Last Weekend I Went Home

This past weekend I went home---well 50% of me did.

As the son of a 100% Irish mother, Ireland has always been a place of enchantment for me. With high hopes going in, I am happy to report that I was not disappointed.

From the people to the culture to majestic rolling hills and coastline, Ireland is a place that all native Irishmen and women must visit. Heck, even if you don’t have an ounce of Irish in you, like my father, Ireland must be at the top of your list.

Our weekend rendezvous with Ireland was jam packed resulting in little to no time for sleep. We departed our apartment at 2:30AM, caught a bus, caught another bus, realized I had forgotten my passport, caught a cab back to my apartment, got dropped off by the cabbie at Baker Street, caught another bus to the airport to catch a 6:30AM plane.

The secret to jet setting around Europe is budget airlines (something I wish we had in the United States). My entire journey to and from Ireland cost me less than a one way ticket on the cheapest airline I know of in the states—Southwest.

How do airlines like Easy Jet or Ryan Air (the one that we took to Ireland) get away with such ridiculous low fees? It’s simple really: They hope that people do not pay attention, are easily persuaded, and yes sometimes forgetful. I’ll explain what I mean.

When you book on Ryan Air for instance, before you officially checkout (with what you know to be a really great deal) they automatically enroll you in services that you do not need. For instance they charge you for insurance, checked luggage, priority boarding, and even food vouchers. If you are not careful, suddenly that 30-pound flight is 60 pounds and Ryan Air wins with their belief that people do not pay attention.

When you get on board the plane essentially becomes a market in a third world country with advertisements gracing the overhead compartments. The stewards and stewardesses literally try to sell you everything---from the morning paper to a Pepsi to a bottle vodka. Not to mention the “Sky mall” type service that they offer. Again this is Ryan Air believing that people are easily persuaded.

If you get past those two obstacles you still aren’t home free. YOU CAN’T FORGET ANYTHING! If you, for instance, forgot your boarding pass—they charge 40 Euros to print off a new one! Ridiculous I know.

Finally, there are some things that you have no control over that Ryan Air doesn’t tell you about: Its liberal conversion policy and hidden processing fee. For one, the airline converts your amount from Euros or Pounds into the currency of your credit card at a rate that is definitely more beneficial to them, allowing them to make some cents of your foreign ignorance. Additionally, Ryan Air charges significant processing fees that I have never seen in the United States.

So with all that as a review would I fly a budget airline again? Absolutely. Ryan Air got me to Dublin and pack and did cheaply (I just had to make sure I was on my A game).

Now before this blog turns into a blog for aviation I better start telling you about our actual trip.

We arrived in Dublin at 745AM in the morning, quickly went through customs, grabbed a bus, and headed for the city. After a quick drop off of luggage at our hostel (more on that later) we embarked on a journey through Dublin.

Our first stop was not that exciting—the bagel factory for a quick, cheap breakfast. I grabbed a smoothie and it was good.

From there we checked out St. Stephen’s Park which was absolutely beautiful before heading to Dublin Castle.
Me in St. Stephen's Park

Upon arriving at Dublin Castle, I was a little bit skeptical. I saw literally no one working, no security guards, and really not many people walking around. How could this be one of the top tourist destinations in Dublin? After ten minutes of waiting outside the doors, I opened one of them up to find a nice woman sitting at a desk apparently waiting to sell tickets (horrible location to sell tickets). We bought them for less than 5 Euros and embarked on our tour. Very quickly my skepticism went away as I was in awe of the history of this place and how it is still used today for ceremonial events like the swearing in of the President and the meetings of major diplomatic figures.

(Me Outside Dublin Castle)

After Dublin castle we were determined to hit up the Cathedral seen—with St. Patrick’s being the main stopping point. For one—I was surprised it was Anglican. Not that there is anything wrong with that—I was just surprised. Upon walking in I was amazed at the history and the beauty of the place. Churches always tend to take my breath away.

After our St. Patrick’s visit, we were hungry. One problem---literally no pubs were open for lunch! We grabbed a Guinness in one pub before eventually deciding upon eating at Eddie Rockets (think Johnny Rockets. Kind of lame I know but it was cheap and open!).



After lunch—I had the energy to hit up another tourist destination but the concensus of the group was nap time…after all we had had no sleep! So we ventured to our hostel which will require some ample writing space.

