One Hour in Dublin - The Road Trip Begins!

My first road trip in another country.  My friend Angie and I were pretty excited to be here as we had been talking about this since our trip to England.  If you are going to go to Ireland, drive it.  That is if you have the cajones.  The roads are scary as they are small and not always in the best condition.  Still, it was totally worth
the moments when we both thought we were going to plummet off of a mountain due to an over sized tourist bus cutting in to out lane!

Finally a trip of a lifetime for the fifth or sixth time in my life!  Look, anytime I travel I get excited, but I have to say that for Ireland I was pretty stoked.  My friend Angie and I had decided that hanging out in Dublin wasn't enough.  We decided we were going to go all Lewis and Clark and drive all around the Southern area of Ireland as it would be a lot of fun and a great way to see the countryside. Well, yes and no.  Anyone who has driven in Ireland understands what we went through, but I am getting ahead of myself.

First off, we started in Dublin to pick up our rental car as we would be ending our Ireland adventure there.  Surprisingly enough customs in Dublin was relatively painless.  It was quick, efficient and the people were very nice.  Maybe we didn't wait long because when we had landed in Dublin at the butt crack of dawn, still it was fast so I was pleased.

I have to say, I was very tired, despite being excited to be there.  The flight had been one of the worst experiences of my life.  First off, I had rude people behind me who put their feet up on my chair the whole time and kept kicking it when they would move their feet.  When I tried to put my seat back to try to sleep (I can't sleep well on planes), they pushed it back up and told me I couldn't do that.  I made the point that they had reclines theirs, so what was their issue?  They complained they wouldn't be able to put their feet up comfortably.  Are you kidding me?  They weren't going to budge, so unfortunately a stewardess had to be called over for something that is common sense and common courtesy, or one would think.  She looked at them like they were on crack and told them to move their feet now.  I got a few swift kicks to the back of the seat after that.  There is a special place in hell for people like that!

Finally, I was beginning to drift off to sleep when we hit the worst turbulence ever!  I am not kidding, EVER!  It started out pretty bumpy, but got to the point where the crew had to sit down and buckle up.  Then we began to drop several feet at a time making my stomach drop.  Okay, that was bad, but I could handle it, right?  No!  The next thing I knew the plane would dip several feet and then turn on it side and then correct itself.  Not once, but several times before it would start to be thrown about and dipping again.  Everytime it would dip and roll people would have a look of horror on their face.

I couldn't take it anymore!  You could feel the unease of the situation.  Finally, the annoying people behind me took their feet off my chair and went into fetal position.  At least there was one positive.  People were getting up to use that bathrooms to throw up and the guy next to me was freaking out and downing the 3 vodkas he had ordered, spilling the left over ice all over my carry on.  The guy was not all there to begin with so I was not going to yell at him, especially since we all thought we were going to die.

A Familiar Sitght!

The good news is, we didn't, but I won't lie, I thought it was all over for me and I tried to sleep so I wouldn't see death coming.  All I could think of was the show Lost and how I hoped I would be one of the survivors. I began scanning the plane for a Sawyer look alike, but feared I would be stuck on an island with the seat kickers instead!  Yes, that was the worst and longest flight of my life, folks.  I couldn't get off of the plane fast enough and was actually looking forward to customs for once.

After customs, we headed over to retrieve our car which ended up costing a small fortune.  Just a little FYI, when you rent a car in Ireland know that it will cost much more than it would in the states or anywhere else.  The reason for this is the roads are small and not in the greatest shape the further you get away from the major cities.  It is very easy to blow out a tire, rip off a car mirror or scratch the car, all which you will pay for dearly if you are not insured.  For us this was not an option, especially with the US Dollar as weak as it had been lately.

Now, actually driving the car is another matter.  It really isn't that bad once you get the hang of it.  When you first get into the drivers seat on the opposite side from American cars it is very strange.  I kept trying to buckle my seat the opposite way out of habit, which made Angie laugh.  That and getting used to the controls on the left threw me off more than the actual driving.  The best way to make it work is to pretend you are driving on a one way and ignore the traffic on the opposite side.  Well, imagine it being a One Way until you have to turn.  Remember, "left" is your friend in Ireland. 

Who Knew it Had Infected Ireland

When we pulled out of the airport and began our first jaunt in the car my first impression of Dublin was that it was pretty small and not city like at all!  The traffic stunk, as it was rush hour, but nothing like NYC.  In fact, it was very suburban like more than city.  It didn't look anything like the photos I had seen online and I was concerned we wouldn't find a lot to do when we returned. It turned out that we had somehow gotten off the M50 and were taking an alternative road that was away from downtown.  Ah, now it was making sense.  I still don't know where we were, but in the long run, we skipped the toll on the M50, so life was good!

Our trip was now underway and we were getting comfortable so we flipped on the radio and got onto the N1.  Our first stop Kilkenny!