August 01, 2019: Dublin, Ireland

We had a very nice direct overnight flight from Vancouver to Ireland so landing here at about 8:30am this morning. Now the battle to stay awake the full day, ha, good luck. I had pre purchased Airlink direct bus tickets (the 747) and 48 hour HOHO (Hop On Hop Off), so getting into the city was slick and easy - the hotel was only a few blocks from the stop, perfect. We are at the lovely, Castle Hotel, where to our surprise our room was ready for us to occupy, huge bonus as it was only about 9:30. I was planning on leaving our luggage with the front desk until the 2:30 pm check in time. So, we were able to fully unpack and get ourselves organized for our 6 days here. 

And what are we doing here in Ireland you may be asking, well a good friend’s daughter is getting married here just outside of Dublin. We were very happy to be invited and we are very happy to be able to make it the wedding and the festivities. Tomorrow we have a city walk organized, then the wedding on Saturday, followed by a Wicklow mountain easy hike on Sunday. We have Monday to ourselves and are planning a zoo visit. Then from Tuesday for about 12 days we have rented a car to really get to know Ireland a bit by doing about a half circumnavigation around the Emerald Island. So looking forward to another wonderful adventure. Now this time I only have my iPad, sooo, this app is not the best and I am anticipating a bit of frustration with it but I will prevail and work through its shortcomings (he say now with relaxed jet lagged confidence - we will see).

We grabbed a lunch at one of the many restaurants here at the hotel and then walked about a half block for our jump on and 48 Hour activation of the HOHO. For those of you playing along at home, it is best to bring your voucher to the bus information desk at the airport to exchange for actual tickets. This can save a hassle and a step later on. The HOHO is a great way to get an overview of any city, the routes are planned around all the highlight tourist spots giving you the option to jump off and explore what you may be interested in. For us we hopped off at the National Museum (Free), for about an hour walkabout, we then hopped back on to complete the entire route. Okay so now we are oriented, very tired but we know the lay of the land. Back at the hotel by about 6, for an early dinner and a power nap. We will see what happens tonight.

Here are a few pics of our day, hope you enjoy. We also hope that you will enjoy this land tour with us as armchair travellers. For those new to the blog, welcome, hope you enjoy what we are presenting to you and perhaps pick up a few travelling tips while following along. Cheers