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St. Patrick's Day Weekend 16th-19th March, 2006
Let me tell you a little about "Ryanair" and our flight or not flight to Dublin!
Bern and I booked flights to Dublin leaving at 8.30pm on Thurday night (the evening before St. Patrick's Day). When we checked in at Luton Airport our flight was already delayed by 3 hours and was not scheduled to depart until 11.30pm. For the next 5 hours we managed to entertain ourselves with some card playing. I was beginning to wonder if this was a frequent occurrance as many other groups of people at the airport also playing cards!
The boarding call didn't come over until about 11.30pm and there was lots of clapping and cheering in the airport from the only people left in the airport waiting to fly to Dublin. Some had chosen to start celebrating St. Patrick's Day early and may have been somewhat intoxicated before boarding the flight! There seemed to be no urgency at all for us to board the plane but when we did it was a relief. Seatbelts on, menu cards were handed out and the air hostesses did their safety talk with the life vests and oxygen. And
then...
The captain then welcomes us aboard the flight and apologises for the delay. He then tells us that they have been 'chasing their tails' all day and unfortunately things are about to get a whole lot worse because air traffic control have informed him that he is not to fly out of Luton. It had just clicked over midnight and there is a 12 midnight curfew at Luton. The air hostesses just rolled their eyes like 'here we go again.!' There were some very irrate passengers and some very drunk irrate passengers. There were also mothers with young children who were already sound asleep on the plane.
We were then told to get off the plane, collect our luggage and if we wanted to try and get on another flight tomorrow we would need to line up at the Ryanair ticket office which would open at 4am! Bern and I started lining up but realised there was not a chance of getting on a Ryanair flight on St. Patrick's Day. Bern jumped on the internet at the airport and booked us on a flight from Heathrow with BMI at 7am the next morning. A few others had
Our First Black Cab Ride!
The journey from Luton Airport to Heathrow after our Ryanair flight was cancelled! We are only smiling because we have wanted to catch a black cab somewhere since we arrived in London! the same idea and we shared a cab with a few other people to Heathrow Airport (£75 later). Fortunately an irish businessman we shared the cab with paid the fare as he planned to claim it back through work. This guy was on his way home to watch his kids march in the St. Patrick's Day parade. Bern and I then had one of the best hot chocolates we think we've ever tasted and then found a bed for the next few hours - a cushioned bench seat at a cafe that was closed!
Oh my goodness, I haven't even got to Dublin yet!!!
Before I do tell you about Dublin, Ryanair actually scheduled an additional flight which left Luton airport on St. Patrick's Day at 11.30am! By the time this announcement came through a lot of people had already left the airport including us!
Did we get a refund? I am now up to my third letter to Ryanair! Bern and I wrote individually to Ryanair as we booked separately. Bern tells me that she almost copied the letter that I sent them. Bern was emailed by Ryanair and got a refund for her flight. I
got an email from Ryanair stating that they would not refund me for my flight (even though it was the same flight as Bern's) because the flight cancellation occurred because of circumstances beyond their control! If you can make sense of that then I think you should explain it to me! So then a second letter goes out to Ryanair (you can't email them back and it costs £1 a minute to ring them!). The response I get this time is that they believe they have evidence that I boarded another Ryanair flight on St. Patrick's Day. That is impossible given that Bern and I flew out together from Heathrow on a BMI flight. The third letter - I'm interested to know what evidence they have and have forwarded them a copy of my boarding pass from the BMI flight!
Stay tuned!
Will I fly Ryanair again?!!!I'll let you figure that one out!
When I was telling mum she said that she'd just read in the newspaper that Ryanair landed at the wrong airport not so long ago. Apparently they landed at a secured army base! Enough about Ryanair!
St. Patricks's Day
Despite the rain their were still
plenty of people out in their green and orange for the St. Patrick's Day Parade. The streets and pubs of Dublin were very busy. After a look at some of the sites of Dublin, Vanessa (a physio friend of Bernadette and Elizabeth's) took us to a traditional little Irish Pub called 'The Palace' where we tried our first pint of Guinness. The evening then saw us catching up with Danielle and Rick at Dicey's Garden. Danielle is a speehie who I used to work with at Maroondah Hospital. It was great craic(fun!) with loads of attempts at Irish Dancing!
Rowing and Trinity College
We watched the colleges compete in some rowing races and enjoyed a tour of Trinity College and visited the Book of Kells.
Howth and Malahide
We took a trip not far out of Dublin to Howth and Malahide, both on the coast. Danielle and her friend joined us and we enjoyed a short walk along some of the coastline.
The Ude
On my last evening I caught up with Sabina (Olivia's sister). Sabina and I went to high school together. Sabina had tickets to the Concert Hall to see an Arabic Trio, one of
which was playing the Ude. It wasn't until we arrived that we learned of what the Ude actually was. I guess it is kind of a distant relative of the guitar but it's not a guitar! It was great to see Sabina again and we had a lovely dinner at Bewreys in central Dublin.
A grande weekend in Dublin!
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