Day 1 – Flight

The flight to Dublin was very short 45 mins. We arrived on our Ryan Air flight and had to split up going through immigration. Travelling on my British passport I was afforded the luxury of a cursory wave through, while “dodgy foreigner” Jane had to line up for a proper inspection. I swear it took longer for her to get through immigration than the flight took itself.

We finally met back up and collected our luggage. We caught a taxi to our accommodation, Carraig Townhouse south of the city in Blackrock. We arrived at the place 1.30am, too late for a normal check-in. I had already arranged for the keys to be in a lock-box at the front door. Finding the front door was a challenge. The kind taxi driver helped us and we eventually found the tiny entrance. We retrieved our keys and found our room on the first floor, which meant us lugging our cases up a creaky staircase. We collapsed in bed exhausted.

The room was tiny and claustrophobic. It had similar feels to the London Tower Hotel – but not as hot.

Day 2 – Guinness!

We woke late the next day. We had tickets for the 11am session at the Guinness Storehouse. This was one of my must-do activities in Dublin (or the whole trip) so it was a priority to get there on time. We caught the Dart train from Blackrock into the city. We grabbed a quick bite and waited for the no 73 bus to St James. I asked the driver does this bus stop at “St Steevens” stop and he didn’t seem to know the stop, despite Mr Google saying it does exist. Anyway the bus definitely stopped in St James – close enough! The driver was sick of all the questions, and waved us on for a free ride. Sure enough we over-shot the stop and had a 10 minute walk back to the Storehouse. We made it in plenty of time.

The Guinness Storehouse didn’t let us down. What a wonderful place. 6 levels of exhibitions and experiences. I had booked the extra Stoutie Experience, where they “print” your face on foam on the top of a pint of Guinness. Magic! This was Jane’s first pint of Guinness. She should have been in training for this. She couldn’t finish her’s, so I stepped in and saved the day. The self guided tour concluded with a free pint at the Gravity bar on the top floor. Jane took the soft drink option – Weak! I had another Guinness topping off a fantastic day – oh it’s only 1pm. I guess we better see if Dublin has any other attractions.

We caught a horse buggy ride to Dublin Castle. We should had researched that ahead of time, because it was closed for renovation. With so much drinking, we decided we should have some food, so we stopped at the Bull and Castle pun for lunch. We shared an excellent seafood chowder.

We walked into the city to see the famous Temple Bar. We walked though the crowded noisy pub just to see what all the fuss was about. We we glad to make it through the other side.

We pushed on further to visit the Trinity College grounds on the University of Dublin. It was cool, but didn’t really standout to me. There was no Jollibee in Dublin, so we walked back to the Train station and caught the Dart back to Blackrock.

After resting in the hotel, we walked across the road for dinner at San Sab., a small Thai restaurant. We shared a delicious Panang Curry.

Day 3 – Do you have a licence?

We are leaving Dublin and embarking on a self drive tour around Ireland and Northern Ireland, ending in Belfast.

I have been worrying since I lost my wallet and driver’s licence in London, that the hire car company, Sixt would not be happy letting me drive one of their cars. Sure enough they weren’t. They would not allow me to drive the car without a physical licence. That means Jane will be driving the entire route! That was very annoying. But to Jane’s credit she realised the predicament and agreed to bravely shoulder the task.

Jane drove back to Blackrock, checked-out and loaded up our bags in the car. The car is a Dacia Duster, a brand neither of us had heard of. It drove well, although there was an annoying grating sound in the rear.

We found a laundromat nearby and had a coffee and toastie while waiting for the fresh clothes.

Soon we were on our way to Kilkenny.