Advertisement
Published: August 28th 2019
Edit Blog Post
City centre
Malahide, Ireland We start our trip on a bit of a kerfuffle. Checking in online the night before, we discover that the extra-leg-room seats on the Toronto-Dublin leg that we had reserved and paid for back in April have disappeared. A call to Air Canada reveals the we were side-swiped by the Boeing Max 8 debacle. The plane had been changed from a Max 8 to an Airbus, which caused the seat reservations to evaporate. Why Air Canada couldn't have alerted us to this problem so we could have reacted earlier is a mystery to me. Anyway, the agent on the phone is able to assign us some other seats with extra leg room, although they are inferior in our opinion to what we had originally reserved. Bummer.
At the Ottawa airport, we relate our sad story to the agent, who givesus seats with extra room on the Ottawa-Toronto flight. These turn out to be next to one of the over-wing exits. When the attendant is giving us his usual spiel about how to operate the door, I say, in jest, "Does this responsibility come with a drink?" He responds, "Yes absolutely. Order orange juice." He later slips us vodka bottles.
Guinness Truck
Malahide, Ireland The flight to Dublin is uneventful. Of course, there is the requisite crying baby and person with a horrible cough, but that's normal. Upon arrival at 10 am local time we meet Tony, a jolly and engaging Irishman with a great sense of humour who will be our guide for the duration. He informs us that the tour is all-Canadian! We have to wait at the airport for an hour and a half for another couple to arrive, after which we are bussed to the Grand Hotel in Malahide, a suburb north of Dublin. The hotel sits right on the ocean, although the lack of surf suggests that the area is well protected from the open sea.
After freshening up, we walk down to the Main Street of this charming little hamlet. Violet enjoys the quaint shops and streets decorated with flowers. As we walk along the sidewalk, we try to figure out whether you drift left or right when approaching another pedestrian. I think it's left here, paralleling the traffic. We stroll back along an estuary leading to the sea. A group of young pre-teens across the street enjoy photo-bombing my attempts to photograph the boats lying at
Estuary
Malahide, Ireland anchor.
The entire group assembles downstairs at 6 pm for a drink and an introduction to the tour. Tony gives us an overview of the tour while we sip drinks of our choice from the extensive bar (in my case, Smithwick's Red). There are 28 people in total in the tour group. There are at least a couple of yanks, but they have Canadian connections. All the rest are indeed Canadian. And a gang of 10 all hail from Labrador City and Corner Brook, NF. They are all friends or relations of a couple celebrating a 30th anniversary. They are going to be trouble–in a good way.
Supper at 6:30 at the Hotel restaurant, an enjoyable table d'hôte. Best dish is the sea bass. Then off to blessed bed.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.279s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 13; qc: 62; dbt: 0.2251s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
Gail MacDonald
non-member comment
Virtual Traveller
Methinks this is the year of travel to Ireland....looking forward to your blogs. HVe a great time!