My Trip to Ireland Part I: Arrival

By Amanda Hughes from Taking Chances TX

Before I even arrived on the Emerald Isle, I knew I would be exposed to a lot of differences from my home country (and by home country I mean Texas, of course). However, I didn’t expect the differences to begin at the airport and I certainly didn’t expect them to begin in the bathroom…see the toilet in the slideshow above. That’s right, the first picture I took on this trip was of a toilet in the Dublin International Airport. It just looked, well, strange to me. So I took a picture. And now you know what a toilet in Ireland looks like.

After taking the above picture, I changed into more appropriate attire. Dublin was a good 40 degrees cooler than San Antonio (even at the end of May) and let’s just say, it was a welcome change to walk down the sidewalk and not feel like it was sautéing me. At the same time, walking around Dublin in the normal uniform for Texas in the month of May (t-shirt, shorts, and flip-flops) would have sent me into hypothermia within three steps outside of the airport, so a change of clothes was definitely necessary.

Then came the hell that is known as currency exchange. If you think you’re financially strapped in our country, then I don’t recommend a trip to any country within the EU anytime soon (or the UK). I seriously had to pick my jaw up off the exchange counter when the $100 I handed over came back to me at a much lower denomination and minus a processing fee. It was like being at a gas pump when gas was almost $5 a gallon – that kind of feeling (you know, the bent over one). Taken advantage of doesn’t even begin to cover how this experience felt. Once I semi recovered from the sticker shock, we were on our way to locate the bus that would take us to Cork. I was pretty disappointed when we were told we would not be taking this one (see slideshow)……cause, come on, how fun would it be to ride around Ireland in this bus? But alas, it wasn’t meant to be.

I wish I could tell you the bus ride to Cork was breathtaking, magical, and filled with awe at the beauty of the natural landscape. I’m sure it was every bit of those descriptions, but I fell asleep and slept pretty much the whole way there (thanks a lot jet lag). All I managed to stay awake for was this (view from bus).In case you forgot what that is, that’s rain. Don’t worry, I had forgotten what it looked like too. We did stop for lunch on the way to Cork and you know I did wake up for that (those that know me best know I don’t miss a meal). And so, in the sweet little town of Cashel we weary travelers stopped for a bite to eat and to take in some of the sights, which included, A charming street in Cashel, An old castle, the Rock of Cashel, a street sign in Gaelic and English, oh and lunch!

The Irish clearly have their priorities in order. I’m seriously considering opening one of these in San Antonio (News and Booze drive-thru) Although we only spent a couple of hours in Cashel, I really enjoyed the visit. It was the beginning of a dream come true. With a heavy heart, I got back on the bus (I seriously could have stayed there the entire trip – it was like Jewett, only much more charming) and promptly fell back asleep. Waking up to the vision of our hotel both startled and relieved me. Believe it or not, I didn’t take any pictures of the hotel (oops). So in lieu of personal pictures, here’s a link to The River Lee Hotel:

http://www.doylecollection.com/locations/cork

The rest of this first day was pretty uneventful. I ordered room service and was not expecting my 7-Up to come in a glass bottle, but it was a pleasant surprise.