My alarm clock went off at 4:30 am this morning and I immediately shot up out of bed. The day has come! It’s finally time for our Ireland Honeymoon… only two years later. It’s not to say we haven’t traveled since we got married. But we haven’t been to Ireland, our original honeymoon destination. The original plan was to go in May 2020 immediately following our initial wedding date. But God had different plans. As did COVID.

Did I really need to wake up so early? Probably not. But I didn’t want to take any chances. I’ve had too many nightmares of missing this flight. Not today Satan!

Matt was up immediately after me. Well out of bed I should say. He didn’t sleep. “This is the most excited I’ve ever been other than marrying you,” he said to me. I blushed. I’m definitely equally as excited.

After some hair touch ups and some last minute checklists, our friend Jared(practically little brother), pulled up on our driveway. We spend about 5 minutes in the garage while I scan my brain for last minute things to pack. Masks! I grab a handful and throw them in. Airport time!

We stop at Dunkin’ first for some coffee and breakfast. Jared is driving. “Mobile order for Jasmin,” he says to the speaker, as instructed. The lady sounds a little confused and tells us to pull up. I probably checked walk in instead of drive-thru I tell the boys. We get to the window and the barista sees me in the passenger seat. She points at me. “Oh Jasmin! Hi!” I hear a burst of laughter from the backseat. “How often do you come here honey?!” Matt asked. “I don’t know. Only like 5 days a week. Sometimes 7.” I whine back at him as we all laugh.

An hour and 15 minutes later we make it to our terminal. We say our goodbyes to Jared and head to TSA. Both of us were wearing matching shirts that read “Finally Honeymooning.” I was a little hesitant about these shirts as they are super dorky, and possibly a target. At first they went unnoticed but once we got through security, we were getting congratulated left and right. Naturally, we felt a little giddy and both ended up with a case of the giggles.

Our smiles followed us on the plane. For a moment there was a false alarm about a maintenance issue. Apparently the door wouldn’t close. After a quick prayer and about 45 seconds, the door was closed.
The man in the window seat in front of us was not as excited as us. He was one of those guys that put his small bags in the overhead compartment knowing it was a full flight. Oh, and he made his seat mates get up multiple times when he needed something from them. What a guy!

I tried to keep myself busy with United’s inflight entertainment. After failing the United Airlines trivia, I settled on the Friends Reunion. I shook a few too many times from laughter and our seat-mate kept trying to see what was so funny. Naturally, the tears started flowing towards the end. I got off the plane. (Not me, Rachel). The finale episode gets me every time.

Our first touch down was in Newark. It was a little rainy and a little cold. We were a few minutes early so we got to enjoy our economy seats for a little longer. Yay!

Our layover in Newark was over 3 hours. I planned this intentionally because of all the crazy stories I’ve been hearing about airline delays. Luckily, we didn’t have any issues with either flight. When we boarded the second plane, the pilot announced our flight time would be 5 hours and 34 minutes. Phew! I can handle that easy. I thanked God for the considerable tail wind. This time I landed on Top Gun Maverick for my inflight entertainment. The plane was a little older and the touch screens were so so. My seat wouldn’t recline either so I couldn’t get comfy womfy enough to sleep. Matt had sleep potential but couldn’t hold his head up. I tried to wedge a travel pillow under his chin but it was useless.