We flew directly from San Francisco to Dublin.  We had a whole row of center isle seats to ourselves so we spread out and had some rest during the flight.  We arrived to very cold weather, picked up our car for hire and headed to the hotel.  Our goal was to stay up until nightfall so that we would have some sort of a normal sleeping schedule.

We pretty much took turns having urgent needs or moodiness.  Hunger, needing to use the bathroom, being completely exhausted, being super crabby, freaking out about driving on the left side of the road, etc.  But that was fine, because it seemed to happen that when one was having a spell the other was calm and patient.  So we made it through.  We went in search of food and some sort of orientation toward the city center.  We saw a Tesco so stopped there for food.

While navigating our temporary neighborhood we took in some of the local color:  clusters of young boys in school uniforms up to no good.  Their shenanigans left me feeling quite sympathetic for Irish girls and women!  David noticed that pretty much all the walls had some sort of armory: barbed wire, razor wire, glass shards sticking out of the stones.  So we had a sense to be on our guard and steer clear of groups of boys.

Eventually we made it into the city center.  We had a look around, bought a few things that I needed now that I knew the duration of the trip, went to the visitor center to decide what touristy things to do, had a snack and returned to the car, which to our dismay had a boot on it.  These Irish don’t mess around when it comes to overstaying your welcome in a parking place!  So David went off in search of a phone to call and pay and free our car.  I stayed in the car since it was cold and rainy.

Then we headed off in search of a store to buy warmer clothes.  Another adventure in Dublin life.  First we arrived at a mall that I’d seen when we were traveling from the airport to the hotel.  The site itself was fancy, but the stores were really basic, sort of like Target.  So it was kind of a weird juxtaposition.  Whenever I go to a place like that I wonder how they stay in business, it did seem a bit slow there as the Irish economy has been in the soup with the rest of us.  Anyway, we found some possibilities but found out about another REALLY big mall so decided to head there for more options.  It was basically a big outlet center with huge stores and hardly any people.  Stuff was pretty expensive, but David managed to find a warm jacket for 30 euro and I found a fleece for 20 euro which in the long run helped a bit but not completely.  There we had one of our first run ins with the the credit card problem that would follow us throughout the journey:  all cards in Europe have a chip and many merchants have changed their readers to accommodate the chip instead of the magnetic strip that US issued cards have.  Yikes, tourists from the US come ready to spend and they can’t!  What’s a consumer to do???

We stopped at an Italian place so that I could get one more meal before bed, my appetite was all wonky with the transcontinental travel.  We made it to bedtime, and wouldn’t you know it, I was pretty wide awake whereas David was pooped!  Our sleep schedules seemed to reverse for the duration of the trip, I would stay up late and read and David would konk out.  I’d be content to stay in bed until 1p, while David would be raring to go at 8a.

Wednesday March 25 was a pretty peaceful morning for me.  David had told me our departure time.  I had a few things to do to get ready to go, but all in all my mind was pretty clear.  After all, my only job was to show up, David had told me that we were going someplace for 5 days, what I needed to pack and what time I needed to be ready.  He had made sure the house was clean and dishes were done. How much simpler could it be?  I was cool as a cucumber.  Poor David was a bit more frantic, but then he had much more on his mind….

In the car on the way to the airport I received my first surprise.  David instructed me to close my eyes and hold out my hands.  There he lay my passport and told me to have a look.  Then he said, “We’re going away for 13 days, not 5…  And we’re headed to Ireland… With a stop in the U.K.”  My jaw dropped and it pretty much stayed down until we were on the plane.  All my clients would be called by Cousin Eric, David had canceled my appointments.  We were off and away.