(See the pictures for this entry)
Wow, what a day! Or has it been two? Getting used to a seven hour time difference is not an easy, or quick, process. I feel like my body is unsure of itself. Am I hungry, tired, stressed, exhausted, sick, or just ... adjusting. Whatever it is, I'm not a fan. But enough about jet lag; I had an awesome day.
Let's see, I flew out of Chicago at 6PM CST (GMT-6:00) on Wednesday, January 31st. After a seven hour flight, we landed the huge Aer Lingus Airbus 330 at Dublin International. That's right, Dublin. Here I was thinking that I had a direct flight from Chi-town (Chicago) to Shannon Airport, but nope, 7AM GMT finds me sitting in the airplane which has been my unwilling abode for the last seven hours at Dublin's airport. So, after waiting for an hour and a half (three passengers who were supposed to fly on to Shannon got off of the plane and that was cause for a security check of luggage...), we were up in the air on the way to Shannon. I might add that, while we were waiting, the sun slowly rose on an overcast, but beautiful, day. So I got a clear picture of Ireland as we bounced from Dublin (east coast) to Shannon (west coast), minus a large sea of cloud cover. It was so beautiful. I have some pictures, but they don't really do it justice. It was as if we were sailing on an ocean of mist; all around, you could see the peaks of Ireland's "mountains" as islands in this great ocean, and occasionally we'd get a glimpse of the amazingly green countryside below. Whatever enmity I felt toward Aer Lingus at being forced to stopover at Dublin was quickly dissipated as I experienced this surreal scene for the duration of the thirty-minute flight. Awesome!
After dropping down in Shannon, I had a subtle, but deep, feeling of my expectations for this land being fulfilled. It was green, and rainy, and quaint, and sprawling, and just plain beautiful! And I was really, really tired. However, I had not made prior arrangements for lodging, so I proceeded to the lobby of Shannon airport to get my bearings. Luckily, they had free wi-fi (I'd like to see some US airports with free, well, anything, but at least wi-fi), so I could let family and friends know that I had landed safely.
[Funny story here: I knew that I needed to stay awake, so I bought a latte at the coffee shop. Now, those of you who know me know that I love Irish Cream flavoring in my lattes (thanks for introducing me, Kelly). I read on the menu that lattes were €2.15 and flavoring was €0.20 extra, so I asked for Irish Cream flavoring. Well, of course, they don't really refer to it as that in Ireland, so in the confusion I ended up with a shot of Bailey's in my latte. Nice way to start the morning, if you ask me ;-)]
Anyway, I ended up finding a hostel in the town of Sixmilebridge, about 12 km (7 mi) outside of Shannon. Luckily, there's a bus that runs to Sixmilebridge from Shannon. Unluckily, it wasn't going to depart until 4:30PM (remember, this was at about 10AM, and I didn't want to wait around). So, instead, I took the bus to Limerick, then bought a ticket from there to Sixmilebridge. After waiting around the bus/train station in Limerick for about a half-hour, I boarded the bus. And then I quickly made it to my destination of Sixmilebridge ........ is what I'd like to say, but the truth is this: Being naive, I thought that the bus driver would tell me when we were at Sixmilebridge. He did not. So, when we reached the end of the bus ride (Shannon Airport, coincidentally), we realized that I should've gotten off on the third stop, about 30 minutes prior. Great. So, being the nice bus man he was, the driver brought me to the next stop, Shannon Town Center, and pointed out a good pub. After two hours drinking Guinness and eating some home-made chowder (both of which, by the way, combined with my exhaustion and delirium to make me feel sick to my stomach), I was able to catch the last bus to Sixmilebridge and hoof it 200 meters to the Jamaica Inn & Hostel, my new home till Sunday. But, I experienced good craic (pronounced "crack" - it means good times, basically) at the pub talking to the bartender, Donna, and a patron, Conner, along with several other older men and women patrons. Overall, it's been a great day. I can't believe that I'm really, finally here!
P.S. I had high hopes for my Aer Lingus flight - they are, after all, the official airline of Ireland. I had heard that, "As soon as the cabin doors close, the party begins." Not any more. They no longer offer free drinks to celebrate (besides the usual free soda and pretzels) and they charge as much as any US airline for liquor and food. And we didn't get any videos or presentations on Ireland tourism, or really anything Irish. The first movie played was "Robin Hood," for God's sake! Despite these disappointments, the plane was fairly adequate, and the meals were actually pretty good. However, for a taller person like myself, rare is the plane that is comfortable, so I didn't sleep the entire flight :-0.
P.P.S. If you take a really zoomed in look at the map pin location, you can see exactly which part of the building in which I'm staying, room 8. I love Google Maps!
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