What a day!!! I woke up at 6:45 to shower and finish packing and get out of the flat by 8am. I was travelling with two friends, Jamie and Leigh, and we were planning on meeting our third companion, Ariel, in Dublin (Ariel had booked a different original flight out of London because our original flight was full, but then her original flight didn't get cancelled and ours did, so she was able to leave London as planned at 8:30 while we had to wait till 11:05). My friends and I made it to Heathrow by 9, went through security and camped out near a tv screen to wait till our gate number was posted at 10:35 (for some silly reason Heathrow doesn't post the gates till half an hour before the flight leaves). At 10:30, we were informed that the flight had been pushed back till 11:20 because of bad weather...then a few minutes later it was pushed back till 11:30. I decided to get a bag of peanut M&Ms to munch on till we landed in Dublin, as it looked like our Irish lunch would have to be postponed till at least 12:30-1pm. Then the flight was pushed back till 11:50! At 11:30, our gate was finally published, so we went running across the airport so we wouldn't be late. We shouldn't have bothered, since the flight we were supposed to be flying out on in 20 minutes hadn't even landed with it's current passengers yet! I decided to eat the whole bag of M&Ms because I was starving. We didn't even get on the plane till close to 1, and because we were so delayed we had lost our spot in line for takeoff, so we didn't even get up in the air till after 2pm!
As if this horrible delay (which destroyed one full day in Dublin for us) wasn't enough, the weather was AWEFUL! Our little plane not only shook sideways, but it made S shapes in the air. I was sicker than I think I've ever been without puking. I came so close to throwing up, I was gagging into the puke bag, though thankfully I was able to hold it in. The worst possible moment was when the pilots announced we were landing...then had to abort the landing because the wind was too bad! We had to make a big loop and try again! When we did go in for the landing, it was incredibly scary and I was gagging the whole time, and people around me were really losing their lunches, so it was not a fun experience. The plane hit the runway WAY too fast, but at least we made it safe. We all applauded when the plane finally stopped moving. We then had to wait until 4:00 for the landing crew to get us settled in, and they didn't turn the plane off so I was feeling pretty darn sick. I got a little better off the plane, but wow did I learn a lesson: no peanut M&Ms in turbulant air! I was able to buy a chicken salad wrap in the Dublin airport, which helped my stomach some, but then the bus ride to the hostel upset it again. I have never been so happy to see a dingy hostel room.
After we had all recovered a bit, we met up with our friend Ariel and set out to enjoy the evening in Dublin, but alas, the weather gods would not let us be. The rain was pouring sideways because of the horrible wind. We set off to find a Thai place recommended by some friends who had visited Dublin the week before. We had no idea what it was called but we somehow managed to find it, but it had run out of food for the day! By this point, we were incredibly depressed. We were stuck in a strange city in the rain, the wind was too strong to use umbrellas, so we all had scarves wrapped around our heads and we were tired and still a bit motion sick. Finally, we decided to stop into a little restaurant we found called "Kitchen" because we were just too exhausted to move on, and it was probably the best decision we made that day. The place was absolutely wonderful. It was a cozy, pretty space with tulips on every table and incredibly friendly, helpful staff. I had the best Caesar salad I've ever had, with fresh home-made dressing and warm bacon. For dessert, we split a blondie (a brownie made with white chocolate) and apple pie and ice cream. The food really perked us up. Thanks to this little restaurant, we were ready to go out and explore.
We decided to look for a pub the guy at our hostel desk had recommended that had live music and Irish dancing. First we explored the Temple Bar district, making plans to return on Saturday night for some serious Dublin-style nightlife. After getting a bit lost, some very helpful Irishers we met on the street helped us find the pub we were looking for. (As a sidenote: the Irish people are SO nice! They are far more friendly and helpful than Brits. For one thing, in London I constantly have to watch out for crazy cars, even on crosswalks, but in Dublin, the cars would stop so I could walk across the middle of the street! I LOVE the Irish!) The bar is on the ground floor of the Arlington Hotel, and it was very pleasant. It's just a typical pub, clean and dark and pubby. I ordered a berry cider that a friend had recommended and it was wonderful. The band was great. There were three guys, one playing bagpipes and flutes, one playing fiddle, and a third who sang and played guitar. They did everything from traditional Irish folksongs to Johnny Cash and American classics. Then the dancers came on, and wow, were they good! There were three women and one man, and they danced for 45 minutes, trading off. They mostly did just classic Riverdance-style pieces, so it was very fun to watch. Then the band played for another hour. We finally returned to our hostel around 11ish. The hostel, called "Abraham House," wasn't bad as hostels go. It wasn't exactly clean or anything, but the sheets were washed. I had 4 beds in my room, but none were occupied when I got home that first night. Around 1:30am one of my roommates got in, which woke me up of course. My friends and I had planned on meeting in the breakfast room right at 7:30 when breakfast was served, and heading out to explore the city before our bus tour began at 10:30. To be continued...
My (empty) hostel room
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