Ok - I know one thing - the Irish can party alright, and I was debating whether I'd bitten off more than I could chew!
The flight out from Birmingham wasn't too bad, and I'll say one thing for Ryan Air - the service was basic, but the flight was reasonably comfortable.
But the powers that be were not looking after me, as the damned bus broke down! That was a minor inconvenience, and I soon found myself walking to my hotel.. It didn't look very impressive from the outside, but the room itself had the things that I considered essential - an en-suite bathroom (with a bloody good shower) and a comfortable bed!
Once unpacked, it was then off into the city centre to meet up with White Wolf and his friend, and hit the first bar that we found... I can't remember the name of the bar / pub, but it wasn't far from Temple Bar, and that was where I had my first pint of Guinness... Which was quite tasty!
The evening went quite fast, and I soon realised that Guinness hits me a damned sight harder than I realised, and sits in your stomach like a three course meal! So that was the Friday night....
Saturday, the gang spent exploring Dublin, and went to the Guinness storehouse - a must see for anyone going to Dublin, I was told. (see http://www.guinness-storehouse.com/home/home.asp )Ok - that's fine, but if you're like me, and suffer vertigo, it's not funny. Simply because the viewing tower has a glass floor... Ok - the views over Dublin are spectacular (you can see the Landsdown Road rugby ground from there) but it frightened the proverbial **** out of me!
Saturday night, we met up with the gang again, and unlike the Brits, the Irish start their partying late, and finish later than the Brits... We ended up in the Porter House, listening to live music, with a bloody good band, and good beer to top it off! The thing that made me laugh, was when the lot of us piled into the pizza restaurant opposite, at 03:30, as we were all starving!
Sunday, however, the city appeared to close down, so it was a chance to just chill out (and try to recover from my hangover - yes - I did suffer!) But luckily for me, Dublin has loads of coffee shops that are open on a Sunday, so I was able to sit and chat with White Wolf, who was returning to Cork that afternoon... I wasn't worried about that, as I was meeting up with a friend who lived just outside Dublin...
The Sunday night was just as much fun as Saturday night - if a little quieter... We ended up going to some little music club, where the Guinness was very good, and the music was loud... Needless to say, it was another late night for me, or should that be an early morning? I finally got to bed about 04:00 on Monday morning, and was thanking my lucky stars that I wasn't flying back to the UK until the evening, thus giving me chance to get some sleep!
Monday was spent doing the last minute shopping for various gifts and silly things, including me buying a T-shirt with a picture of a pint of Guinness on it, and the words the leprechauns made me drink it.
But the real surprise came when I got to the airport. Ok - checking in was painless, as all my documents were present and correct.. It was security that gave me the most 'fun'. Simply because I had to take my knee length leather boots off, and put them through the x-ray machine, and pad through the metal detector in my revolting socks! Ok - that probably gave security a bloody good laugh, but it didn't really endear itself to me...
I should have taken that as an omen of the things that were still to come. There were flights being diverted into Dublin, due to adverse weather conditions all over Ireland, and the rain was driving across the airfield, which meant that I looked like a drowned rat running to the aircraft. (No buses when you're flying no frills!)
Once on the aircraft, I had the same seat as I'd had flying out - right by the emergency exit over the wing - which meant that I had more leg room than the other seats. That was ok, until we started to take off, and I felt the wind buffeting the aircraft, and felt the pilot fighting the aircraft as we got hit by a sudden gust of wind, which caused the leading edge of the right-hand (starboard) wing to drop to about 2ft off the runway...
The passenger beside me had his rosary beads out, and was murmuring a variety of prayers, where as all I could do was sit there and hope that whatever had looked after me in the past was still with me!
Once back on the ground, I've got to admit, I've never been so glad to see Birmingham airport, as that meant that I was nearly home, and could relax, as the flight had frightened me more than I was willing to admit to people. Don't get me wrong - I'm not scared of flying - far from it - it's just that there are some times when you wonder if you've done the right thing, getting on a given plane at a given time!
But, on the positive side, all this trip has done, is made me more determined to go back to Dublin, and possibly get a hire car, so that I can explore more of the countryside surrounding the city.
Suppose I should call this entry quits - I'm supposed to be working.. Well, that's the theory, anyway!
The flight out from Birmingham wasn't too bad, and I'll say one thing for Ryan Air - the service was basic, but the flight was reasonably comfortable.
