THURSDAY, JUNE 26^TH – DAY 8:
So, got 2 hours of sleep and headed for Galway.  Arrived at the tiny little airport which was mostly deserted.  Ticket counter (HA! Not really) wasn’t open although they were supposed to open at 5 am.  Not a good sign.  Just as the ticket agent finally arrived, a message came over the intercom that the flight to Manchester had been canceled.  Our flight.   Plus, we had a short connection from Manchester to Stockholm.
After spending quite a long time with the Galway Aer Arann folks, we did not have encouraging news.  Our flight was canceled due to “technical problems”….in other words, the plane never showed up last night so we did not have an aircraft this morning.  They had another flight to Manchester at 5 pm that evening but were already showing that it was 50 minutes delayed.
We checked every other option and the best seemed to be that we get back in the bus and drive 3 1/2 to 4 hours to Dublin where was would take a connecting flight through Oslo and arrive Stockholm later that same afternoon. 
No one had eaten and we were all very tired, but we didn’t want to stop since the flight out of Dublin departed at 12:10 pm.  It was going to be “close”.  We did stop at a “truck stop” and got some horrible “to go” food!  I tried unsuccessfully to reach SAS to see if seats were available on the noon flight.  Everyone except me was traveling on non-refundable, non-changeable tickets.  We had booked the little flight from Galway to Manchester on Aer Arann as a separate ticket so it was totally refundable because the airlines canceled the flight.  But the flight from Manchester to Stockholm is just a “loss”.   We arrived at the Dublin airport at around 10:30 am and went immediately to the SAS counter.  As usual, they were awesome.  Only problem is the one way tickets cost over $7,000 for 12 people.  Nothing else we could do though.  The ticket agent did agree not to charge us any excess even though we probably had at least $2,000 in excess! 
We got everything checked in and said goodbye to Kieran and Paul with promises to stay in touch via email.  Got to the gate and the flight was a little late leaving.  Once we got on the plane, the pilot came on and said something about “refueling” had stopped and we were going to be even later leaving.  We had a very short connection in Oslo, so that added to my stress. 
We finally took off 40 minutes late which was exactly what we had for a connection time in Oslo.  When we landed we literally ran to passport control only to have them quiz us extensively about why we were in Oslo!  Then we had to go through security again and walk a long way to the gate.  It was past time for the plane to depart by the time we arrived at the gate.  However, the gate agent was really nice and had been holding the plane for us.  Little things like this no longer happen in the U.S.  PLUS, both flights were "meal" flights.  As you know, you don't even get a drink or peanuts on U.S. flights any more unless you pay for them.
Finally landed in Stockholm at 5:30 pm and the promoter and his assistant were waiting for us.  I’d never met either of them and they are both very nice.  They had a huge tour bus with a trailer waiting for us and drove us straight to the hotel – which is “new”, “nice”, has internet in every room, AND an elevator.  My internet signal was extremely low, so I did switch rooms before unpacking. 
Went down and had dinner with the Bellamys and then came back upstairs to deal with problems back in Nashville.  Also took two huge bags of laundry downstairs.  I’m sure it will cost several hundred dollars but nothing I can do about it.  Other than throw those clothes away and buy all new ones! 
Guys are going sightseeing tomorrow at 9 am but I’m going to wait until later in the day if I go at all.  I’ve seen Stockholm so many times that I’m thinking I should hang around the hotel and work.  Will wait and decide tomorrow.
So, another typical travel day in the life of international touring artists.  No one lost their temper or got too frustrated.  Great group to travel with.  Always have been!
Jude