A Vacation to Ireland

I meant to start writing in this blog long before now; better late than never, right?

This year, after 2 years of covid related delays, I am finally taking my first international excursion. My mother and I are traveling throughout Ireland to see the sites, and soak in some family history. Over the next few weeks I aim to chronicle our travels in order to preserve my memory of events, since I know my brain will not retain much after the fact. As of now we have been in the country a week, and here’s what I have to say for the experience thus far.

Sunday, August 28, 2022

Oh boy. We were not off to a good start. Our tickets were ordered through Aer Lingus. We were to have a flight from Seattle to Chicago, then another from Chicago to Dublin. My mother (who arranged this entire trip, since I know absolutely nothing about travel) had the opportunity to go through the Aer Lingus website and place an auction style bid on a pair of upgrade tickets. She won her bid and we were to fly business class rather than economy on the second leg of our journey.

At least, that’s what was supposed to happen. Our first flight was with American Airlines (even though we booked it using Aer Lingus) and it had a few problems, to put it mildly. We got off to a late start, by about 20 minutes, and proceeded to arrive in Chicago 5 hours later than scheduled. According to the pilot, the weather in Chicago was too bad to fly through so we first had to stall, then we were cleared to land, then we were UNcleared to land and had to stay airborne. By this time fuel was running low, so they rerouted us through Grand Rapids to refuel. After filling up the tank we returned to Chicago, and stalled again before finally landing. At which point we sat on the tarmac for another hour unable to leave.

In total our 3 hour flight to Chicago took 8 hours and we were in the plane for a total of 9 hours before we were able to exit the vehicle. By now it was 11pm, Chicago time. We were 3 hours late for our connecting flight to Dublin. We had to be booked on another flight for the following day. Naturally neither Aer Lingus nor American airlines were willing to cover the cost of a hotel room for the night, nor were they able to get us business class seating on our rescheduled flight. They ALSO were not willing to refund us the $1200 my mother paid for the upgraded seats that we were not getting. Throughout the entire flight-rescheduling process we kept asking if our 1 checked bag was safe and accounted for, and if it would be arriving in Dublin with us on our new flight. We were assured, by everyone involved, that YES the bag would arrive with us without issue. More on that later.

Exhausted, frustrated, angry, and at additional cost to us- we concluded the night at the Comfort Suites in Chicago. As I said, not a great start.

Monday, August 29 - Tuesday, August 30, 2022

Now a day behind schedule, we packed up our bags and returned to the Chicago airport to catch our flight to Dublin. This flight had us arriving in Ireland at 5 am Tuesday morning, Irish time, and we spent it crammed into the tiny economy seats. Once we arrived at our destination we discovered that our checked bag was nowhere to be found. After flagging down an agent for assistance, it was determined that our bag had NOT been on the plane with us- in spite of the multiple assurances that it would be, and could not even be found in the Aer Lingus system. We were instructed to file a missing baggage claim, and wait 48 hours for them to find it and deliver it to us at our hotel. Thank goodness were scheduled to stay for 6 (now 5) nights in Dublin!

We were told we could buy any replacement necessities “within reason” to be reimbursed if the bag was not found, but that they would not reimburse the cost of any missing electronics. Since the very expensive microphone I use for work was in that bag, we were none too thrilled to learn this.

Exhausted, again, and dejected we hopped in a cab to our first hotel, Kilronan House. We arrived several hours before official check-in time, but since we had reserved and paid for the previous night anyway, the host graciously let us into our room. We each took a short nap and then showered and stepped out to explore, pick up some missing essentials, and grab some food. At the recommendation of our hotel receptionist we took lunch at the Commons cafe at MoLI (Museum of Literature Ireland). His recommendation paid off. Our walk to the cafe took us through the Iveagh Gardens which were beautiful and smelled strongly of the pink roses that were in full bloom. The food at the Commons was delicious as well and we poked around through the museum gift shop when we were finished. No souvenirs yet though.

