and then had to get a plane up to Sydney to meet up with us. He got the train around from the domestic terminal to the international terminal. Being originally from Melbourne and then Echuca and always having driven to Sydney before he commented on the fact how big the airport was and that we had actually had two terminals I told him to wait till he sees Dubai and Heathrow Airports !!!.
His other first in Sydney was it was also the first time he had been on a double-decker train.
Dave had driven up from Wagga and left his car at Barry’s home and they both caught the train in the airport together. They arrived at about 5pm and although the check in said from 6.10pm there was Emirates staff at the check in counters getting people boarded for another flight and I asked if we could check in early. They said that was o.k. As there was no queue we were able to check in straight away which was really good.
We have a 30kg luggage limit on Emirates but only 20kg on the Aer Lingus flight from London to Dublin so I warned the boys to pack light as I was sure we would be getting a lot of Beer souvenirs to add to our weight on the way home. Both Barry and Dave were way under the 20kgs but I had 22kg in mine. O.K for Emirates but will be over-weight for the other flight. I have a lot of things to give to the boys and to give away in Ireland so I had packed a lot of the stuff into a back pack that was sitting inside the case. It had just over 5kgs in it and I could take it out of the suitcase when we got to Heathrow.
Neil also was over the 20kgs, he had packed about 15kgs of merchandise from his museum to give away in Ireland, they were to be thank you gifts and also he is hoping to swap them with beer stuff from the different pubs and bars we go to. We sorted some of his extra items into the other 2 cases so he was under 20kgs, it will make it a lot easier when we get to Heathrow and have to change airlines.
I had also arranged with Neil to get some tour shirts made up with a logo on them for the trip, they read - 4 Mates 2 Dublin Tour, May 2011 and have our nick names on them plus a leprechaun design. He actually got two made for each of us with also the Beer Shed logos on them and gave them to us as a gift. It was really good of him to do that.
Once through customs we looked around the ever increasing number of shops between customs and the departure gates, the walk seems to get longer each time you leave Sydney.
We had over three hours before the flight so caught up on a lot of things with Neil as we had not seen him since January in Hobart at our beer club annual Canathon. The boys also managed to get a couple of practice beers in preparation for the next week and I was able to get my first collectable item for the trip as they had some Peroni Nastro Azzurro beer coasters on the bar that I did not have!
Will finish this up for now as it is getting a bit long and will write up the flight in the next instalment.
But just a word before I go ..........
I have also been very fortunate in speaking with Wotif.com who we won this great trip through. In the time it has taken to have arranged this trip with them they have been really helpful, we have only needed to change a few things from the dates and the original trip set up that I asked them for. In talking to them I asked if they wanted some promo photos or other feedback from us on the trip and they have asked us to do some writting for their Facebook site either during or when we get back from the trip.
We also have been fortunate that they have given us some Wotif.com branded polo shirts, Caps, Luggage Tags and Lanyards to use on the trip. The luggage tags are great they really stand out on the luggage.
I have done this many times already personally in emails but a big shout out to Wotif.com and especially thanks to Ben, Alyce and Emma from Wotif.com for all the help they have been in co-ordinating the trip for us.
Also....
I have left my camera card reader at home and could not find one at either Sydney or Heathrow so it will be in Thursday Dublin time before I will be able to get one to upload any photos)
I love the idea of the 4 mates tee shirts!
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