Once I'd arrived in Dublin, I realised just how thankful I was for my heavy cord jacket, as the wind was whipping across the airfield at Dublin International airport... Then, it was off to get into the city centre. The bus was the cheapest way to get to the centre of Dublin..
But the powers that be were not looking after me, as the damned bus broke down! That was a minor inconvenience, and I soon found myself walking to my hotel.. It didn't look very impressive from the outside, but the room itself had the things that I considered essential - an en-suite bathroom (with a bloody good shower) and a comfortable bed!
Once unpacked, it was then off into the city centre to meet up with White Wolf and his friend, and hit the first bar that we found... I can't remember the name of the bar / pub, but it wasn't far from Temple Bar, and that was where I had my first pint of Guinness... Which was quite tasty!
The evening went quite fast, and I soon realised that Guinness hits me a damned sight harder than I realised, and sits in your stomach like a three course meal! So that was the Friday night....
Saturday, the gang spent exploring Dublin, and went to the Guinness storehouse - a must see for anyone going to Dublin, I was told. (see http://www.guinness-storehouse.com/home/home.asp )Ok - that's fine, but if you're like me, and suffer vertigo, it's not funny. Simply because the viewing tower has a glass floor... Ok - the views over Dublin are spectacular (you can see the Landsdown Road rugby ground from there) but it frightened the proverbial **** out of me!
Saturday night, we met up with the gang again, and unlike the Brits, the Irish start their partying late, and finish later than the Brits... We ended up in the Porter House, listening to live music, with a bloody good band, and good beer to top it off! The thing that made me laugh, was when the lot of us piled into the pizza restaurant opposite, at 03:30, as we were all starving!
Sunday, however, the city appeared to close down, so it was a chance to just chill out (and try to recover from my hangover - yes - I did suffer!) But luckily for me, Dublin has loads of coffee shops that are open on a Sunday, so I was able to sit and chat with White Wolf, who was returning to Cork that afternoon... I wasn't worried about that, as I was meeting up with a friend who lived just outside Dublin...
The Sunday night was just as much fun as Saturday night - if a little quieter... We ended up going to some little music club, where the Guinness was very good, and the music was loud... Needless to say, it was another late night for me, or should that be an early morning? I finally got to bed about 04:00 on Monday morning, and was thanking my lucky stars that I wasn't flying back to the UK until the evening, thus giving me chance to get some sleep!
Monday was spent doing the last minute shopping for various gifts and silly things, including me buying a T-shirt with a picture of a pint of Guinness on it, and the words the leprechauns made me drink it.
But the real surprise came when I got to the airport. Ok - checking in was painless, as all my documents were present and correct.. It was security that gave me the most 'fun'. Simply because I had to take my knee length leather boots off, and put them through the x-ray machine, and pad through the metal detector in my revolting socks! Ok - that probably gave security a bloody good laugh, but it didn't really endear itself to me...
I should have taken that as an omen of the things that were still to come. There were flights being diverted into Dublin, due to adverse weather conditions all over Ireland, and the rain was driving across the airfield, which meant that I looked like a drowned rat running to the aircraft. (No buses when you're flying no frills!)
Once on the aircraft, I had the same seat as I'd had flying out - right by the emergency exit over the wing - which meant that I had more leg room than the other seats. That was ok, until we started to take off, and I felt the wind buffeting the aircraft, and felt the pilot fighting the aircraft as we got hit by a sudden gust of wind, which caused the leading edge of the right-hand (starboard) wing to drop to about 2ft off the runway...
The passenger beside me had his rosary beads out, and was murmuring a variety of prayers, where as all I could do was sit there and hope that whatever had looked after me in the past was still with me!
Once back on the ground, I've got to admit, I've never been so glad to see Birmingham airport, as that meant that I was nearly home, and could relax, as the flight had frightened me more than I was willing to admit to people. Don't get me wrong - I'm not scared of flying - far from it - it's just that there are some times when you wonder if you've done the right thing, getting on a given plane at a given time!
But, on the positive side, all this trip has done, is made me more determined to go back to Dublin, and possibly get a hire car, so that I can explore more of the countryside surrounding the city.
Suppose I should call this entry quits - I'm supposed to be working.. Well, that's the theory, anyway!
Back when I get the chance...
Karen.
I walk where others fear to tread
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