So our first stop of the trip was Dublin, Ireland.
Natalie and I strategically decided that Dublin would be our first stop for 2 reasons - reason 1 being that the cheapest round trip flight in and out of Europe is from Dublin, reason 2 is that of all the foreigners we've come across in our lives, the Irish boys were definitely the friendliest so we felt it would be the easiest for immersion.
We flew out of San Francisco on a United Flight. I would definitely recommend (and would do this were I to plan this trip again) paying a little bit extra and flying a direct flight with Aer Lingus. We learned from a couple later on that there is a direct Aer Lingus flight that cost them only $1,200 round trip that only takes 9 hours. Our flight was $1,100 and took over 14 hours and had a layover.
The flight story started the trip off with some hilarious drama. Our layover was in DC and due to weather conditions, our take-off from SF kept getting pushed farther and farther back - making both of us increasingly nervous we would miss our connecting flight in DC to Dublin. An obnoxiously cheery black man who worked for United tried to dis way our concerns by speaking jovially in a fake Irish accent and telling us "Not to worry about it lassies". Needless to point out, he was not Irish nor was he in the least bit comforting. Our flight finally took off nearly an hour and a half past it's projected take off time. Natalie and I befriended an adorable elderly couple who was seated next to us on the plane who was also headed to Ireland. They were also concerned about missing the connecting flight.
When we reached DC, we had approximately 8 minutes to get to the connecting flight for Dublin. What happened next, I wish could have been videotaped. The friendly elderly couple told us they had together had multiple hip replacements and wouldn't be able to run.
"Sprint as fast as you can girls! Tell them we're coming!"
What happened as soon as our SF plane hit the ground could only be explained as The Amazing Race meets World War Z as a mass exodus erupted from the plane began wildly sprinting through the DC airport. It was Darwin's theory come to life as only survival of the fittest would make it to the land of the Shamrock. The youngest and fittest arrived first as we got to the gate panting. Natalie and I immediately erupted in pleas for the elderly couple we had left behind. Between our gasping breaths, the flight attendant informed us that our flight had been delayed and we would all be allowed to board, including our elderly friends.
We then proceeded to sit on the plane for an hour before it took off which made the entire event not nearly as climactic as I felt it could have been.
In the end, we finally made it to Dublin, got on a bus, and headed to our Hostel (Barnacles). The hostel could not have been in a better location. It was quite literally directly in the middle of Dublin, between all the restaurants and bars, and a quick bus ride to the Guinness Factory.
We checked into our private room (which was basically a room which had a bed in it that touched the walls on 3 sides and a 1 person "don't know how they expect you to shave your legs in this since you can't lean over at all" shower)- , threw down our belongings,and headed out for an Irish Stout.
We got about 3 blocks when I spotted an Irishman wearing a bright pink shirt who looks strikingly similar to Jack Hogan. Natalie and I had met Jack and several other awesome Irish guys several years ago back in our early 20's in Lake Tahoe over fourth of July. The likelihood it was Jack was pretty slim, but being a loud American I screamed out "JACCCCCK!". He turned and low and behold, it was him! Jack had to catch a quick bus home as he was just getting off work, but he told us before we leave to head to place called "Coppers" which he claimed was an important part of the "Irish Experience" after which he immediately erupted in maniacal laughter. We figured he was probably sending us to a trannie bar, but decided whatever the Irish Experience was, we wanted it.
After seeing Jack, Natalie and I enjoyed some Stout and a hearty Irish supper. I opted for the Irish stew with soda bread and Natalie got something akin to bacon, potatoes, and Alfredo sauce (which was better). We hopped around for a bit, finding Dublin extremely easy to navigate, and then went to Mercury where our hostel was hosting a pub crawl for the evening. We assumed this would be where we would make friends.
