Sunday, 17 December, 2023
Dublin – Kildare – Cork – Ballyvourney, Ireland
After 9 years, I’m finally back in Europe, more specifically Ireland. Here is the journey, video-blogged. A long flight from Seattle to Boston, then a 5-hour layover, another 5+ hour flight to Dublin. We touched down speedily through customs, thanks to Eadaoin’s Irish naturalization, then baggage claim. No lost luggage was a relief. We then twisted our way through the terminal to car rentals with very little info about “Fox” car rentals. Found them as a subsidiary of Europcar. The insurance I paid for on the carrentals.com site was not honored by them, and a long drawn out confusion and high-ticketed options. I did not have the credit buffer to take advantage of. So instead of a 2-week rental, we went with one week so it would fit on the credit card, then extended the rental when the week was over. Had to pay insurance with Europcar. Fighting online to get money back from the carrental.com scam. A week later, no money.
After an hour-long process, I finally got to the curb to await a shuttle to the car rental lot, it took a while to be collected and finally matched up with an economic car. Tricky relearning to drive on the left side of the road; everything flipped inside the car from left to right (gear shift to the left, wipers go from left to right, etc. Once out of the lot, learning the round-a-bouts and flow of traffic, using stick shift again.
We drove south to Cork. I stopped at a Centra for snacks and lunch. Cian got cream puffs he was excited about. Grabbed chicken wings and potato wedges. It was so-so. Lucasade, again, it’s been awhile. Back on the road, remembering to log in online later to pay the toll, we got to our pit stop in Kildare to visit the holy wells of St. Brigid. We went to the Garden well (Christian) and collected water from the well, splashing healing waters on my shoulder and face. Then to the Wayside well (Pagan well) for the same thing. He treated me to one of his cream puffs. It wasn’t anything to write home about. But here I am.
Cian wanted to see the Christmas market in the town square, so we stopped. Eadaoin slept in the car while Cian and I wandered over. Nothing exciting. Took a picture of Brigid’s flame and statue. Then the Reindeer hospital to see Santa and baby reindeer. Back on the road, Eadaoin’s mom wanted me to drop her off at some cafe downtown Cork. It was madness. Really not a place for one to drive when operating on lack of sleep, jetlag, adjusting to driving stick, and driving on the left. It was too busy with many shoppers, and nowhere to park, so I dropped Cian and Eadaoin off at an intersection. They hustled out of the car, and Eadaoin forgot her phone.
Back on the road, I drove up to Ballyvourney to check into the Abbey Hotel. Easy check-in, tired, I pretty much unpacked and went fast asleep. Woke up in the middle of the night to do some client work.
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