Sláinte!
As I write this, we have been in Dublin for 24 hours, having arrived yesterday morning at 5:00 AM – yes, definitely not the best time to arrive given that it was still just 12:00 AM at home and we have had no sleep. But there is much to do on any “first day” of a trip abroad, so no immediate conking out for us.
And this is what this piece is all about. The tasks and important undertakings that are front of mind for us on the first day when arriving in a new location – not all the touristy sites and sounds to be enjoyed in the great city of Dublin.
Typically, I am trying to get all these things planned out before we leave home. The last thing you want to do when you arrive in a new city… Especially if it is totally unknown to you… Is to start trying to figure out where these services you need to access are located when you are exhausted and groggy.
“Photo Carousel” – Once again, I am using the “Carousel” format to present some of the photos in topics that have multiple photos in the best possible manner. You click on the first photo (top-left) in a grouping to start the Carousel.
Airport Mobility, Packing a Swiss Army Knife, and Carry-ons
I normally wouldn’t be inclined to write about what the arrival at our home airport and our check-in details in a piece like this but things have changed for me physically, so I think that it is best to mention a few issues here that may be useful to some of you. Specifically, if you are dealing with mobility issues.
And I discovered an improvement to what you can now carry on a flight that is potentially beneficial to all of us.
In 2022 when we ventured out on our first travel escape post pandemic we returned to wintering in Spain, I took a cane with me because I knew we would be doing some serious walking and some of it in hilly spots. The first be big test for my feet after they were surgically repaired in 2020… more surgically mangled really. 🙂
When I arrived at the airport sporting the cane, I was delighted to discover that things worked very differently for me. First of all, I was sent to a short priority check in line, and then I was sent off to an even shorter security line. Cha-ching! I also noted that year, and in 2023, that my feat really didn’t enjoy the incredibly long walks to and from gates… Ouch!
The net result was that for our current trip I decided that I would order the free wheelchair service available to speed up and to save me the long, long walks. We were planning on taking carry-on bags this time so that would have made the long walks even more onerous.
This was even better than just taking a cane. When we got to the security check-in point the person wheeling me loaded all my stuff onto the conveyor belt for me… bonus.
After security, the wheelchair was replaced by a ride on one those carriages/golf carts, pictured here out to our gate.
As you may have red previously, I always travel with a Swiss Army Knife…. blade for cutting up picnic lunches, tools for opening wine and beer bottles, etc. Up ‘till recently that has not been possible when travelling with a carry-on. But the regulation as changed for travel in Canada and to International destinations… excluding the US.
Quoting the new CATSA regulation:
“A jackknife with a blade 6 cm or less is permitted when flying within Canada or to an international (non-U.S.) destination. Knives of any type or length are not permitted in your carry-on on flights to the U.S.’.
I felt the issue was, how is the 6 CM measured? To my delight, when the security guard found my Swiss Army Knife in the clear plastic bag holding my toiletries, he pulled it out, opened the blade, and set it down on the image of a knife to check to see if it complied. And it did, so it is now possible to carry a conventional small Swiss Army knife on a flight with you, like the one pictured here.
I was concerned it might not be because when I measured the blade and the fulcrum it was over 6 cm. Apparently it is just the true length of the sharpened blade.
Arrived in Dublin, set for a month of rail and bus travel with just our carry-ons. All four of our carry-ons passed size regulations and nobody had to check a bag. This allows you to hit the ground running when you get off the plane. We did not pass through any form of customs or security… Muchto our surprise.
Getting To the Hotel
How we get to the travel hotel may not seem like a big deal to you, but we always try and sort that out before we leave Canada. If it is just the two of us, we usually try and take a bus. If there are more than two of us, then taking a cab becomes much more economical. Which is what we did in this case.
The woman who drove us from the airport to the hotel was just an absolute delight. She played tour guide all the way.
Hotel Check-in
Why am I mentioning hotel check in here? I do so because when we travel to Europe, we are normally arriving very early in the morning… Well before the normal 3 PM hotel check-in time. I always contact the hotel before we leave Canada to see how easy it is to get an “early” check-in. Often it requires an additional charge. This is quite justified because typically they will need to send someone in to clean up a room for you earlier than normal.
Sometimes it is done without a charge but most often not. Yesterday we had to pay an extra €40 to get into our room at 10:30 in the morning. Even at that, the only room available was an “accessibility” room. Which means things like the bathroom, pictured here, are set up for folks who are confined to a wheelchair.
Maps
Immediately upon check in at the hotel I always ask for a map of the area. All hotels still offer old school paper maps after the pandemic fortunately. Typically, if you ask… Or even sometimes without asking… The clerk will grab a pen and circle where the hotel is located on the map and any other important features they think you should know about.