The Pub Crawl was a good call on our part. We met lots of people from all over the world, drank a lot of whiskey and stout, and had a great time. One of the stops was that bar Whelars from that movie "P.S. I love You". At one point, after several drinks, we decided it was time to break away and seek out the infamous Coppers. When we got there, however, it was fairly empty and the cover was steep so we decided to save it for a later date. We wandered around for awhile and were about to give up hope of finding our last pub crawl destination until we saw it, the sign for "The Village". We danced and danced until our feet could dance no more and then walked home. One thing I will say about Dublin is that I felt extremely safe walking around at night. Far more so than home. It was nice for once to walk several blocks in the darkness without worrying I was going to be stabbed and robbed. I also enjoyed the Irish accents.
The next day we went to the Guinness Factory which turned out to not only be great fun, but also really interesting. Fun fact, the guy who started Guinness actually signed the lease for 9,000 years. The entire factory is also shaped like a giant pint glass.
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Natalie and I took the tour and I would highly recommend doing it if you're in Dublin. It's one of the few things to do in the tourist-laden city that doesn't involve sitting at a pub. At the very end of the tour is this place called "Sky Bar" which sits at the very top of the factory. Sky Bar overlooks all of Dublin. In truth, I found Dublin to be a fairly industrial city with a bit of a drab feel. Were it not for the darling Irish people, I'm not sure it would have much of an appeal. That said, I've heard the countryside is beautiful so were I ever to go back, I'd make sure to spend most of the time there.
Anyways, back to Sky Bar. When you get to Sky Bar, you turn in your ticket stub and receive a free pint of Guinness. They put a four leaf clover on it too which, though gimicky, totally delighted us.
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Natalie and I strategically decided that Dublin would be our first stop for 2 reasons - reason 1 being that the cheapest round trip flight in and out of Europe is from Dublin, reason 2 is that of all the foreigners we've come across in our lives, the Irish boys were definitely the friendliest so we felt it would be the easiest for immersion.
We flew out of San Francisco on a United Flight. I would definitely recommend (and would do this were I to plan this trip again) paying a little bit extra and flying a direct flight with Aer Lingus. We learned from a couple later on that there is a direct Aer Lingus flight that cost them only $1,200 round trip that only takes 9 hours. Our flight was $1,100 and took over 14 hours and had a layover.
The flight story started the trip off with some hilarious drama. Our layover was in DC and due to weather conditions, our take-off from SF kept getting pushed farther and farther back - making both of us increasingly nervous we would miss our connecting flight in DC to Dublin. An obnoxiously cheery black man who worked for United tried to dis way our concerns by speaking jovially in a fake Irish accent and telling us "Not to worry about it lassies". Needless to point out, he was not Irish nor was he in the least bit comforting. Our flight finally took off nearly an hour and a half past it's projected take off time. Natalie and I befriended an adorable elderly couple who was seated next to us on the plane who was also headed to Ireland. They were also concerned about missing the connecting flight.
When we reached DC, we had approximately 8 minutes to get to the connecting flight for Dublin. What happened next, I wish could have been videotaped. The friendly elderly couple told us they had together had multiple hip replacements and wouldn't be able to run.
"Sprint as fast as you can girls! Tell them we're coming!"
What happened as soon as our SF plane hit the ground could only be explained as The Amazing Race meets World War Z as a mass exodus erupted from the plane began wildly sprinting through the DC airport. It was Darwin's theory come to life as only survival of the fittest would make it to the land of the Shamrock. The youngest and fittest arrived first as we got to the gate panting. Natalie and I immediately erupted in pleas for the elderly couple we had left behind. Between our gasping breaths, the flight attendant informed us that our flight had been delayed and we would all be allowed to board, including our elderly friends.
We then proceeded to sit on the plane for an hour before it took off which made the entire event not nearly as climactic as I felt it could have been.
In the end, we finally made it to Dublin, got on a bus, and headed to our Hostel (Barnacles). The hostel could not have been in a better location. It was quite literally directly in the middle of Dublin, between all the restaurants and bars, and a quick bus ride to the Guinness Factory.
We checked into our private room (which was basically a room which had a bed in it that touched the walls on 3 sides and a 1 person "don't know how they expect you to shave your legs in this since you can't lean over at all" shower)- , threw down our belongings,and headed out for an Irish Stout.