After lunch we walked through St Sebastians’s Green to Grafton street where we purchased an Irish Sim card for my phone, as well as some much needed toiletry replacements due to our missing bag. We then returned to the hotel for a couple hours to recuperate before striding back out for dinner. We located Dall Italia pasta bar and ordered some really delicious personalized pasta dishes. I’d never seen a quick-eats type of choose-your-own pasta place before, and found the idea rather genius. The pasta was all fresh made and delicious. We were both very pleased with our choices. I’d recommend Dall Italia to anyone looking for something quick and relatively inexpensive.

After dinner it was back to Kilronan House and early to bed.

Wednesday, August 31, 2022

Not much to report. We both had upset stomach issues, presumably from bad airplane food. We spent most of the day running to the toilet. Did step out for dinner at The Barge pub. They had a delicious Guinness chicken and delightful ambiance! The ceiling looked like the skeleton of a ship’s hull.

Thursday, September 1, 2022

First official day of site-seeing. We went to the National Museum of Ireland- Archaeology and took a tour. The building is gorgeous and the artifacts are incredible! Some of the sacred chalices on display are breathtaking! We also poked our head into the gift shop and resisted many temptations (I plan to go back there when we return to Dublin at the end of our stay, if I haven’t spent too much already). After the tour we went to see the Oscar Wilde Statue at Merrion Square Park. Then we went to Hugo’s for lunch. Easily my favorite dining spot thus far! The decor was so charming, the food was incredible and the wine was EXCELLENT.

After lunch we went back to the Archaeology museum to examine the areas we missed on our tour. Mom was particularly interested in the Bog Bodies. I took a look at one of them and had to leave the room. I’ve never considered myself a particularly energy sensitive person but there was something radiating off that skeleton that I couldn’t handle.

On our way back to Kilronan House we picked up some salads from KC Peaches for a light dessert. All in all this was our first truly successful day, though we still can’t seem to get on Ireland time.

Friday, September 2, 2022

Another terrific touristy day. The weather had been warm and sunny every day since our arrival, this was the first to have rain. I was delighted. The rain reminds me of home and makes everything smell so fresh and clean. I don’t get that in Los Angeles.

Our first order of the day was to buy a ticket for a Big Bus Dublin tour. We sat on the roof level (thankfully before the rain started) and were lead around by a very delightful tour guide/driver named Anne. A lot of Dublin history was crammed into that lovely hour under the sky.

After lunch at Madigan’s - some of the best food we’ve had all trip, fantastic Potato Leak soup, and a delicious Ginger Beer by Hollows & Fentimans - we disembarked the bus at Trinity college. We listened to a digital audio guided tour of the making of the Book of Kells before going into a dark room to see the book in person. It is truly an artistic masterpiece, my only issue was that the book was being held open so we couldn’t look at its incredible cover. After the Book of Kells was a self guided tour of the Long Room. The Long Room library at Trinity College is one of the most marvelous places I have ever set foot in. It’s like something out of a fantasy. And it’s still in functional use- which makes me so happy! Also in the long room was the Brian Boru Harp, also known as the harp of Ireland. It’s smaller than I’d have expected (in my mind it was going to be a full sized orchestra harp) but no less awe inspiring for it. I could have spent all day looking at its detail work.

I think this day will be one of Mom’s favorites. She LOVES the Long Room. Books are her passion, and peering around in that space was like taking a kid into a candy shop.

After we had our fill at Trinity College we bought some sandwiches at Spar for a quiet dinner in the hotel. By this time our lost suit case had FINALLY been found and delivered to us so we were able to begin scrap booking our adventures! Its embarrassing how quickly we both are able to forget the order of events, and what we do on any given day. We had to puzzle piece the first few days back together from memory and photographs. As I’m finally sitting down to write this blog post I’m now referencing our scrap book pages because my memory of the past week is already so foggy. Once we’d finished printing photographs and gluing them to pages it was time for bed and another sleepless night of tossing and turning. We just aren’t adjusting to the time difference.

