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Day 37: Waterford-Dublin
Given the bucolic bias of our Irish itinerary, it had been a long time since we’d been on an actual freeway, so the rapid transit to Dublin surprised us a little. Roganstown Hotel, a little way into the countryside from Dublin airport, was carefully chosen to give us a bit of R&R before the long haul home – gym and pool sessions helped condition us for the one-day confinement of the Airbus 380. Pleasant surroundings, the usual Irish hospitality and a good dinner; and tomorrow morning we will wake at dawn and contrive to pass through the airport a little after our constitutional head of state leaves it and a little before the American one arrives.
Things we won’t miss about Ireland:
1. Tour-busfuls of Americans who may be nice people but TALK TOO LOUDLY
2. Confusing or non-existent road labelling
3. “Irish” muzak in foyers, bars etc.
Things we will:
1. Translating the Irish signage
2. Gaelic football and hurling in parks and on TV
3. BBC radio 4 (OK, it’s coming from England) on the car radio, especially the shipping report
4. The infinite shades of green
5. Of all the 17 countries
we’ve ever visited between the two of us (counting the UK countries separately), the friendliest people.
Day 38-9: Dublin-home
We complete the quadrella: our requests to the Dublin and Abu Dhabi Etihad desks result in exit-row seats for the two legs of our homeward journey. It’s still a trial, especially the 13-14 hours from Abu Dhabi to Melbourne, but more bearable for the ability to stretch our legs. The weather in Melbourne is much the same as that which we left in Dublin, Alice and Cam help us get home with Archie, and we fall quickly and gratefully into sleep.
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Andy Greenslade
non-member comment
Thank-you for your nice comments!
I enjoyed reading your blog and on behalf of myself and the team at Roganstown Hotel & Country Club would like to thank-you for your nice comments. We look forward to the possibility of welcoming you back and we will even make sure BBC Radio 4 is playing in your room! Kind Regards - Andy