We got about 3 blocks when I spotted an Irishman wearing a bright pink shirt who looks strikingly similar to Jack Hogan. Natalie and I had met Jack and several other awesome Irish guys several years ago back in our early 20's in Lake Tahoe over fourth of July. The likelihood it was Jack was pretty slim, but being a loud American I screamed out "JACCCCCK!". He turned and low and behold, it was him! Jack had to catch a quick bus home as he was just getting off work, but he told us before we leave to head to place called "Coppers" which he claimed was an important part of the "Irish Experience" after which he immediately erupted in maniacal laughter. We figured he was probably sending us to a trannie bar, but decided whatever the Irish Experience was, we wanted it.
(This is Jack Hogan and the person we thought had our best intentions in mind before we followed his advice to go to "Copper Face Jacks". Don't worry Jack, we still have love for you. We'll get you back next time you're in the States)
After seeing Jack, Natalie and I enjoyed some Stout and a hearty Irish supper. I opted for the Irish stew with soda bread and Natalie got something akin to bacon, potatoes, and Alfredo sauce (which was better). We hopped around for a bit, finding Dublin extremely easy to navigate, and then went to Mercury where our hostel was hosting a pub crawl for the evening. We assumed this would be where we would make friends.
The Pub Crawl was a good call on our part. We met lots of people from all over the world, drank a lot of whiskey and stout, and had a great time. One of the stops was that bar Whelars from that movie "P.S. I love You". At one point, after several drinks, we decided it was time to break away and seek out the infamous Coppers. When we got there, however, it was fairly empty and the cover was steep so we decided to save it for a later date. We wandered around for awhile and were about to give up hope of finding our last pub crawl destination until we saw it, the sign for "The Village". We danced and danced until our feet could dance no more and then walked home. One thing I will say about Dublin is that I felt extremely safe walking around at night. Far more so than home. It was nice for once to walk several blocks in the darkness without worrying I was going to be stabbed and robbed. I also enjoyed the Irish accents.
The next day we went to the Guinness Factory which turned out to not only be great fun, but also really interesting. Fun fact, the guy who started Guinness actually signed the lease for 9,000 years. The entire factory is also shaped like a giant pint glass.
Natalie and I took the tour and I would highly recommend doing it if you're in Dublin. It's one of the few things to do in the tourist-laden city that doesn't involve sitting at a pub. At the very end of the tour is this place called "Sky Bar" which sits at the very top of the factory. Sky Bar overlooks all of Dublin. In truth, I found Dublin to be a fairly industrial city with a bit of a drab feel. Were it not for the darling Irish people, I'm not sure it would have much of an appeal. That said, I've heard the countryside is beautiful so were I ever to go back, I'd make sure to spend most of the time there.
Anyways, back to Sky Bar. When you get to Sky Bar, you turn in your ticket stub and receive a free pint of Guinness. They put a four leaf clover on it too which, though gimicky, totally delighted us.
There are very few seats at Sky Bar as you're really encouraged to enjoy your beer, enjoy the sites, and then leave. Natalie and I decided, however, to linger. We found seats and delighted in people watching. Soon an older couple saw our near empty glasses and big smiles and wandered over to us and asked if we'd like their tickets for more beer. Free beer? Why not? We got seconds.
As we continued to sit, we found ourselves sitting next to the sweetest ladies for Northern Ireland. One of whom, looked to be 120 years old and the other who must have been their granddaughter. We struck up conversation, but were soon interrupted by what must have been the world's drunkest Geisha and her 20 other drunk Chinese comrades.
What proceeded could easily be my favorite part of all of Dublin.
As the Geisha (who turned out to be Chinese, not Japanese which I figured out because she kept yelling CHINA at the top of her lungs) proceeded to plop herself on the lap of the 120 year old Irish lady who I would desperately have loved to be my grandma. Following her lead, our little group became surrounded by all the 60-year old Chinese ladies as their little old husbands began snapping pictures like paparazzi around Angelina Jolie.
The Irish ladies were horrified.
Natalie and I nearly wet our pants. Especially (Anna you'll enjoy this one) when the head Geisha told Natalie, "I see you in CHINA!" and then asked if we could be Facebook friends.
