Hale Chronicle - a tale of two Hales

The Micra’s Maiden Voyage – “Watch how tight this thing turns!”

Jason and I were feeling a little bit iffy about taking on the driver and navigator roles while in Europe. Although I am writing from the safety of our intended destination, I must say I am thankful Ireland will be the only country we take the challenge up in. 

We planned to depart from Dublin at 9:30 am, after a short 1.4 km walk from our hotel to the Budget car rental office. We did not anticipate the delay caused by strapping 30 and 20 pounds to our backs for an uphill walk. After we finally arrived at the car rental office, we were off (at 10:30 am)! 

My job as navigator was simplified by the GPS graciously lent to us preloaded with European maps. Thanks Justin – your personally recorded voice instructions are a nice touch! Once Jason made it out of the parking lot in the surprisingly spacious Nissan Micra we rented, I hopped in and we headed out of the city with only one wrong turn. Newgrange here we come! 

Yes, the previous bit of information (Newgrange here we come) would have been quite helpful during the first part of our trip. Little did I know, Jason had programmed the GPS with the destination being “some village that is supposed to be close to where we are going.” I discovered this fact after the wrinkles on Jason’s forehead grew increasingly pronounced. “Why aren’t you listening to the GPS lady,” I ask. “Well, the destination in the GPS is not exactly where we are going, and I think we were supposed to turn at one of those signs back there.”  Me: “Why would you program the GPS with the wrong destination!?! — Pull over!” After we find a place to pull over on the tiny two lane highway and reprogram the GPS with the correct destination, we are once again ready to go. Newgrange here we come!

So, GPS lady now insists that we must turn back the way we came in order to get to Newgrange. Should be simple, right? The only concern is the tiny *tiny* highway,  maybe also the cars whizzing by in both directions, okay maybe also that we are stopped around a ’somewhat’ concealed bend in the road. Not a problem. Jason seems to have caught on to this European driving thing no problem. “Watch how tight this thing turns!” I’m excited to be getting on our way once again, and so glad my hubby has experience driving a standard transmission car – I definitely wouldn’t be able to do it! We move forward and screech to a stop 10 feet ahead. “What’s that burning smell?” Angry muttering ensues on the driver’s side. “Just the clutch, no big deal.” Okay, just the clutch. That doesn’t sound important. So we try again. I watch on the left, Jason on the right for the perfect moment when there are no vehicles approaching on either side. We’re off! Okay, so we’ve lurched forward, and we’re sitting perpendicular to the road now. No problem…we’re only blocking both lanes of traffic. “Reverse, where’s reverse?!?!” Right, reverse. There we go! Now forwards. Oh, now reverse again…oh crap, there must be cars coming…oh good – we’re going forwards again. And we’re off! I feel a renewed sense of optimism as the funny burning smell dissipates behind us. **Jason’s version of events may differ slightly**

Overall, our drive through Ireland was exactly how I envisioned. Sheep decorate the Irish country-side like the cattle of Alberta’s prairies. Baaa!! After the morning’s driving adventure, we enjoyed an informative tour through Bru na Boinne World Heritage Site in Newgrange, a lovely stroll through Loughbrickland (where Jason’s Great-grandfather was from), and made good time to our small, but clean and comfortable hotel room in Antrim.

Dublin Day 2

Today we started with the Hop On/Off bus tour we had started yesterday. True to form we saw at least 3 of the green buses drive by before the yellow bus arrived at our stop. After sitting on the yellow bus for 20 minutes our tour resumed. We took an excellent ride through the Georgian part of the city to our eventual stop, Kilmainham Jail.

Kilmainham Gaol

The Kilmainham Gaol was first built in 1796 and was used for over 140 years as a prison. This is the site where the leaders of the 1916 Easter Rising were held and executed. We took a guided tour that provided an excellent history to not only the prison but to Ireland and its fight for independance. In the prison there are 2 contrasting parts, the newer Victorian wing (seen above) and the old original prison (seen below). 

The prison did not only house political prisoners, we found out that during the famine in the 1850’s as many as 9,000 people were held here in 1 year (not all at the same time). Considering there are only 112 cells that lead to some severe over crowding. An example of a crime it took during the famine to be imprisoned was stealing some loaves of bread to feed your family. This earned you 14 days in Kilmainham. But since food was so scarce during the famine many people committed crimes just to go to jail and get a meal for several straight days. The authorities also did not discriminate over who was held in the jail. Many woman and children were held prisoner some as young as 6.

Dublin Castle

After the jail we wandered over to Dublin Castle. As you can see this isn’t a typical structure when you think of the word castle. Above you can see the only reaming tower from the original castle built in 1204. The rest of the castle was destroyed in a fire during the 18th century and in it’s place a Georgian Palace was built. This in my mind makes the Dublin Castle not a true castle but a palace posing as a castle.

