There was a new and refreshing start to the day today - no hangover! Hello morning! The refreshment didn't last long though, because after eight 'rejuvenating' (who am I kidding) days in Barcelona, this morning we were up early for an 11:10am flight to Dublin, to be sure to be sure. At least with a flight I could appear less backpacky. As my pack gets checked on to a plane, and we're too frikking lazy to catch public transport anywhere and instead opt for a taxi, the length I had to cart it today was minimal. So I zipped away the back straps, utilised its uber cool wheels, and presto - I have a wheely bag, NOT a backpack! We checked out and left the hotel at about 8am. There's something about flying that makes us feel we've gotta be super super ridiculously early to the airport! Oh yeah, we're flying with Ryanair, whose reputation precedes it about processes, so that's probably what it is! Still, we arrived and had checked in epically early at the airport! Worse, the free wifi only lasted 30 minutes! Eek, what the hell was I supposed to do for the other two and a bit hours? But we busied ourselves with some coffee, and Daniel and Dad some food - I wasn't feeling it, I think a couple of weeks of eating and drinking bad was getting to me a bit, so I felt a bit sick. The most pleasing thing about the whole wait though was the fact we had to go through border control! Finally, we got another stamp in our passport! Thank you Spain for realising the importance of borders! Lucky the flight was only three or so hours, because wow, it was squashy! I managed to spend a heap of time blog writing (blogging?), I think it was about Paris (which gives you an indication of how behind I am), and generally being squashed. Daniel was actually able to sleep; a minor miracle in itself considering his legs would've still been squashed even if the two seats in front of him were removed! Lanky but sleepy p**** When we touched down in Dublin, we were so excited to be in a country where English was their first language again! Only it wasn't! All the signs were bilingual, with what I think was Celtic. Worse, English was relegated to second on the signs! Not even the Dutch did that! It didn't matter anyway, English was basically it, although the strength of the accent would make me reconsider it as being classified as English. Seriously I felt less confused in Paris with some people! Better still, they stamped our passports again in Ireland when we landed - that's two new stamps in one day, to be sure to be sure! Once we were out, we jumped in a taxi to take us into town to our accommodation. This was the first indication of how friendly the Irish were! Our driver couldn't stop talking, he loved being engaged in conversation, and told some really funny stories! He warned us of pick-pocketing, and recalled a time he was in France and his tour guide warned him that the pick-pocketers were really good at what they do. So he took his pants off at the next stop, and when the guide asked what happened, he replied with 'those pick-picketers are good'! When we went past the cemetery, he welcomed us to the 'dead centre of town'. Sort've corny I know, but really appreciated from an old taxi driver! He pointed us out to a heap of sights too, and described a major sporting grand final, hurling, that was being played in Dublin today (more on that later), before dropping us off at our hotel. He was just super friendly, it was so nice! We checked in, and it was the same story. I reckon the lady behind the desk was at pains to keep us happy. She checked us in, got us a map, and wrote down everywhere she recommended! Plus she said 'three' and 'thirty' a lot, which is so funny hearing from somebody Irish! Hehe! By mid afternoon we were in our room and settled! Finally for the first time on our trip, our accommodation had tea and coffee making facilities in the room. It didn't take Dad long to utilise this; I reckon we'd been in the room a collective total of 20 minutes before he had the jug filled and was making himself a cuppa, maybe even his second. You'd think he was more British than Dutch. After he relished in that, we headed out to explore Dublin. We were right in town so didn't have far to go. Holy **** there are a lot of pubs!!! I mean we'd heard there was, but in my imagination I never ever thought there could be this many! Not just that, but the river had a can floating along it, and a Guinness truck seemed to just keep circling the city centre! A town built on booze - awesome! As I hadn't eaten all day, we found a nice little pub by late arvo to go and get a snack and a beer. We were also interested in this hurling game we'd heard about from our taxi driver. The pub we found was awesome, downstairs under street level, and was packed with people there to watch the hurling. They were all so friendly too! I can only describe this game as being similar in atmosphere to the Irish as footy is to us. It was the grand final, a full house of 80,000 people had packed into Croke Park, all the pubs were full with spectators. Except the game itself was totally insane, absolutely ridiculous! They flick around this hard baseball sized ball using a wooden spoon, on a soccer sized pitch using rugby looking goals. If it goes over, it's one point; under is three! I've never seen something so quick in my life (apparently it's the quickest team sport in the world). And hitting that ball with that spoon, I don't know how they don't belt each other, but they don't! And they hit it so long and so accurately. A hundred metres out from goal? No matter, I'll just twist and hit and it'll go through. And it always did! Worse; despite this being played in front of a full house, and beamed across the country to packed pubs, the players don't get paid. They're regarded as amateurs, and do it purely for the love of the game. It's insane! Anyway, as much as I was clueless, the game was pretty exciting, and it was fun watching the pub erupt. With 10 seconds to go, it looked like one team had scored the winner, and half the pub erupted. But the referee checked the video replay and saw it didn't go through, and the other side erupted, meaning the game ended in a draw. But here's the thing, they don't play extra time, or next week. No no, the replay is held a few weeks later! So I'll never know who ends up winning the game! Bloody Irish, too friendly to declare a winner! After the game, we went for more of a walk through the city. It's small, but really pretty! All of the pubs seem to have live music, with music filling the streets as we walked around. But it turns out that there are a s***load of buskers in the street, I guess maybe because it's Sunday, and it's not quality pub music to drink a beer to, it's ****** buskers that will send you alcoholic. But oh well, it's probably a good place to be an alcoholic! As I still wasn't feeling that great, we headed back to the hotel for a rest. I decided that that was enough for me today, and I think Dad and Daniel did too, so we settled down for the night. It was good having English tv to do that to, although I put my headphones in and wrote a bit! Afterwards, Dad and Daniel went for a night time wander, while I relaxed on the bed. When they returned, we called it a night, knowing an early one would do us well. Day 1 Dublin done (say that 10 times over quickly) - to be sure to be sure!