(L) We weren't feeling too bad by the time we got to Dubai, apart from the fact that we both felt like we could use a shower. The wait here was very short - by the time we'd got off the A380, made our way downstairs to the security point and through to the gate we really only had time for a quick joosh up and to insert the travel sim I had bought from (once again) datago.com. I'm happy to say all we had to do was pop it in and turn the phone back on... they take 10 to 30 minutes to activate so by the time we arrived in Dublin they were up and running. 

The Dubai to Dublin leg was only around 8 hours so a short one ... well compared to the last leg anyway! The only problem is that we are now back in cattle class, and yes that is a very appropriate term for it. I've flown on 777's before but this was an older model and was showing it's age. The entertainment systems (apart from being a quarter the size of the ones we'd just spent 14 hours in front of) were rather dodgy - let's just say the touch screens were more like touch repeatedly or bash screens. I did feel a bit sorry for the people in front of us because I'm sure they must have felt like they had a woodpecker attacking them from behind!

The food wasn't too bad though the service was atrocious in comparison to our previous experience. Honestly the flight attendants spent more time down the back in the galley chatting (loudly) than they did doing anything else, none of them were overly friendly or welcoming either.

Once in Dublin we breezed through immigration and customs... customs? what customs? as with our arrival at Heathrow and Athens in 2013 there seemed to be no customs officers in evidence at all. 

We had already decided we'd buy the Freedom Pass from Dublin Bus, (that's the Green Bus) at €33 each it gave us return Airlink Bus from the airport and 3 days HOHO plus a few other extras. It's really easy to find - straight out the door and down the escalator to the left where there is an automated machine to buy the tickets. We didn't have to wait more than 5 minutes for the bus which took around 30 minutes into the city and luckily the O'Connell Street stop was only a couple of blocks from our Hotel. 

It was just after 12.30 when we got to our hotel, The Arlington Hotel, and thank goodness the room was ready so we were all checked in and in our room by about 12.45. Both of us had really quick showers, we weren't going to but we'd been in transit for 30 hours so we both felt in desperate need of a freshen up before heading out as we have tickets to a 2.15pm tour of the Kilmainham Goal. Unfortunately in the state we were in it took 3 attempts to leave the room, well we left but had to return for forgotten items like Debs wallet with our bus tickets in it and then I decided I needed some glass cleaning sachets.... anyway.... by the time we walked up through Temple Bar to the bus stop it was just pulling out and we had to wait for nearly half an hour for the next one. I'm not sure why because the buses are supposed to come every 15 minutes!!

Finally the bus arrived around 10 to 2 but as luck would have it, and being a HOHO (that's Hop on Hop off for you MUM!!), it took nearly 25 minutes to get there so we raced in for our 2.15 tour just before 2.30!! The staff there were amazing, the guy at the door got on his walkie talkie and then just told us to go "down this hall and 2nd door on right" and so we raced off down there to be met by another guy that then told us to wait a few minutes and he'd get us to the tour group. He then got on his walkie talkie and spoke to the tour guide and then raced us up stairs,down corridors and round corners until we found our group! Great service and all lovely friendly staff, I would definitely recommend this tour, it's a pre booked only tour as it sells out but is only €7 and well worth it. It tells the story of the 14 men executed for their part in the Easter uprising of 1916 and the hardships faced by the Irish people during the famine.... and so much more. 

From here we jumped back on the HOHO and had a long discussion on what we should do next... then of course we did the exact opposite of what we'd decided! The bus goes through Phoenix Park which is gorgeous expanse of open woodland that was originally opened as a private deer hunting park for King Charles the 2nd in 1662 ( wow that just blows my mind ) and is huge ( 1752 acres or 707 hectares ... another wow! ). We had intended to stay on the bus all the way "home" but when the driver start extolling the virtues of Ryan's Victorian Pub (a Dublin fixture since 1886) we decided we really should get out and investigate, especially as he had mentioned how good the Guinness is there..... well we've been in Dublin now at least 5 hours and haven't partaken of the cities own brew so this just had to be corrected immediately! This one's for you D.O.D!