We took a guided tour of the palace which is where the British Viceroys and visiting monarchy lived until 1922 during the British rule of Ireland. The tour included the king’s bedchamber, the throne room and St. Patricks Hall. Formerly a ball room the hall is now where Irish presidents are sworn into office. At the end of the tour we were also taken to an excavated part of the palace where you could see more of the original structure and the part of the moat that used to surround the castle.

After the castle we wrapped up the day with a visit to the Irish National Museum. We saw some great old artifacts dating back thousands of years and the best part was it’s free! Overall we really enjoyed our second day in Dublin, even when I got us lost. We’re looking forward to hitting the country side tomorrow and I’m looking forward to driving a car from the other side of the road.

Now for something scary.

Dublin Day 1

After a long sleep we were eager to start our first real vacation day of our trip touring Dublin. On our morning stroll down O’Connell Street we were quite surprised to find a convenience store with Tim Hortons in it.

We decided to buy a hop on/off bus pass so we could easily see some more of Dublin and get some cheap transportation around the city.

Travel Tip: Buy passes for the green buses, not the red/yellow buses. They come much more frequently and costs the same. We bought the red/yellow pass but did manage to get it at a student price.

After taking only a part of the tour we hopped off at the Guinness Brewery for a tour of the Guinness Storehouse. This seems to be one of the most popular tourist activities in Dublin and I loved it. The storehouse includes a great self guided tour learning all there is to know about the Guiness brewing process and everything else from transportation of the beer to marketing.

I then earned a certificate for pouring the perfect pint and we topped it off with a drink in the Gravity Bar. The bar is the top of the storehouse which offers beautiful 360 degree views of the city as this is the tallest building in Dublin. Unfortunately we could not take any nice pictures up there due to the rain.

Fun Fact: Guinness Breweries is responsible for the Guinness Book of Records. They first created it as a way to settle arguments in pubs.

Following the Guinness tour we hopped back on a tour bus to catch a few sights on our way back to O’Connell street where we had a first meal and pint in a real Irish pub.

The Flight to Dublin

First off I would to thank British Airways for upgrading our tickets to World Traveler Plus, essentially business class. The extra leg room and comfier seats were quite nice for the flight.

Soon after reaching our gate we saw the plane arrive and I noticed a stretcher being taken on. After a long wait they finally announced that there was a medical emergency on the previous flight and we were going to be delayed at least 30 minutes. So after an hour delay we were off to London.

Once on the plane we got settled in our upgraded seats and looked through the magazine for what movies we were going to watch. Unfortunately the on demand video system on the plane was not working so there was no inflight entertainment for the entire flight. For this inconvenience British Airways offered us a £50 credit on their in flight shopping service or 10,000 Executive Club miles. We took the miles.

After a long flight with little sleep we landed in London to discover we only had 45min to make our connecting flight due to the hour delay we had in Calgary. With a bus trip between terminals and all the security checks at Heathrow Airport we didn’t make our flight. Fortunately our bags never made the flight either and the Aer Lingus staff at the airport was very helpful and got us on the next flight which was only an hour later. 2 hours later we landed in Dublin.

All Checked In, One Item Down

2 tickets upgraded for free at check in
1 item confiscated at security
1 bag repacked
45 minutes to go

Overall I think we’re doing pretty good.

The Hardest Part of Leaving

Today we dropped Maggie off at my parents. I know she will have a good home for the next 2 months and I can’t thank my parents enough for looking after her. But when we arrived back home this afternoon it was to an empty house and not to a dog, happy to see us. The house just doesn’t seem complete without her here.

I know I will miss friends and family but saying good bye to Maggie has been the hardest part so far, and we’re not even gone yet!

10 More Sleeps

Jenn and I will be off on our adventure in 10 more sleeps. It seems so close yet so far away. We’re still doing some last minute planning and we have no official return date at this moment.

I’m still finding great hotel deals throughout Ireland and the UK due to the fact that we’re travelling in winter and possibly due to the global recession we’re currently going through. An example of this is our first hotel in Dublin when we first arrive. We’re booked for 3 nights at The Belvedere Hotel for $215.26. That’s only $71.75/night or at the current exchange rate, €41.99. Compare that too a smaller dorm room in a hostel where we’d be paying $30/per person/night and the extra $10/night is definately worth the privacy. The offer I’ve got was from Expedia, and generally that is where I’ve found most of the better deals and the largest selection of hotels with the exception of Orbitz sometimes coming in with a lower price. Orbitz however does not show prices in Canadian currency, only US.

I also booked a car in Ireland for a couple of days and after looking around noticed that Budget was by far the cheapest option. For the smallest economy car every other company came in around €100 for 2 days. Where as Budget came in at reasonable €47! Can’t beat that.