2026 Ireland’s Coasts from North to South - Day #21 - Carmichael

Day 18: Program Concludes

Depart From: Dublin Airport (DUB), about 8 miles (13 km) from the program hotel. Refer to your personal air itinerary for specific flight information.

Breakfast: Hotel buffet. This concludes our program.

Morning: If you are returning home, safe travels. If you are staying on independently, have a wonderful time. If you are transferring to another Road Scholar program, detailed instructions are included in your Information Packet for that program. We hope you enjoy Road Scholar learning adventures and look forward to having you on rewarding programs in the future. Don’t forget to join our Facebook page and follow us on Instagram. Best wishes for all your journeys!

Note: Hotel check-out 11:00 a.m. See your program’s Travel Information regarding transfers.

Meals Included: Breakfast

Heading home! Two pieces of good news. First, we don't have to get up in the middle of the night to get to the airport. Coming back from Eastern Europe, we got up at 1:30 am in the morning. Second, we have only one flight home! Usually, we have at least two flights to get home.

Sharon and I were up and moving at 6:00 am. Oura is showing major signs of strain. Nevertheless, I did a five minute Peloton core workout.

We went to the buffet breakfast at 7:45 am. Our transfer to the airport showed up a little late about 9:15 am.

We shared a cab with Tom and Linda. Tom's interactions with the group have turned very odd in the last week. I will explore this subject more in a follow-up musings post.

We got to the airport a little before 10 am. We checked our bags. Sharon's bag was 10 pounds heavier than when we came!?!

We went through Irish security and then walked to another gate to go through American security. The United States began offering full U.S. Preclearance operations—including complete U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) immigration, customs, and security screening—at Dublin Airport on January 19, 2011. We were able to use our Global Entry. This means that we will land at a domestic terminal in San Francisco and go straight to baggage claim. Apparently, this is offered at 16 international locations across six countries.

The Aer Lingus flight started boarding just after noon. Sharon and I had 36H and 36K. In a 2-4-2 configuration, we were against the right side window. The flight wasn't as full as the flight when we came.

It took off on time. Using the wifi, I spent a lot time before and after lunch working on yesterday's blog entry. Afterwards, I watched Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope. I had finished episode III on the trip over. I read my book about Benjamin Rush for a while and then started watching Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back.

It was a relatively easy flight. Sharon felt like we made more seat space than when we came.

We were on the ground about 20 minutes ahead of schedule. We met Jack at baggage claim.

It took about 45 minutes to get our bags. We dragged everything to the Airtrain and rode to the long term parking.

Jack drove home. With a short stop for Taco Bell, it was a three hour drive. It took an hour to get from SFO to the Bay Bridge?!? We were home just after 8:00 pm.

It was a great trip. It exceeded both Sharon and mine expectations. I am going to write a follow-up post in the next week.