After Cross[ing] the Pond

The traffic was a snarl at Toronto in the wee hours on Saturday morning for VATSIM's "Cross the Pond Eastbound" event. This meant lots of waiting...my aircraft stood more than an hour delayed at various taxiway hold-points before finally getting the green light to `line up and wait`, as they say it in Canada.

The rest of the flight was uneventful, but never lonely as there were always plenty of controllers and tons of traffic for company along the way. This was my first time to fly transatlantic with VATSIM. Received Oceanic clearance about 20 minutes before entering Gander airspace on NAT-N at DENDU, and then it was position reports every 45 minutes or so; my last call was, `AeroTexas One reporting fifty two North, thirty West at one seven five nine zulu, flight level three three zero, mach zero decimal seven niner estimating five five north two zero west at one eight four nine zulu, RESNO next.`

Entering Shannon control area was cleared "ROKNA direct, expect no delays" - as in no holding via the published - but on final things were tight and they had me slowed way down on final for the ILS RWY 28.

The slow speed and fierce crosswinds made things too interesting so I wisely went around. The second time I approached with more power - but still had a near 20 knot component on flare. Nice to be in Dublin, even if it is dark - now it's time for a pint!