Yes I made it home...

It was a long travel day home.

After being up sick all night long with either food poisoning or a stomach flu/virus I had to board a plane and fly about 10 hours home. Yeah!
I popped some medicine and skipped breakfast at the B&B and headed out toward the Dublin Airport. It took about 20 minutes or so to get there. By that time I was familiar with the road signs and could easily navigate to the car rental drop-off area. Dropped my little Nissan off and got a refund for that stupid GPS thing that did not work and hopped on a shuttle to take me to the airport.
Check-in and security was super easy and got into an area in the airport that looked like a mall. Shopping for bags, perfumes, even had a pharmacy of sorts in there. There were people dressed in a USA t-shirt telling people about the rules so to speak of the airport. The trick was that they did US Customs there at that airport so you didn't have to do it back in the US, it saves a ton of time on your way home. So, the girl told me to stay up at the "mall" type area as long as I could, get some food, relax, etc. before I head down through Customs. Because once I head down, there's no coming back up and it's pretty much like a holding area until you board your flight. There's not a lot down there such as food, drink, etc.
Since I was still not feeling well, I got some bread and sparkling water and kicked it in one of the waiting chairs. I did reclaim my tax money back. It's this thing called VAT and you can reclaim your tax that you spent on any purchases within Ireland. It's not much but you get that money back so I did it.
Close to 11ish am I headed down to Customs. It wasn't bad at all, they make you put your carry-on through the scanner and take off your shoes and that's about it. I don't even think I went through a metal detector. I get my passport stamped and they say, "Welcome Home." OK - well technically I'm still in Ireland, but oh well.
I wait in the "waiting area," and then not too much later I board my plane. I sat on the isle, but no one sat next to me, so I later moved to the window seat. Yes with that long of a flight they serve you dinner and then later before you land a small breakfast of sorts.
My flight was really long, I slept on/off through most of it and the rest of the time I was sneezing and blowing my nose. I couldn't tell if it was something on the plane that was making me sick or if I really had the flu.
Since I had already gone through Customs at the Ireland airport when we landed I just picked up my bag and headed outside for the shuttle to pick me up. Now the shuttle was going to pick me up and 6pm thinking that I had to go through Customs in SF, but they said they could pick me up at 4pm because my plane landed at 3:20pm. I emailed them when I was in Dublin and told them about Customs at the Dublin Airport and said to pick me up earlier. I tried calling them several times after I landed saying I was ready, to no avail. I couldn't get through to anyone. I figured there's no one there. It's Sunday and Easter Sunday too so I'll just have to wait. So, here I am sick and so ready to get home that I just wait where the shuttles pull up until 6pm. Ugh!
What I didn't know and now know for future use is that the shuttle picks you up at the airport (SFO), then goes to the San Jose airport to pick more people up. Then stops in Scotts Valley, Santa Cruz, and finally Aptos to drop people off. Since I was the last and only person in Aptos, I asked to be dropped off at home. The driver accommodated me, but said it was a lot further away than the drop spot. It's what a mile extra.  I gave him a tip, got out and slowly made my way inside.
I was literally sick and tired! So after all that I did make it home safe and sound.
I went to bed not too long after and so happy that I had Monday off so I could recoup. I feel good now, still tired and my sleeping schedule has been a bit off but overall doing well. Not sick anymore, and glad to be home.
:)