September 24th

In Which We Arrive in Ireland

 We left on the 24th for Ireland, and snapped some photos of our b&b before we left.

Our host took this photo for us. He built a section of this house, and a few others in the neighborhood.

We saw on our tickets that we were about an hour shy of the "Gates Closing" time on our ticket, and we hadn't eaten the lunch that we had packed. We rushed through our lunch, pushed through security, and found our gate. Empty. no staff, no open doors, no sign of fellow passengers. We found a fellow passenger down the hall, and he explained to us that "Gate Closing" means 'the airline will be board-able at some point after this time'.

Here we are, at an empty gate.

IRELAND! This photo was taken the next day, but I added it in here because we were so sore from hauling our packs about that we didn't stop for photos when we arrived in Ireland. We had some trouble reaching our destination, as the bus route that was supposed to take us to Swords didn't appear to come to the airport. We boarded a route that went in approximately the same direction, and asked the bus driver for help. When we told him that we were looking for the GAA club bus stop, he looked amused and told us that the locals didn't like to refer to the 'gay' club as such. The club is an amateur sports club, and they have, in fact, changed their initials to "GMC". The Irish have a delightful sense of humor, and were very helpful.