To be honest, I was just two minds going to UK or Ireland. Being a nurse for over a decade, I decided to take a bold decision to move from Ghana. There were a lot of reasons for this decision, but I wouldn’t waste your time here. Let’s just talk about the journey.

My reason for choosing to move to Ireland was purely a personal decision. I had the perception that Ireland was a very “calm” and peaceful place with nice people, at least that’s what I thought. I fell in love with the “Greens” all over and the rich culture. I heard so much from people about Ireland and they were all good. Some said the weather is like Christmas tree lights, and could change many times within a day. A friend told me, “Always carry an umbrella and a raincoat”.

I lived in a different city from the airport, about 148 km. Since that was my first international flight and looking at the distance, I had to leave a day before the flight and lodge at a place closer. I hate surprises, it is better to be early than to miss my flight. Deep down I was convinced that I had to leave the day before. On the day of my flight, I left in the morning for the airport even though my flight was in the evening around 6 o’clock. There was a heavy downpour that morning and was difficult getting a car to take me to the airport.

Obviously, I arrived too early at the airport and had to wait hours before check-in. The funny thing was I went to weigh my bags and guess what? They were far over the baggage allowance. Had to return some of my “precious goods” to my brother who accompanied me. It was really painful. After going through immigration and checks, I went to sit at the departure gate for my flight. 

The flight left eventually after some delay. The Emirates crew was super nice. I can’t really recall all the food served on the flight but there was some jollof rice, beef sauce, and many things. I never rejected any because obviously, I paid, right? We were to transit through Dubai for our next flight to Dublin.

Unfortunately, we arrived late and got a notification on my phone that the Dublin flight had already left. I was worried cause I didn’t know what to do. As we left the plane to the arrival hall, I saw some ladies dressed in Emirates uniforms. They asked me for my boarding pass and explained that my flight had already left so they made arrangements for the next available flight which was in about some extra hours. I was directed to a place to get an entry visa in order to go to a hotel they have arranged for us. After getting the visa, we went through immigration and got on the bus to the hotel. It was a nice hotel, and we had a very nice breakfast before leaving again for the airport for the next flight.

Our next flight also had a little delay, so we arrived later than expected. I arrived in Dublin around 9:00 pm and was met with very cold weather and the sun was still up even at that time. After collecting my luggage, I was fortunate some friends came to meet me t the airport……………….