Saturday, September 3, 2022

Our last full day in Dublin- at least for now. We used our last available time on our Big Bus ticket to ride to the Chester Beatty museum so Mom could look at some ancient Christian manuscripts. The Chester Beatty collection is truly incredible. While Mom was admiring some ancient torn pages in the Christian section, I was looking at ancient scrolls in the Buddhist section. There are some amazing pieces on display from China, Tibet, India, and Japan. The artwork is truly mesmerizing.

The museum was our only major stop for the day, after which we walked back through Grafton street, purchased some hot chocolates from Butler’s (Why don’t we have Butler’s Chocolate Cafe in the states I NEED IT NOW) and did some more scrap booking and packing before heading to the Bleeding Horse for dinner. It seemed to be the place to be that night as there was a soccer (forgive me, Football) game on. The building that houses the Bleeding Horse is another example of fantastic Irish architecture that I wish we had in the States. They had the best chicken fingers I’ve ever had in my life. Breaded chicken has never tasted so good! A perfect way to end our stint in Dublin.

Sunday, September 4, 2022

On the road at last! We picked up our rental car from the airport. I spent the first hour or 2 screaming expletives while re-learning how to drive a manual, in a foreign country, on the opposite side of the road, in the opposite side of the car, in a unit of measurement I’m unfamiliar with. The life-and-death stakes did not help my nerves.

Somehow we made it to our destination in one piece. We were too early to check into our hotel, so we walked to Trim Castle to take in the view. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a real castle in person before and it just felt so magical. I loved walking the grounds and imagining life in the space. Touching the stonework and knowing how old it is, it made me feel connected to history somehow. Apparently Braveheart was filmed there.

Afterward, we checked into our hotel, deposited our bags and parted for a while. Mom was not feeling in top shape, so she took a bit of a rest. I went on the hunt for a laundromat. Back into the deathtrap car I climbed, and after 3 false leads I found a washer dryer unit at a gas station, of all places. So I spent the next couple hours sitting at a picnic table watching nonsense videos on my phone and monitoring our laundry. It was strange, EXPENSIVE ($10 to wash one load), and a tad chilly, but truth be told it was nice to have a couple hours to myself. I am a solitary person by nature and by this time I had spent 7 days almost entirely in the presence of my mother. I love her dearly, but that is more time than I care to share with anyone. I recharge my batteries when I am completely alone.

After the laundry was done we had dinner at the hotel restaurant and went to bed. For me this was the first decent night’s sleep I’ve had all trip. The new hotel gets high marks in my book for that alone. It’s a shame we’re only here 3 nights.

Monday, September 5, 2022

Today we went to the hill of Tara. We had lunch at their enchanting cafe, spent perhaps too much money at the gift shop, and then took a look at the historic site. The Mound of the Hostages felt like a passageway into the past. I almost felt that if I broke open the gate and strode inside I would emerge in pre-Christian Ireland. The nearby church and the Lia Fail standing stone were equally as impressive. Although the standing stone invoked certain imagery in my mind…

Perhaps my most pleasant memory of the day was befriending a blonde tabby cat outside the Tara gift shop. She came and sat with me, butted her head on me for attention and was generally very friendly. I have named her Sweetheart and I am sad that I cannot take her with me. Don’t worry, I washed my hands after petting her.

Once we had absorbed as much ancient history as we could for the day we returned the hotel for dinner. I had a rather tasty penne carbonara and a delightful cocktail called a Porn Star Martini. After dinner it was back to the room for scrap booking- and FINALLY sitting down to write my first blog post. Good grief, I had no idea it would be this long!

And that, my friends, gets you up to speed on our adventures thus far. I’m making it my goal to update once a week to recall my adventures. With that in mind, see you in seven days!

~Alex