"How do you say 'hello' in Ireland?"

Tuesday, May 26- Wednesday, May 27.
Chicago to Dublin, Ireland

We got to the airport around 2:00, and had to use a kiosk for international check-in. Scanning the passports was a little weird, but we managed, and my bag was 34 pounds, which I was proud of. We got TSA Pre-check, which was AWESOME. Didn’t have to remove shoes or jacket or laptops. That was the best. Then we just hung around and waited.

Chilling at the airport and tormenting innocent travelers...

There were some girls at our gate that had to be either fresh out of high school or young college kids, and one said to the other “How do you say “hello” in Ireland?” “I don’t know, that wasn’t in the book!” We just shook our heads. Some people… We MAY have told them you need to say "Top of the morning' to ya" when in Ireland and they MAY have been really excited and believed us.... But I'm not admitting anything!

The plane was roomy and we had two seats together on a window and aisle on one side and Steph’s parents were in front of us. We watched a storm roll in while we waited in a HUGE line of planes. We were number 10, and there were more lining up... Cool pictures though.

Storm rolling in over the plans in Chicago

There were a handful of drunk UK people around that made things loud until we took off, but they fell asleep right away. We got dinner shortly after we got in the air and I had this chicken and rice dish that was actually really good. Couldn’t sleep at all, so we watched movies and played games on the ipad, and the flight actually felt really fast. We also got breakfast, yogurt and granola and a muffin, and that was a nice surprise.

Funny story: one of the flight attendants had a really cute apron with shamrocks all over it and I told her that I loved it. She said she made it and had made some for the entire crew since they would be traveling together for a bit on this assignment. I told her again that I just loved it and she did a great job. She asked me where I lived and I said Cincinnati, and she said she was from just north of Dayton. Then she said “Give me your email and I’ll give you mine, and I will make you one.” So we did that exchange and this morning she told me she could get it to me by mid June. How crazy is that? So nice of her!

All in all, I got maybe five minutes of pretend sleep on the plane, but that’s okay. I just stayed hydrated and made sure to eat.

We jumped right in with getting our rental car…and it’s so weird to sit on the left side in the front and not drive! And the roads are SO NARROW and driving is NUTS. I am so glad that Steph is driving and not me. I would be so stressed.

Steph getting acquainted with our car...on the wrong side...

This is my "I'm navigating what now?" and "why am I on this side?" and "holy crap, we're going to die" and "so this is jet lag" face. Very complicated, I know.

We’re staying at the Ashling Hotel, which is fancy and on the far end of Dublin, which isn’t great, but we deal with it. We knew we needed to keep moving or things would get ugly, so we immediately set off for a bus tour of Dublin, where you can get off of the bus at any of the stops and then get on a later one that comes there. They run every ten minutes at least, sometimes closer depending on traffic. Hop on hop off, they call it. This particular company, City Sightseeing Tours, has right red busses and crazy fun drivers. This is my ad spot for them... I'm done now.

The first time we rode the entire route, all 23 stops, and our tour guide was hilarious. His name was Declan and he would randomly break into traditional Irish songs that related to what we were seeing, and then randomly some Elvis or Frank Sinatra. He told us so many stories and said so many jokes. One of the favorites was “People always say the Irish drink a lot, and we do.” Haha!

It was so cool to see Dublin this way! We all got tired sitting there on the bus, and I was shoving my face with trail mix to keep me awake. We got fish and chips for lunch [SO GOOD] and shopped a little, then got back on the bus route to see a few things.

Temple Bar -- An area with tons of shops and...bars... Go figure.

Today was Dublin Castle, Christ Church Cathedral, St. Patrick’s Cathedral, the Guinness Storehouse [we didn’t take the tour there, it was 18 euros and the line was HUGE, but it would have been interesting to learn about the company since they have been an Irish staple forever], and the Jameson Distillery, which was a really cool older building, but again we didn’t take the tour.  

Dublin Castle. The best secret castle ever. You'll miss it if you don't look for it.

Christ Church Cathedral. So pretty! I love old churches so much!

Then we went to a steakhouse in an old Victorian building for dinner and OH MY GOSH, that was so good. Rib eye with garlic butter and potatoes... Mouth watering remembering it. I was so full but wanted to keep eating!

Then we went for a long walk in Phoenix Park, which is this awesome preserve where there is a zoo and some huge houses belonging to the US ambassador and the president of Ireland… And there is also a really cool sculpture for Wellington there (did you know he was Irish??? I didn't!), so that was fun and we really needed the long walk.

Memorial to Wellington in Phoenix Park. Really neat, lots of cool details on it.

Then we stopped by a train station to get route information for tomorrow, since we need to use the train to get from downtown back to the hotel tomorrow. They have a system a bit like the tube in London, but above ground. Not nearly as elaborate, but cool.

Dublin by evening light next to Heuston Station! I look tired, but Dublin looks great!

Tomorrow we take an all-day bus tour of some of the countryside and it is going to be AMAZING. I’ve seen some of the sights before and they were favorites so it will be great to see them again.

I’m already getting presents, and it’s fun to find things for people! The accents here are so fun and we’ve already had some fun interactions with locals. Can’t wait to see what tomorrow will bring!