East is east … but west is best
Me. Definitely me. ✈️💕
Until about six months ago, Knock meant only one thing to me – the memory of awful school tours in primary school. If you attended a Catholic primary school, and you lived within reasonable striking distance of the holy shrine, chances are your annual school tour destination was Knock. A pilgrimage rather than a tour. I never remember being brought anywhere else. We’d all pile on to the bus in the early morning and yawn our way through every single mystery of the Rosary. We’d have prayer fatigue by the time we reached our destination. The only respite from the praying was the singing – Hail Holy Queen on a loop.
The destination itself was more of the same – more rosaries, more litanies, and more hymning. The only relief from it was a spot of shopping at the holy stalls. We’d all arrive home with over-priced plastic Virgin Marys and bottles of holy water for our mammies. If the pocket money stretched, we’d opt for the plastic Mary with the suction cup for sticking on the dashboard of the car. Our return-journey entertainment as we prayed and hail-holied our way home would be to practise with the suction cups on the bus windows. Lick the cup, whack it on the window, and yank it off again with a satisfying kind of ‘pop’. The highlight of the day.
Since those schooldays, Knock held no appeal for me. The very mention of the name evoked all those negative memories and plastic-coated, suction-cupped shivers.
But no more. Knock now means something entirely different and positive for me. Well, not really Knock, as such, but NOC – the airport. NOC is the International Air Transport Association’s (IATA) airport code for Ireland West Airport Knock, but really, everyone just calls it Knock. Mind you, it’s 20km from the village of Knock itself, but it was the brainchild and vision of the late Monsignor Horan who was Knock’s parish priest for many years. Indeed, when the airport opened in 1986, it was originally named Horan International Airport.
I’m not going to recount the story of Ireland West Airport here, interesting though it is – you can read all about it at: https://www.irelandwestairport.com/about_us – but I will tell you why Knock is now music to my ears.
Like everyone else, we struggled with the Covid restrictions and lockdowns over the last two years. It’s not that we’re international jetsetters or anything like that – we’re not – but we are regular visitors to Edinburgh, the home of our youngest daughter, her husband, and our only grandchild. Pre-Covid, we’d be there at least three or four times a year, and we’d certainly plan our trips to be there for special occasions. Covid meant we lost out on our little man’s second and third birthdays and Christmas 2020. We were in withdrawal and pining. Then, in July ‘21, when Covid restrictions were lifted to the extent that we could fly again, we were first in the queue. As was our pre-Covid norm, we flew out of Dublin.
It was not a good experience. I’ve always found flying out of Dublin stressful, but I just accepted it as a necessary evil. First of all, the drive from where we live via the M7 and M50 can be unpredictable, and parking – even though we always pre-booked short-stay – can be pretty stressful too. Depending on your parking luck, you could have a long, cold walk to the terminal, and, eventually, another half marathon to the gate. It’s never been a pleasant experience, but the happy prospect of seeing family at the other end helped to take the edge off the stress.
This first post-Covid flight was more stressful than the norm. It was a day’s work trying to maintain social distancing at the airport. It was pretty much a free-for-all in the security queue, and I was really quite uncomfortable about the whole experience. Coming back into Dublin a few days later was equally uncomfortable – very busy, and, again, little or no social distancing.
When we started to think about another little jaunt at the end of October 2021, we remembered that Ryanair had started an Edinburgh service out of Knock. We have a little bolthole in Co Roscommon, so we decided to head for there, fly from Knock, and see how the experience compared.
There is no comparison. Knock is a joy. Everything about it is just so easy. And I’m not saying that based on just one trip. We did it again at Christmas, and for the third time a couple of weeks ago. We have Knocked three times. And, if possible, it just gets better. When we were embarking on our most recent trip at the end of March, social media was ablaze with tales of 2-hour+ delays navigating security in Dublin. We approached Knock wondering if, perhaps, they might be experiencing delays too. According to themselves, they were … in that it took five minutes rather than three to get through security. I can live with that. We parked the car at 2.40pm; got our bag checked in at bag drop; got through security; had a fairly comprehensive browse and made a few purchases in duty free … and was sitting down with a frothy cappuccino at 3.15pm. I tweeted @Irelandwest to compliment them on this positive experience. They responded … and apologised that it took so long. The record is, apparently, something like four minutes from carpark to boarding gate. I mean, where else would you get it?
And it’s not just all this speedy, calm, stress-free airport navigation that I’m in love with. It’s a friendly place too. The people are nice. I’ve struck up conversations with staff in the shop, in the café, toilet maintenance people, and so on. They go about their business with a quiet efficiency, and are all very pleasant and happy to bid you the time of day. When you tell them you think Knock is great, you can nearly see the little glow of pride.
When is a runway not a runway?
When it’s a racetrack, of course.
They’re lateral thinkers too, it seems. When is a runway not a runway? When it’s a racetrack, of course. On Saturday 10 September at 5pm, the runway is the venue for the Runway Run in aid of charity partners The Kevin Bell Repatriation Trust and the Sensational Kids Charity. What a wonderfully creative use of resources. The other half has signed up for it. (I haven’t, but I’ll go to spectate.) More info about the event here: https://www.irelandwestairport.com/news/ireland-west-airport-announces-new-charity-partners-for-2022-and-the-return-of-the-5k-runway-fun-run
Before that, though, the next Edinburgh trip is already booked for mid-June. I’m expecting departures might be a little busier then, given that the routes to the sun will likely be well subscribed. It might even take 10 or 15 minutes to get to the gate.
@Irelandwest will be gutted.
Gaga Lady's Blog 