Day 1: We started our first school holiday by getting up before the sun to load up the car and hit the road by 7am on Saturday morning. Our destination: Holyhead, Wales and the ferry terminals. We had reservations for the 14:10 ferry to Dublin. Steve’s assured driving brought us in to Holyhead half an hour earlier than the navigation system had originally predicted giving us plenty of time to laze over our McDonald’s lunch. We even splurged for McFlurries to kill some time. A short wait at the ferry terminal gates and a quick investigation of the boot of our truck by the inspectors and we were on our way to the ferry ramp. They actually started loading the ferry about half an hour before scheduled departure. Having been on the ferry before, I was ready for a mad dash out of the car and up the stairs to the lounge area for seating. However, our other trips had all been on the high speed ferries (just 2 hours to Ireland) and this was the lounge cruise taking 3:15 for the trip. The boat seemed empty! We had plenty of space to spread out and relax at window seats. This had NEVER been seen before! I finished the book I was reading and Katie made a good dent in the one she had (Boy by Roald Dahl). Jacob had the newest Rick Riordan in hand and made it more than half way through the book. He would have been happy to hear that the trip would be three hours longer so he could finish it!
There was lots of time to relax and watch the water outside the windows dripping with misting rain and the ever graying clouds. The changing weather from our gloriously sunny morning drive seemed to foretell of what was to be expected over the next 6 days.
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| Driving away from the ferry in Dublin |
We managed to drive off the boat and into Dublin without any problems. After some crazy directions from the navigation system we even found the pub that Steve had planned for us to eat at on the outskirts of the city. Unfortunately the only parking was on the street and you needed to pay using Euro coins, of which we had none, so we had to climb back in the car and drive to the city centre which we had been trying to avoid. A parking lot located, we were able to navigate the Temple Bar area of Dublin and find another location of the same pub Steve had preferred.
We were very lucky to find a table during the Saturday dinner rush. And although the internet indicated availability of a children's menu which is what preferred the restaurant to us, we all managed to find something to eat even if Cameron only had garlic bread. We did not tell him, but we had noticed a NY style pizza place across the street and I ventured down the block to an ATM for some Euros to help start a dinner trend for him (read future blogs to see the trend unfold!).
The kids all fell asleep in the car during the 2 hour drive from Dublin to Belfast so I couldn't make them jump out of the car for the usually required photo in front of the "Welcome To" sign, but they did all get out to help carry their things to the hotel room. It was 10:30pm and after a very long day we were all ready to turn in. We didn't know how much we needed that sleep for tomorrow's planned hike in the Mourne Mountains!
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| Phew! Made it to Ireland! |
In front of the Porterhouse Brewery in Dublin
(with a slice of pizza!)
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