Dublin Lovin

About a week ago Mitch and I went on our first adventure outside out the U.K. to see our friends in Dublin, Ireland! We got to the train station around 5 pm and were sitting on the bench just waiting for the train to come and take us to the airport. We noticed that the train we were supposed to take wasn’t listed on any of the departure boards so we decided to check the online tickets. Well it turns out I can’t do math…big surprise…and the ticket actually said 16:09 which I thought was 5:09. So after this horrific discovery I leapt off of the bus bench and ran down to the ticket booth. The man at the ticket counter looked a little bit afraid as I charged up to the counter and demanded to know when the next train to Bristol was, but he hesitantly gave me the information that I needed and we were able to catch a train out to Bristol and we finally got started on our journey! We had to ask a lot of people for help but we found our way and got to the airport an hour before our flight took off. As we waited in the airport we saw a plane come into the gate near us and I realized that our plane was probably going to be one of those planes where you have to walk outside to get on it like you see in movies. This got me pretty excited because I have never walked on or off a plane like that before so it was just cool. Apparently with the airline we were flying on you don’t get assigned seats and you just pick whatever seats you want so luckily we were able to get two seats next to each other. Now im not sure how many of you have ever flown on Ryanair before but they sure do try to get you to buy a lot of stuff. As soon as we got on the plane they were offering us raffle tickets and magazines and they were selling all kinds of food and drinks on the plane. Obviously all over priced so we didn’t buy anything. This went on for the entire flight and I was surprised when we landed because I hardly noticed being on a plane with all of the selling going on. So we waltzed right off the plane and into Ireland, hopped on a bus and went to find our friends! Luckily there was Wifi on the bus because my phone was not letting me contact them to let them know that I had landed. So after sending out a desperate plea for help on facebook they got my message and we were able to meet them at the bus stop! Many hugs later and we were on our way to their apartment to put our stuff down and catch up. So we stayed up until around 2 am just talking and laughing until we realized that we wanted to get up early and we would actually need to get sleep in order to do that. So Nicole, Olivia and Laura showed us into their apartment where we would be staying for the weekend. The next morning we went out to eat at a cute little café called Queen of Tarts and we had some really good scones! My favorite! We then got to explore all around the city of Dublin, see all of their favorite places and learn some of the history of the area. It was really interesting to see how similar Cardiff and Dublin are. Both are very Urban but at the same time they have parks and very friendly communities. I really enjoyed seeing all of the street performers because it reminded me of Burlington so much. The only thing that was missing was Chair Guy. He’s great. So we got to see all of the cool shops and restaurants in the area as well as St. Stephan’s Green which was super pretty. Well aside from the fact that we almost died a very tragic pigeon death. Teagan, our fearless tour guide, thoughtfully avoided the masses of people blocking one path and took us down a different pat along the pond thing. Little did we know that it was slam jammed packed with pigeons. I really don’t know what’s with the pigeons here but they just fly right atcha. The other day I was just walking and I swear a pigeon almost landed on my head. I think it actually touched my hair. So anyway we had to make our way through the pigeons all over the path and we got stuck behind the SLOWEST moving woman who really appeared to enjoy the pigeons. Meanwhile all of us were whimpering and just making panicked noises as we crept through the pigeon mass. I think by the time we made it past the slow woman we were all running as fast as we could away from the horrible pigeons. I never knew that I was afraid of pigeons but I guess when you get real close to something like that you learn a lot about your self real fast. So before…after….I think this might be out of order but im going with it. At SOME POINT we got milkshakes. They were heavenly. I got a Galaxy caramel chocolate bar flavored one and for those of you who have never had a galaxy bar….you need to. Best chocolate bar out there. Hands down. So after walking just about everywhere in Dublin we were kinda tired. So we went back to the apartment and Mitch and I tried to plan as many of our trips as we could so we could try to meet our friends in other countries. This was a very long and stressful process but knowing that we will be able to tour some pretty awesome cities with our friends is well worth the stress. After doing all of this it was already dinner time. We eventually settled on a place to eat after asking around and internet searching. I believe the place that we ate at was called Porterhouse and it was awesome. We all walked in and were a little confused because it just looked like a bar, no tables or anywhere to eat really. A waiter eventually noticed our confusion and asked us if we needed help. After informing him that we had a reservation he took us to our table upstairs (The place was huge!) and we were able to start our dining experience. And what an experience it was…we made structures out of the coasters, took weird pictures that blinded us and just drew to much attention to ourselves in general. The food was absolutely delicious at the restaurant. I got a really good burger and we all split a piece of cheesecake and a Belgian waffle with ice cream for dessert. SO GOOD. After dinner we made our way back to the apartment to watch Pitch Perfect. Oh, and I got to take a bath which was awesome. I am a total bath person and living with my pod shower just wasn’t working too great. So I finally felt like a real human again after my bath and was ready to just relax and finish up our plans for our trips while watching our movie. The next morning we went out to breakfast at a really cool place called Bewley’s. We were all super excited about getting pancakes because we hadn’t had them in so long but when our orders came we soon realized they were not the same pancakes we were used to at home but they were still very good and overall the restaurant was another winner! After breakfast we were a little rushed getting to the bus stop to take us back to the airport.  However once we got there we realized we were a little early and had time to chat before we had to say goodbye. Once we saw the bus coming we started to say our goodbyes until we hear “Last call for the airbus” so we turned to get on the bus. Well apparently the bus driver woke up on the wrong side of the bed..or the floor because he was not pleasant. He shut the door in our faces and started to drive away. Well let me tell you what, I was not having any of that so I put my had on the door and held up our ticket. He did the mime for talking back at me..you know the one with your hand like the N’SYNC “Bye bye bye” lyrics. So he eventually opened the door and was like “yap yap yapping away..” I didn’t say anything in response I just got on the bus and found a seat. As the bus started to drive away we sadly waved goodbye to our friends and got together all of our stuff that we needed for the airport. Eventually the grumpy driver announced that we were at terminal 2. Not knowing what terminal we were supposed to be at we just read the signs and figured out that it was not the one we wanted so we just stayed on the bus until the next stop. Well mr. grump pot decided not to announce this terminal so the next thing we heard was “Are you going to stay on my bus forever?” Now we were completely flustered and it didn’t help that some woman kept asking us what terminal was and wouldn’t accept the fact that we didn’t know which one it was either. I stood up to get off of the bus while simultaneously trying to zip up my backpack and I guess I missed the dip in the floor which turned out to be a random set of stairs leading to the bus bathroom and I just totally fell all the way down the stairs. The very insistent woman was just like “OH MY GOD ARE YOU ALRIGHT?” I just said yes and rushed off the bus, said thank you to the very grumpy driver and limped into the airport. We got our tickets stamped, went through security and waited to board the plane home. After a plane ride, bur ride, train ride, bus ride and another train ride we made it back to Cardiff! It was such a great weekend and I cant thank my friends enough for showing us around the city!! First big trip=SUCCESS! More to come soon! Oh also, the crossing lights make weird noises. That is all.