Traveling to Dublin

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Our Ireland travels begin a day earlier than our original plans. The direct flight from DFW had little odds of business class so we opted to fly the night before to CLT which put us as the top of the standby list enabled Alex to fit a couple meetings while we loitered in the Hilton hotel lobby before we left.



At the airport, after a bit of walking back and forth due to gate changes, we found ourselves anxiously awaiting our seat assignments. Poor luck and totally clueless gate agents resulted in non-business and middle section aisle seats. I quickly hopped in line to get them to switch us to a window in hopes of some sleep for this redeye flight. Luckily, we ended up with a row ton ourselves. We stared diligently at the boarding list as 3 business class travelers arrived in CLT a mere 20 minutes before door closure time. Fortune favored them as all 3 made it in time. Unfortunately, our row was in front of a family with a little kid who failed to sleep. Not that I really would have been able to. The flight spanned the hours of 3:30 - 11pm back home so my internal clock told me I was crazy to even try. So despite out 5am Ireland arrival both Alex and I had limited sleep.





In Ireland, we has 2 hours to wait for the others to arrive. I needed a bathroom soon after we got through customs as the plane breakfast didn't include anything suitable for my very restricted pregnancy diet. This aversion to sugar in any semblance of quantity even in foods like yogurt make it very hard to deal with prepackaged foods. As a result, my morning sickness got the best of me. Being there that early in the morning limited our food options so it was a simple croissant to tide my still upset stomach over until their arrival. A closed restaurant served as a great squatting place with many others doing the same. Laura, Kyle, and Carl come in as scheduled despite their dramatic car accident start making it a challenge to get to the MSP airport and a required run across the Boston Airport to get to the Dublin flight. We went through a round robin of getting cash from the ATM and buying water from the convenient store before going to get a cab.





At the taxi stand, we nabbed a van to shuttle us to the hotel in Temple Bar. The driver mirrored the old Irish men in my memory from the last trip. He chatted our ears off with history of Dublin, a tour of the area, and funny stories of past passengers all sprinkled with swearing and grumbles of the drivers around him. It was a highly entertaining entrance into the county.





At the hotel, as we were very early for checking in, they allowed us to pay for the rooms and leave behind our luggage to explore. Step 1 solve the morning sickness issue. We found a cute breakfast place down the street. It wasn't fast enough to prevent another round of morning sickness. Finally the arrival of food helped, though it made us even sleepier. Still early, we decided to give the library at Trinity University a visit. Good thing we went early as we were surprised by the need for tickets to get in. All were interested but also hoping for naps so we picked 5pm to return. Instead we explored campus more then made our way to the National Art Museum. Not my strongest passion and the continued haunting fatigue made it tiring to go through with a lot of interest but the amazing carvings on the doorways between rooms and the stained glass art section had me impressed. All the walking wore my breakfast off quicker than usual, so I pulled Alex away to get a quiche at the cafe. The others soon followed and I tasked Carl with checking on our room progress at the hotel. Success!! One of the two rooms was ready.





Totally exhausted, we trudged back to the hotel and moved our luggage to the smaller of the two rooms. Kyle and Laura had nabbed the most rest on the flight over so weren't ready to nap so left us behind to get lunch. Carl and I spent the next 2 hours napping on the bed while Alex settled with the floor. Upon Laura and Kyle's return, I checked with the front desk on room #2 with a disappointing no. Their apology resulted in an early hand over of the complimentary drink voucher. Carl was in need of electrolytes so Laura and I stopped at the store for him to find the Irish equivalent of Gatorade. I needed food still so LJ showed me to the pasty shop she and Kyle encountered earlier. He was quite excited to try my snack when we got back. Alex finally moved up to the bed, but nausea and exhaustion held him back from joining us for our next adventure.





Capitalizing on the free drink voucher, we stopped in at the hotel bar. Carl got an extra beer in place of Alex and Kyle enjoyed my drink for me. A few potato wedges later, our crew headed out back to the school to or 5pm library appointment. Surprisingly, it included some fascinating exhibits on an old book made by monks with intricately designed pages containing the gospels. Laura and I were also surprised to find the long room we saw on social media mostly empty as the books and room were under renovation. The school had a separate building that contained some interactive exhibits to supplement including a story room for the Book of Kell which made all of us motion sick followed by a fascinating digital rendition of the long room. Of course it all ended in a giftshop which did get me my first Christmas ornament of the trip.





During the visit, I received a call from the hotel notifying us the room was FINALLY ready. We moved our items to the new room rising Alex from his slumber at last. The lot of us migrated to a pub for dinner and drinks. It took a bit of hunting as most were quite full in Temple Bar as it was Friday evening. A few beers and fish & chips later, we called it a day. Even with the naps our group was dragging. Showers to clean off the grime of flights and walking put us in the mood for bed early. Most of us were down for the count by 9pm.

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Photos

Morgan Hotel
3 bed hotel room we got used to!