Guinness consumed and out into the surprisingly chilly late afternoon breeze but thankfully before too long.. but long enough, we were once again on the bus homeward bound. We were both hungry and fading fast so a quick stop to the room to get another layer of clothes on and we retraced our steps to the first bus stop of the morning where we had noticed UMI Falafel. This is a place I had seen whilst doing some research so I was rather pleased that we had just happened upon it this morning. We had a quick bowl of soup and ordered takeaway salads as we wanted to get back to relax and start writing the blog. Well "all good plans" etc.... we got back to the room, I'd say around 6.30ish, I sat on my bed with my computer, as did Deb, and one minute I was talking to her and the next minute I'm jolted awake by Deb saying something to the effect of "Are you KIDDING me??" apparently I was talking to her and fell asleep mid sentence... not only that but 2 seconds later I was snoring!! Hahaha, in my defence we had had a pretty epic 48 hours!!


(D) Our stopover in Dubai was unfortunately short really; the terminal we were in was huge and stunning and I would imagine a long layover there wouldn’t be too much of a hardship to endure as there appeared to be heaps around with which to amuse oneself.
In our case though we went straight to our connecting gate and whiled away the short wait whilst sporadically chatting. Our main topic of conversation was primarily about how wonderful business class had been and how little we wanted to regain our places amongst the hoi polloi of economy. How quickly we were won over by the seductive powers of luxury – shallowness thy name is Debra and Liane!

We also set up and played around with the international roaming sim cards Liane had pre purchased for us, she will no doubt provide more of the nitty gritty on them. It took us a bit to get them sorted and there was occasional swearing about the frustrations of modern technology as we weren’t quite sure whether to have this or that switched on etc etc but all in all in wasn’t too complicated and by the time we arrived in Dublin it was all systems go so whatever buttons we’d pressed/choices we’d made we’d figured it out in the end!

After much too-ing and fro-ing of shall we this or, should we that (luckily Liane and I are two peas in a pod when it comes to this sort of behavior as we’d drive a sane person mad!) we had decided months ago to pre-book a tour of the Kilmainham Gaol for 3 hours after we flew into Dublin. That may sound crazy to some but we figured that given we were arriving at 11am it would be good to have a) a plan in place so we didn’t immediately crash and waste the little time we’d allocated to Dublin by sleeping instantly and b) the decision making part would already be done so we weren’t doing one of our interminable deciding processes whilst punch drunk on travelling.

Incidentally Liane and my very special form of working out what we want to do has it’s infancy in our childhoods – we would regularly spend HOURS on very convoluted lists and scoring systems etc to determine what game we wanted to play…… only to, on a depressingly regular basis, ultimately crunch the numbers to discover the “winner” and then look at each other and agree that neither of us really wanted to play that after all! We have refined our systems somewhat so we do arrive at mutual satisfaction about our plans but we still spend an inordinate amount of time debating it all……I’m missing my fabulous Gwendoline again on this trip now as I remember how she found Liane and my “planning chats” quite bemusing in Greece!

We were fortunately able to get into our room at the Arlington Hotel straight away and as we were feeling grubby both had lightening fast showers before hitting the bus stop for the trip to the Gaol. We’re blaming the tiredness, rather than old age, for the fact we had to make two trips back to the room to retrieve forgotten, important, things and subsequently we JUST missed a bus and then had to wait for the next one.

Liane and I are both rather philosophical travellers though so we reassured each other that if we were late then so be it – we’d just look around outside etc and the toodle off somewhere else. As it was when we arrived they were really friendly and helpful and said we could join our tour group at a certain point along the way, then arranged that via walkie talkie for us and a friendly guide hustled us along to the rendezvous.

Doing a gaol tour is probably not something I’d do in general, last time I was in Dublin it didn’t even cross my mind but when Liane first suggested it I was more than happy to go along and I’m glad we did it. I’ve read a bit about Irish history so knew the basics but I found the tour interesting and moving, particularly in relation to the Easter Rising in 1916, the leaders of which were held and executed by firing squad at Kilmainham Gaol. The guide was passionate and engaged in the topic and it was an informative and well run tour.

After the tour was over and we engaged in our usual this/that/maybe/change our minds a million times back and forth chatter we decided to then stop and raise a glass of Guinness in memory of our lovely Dad at Ryan’s pub. It’s a gorgeous old-school, un-spoilt, tiny pub near Phoenix Park that the hop on hop off bus driver had recommended. The Guinness was creamy and delicious and the pub was lovely so it was a good choice all around!

Whilst waiting for the bus in Dame Street we noticed a great looking vegetarian falafel place so made our way back there to have something to eat then grabbed a bottle of wine to take back to the hotel. As it was we were too tired to partake – Liane crashed by 7pm and me by 8pm, both exhausted by our epic journey but happy with our first day in Dublin.