Dublin...48 hours of Day 1

So we have survived Dublin so far. A brief recap...

Yesterday we ended up at DTW way too early. We've all heard, show up 2 1/2 hours early for international flights, right? I'm not positive why that is, because boarding the flight was exactly the same as any other flight I've been on. But no big deal, we hung out in the D, boarded the flight, rock and roll. Made it to JFK way earlier than expected, I think because I was looking at the wrong flight itenerary.

JFK, really not one of my favorite airports. There was no indication as to what terminal we needed to be at for our flight, so after asking some Delta people (well, first asking some non-Delta people, who weren't helpful at all) they directed us to the proper gate. We ate some dinner at the local food court, but just barely. Nobody seemed terribly interested in serving us there. Boarded the plane, which was the first time I've been on a plane the size of the 767. The plane was pretty awesome, as far as airplanes go. This flight was also shorter than expected, although we never did figure out why. We expected 8 hours, and it was like 5 1/2 (in the air), which was a plus.

So this was an overnight flight, and despite my best attempts, I (nor my travel-mates) didn't get a lot of sleep. Customs was not exciting at all, which was great. No big thing. We picked up the rental car at the airport at about 9am, and after some confusion about the price, and the car size, we were on our way.

Driving was a little sketchy. Definitely driving on the wrong side of the road was way strange at first. But what I think has been more of a challenge is all the differences in signage and intersections. Roundabouts are one thing, but all the signs are different, and the intersections are never just straightforward stoplights. Yeah, and the stoplights, there's a lot of things you take for granted about stoplights that don't work the same way in other countries. It's gotten better with practice for sure.

So we first headed to Dublin Castle, which is in downtown Dublin. Easier said than done. We learned that driving in downtown Dublin is like driving in any other big city - generally, not the most efficient use of time or energy. Anyway we briefly checked out the castle, and ended up attempting to eat breakfast at this tiny cafe at Dublin Castle. Really didn't work out, for a variety of reasons - food wasn't great, payment was a disaster, lots of confusion.

After some more getting lost, we finally located the hotel. Which was actually like a 2 hour adventure, since this hotel doesn't have a street number. So when you just have a street name, things aren't as easy to find as you'd like. The hotel is quite amazing though, for sure. Glad we found it.

Then attempted to eat a late lunch at the hotel. More confusion, more sub-standard and expensive food. Finally we set out via public transportation back into Dublin, where we walked around the Temple Bar district. It reminded me of Bourbon Street, except not seedy at all. Lots of cool little pubs and restaurants, people everywhere. Ate dinner, which although was expensive, was actually quite tasty this time.

So it's currently 10pm Dublin time, and I'm way tired after getting a very minimal amount of sleep yesterday. Time for bed, I think. But to recap, here's what I have learned:

* Europe is expensive. Everything is priced the same in Euros as I would expect it to be in Dollars...except the dollar is worth about 60% of the Euro. So yeah, this is not going to be a cheap adventure.
* Parking cars is expensive in Dublin, just like it is in Detroit. We're currently paying a fortune for parking two cars in two different continents!
* I might be the most overweight person in Ireland. Seriously.
* Driving on the wrong side of the road is weird, but doable. I think all the Mille Bornes playing has helped me with the road signs.
* There are a lot of cobblestone streets here
* Unlike home, where everybody that is legit (i.e. everywhere not the B&I Bar) takes credit cards, that is far from the case here. So for I'd say it's about 50/50 on people taking plastic. Luckily we found an ATM so I have a stock of usable currency on hand.

That's all. This is way longer than I wanted it to be, so I wouldn't expect this treatment every day...