Days 4 - 9 May 7-12, 2024 Ireland

May 7: Vienna -> Dublin

This was a travel day getting from Vienna to Dublin. In retrospect, I should have tried harder to get a direct flight, but if I remember correctly, the only one was Ryan Air and I'm not crazy about them.

My first flight was on Austrian Air to London and then on British Airways to Dublin. Austrian Air is ok, but not my fave. British Airways is better. In both cases, I booked Business Class so got to take advantage of the lounge with free food and drinks. Plus both flights fed me. As you know, I'm withering to nothing, so all the additional sustenance keeps my energy going. Seriously though, skipped dinner tonight because I was so stuffed.

I really love Radisson and since my flight came in at 7:30 PM, decided to stay at the Radisson Airport Hotel Dublin. Very nice though pricey. Tomorrow is driving day and will have a lot less boring details.

May 8: Dublin -> Limerick

After a good night's sleep at the Dublin Airport Radisson (planes were NOT heard), I rented a Peugot SUV and drove to Barack Obama Plaza.

Per Wikipedia, "Obama's maternal roots have been traced back to Moneygall in County Offaly, Ireland in the 19th century. Moneygall has a population of 298 people." And all 298 probably work at this place, a glorified gas station.

Then I headed to Limerick (insert your fave here) and checked into the Greenhills Hotel. It's an okay room - no fridge though.

Headed to Level Up Bar and Arcade in downtown Limerick and played a few machines then headed back.

I could write a thesis about driving on the left side of the road, but suffice it to say, my experience did not help. Kind of like Captain E.J. Smith of the Titanic.

May 9: Limerick -> Waterford and back

This was one of my possibles, but wasn't sure about going there, then did. When I looked up the time to drive at 9 at night, it was only 90 minutes. Well, during the day, that turned into over 2 hours. Both ways.

I toured the Waterford Crystal Factory then looked at the showroom. Some of the pieces were ranging around $4000. Dang, I drink my Bailey's out of a plastic cup!

I drove different roads both ways and stopped Barack Obama Plaza to try a burger. It was horrible! They are trying to copy McDonald s, ergo the Mac and Supermac name.

May 10: Limerick -> Cobh and back

Well, my idea was totally stupid to use Limerick as a base and to do day trips to other locations. Originally, I had planned to spend 3 nights in 3 different hotels, but I hated the idea of packing and unpacking every day. Well, guess what? I hate driving 2 to 3 hours extra each day even more. I spent so much time driving on the other side of the road on narrow roads which required so much concentration, that it just exhausted me (yeah, yeah, play me the smallest violin or squeeze a grape for me to get a little whine).

Anyway, today's day trip was to Cobh to do the Titanic Experience Tour. It was pretty good, though I knew more than the tour guide. Hey, Titanic used to be my thing.

May 11: Limerick -> Dublin

I drove back to Dublin and dropped off the car. I was very relieved to take a taxi to downtown Dublin.

There I went on the same tour I had taken twice last year. This time the venues were different but it was the same idea. Starter, main course, desert with Irish Coffee. However it seemed overbooked with 14 people and it wasn’t as filling.

Headed to a pinball place called Token and played a machine called Cyclone for about an hour with just 2 tokens getting a free game almost every turn. This older machine didn’t raise the score, but kept it at the same level which I was able to get pretty easily. Of course there wasn’t a ball save either but you can’t have everything.

After that, it was back to the hotel for the next day's trip home.