Our Hostel was called “The Shining”-no joke. After we paid our money (just 10 euros), grabbed our bags and key, we ventured to room 14. We walked in and the place was a mess. Clearly a significant number of people were living there and some it look liked for a long time. A major problem quickly occurred: which beds are ours? They all look dirty? After 5 minutes or so of deciding we finally claimed our resting spot for the night.

I may have taken the creepiest spot. My bunk bed was literally situated next to another bunk. Litterally. As I fell asleep I wasn’t really bothered by this but by the time I had awoken I was. Lying next to me was a French girl in what was her bed. Hello? Her named turned out to be Laura and she actually proved to be quite nice. It was just really akward. I look back and laugh now...I wasn't laughing then.

As we awoke from our much needed rest—it was time for dinner. We ventured to an awesome pub where I had some more Guinness and the best breakfast ever for dinner. It’s true what they say—Irish breakfasts are the bomb.
My Irish Breakfast...Wow was it good.

After a great meal—it was time to check the pub scene with the destination being “Temple Bar.” Let me be clear—I love Irish pub life. Not that I don’t love “British pub life” but there is something different, something special about the nation of green. From pub to pub I found many of the same drinks however I discovered so much more. Irish people love to sing and they sing their hearts out to the live performances. Irish people also are so nice! If there is one downfall to living in the UK, I think it is that British people can be a bit "brash". While some are great, many here in London are, especially with Americans. In Ireland however I felt that love that I know my ancestors once had.

After a while it was time to meet up with Justine and Alyssa from CUA who are studying in Dublin. It was great to meet there friends and check out some places from some “locals.” In short we had a blast!

Upon getting back to the scary hostel—it got even scarier when we noticed people in our room doing things well you shouldn’t do inside. I just covered my head with my dirty blanket and went to sleep.

That blast on Saturday night made Sunday morning difficult, for we had a 8:06AM bus to Galway Ireland. I think the only thing that got us out of bed was the fact we were leaving “The Shining.” We got on just in time and fell right to sleep. When we would awake we would be in Galway.



Me trying to Leave Early Sunday Morning from The Shining

Getting off in Galway around noon, we again went straight to our hostel however this time it looked like we got a winner! Free internet, free use of the computer, free televisions, free coffee, free tee! The best part? Clean beds in which I don’t have to sit next to a strange Frenchwoman! Oh yes Galway was off to a good start. From there we went to St. Nicholas Cathedral and I again was wowed at the beauty of this Catholic Church. I have seen a lot of Catholic churches in my life yet St. Nicholas Cathedral in Galway may be the most beautiful.



The coast was next and wow. Was it ever beautiful. I hope the pictures give it justice because my words certainly won’t. The wonderfulness of Dublin was quickly being forgotten in exchange for the beauty of Galway.





After a quick pub stop and some souvenir shopping, we headed back to the hostel for a nap. Oh that bed felt so good. After we awoke it became clear that we had to find a place to watch the Superbowl! We were very concerned because we had seen it advertised absoloutly no where. Our Canadian friend who was working the desk called around and found a place for us to watch it. There was less than a dozen people in the bar, most of them didn’t no the rules, but the 2010 Superbowl will always have a special place in my heart because of where I watched it and who I watched it with.

After the game we ventured to bed to awake early again on Monday morning to grab the bus to take us back to Dublin. Again we slept on the bus so it didn’t turn out to be so bad. We got back to Dublin and immediately went to the Guinness Storehouse where we had an awesome time and the perfect pint of Guinness at the end of the trip. Afterwords we had to race across town because our friends from CUA had arranged a tour for us of Irish Parliament. It is so amazing to compare and contrast governments and the Irish Parliament tour was really great.

My friend Tim and I Enjoying Our Perfect Pint of Guinness from Guinness HQ

After a final pint of beer with our friends, it was time to head back to London. We grabbed a cab to catch our flight back to the UK. We arrived back in our apartment around 11PM Monday Night, amazed at the weekend we had and the incredibleness of Ireland.

Wow---that was a lot of writing. It’s certainly easier just to vlog---put a camera in my face and its done. But writing is still my preferred medium and I hope you enjoyed my thoughts.

Till next time,

Joe