Update from the road

Strap in, going to be a long post!

Bill and I are fans of zombie movies. Over the course of the beginning of our trip, though, we ended up feeling like the walking undead.

After being dropped off at Newark airport by my folks, we waited at the terminal. We found out that the flight was delayed a hour (10:30pm instead of 9:30pm) because of the monstrous thunderstorm in the tri-state area. As 10:30 drew near, the flight was pushed back to 11:30. Great. Thankfully, a surprisingly good Falcons/Jaguars game helped bide our time.

A little after 11:30, we finally boarded the plane (row 5!). However, all was not well. Despite the cute Icelandic stewardesses, there was no A/C on the plane. Also missing were our pilots. Turns out, they were coming from a flight from Boston and were also delayed. Nearly an hour later, the pilots arrived and the A/C was turned on. We finally took off close to 1am. Note that both Bill and I had been up early that day (around 6-7am).

The flight over was fine, despite the strange Icelandic woman sitting next to me. However, neither Bill or I were able to sleep. Maybe a minute or two here and there, but nothing substantial. We arrived at Keflavik, the Icelandic airport where we had to transfer. Keflavik is outside of the capital of Reykjavik, and is out in the barren prairie. Very odd airport, too, although we were elated to get 2 more stamps on our passports. The flight from Keflavik to London was uneventful and we both got about 2 hours of sleep. We arrived in London at 4pm local time. As you can imagine, we were both pretty beat.

After navigating through Gatwick airport, we took a train to Victoria Station in London (while passing the factory that graces of the cover of the Pink Floyd album Animals). We trekked to the nearby bus station to get our bus to Dublin. After splitting a BLT sandwich, we boarded the bus at 6pm local time.

I'd love to say the English countryside is quaint and scenic, but that would be a lie. The views reminded us of driving in Pennsylvania on 78. Thankfully, books and movies kept us occupied. Soon, fatigue set in and we started sleeping. Around 9pm, we ate dinner at a rest stop. It was a delicious meal of…. KFC. Yes, the Colonel. For whatever reason, KFC is huge here in the UK. With crispy chicken in our bellies, the bus ride continued on.

Over the next few hours, we continued to sleep where we could amid constant bus riding and 2 more pit stops. England has more circles than Flemington, and we swear our bus driver went on every single one of them (and had no idea where he was going). At the fantastic time of 2am local time, the bus pulled into Holyhead, a port on the western edge of England in Wales. We disembarked the bus, gathered our belongings and were 'inspected' (ie asked 1-2 questions) by Welsh police. In a testament to government inefficiency, we then put our things back on the bus and got back on. The bus drove onto a HUGE boat and we then disembarked again (I'm on a boat!). We were escorted to a higher deck and told to come back at 6am. It was now 3am.

Billy and I each found two chairs that we put together for makeshift beds. I loaned Billy my inflatable pillow for sleep. We got about 2 hours of good sleep, although Billy transferred to the floor at some point. At the bright hour of 6am, we were driven off the bus to the Dublin bus station. Thankfully, our hostel (owned by the tour company we were using) was next door. We went to check in but were told check in at 12pm. Keep in mind, we had been up for nearly 36 hours and each had about 4 hours of sleep, not to mention we hadn't showered nor eaten a substantial meal in that time, either.

Begrudgingly, we got breakfast at a local chain store. Evidently, Dubliners aren't early risers as the streets were damn near barren. We later stashed our bags at the hostel and started seeing some sights, thanks to our 12th or 13th wind. We walked about 30 minutes to St. Patrick's Cathedral, explored a bit and then begged the hostel to let us check in early. No luck. We then walked to the Irish Writers Museum, walked around inside and then checked into the hostel.

After walking up 2 flights of stairs (with 15 pound carry-ons and 40+ pound suitcases), we got to our room. However, there were no towels and no electrical outlets. We asked for towels and were told to use the outlets in the hallway. Those outlets didn't really work, though. Great. I took a quick shower (which consisted of 30 second sprays, then the water shut off, so you had to keep washing during those sprays). We got agitated by this, in addition to there being no manager at the front desk, and ended up getting a private room at another nearby hostel. We were much better off!

After Bill showered, we trekked out to that most Irish of attractions, the Jameson Distillery! We took a tour of the distillery, learning how Irish whiskey is made. At the conclusion of the tour, we each got a complimentary glass of Jameson. We ended up eating a hearty meal at their restaurant, too (Billy had bangers and mash!). We walked back to the hostel and then promptly passed out.

We woke up a bit, and are now watching the BBC (coverage of the Libyan rebels entrance into Tripoli) and a Gaelic football match (Kerry vs. Mayo). Sounds lame to call it an early night in Dublin, but given everything I just detailed for you, I hope you can understand! We're up at 6am tomorrow with the bus leaving at 8am for Belfast.

Tune in for more updates from the road. Who knows, there might even be pictures next time!