Day 1: Welcome to Dublin
I love Dublin.
After spending nearly a full 24 hours stuck on a plane or stuck in an airport, the first day of my adventure had great potential to be the worst. I had no sleep, little food, and there was a lot of time to kill before we could check into the AirBnB my cousins and I were staying at.
The day's first good fortune was being able to meet up with my cousin Nora in the airport. Together we found our way into the city (despite one difficulty*) and to the home of F&D (I won't reveal their names just in case they don't want that to happen), who would be hosting us for the duration of our stay in Dublin.
F&D still had some guests that needed to check out, so we couldn't check in yet. But they were kind enough to let us drop off our luggage, which helped a lot. From there we found some much needed breakfast*.
After breakfast F&D messaged me that they could check us in early. Utterly relieved, we went straight there and fell into the beds while we waited for my other cousin Sean, Nora's brother, to arrive. It was the first time I slept since leaving. I am terrible when it comes to sleeping on planes. By "terrible" I mean I can't sleep on planes.
That night the three of us wandered the Temple Bar area of Dublin, searching for live music. We ended up at a great place called The Merchant's Arch which had a duo playing guitar and flute on the second floor.
The band didn't stay for long, but we were graced with the presence of at least two (maybe three, it was unclear) bachelorette parties, who danced the night away to the live covers of many hit songs played over the bar speakers.
Even though we left the bar at midnight, it felt like dinner time to those of us still used to the Boston time zone. So we stopped for kebab. The perfect nightcap to a great first day.
Unless you count how loud Sean is snoring next to me as I write this. Kinda ruins the whole great day thing I was trying to write about. Thanks Sean.
On a serious note, day one is a promising forecast for the rest of this trip. Even faced with a long, tired day in a strange new city, adventure and fun are still out there waiting to be found.
Tomorrow, more Dublin. The plan is to visit the Ireland National Museum among other things, including a castle. Make sure to put your email in the subscription box down below to get notified every time I post, which will be every day.
Until then, thanks for reading.
Now here's the bonus stuff.
*Despite one difficulty: At the airport Nora and I figured out that the best way to get into the city was by bus. We saw a sign that advertised bus passes for three days, so we jumped at the opportunity. But when we got out to the bus stop, it turned out the passes we had bought were for a different bus than we had planned. We had time, how much different could this other bus be? They both said "Dublin City Center." We boarded hoping it would take us close enough to where we needed to go. And fortunately it did. But it could have easily gone so wrong.
*Much needed breakfast: Exhausted, with hours left before we could check in to our AirBnB, Nora and I dove into Dublin searching for food and anything that could occupy us for a few hours. We found a bar that served breakfast. Nora got scrambled eggs that came on a huge plate, making the serving look pitifully small. I got an amazing, but simple, sandwich. Bacon on baguette. It was all I needed to keep going.
