Dublin, Part 2

…We were in Ireland, but the adventure hadn’t ended.

We stepped off the plane, elated that we had made it so far. Since the flight was short, no one had rested much, and there was a general feeling of tired-ness in our group. Inside the airport, we all decided the wisest move would be to sleep. So, we found a nice corner of the baggage claim floor to call ours, and I’m pretty sure I started dreaming two minutes after I put my head on my backpack. We weren’t allowed to stay in our spot for long, though, because a security guard came through and told us “Excuse me… but you aren’t allowed to sleep here.” We got up and apologized, but were all refreshed from the twenty-minute nap. The next order of the day was to find the hostel! Katie had checked Google Maps, and we were about an hour and a half walk from downtown Dublin, so we had decided before hand to walk to the hostel so that we could see more of the city. Although we had written directions to get there, we had no map, and at 8:30am after a night of very little rest and much stress, none of us were thinking very clearly. However, we set off from the airport full of confidence in our abilities to find Dublin. After all, how could we miss it?

We walked alongside the road, enjoying the scenery and appreciating the fact that it wasn’t raining. After walking for nearly an hour, we discovered that we were in a small town called Swords, so we found a place to get breakfast and then explored. We walked around the ruin of an old castle and a park, enjoyed the different architecture, and the Saturday-morning-friendliness. 

After walking around Swords for two hours, we came to the realization that we had walked in the completely wrong direction from the airport to get to Dublin, and we were now two and a half hours away from our hostel. Taking a bus was quickly decided on as the best route at this point, and we all loaded up, ready for the hostel and warmth and sleep. Apparently, all of us were a little too ready for sleep, and all fell asleep on the bus ride into Dublin. It’s a good thing our stop was the end of the line. After a much needed nap at the hostel, we went to dinner at a pub called O’Neills. Hot food and good conversation are the greatest way to unwind from the scheduled-ness of college.

The next day began with several hours of uninterrupted journaling time, which is the other greatest way to unwind when your mind is quite full. Without actually discussing it, the five of us had agreed that this trip was meant to be one where we avoided locking ourselves into any “activities” and where any adventure that presented itself could be pursued. We spent nearly all of Sunday walking around the city of Dublin. We saw street performers and a covered market, had lunch in a cozy cafe away from the main streets, and I took pictures mainly of doors. Ireland has such fun colored doors! 

 Lunchtime was full of good conversation and good food. The best way to describe it that I can think of is "And a good time was had by all", which I'm sure must be a quote from something...but I can't remember what at the moment.

                                                      Katie and I split lunch. Delicious.

                 Coffee is a serious matter after walking in the cold. At least, according to Ryan.

                         However, Austin was not in any way changed from his normal self.

Some of my favorites of the places we saw were Trinity College, St. Stephen’s Green, and the view down the River Liffey in the center of Dublin city. 

 

                                                                   Trinity College

                                             What window is complete without rubber ducks?

                The five of us! From left to right: Katie, Sonya, Ryan, Austin, and Aaron

                                              St. Stephen's Green was completely lovely

                                                The River Liffey, running through Dublin

All in all, a most lovely and relaxing day.

There’s nothing like walking around a city for getting a feel of its life and vibe. More and more, I’m coming to the conclusion that I would love to always live in a city where my primary mode of travel is walking. You have so much more time to see and smell and listen to the sounds of people talking and living around you. Walking around Dublin was a good balance to the studying at Oxford, because walking around a new city reminded me again of how much there is to see and to know in people and culture as well as in all of Oxford's wonderful libraries.

Dublin, Part 1

One night around 3am, there was a group of SCIO students sitting out on a couch who decided that it would be a great idea to go on a weekend trip. Destinations? Any ideas? Dublin was suggested, tickets prices were checked, and plans were made.

These five students were Katie, Ryan, Austin, Aaron, and myself. We picked a flight and got our tickets, well prepared for the most relaxing weekend ever.

We had to check in to print off our tickets the evening before leaving, and as we put in our passport numbers to check in, Katie reminded us all that we needed to bring our passports with us. Our flight left from London at 6:30am on Saturday, and we planned out the bus route we would need to take to get there on time leaving plenty of “wiggle room” between stops (perhaps I should mention that we had planned the bus route at 3am as well…but anyways). The first bus to London left at 12:10am, so we wanted to leave the Vines at 12. At 11:45pm, Austin still hadn't packed, and we had no idea where Aaron was. As we were walking out of the door at The Vines, Aaron came walking in the gate. We told him to hurry up and pack and run to the bus because it was leaving in five minutes, and we headed to the bus stop.  As the bus was pulling up, Aaron came SPRINTING down the street! We cheered, happy that our adventure was going to be so easy.

