Not the Best Idea

When we traveled to Ireland in February the trip was split into two segments each way rather than a direct flight to the final destination. It took a little longer to get there, but it wasn't as tiring. We didn't have a choice on that trip since there were no direct flights to Dublin from Dallas, but we liked splitting the trip up so well that we decided to forego the direct flight this trip and opted for a stopover in New York.

In order to ensure that we had plenty of time to get from LaGuardia to JFK we took a really early morning flight. The one that left at 7 am, which means that you had to be at the airport, bags checked, and through security by 6 am. If we'd been flying out of DFW, we would have stayed at an airport hotel, got up around 5 am and taken the shuttle to the airport. But we were flying out of Love Field. I'm not sure what hotel people use when they fly out of Love Field. I couldn't actually find any - which meant we would need to leave the house around 4 am just in case something happened with traffic. In order to leave the house at 4 am, we'd need to get up at 3 am.

It wasn't going to leave much time for sleep, but if we went to bed around 9:30, it was a very workable plan. But what really happened? We went out to celebrate a friend's birthday. We got home around 9 pm and started packing and tackling the stuff on the "to do before we go" list. At 11:45 we decided there was no point going to bed for three hours. It would be easier to stay up than to get up. We watched taped episodes of The Tudors until it was time to load up the car to leave.

We arrived at Love Field around 5 am. Security was a breeze and before we knew it, we'd landed at LaGuardia. We took the shuttle to JFK. Not as exciting as the time I took a cab between the two airports but that time I only had 20 minutes between flights. We had about an eight hour layover. When we had our stopover at JFK in February there were any number of restaurants to choose from. And while I don't know which terminal we were in either time, I do know that there weren't so many choices in this terminal. It was actually a bit difficult to find something that wasn't fast food. Did I mention we had an eight hour layover?

By the time we got on the plane for London we were both completely exhausted - asleep before the beverage cart came through. Apparently, I was still asleep when breakfast was served - a great shame because by that time I was getting hungry.

But we arrived in London somewhat rested. (As rested as you can be when you've been sleeping in a relatively upright position.) But that being said, I don't think that staying up all night before an early morning flight or eight hour layovers are good ideas - both are on the list of things to avoid next time.