I also typically will bring a couple of specialized Maps I have printed out at home with us. In the two images here, you see the map large map of Dublin provided by the hotel – our location marked with a red star, and a Google map that I printed out at home with the location of our hotel, a Vodafone telecom retail outlet, and a line indicating where the pedestrian Grafton Street is located.
All of this means we can find our way around even before getting a SIM put in our phone so that we can use Google’s and Apple’s map functions to find our way around.
Breakfast
I really do not like paying for breakfast at a hotel. Usually, they charge an outrageous amount for the convenience. Sometimes we will do it if we have arrived from an overnight flight and simply don’t want to go through the hassle of looking to see what’s available in the neighborhood.
In this case I had lots of time and found this lovely breakfast spot quite close to our hotel. Unfortunately, it did not start serving till 8 AM so we had to hunt out a Starbucks nearby first to get a quick coffee to keep us filled with energy.
SIMs for Our Phones
Immediately after breakfast we wandered off to the Vodafone outlet close by to undertake to accomplish the next major task for day one. We always get local SIMs installed in our cell phones wherever we travel so we have use of a phone, but more importantly so we have lots of data for our use. It is really important that you are able to be able to use Apple Maps or Google maps when you are in a totally unknown city or country.
I have said this before, DO NOT pay your Canadian service provider for roaming privileges. Rogers our provider will charge us $15 a day to do so. We will be here for a month… Do the math. 🙂
There are lots of good service providers here. In this case I chose Vodafone simply because they had an outlet close to the hotel.
Essentially what happened was as follows; we wandered into the store and wandered out with fully operational local cell phones in about 20 minutes. The pricing will break your heart. In this case the plan I chose for us was unlimited data, unlimited phone calls, 100 minutes of international phone calls so we can call home, if necessary, etc. All for the price of €30 for a month i.e. C$45. Yikes!
Getting Cash
Usually, we get a bunch of local currency as soon as we can after arrival, but on this day, I had brought some from home so there was no immediate rush to go out and grab some. We left searching out an ATM until after we had breakfast.
As you can see in the first image there were bank machines at airports at the Dublin airport. As there are in every airport that we’ve ever been to. Typically, we don’t use them unless we need money right away to pay for a cab to the hotel or for some other immediate purchase.
Ideally you want to go to a bank machine offered at an actual bank, like the one pictured in the second photo. Typically, the ones in airports and those out and about on the streets are run by companies that are in the business of making money from currency exchange. You end up paying them a lot more in fees and currency exchange than the ones run by banks.
Traditionally, we have always used cash when travelling internationally because that’s what everyone wanted. That has begun to change quite noticeably after the pandemic. Somewhere down the road I will probably do another whole article on currency exchange and how you should be paying for things on the road. We have just ordered a new special “travel” charge card that does not stiff you with extra currency exchange charges. I will report back to you and hold that works. It did not arrive in time for this trip.
Beating Jet Lag/Outing
After we had breakfast and got our various tasks sorted out, we walked down to Trinity College with the travel companions. The best way to beat Jetlag is to fight your way through it. Keep moving until as late as you can in the day before finally giving into sleep. Planning some tourist outings or activities is a good way to do this.
The Travel Companions had booked a visit the Book of Kells and see the impressive “Old Library” at Trinity College Dublin. We had already been to both exhibits before, so we just went down for the walk. The picture of the library is from a previous visit that we made a few years ago.
As with most museums, there is always a gift shop. And this one was as busy as stink. In this the second week of September as we visit, the university and the whole town are awash in university students and their parents. Just like at home, it is fresh week.
Snacks & Beverages
One of the other things we do before leaving town is search out a grocery store or variety store near the hotel where we can go and pick up a few necessities. Often we will go and get some fruit or other snacks for the room, and of course, it never hurts to search out and keep a few adult beverages on hand.
This time, the grocery store that is closest to us is a LIDL, which is a German chain. LIDL is probably my least favourite chain of grocery stores in Europe. They feel more like a Costco for grocery shopping than a proper grocery store.
This one was unique in that as you can see in the picture it is built upon an architectural ruin, which is shown off beneath a glass floor.
I got a big chuckle out of the included photo of the beer on sale. I did not notice the uniqueness it presented until I got back to the hotel and looked at it. It’s the lousiest “beverage” photo I took, but before I deleted it, I noticed that it had captured the fact that they were selling Molson Canadian. It was €12.69 for a box of 8 Canadian 500ml tall boys. At home, the LCBO sells a six pack of 473 ml cans for $16.95. 🙂
You can check to see how the price of wine in Ireland compares with Canadian prices. It is certainly way more than we pay for wine in Spain.
Wrapping up the day
A little dinner… With a Guinness of course… And a little TV. The rugby World Cup is currently on.
When we were in the UK in 2007 the rugby World Cup was on and we had a fabulous time of going out to pubs and watching the game with wild and crazy fans. Hope we can get in a few events this year as well.
