Before capturing our time in Belfast, let me document the first major hiccup of our travels to date – getting from London to Belfast. We were booked to take an EasyJet flight from London’s Gatwick airport to Belfast just after noon on Sunday, May 29th. That flight was cancelled several days before departure and we got rebooked on a 7 pm EasyJet flight the same day, so took the train for a day trip to the lovely seaside town on Brighton. We returned to Gatwick around 3:30 pm (as the airline advised 3 hours to check-in and get through security) and checked our luggage and made our way through security. Then around 5 pm, we learned our flight was delayed until 8:30 pm. While we were grabbing some dinner (and adult beverages to sooth our growing weariness of inhabiting the Gatwick airport), around 6:15 pm we discovered our flight was summarily cancelled!! Now here’s where EasyJet’s lack of customer service exacerbated an already bad situation. There were no EasyJet agents around to provide information or instruction, our only guidance was from airport staff to exit through customs and retrieve our luggage. In the baggage claim area there was one poor EasyJet staff member whose apparent purpose was to serve as a sacrificial lamb because they had no information on the status of our luggage, or further direction, and could only advise calling EasyJet (which we were pretty certain would involve an excruciatingly long wait on the phone). Oh yes, there were now passengers from four cancelled EasyJet flights in the area clamoring for explanation, instruction and their luggage. At this point with a complete lack of confidence for an EasyJet-driven solution to the situation, we made the desperation SOS call to our crack travel agent on-the-ground in England, Janet Redler. To our dismay there were no further flights to Belfast from Gatwick that day, however Janet and her team scrambled to put together a plan B – we fly to Dublin, then transfer to Belfast, a 1.5 hour drive. Janet got us booked on a 9:35 pm Aer Lingus flight. Needless to say, our eyebrows and suspicions about the viability of this flight rose when the information board indicated the gate assignment for departure would not be posted until 9:25 pm, then at that appointed time shifted to 9:30 pm. The departure gate did get posted at that time and the plane got to the gate at 9:45 pm. The deplaning and boarding process was completed by 10:15 pm and then there was another 30 minutes delay to taxi and await takeoff as one of the two main runways was closed for renovation. We finally landed in Dublin at 11:57 pm. After a thankfully quick retrieval of luggage and navigation through an essentially abandoned customs, we were met by a most empathetic driver named Seamus who had procured snacks and drinks for the road to Belfast! We finally pulled in front of our hotel at 2 am, very grateful for the elegant Fitzwilliam Belfast with it’s highly customer oriented staff – a fitting and welcomed conclusion to the travel day from hell.