(Below is a picture I was able to ask one of the hubbies to snap. It unfortunately was after many of the ladies had disbursed and cut off the Irish Grandma.)
I felt if I were in charge of marketing at Guinness, this is how I would market it. Bringing people together from across countries and generations to enjoy a good laugh and a good cheers.
After the Guinness Factory, Natalie and I decided as it was our last night in Ireland, that we would be hitting the infamous Coppers tonight.
We went home, showered, and figured out where our pub crawl from the night before was. We rejoined the pub crawl briefly, but then remembered that everyone in our hostel was a recent high school graduate. We wandered and popped in from bar to bar using our pub crawl wristbands to gain free entry. (We realized that if we walked up to a bar and pretended to be confused about our pub crawl, they would usually let us in without cover).
We went into several pubs and just as several weird Euro nightclubs and even managed to find ourselves in a weird Japanese fetish bar. At one of the pubs, Natalie managed to convince a trio of Irishman how much I loved River Dance and they proceeded to dance around me in a circle doing their drunken rendition of Michael Flatly. Everywhere we went, the Irish were very welcoming - even the women! In fact, while strolling down the street looking for the infamous Coppers, Natalie and I inadvertently befriended a trio of 22-year old Irish lassies when we told the littlest one that her purse was flapping open.
After informing her that she was about to lose all those Irish coins they kept giving us which were apparently their form of currency (seriously I felt like a leprechaun carrying around a bag of coins this whole trip) she grabbed Natalie by the arm with the strength of someone 5x her size and said "We shall be the best of friends!". As they skipped off together with little Irish looking clinically insane and Natalie looking terrified, I had a chance to chat with the more normal sized and sane ones who were very nice. When we caught up to our little friends, Natalie and I made our departure but not before the Irish lassies demanded we exchange phone numbers and left us with a warning..."Don't trust the men...they're all liars....and homeless"
It was a warning that we shrugged off at the time, but later reflected on and laughed because in truth, it was more valid than false.
Eventually, we found Coppers.
When you first walk into Coppers, it seems just like any normal humongous night club. That is until you start to notice that everyone around you is ...well....getting their "Irish Jig On". There are no pictures from this club, because frankly everything happening was too lewd to catch on film.
It basically was, a giant Irish orgy.
We saw a normal looking duo of Irishmen and asked them what was the deal with this place and quickly realized that our dear friend Jack had sent us to a "hook up bar".
At first, it was horrifying but then I heard them play SClub7 and fell in love with the schmeagoliest night club I've ever seen. Obviously, I insisted we stay and watch. Plus, this was the only place in town that stayed open until 5am and it was already 2am when we got there.
We stayed until nearly closing and met these nice Irish boys. As the night ended we walked home to our hostel and, as it was now light out, decided that breakfast was a good idea. The boys suggested we get a cab so we all hopped in and headed ...somewhere.
When the cab stopped we got out and realized the nice Irish boys must have planned on breakfast in bed because they had definitely taken us to a hotel. Natalie and I locked eyes, locked hands, and immediately .... ran down the road in the opposite direction. Clearly, we American girls just aren't the Coppers type. ;)
When we made it back to the hostel at 6am, we crashed hard. So hard, in fact, that we woke up the next day only 20 minutes before check-out. With our feet were swollen and blistered and our tummies and heads in pain from the Irish libations, we gathered our belongings and hobbled out the door to get to the Airport.
We arrived at the Airport an hour early. We found that this was NOT early enough. The Irish, though jolly, are not the most helpful. We also have realized that in America, because we're used to people being so dumb, everything is spelled out for you. In other countries, they actually expect you to think and listen. Not realizing this, we ended up in the wrong line and missed our flight.
A nice lady who worked for Aer Lingus (did I mention how nice women are to other women here?) took pity on us and, though she couldn't get us to Gatwick, put us on a flight to Heathrow Station free of charge. Turns out, though our flight got stuck on the runway for several hours before take off because apparently planes aren't allowed to land during a certain time on the Queen's Birthday (so random) Heathrow was closer to our hostel anyways so it all worked out for the best.
At 4pm, we finally made it to London.
Until next time Dublin!
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