Little did we know...

The bus ride from Oxford to London is about an hour and a half, and after being on the bus for an hour, Austin sat in the seat behind Katie and I and said that he had forgotten his passport. We spent about five minutes  in a group panic session, because there's absolutely no way that he could get on the plane without his passport, and to catch the 6:30am flight, he wouldn't have enough time to go back to Oxford and then to London and then to the airport. After having the panic session, I remembered that I had my phone! I only have two numbers of people living in The Vines, because most of us don't have phones. I called the first girl, let it ring for five minutes, and she didn't pick up. I called Mer (roommate!), and she did! There was great excitement as she talked to Jared, who agreed to meet up with us in London at Victoria's Station, where our bus was leaving. We enjoyed the rest of the bus ride, sleeping and talking about the undeniable fact that Jared is the awesomest person any of us had ever met.

We got to Victoria's Station, and it was freezing outside, at about 1:30 in the morning. Jared's bus wasn't going to make it to London until 3:15, so we had nothing to do but wait until he got there. There was a tiny Pasty shop outside the station that was heated, and we ended up cramming in there with a bunch of other people to wait. We waited there until 3:10, and then went to the bus station where we had been dropped off, in hopes that we would find Jared there. But... there was no Jared. At 3:30, we decided to start checking different stations, and we ended up getting separated, so that Austin and I ended up in Victoria's Station main, not knowing where Katie, Aaron, and Ryan were. It was 3:45, and we were almost out of time for catching the bus that would get us to Stansted Airport in time to catch our flight.

And then, wonder of wonders, Ryan came running into the station with the passport in his hand! The other three had found Jared, and now we were all together and all in possession of passports. The five of us went to the bus station, and waited for the 4:05 bus to come. We saw it turn down the street, Aaron stuck out his arm, and............The bus didn't stop. We all stared after it in shock for about three minutes. We now thought we wouldn't be able to make it to the airport in time for our flight, so we were trying to come up with second options of action, since it just so happened to be 4am. I remembered that I had a contact in London from my church at home, but in attempting to call my family to get her name, my phone was dropped and was reset, and (of course) I didn’t have my PIN number memorized. With that plan out of the way, we decided to see if we could catch the next bus and still get to the airport on time. 

                                                 Photo credit: http://katiebeth-katie.blogspot.co.uk/

This describes the emotions of all parties pretty accurately....

There was one scheduled to come at 4:25, and we made it on there with no issues. I fell asleep on this bus as well, and when I woke up we were at the airport. It was still freezing outside, so that woke me up some as we rushed into the airport. We weren’t sure where to go, because the airport was organized like a warehouse, and as we pull out our tickets to check, we come to the realization that it is 5:45am and the plane stops boarding at 6. So: We don't know where to go, we don't know what the gate number is, and we haven't gone through security.

But hope is not lost! We’re all so tired at this point that we assume we can probably make it. Perhaps. We figure out where to get our passports checked, and we get in line for security. It is now 5:55. Katie and I ask everyone in the security line ahead of us if we can pass, since our flight is leaving in ten minutes, and everyone lets us. However, Katie forgot to leave her shampoo on top of her backpack, so she gets stopped in security and they take everything out. I had my liquids on top, so I got through, ran to check the gate number, and ran back: "KATIE! I'm going to run to the gate, and make them hold it for us, because the sign says it’s still boarding!" Austin had made it through as well, so the two of us took off to find Gate 53.It was rather crowded, and we were literally running and trying to elbow our way through people to find Gate 53, which ended up being THE FARTHEST gate away from security. Austin and I made it, and there was still a line to board, so we both thought, "We're going to make it!" Katie showed up three minutes later, holding her shoes and most of the contents of her backpack in her arms. The line was starting to thin, and then it was just the three of us with two people ahead and one behind, and still there was no sight of Ryan and Aaron. At this point (first time during the evening) I started to get stressed. I was purposefully stalling while handing the lady my passport and ticket in hopes that they would show up, because by this point we had all decided that if all five of us didn't get on that plane, none of us were getting on that plane. We had just finished getting our tickets checked when Ryan and Aaron ran up, and we all started cheering. Literally.

The British guy behind us was very confused when we all started yelling and cheering "WE'RE GOING TO IRELAND! WE'RE GOING TO MAKE IT!"

Too much emotion, I suppose.

We all made it on the plane though! And we made it to Ireland.