Well, someone crazy booked an early morning flight from Reykjavik to Dublin. Yeah, that would be me. It’s why we chose to stay at the old base by the airport. It still necessitated a 0330 wakeup to be ready for the 0430 shuttle to the airport. All went rather well, though I think fewer machines and more people at the airport check in would make things go smoother. We stopped for a cup of coffee to wake us up and use up my kroner and enjoyed the last of our time with Crosby. He was heading out on his flight to Scotland 10 minutes after our flight. We had big farewell hugs all around then headed to our gate.

It was an uneventful two hour flight, where I dozed off and on between reading. I’d aleady seen all the good movies they offered….good thing my next flights are on other airlines….perhaps there will be different options. We walked through the airport, hit an ATM to get some Euros, found a shop to get Irish sim cards, collected our baggage and headed over to get our rental car.

Welcome to Ireland! It began to rain right as we exited outside, but, like home, it appears to give them lots of greenery and trees. I’m all for that after seeing few trees in Iceland. After a tight squeeze on the shuttle we got in the queue and wended our way to the counter. Kevin and I had been mentally preparing for driving a stick shift here on the left. Now mind you I did that for years being stationed abroad and I did just drive 5,ooo km in New Zealand on the left, but not in a stick shift. Seems they are still more common here and automatics are pricy. That’s how it appeared online as I was booking it. Lucky for us we had Michael at the counter who got us a better deal on an automatic Peugot. Whew! That seemed great until we got in the fancy new car with all kinds of electronics that none of our old cars have. We took our time figuring things out, including having the navigational system muck up Mandy’s phone temporarily. With patience she worked things out and we got underway with Kevin braving the drive into Dublin.

You ought to learn that he has never driven on the left yet he was willing to be thrown into the fray! What a trooper. He did a great job with Mandy navigating. We found the hostel we had booked in the Temple Bar area and with some extra spins around the area finally got into the nearby parking garage. We checked into the hostel, sat for a bit planning the next few days out then went downstairs to the Gogarity pub. I snagged a table while the kids got their first Irish beers. Turns out the woman I shared the table with was a Dane from Copenhagen. What are the chances?!

We enjoyed some wonderful, lively, live musicians rousing the pub crowd. If this is what we’re in for while here, we’ll all be happy! We ended the day walking around the area a mite, enjoying the view by the River Liffey, with all the different pedestrian bridges but we were all so tired we decided to retire early. We may come back to see the sights of Dublin at the end of our trip here. We plan on heading north from here and drive counter clockwise aound the country. We’ve given ourselves three weeks to explore and to visit friends here. Should be great fun!