A multi-pronged Aug-Sep 2018 trip to Boston to visit Allie, then to Lisbon via Dublin to spend time in Portugal with Laurie, culminating in a return to Boston to meet Barb for a long weekend.
Sunday, August 26: Home – Boston – Dublin
I rose early at 5:30am to depart for BWI at 6:30. Barb drove me, not happy that I was going, though eventually she admitted that while she would miss me she mostly didn’t want to have to feed the cats or clean their boxes while I’m gone. My Southwest flight was on time at 8:15am and was an easy flight to Boston. After retrieving my luggage, I scouted out Aer Lingus in Terminal C and determined that I couldn’t check my bag in 10 hours early, nor could I store it. There was not much choice but to lug it around Boston for the day, so it made most sense to connect with Allie and her car. Allie had been spending the weekend at the Revere Hotel in town with her boyfriend, Dan (happy birthday!), and meeting friends. I caught a cab to the Revere to meet her (Dan has already left…wouldn’t meet him until later this trip). This was also moving day for Allie. She had been out of her initial apartment at Emerson Place for the past six weeks, staying mostly at her friend Mackenzie’s (and Dan’s, it turns out). We Ubered out to Chestnut Hill to Mackenzie’s place where Allie packed things while I met Mackenzie and her cat Lennox (Stubby). Both were nice, though Lennox was a specially bred Munchkin cat with short legs and long body which to me gave it the somewhat odd look of a mongoose. It seemed like the kitty equivalent of bound feet. But to each his/her own, and at least Lennox was friendly. We packed up Allie’s car with my luggage and what we could fit from Mackenzie’s.
Allie and I met Kristen and her friend (and chauffeur and UMass hockey teammate) Sara at 1:30pm at Hei La Moon, which has become our go-to dim sum place in Boston’s Chinatown. It was good to see both. Kristen was in town fresh from Australia, visiting Boston for a bit before heading home to Denver. I’d originally hoped to spend more time with Kristen and Allie, but schedules conspired against us all and dim sum was all we could manage. Kristen shared some stories of Australia and planned to spend another year there at least, playing hockey again and presumably still working at Lululemon. We still had a few minutes after dim sum, so we walked a block or two of Chinatown and got bubble tea.
Allie and I proceeded to her new apartment in East Boston to drop off an initial load of stuff. I met her new roomie, Meaghan, who’s also very nice. She was Allie’s colleague at Staples but would soon be starting at Rue La La a couple of weeks before Allie. After a short stop at the apartment (Allie’s room was very small), Allie dropped me off at the airport at 4:30pm so she could pick up her U-Haul van to move the rest of her things that evening with Dan and his brother. She had a very busy day in the midst of a very busy few weeks of changes. I wished her well.
With five hours to kill at Logan Airport, I got a fish and chips dinner at Legal Seafood then waited at the gate for my Aer Lingus flight. There was a lounge in the international concourse that supports multiple airlines including Delta. I checked to see if my (supposedly lifetime) Crown Club membership got me in there. No, but I could spend $40 to use the lounge. Considering I already spent that much on Legal Seafood for too much food and then a bottle of water, I probably should have done the lounge. Maybe next time.
My flight to Dublin left on time at 9:30pm and arrived at 8:30am. While on board I watched Isle of Dogs once more, then a series of promo clips for the Wild Atlantic Way, Ireland’s effort to promote tourism along the west coast. It looks enticing. Dinner was a reasonable facsimile of a Shepherd’s Pie, but I was surprised that you have to pay for liquor on Aer Lingus and none is served during dinner. I asked for a ginger ale and got the world’s smallest can. I was able to get a bit of a snooze but not more than an hour or so.
Monday, August 27: Dublin – Lisbon
I arrived in Dublin with a 10-hour layover and a plan to go into the city to scope things out and get some lunch. My bag was checked through to Lisbon, so all I had to carry was my backpack. I was glad I checked the weather report and stuffed my windbreaker into the backpack because it was chilly in Dublin, starting in the mid-50s. The main transport into the city was by car or bus (no train or subway), so I choose the Airlink bus and bought a ticket for the Hop On, Hop Off tour bus in town as well.
The ride into town and transfer to the tour bus was easy. I decided to ride the tour bus for its full two-hour route to get a feel for the city. Honestly, Dublin was not terribly impressive in a quick first impression. It was small and pretty easy to navigate, which was a plus. The buildings were largely old, low and grey though there was quite a lot of new construction and rehabbing going on. The weather was cool and variable just in the four hours I was there: a spitting rain followed by a bit of sun but mostly low thick clouds. The Pope had been in Dublin the day before and our tour bus could not go into Phoenix Park where the main rally had been held. The tour driver commented that when Pope John Paul II visited Dublin about 20 years ago there had been a mass for 1.5 million people; for the Pope’s visit yesterday they had expected 500,000 but only had about 150,000. The guide said that Ireland was a very different place than it was 20 years ago, and I gather that’s very true. The country has been rocked by Catholic Church scandals, just recently voted to allow abortions, and is wrestling with implications of Brexit, among other things. They’ve got a lot on their minds.
There were lots of tourists in Dublin, though granted I was on a tour bus on the main tourist route. The Temple Bar area, which has a lot of pubs and where I figured I would get lunch, was thickly touristy with not a lot of charm (at least on a chilly grey day). It reminded me of a bit of Bourbon Street without the good restaurants, and there was a distinct hungover vibe on that morning. I wandered a bit before heading to the TripAdvisor recommended Boxty House. While a boxty is an Irish potato pancake and I was tempted to have one of the dishes that featured them, I ended up going with the lunch special of Irish stew which was also well reviewed. I asked for a Guinness but the waiter smiled and informed me that they make their own stout that’s better. So I had a Jack Smyth. It was indeed tasty, and so were the stew and soda bread. The waiter was very good-natured for having to put up with a bunch of tourists everyday, so score a point for Ireland.
I tried wandering a bit more, finding my way to Trinity College’s main square, but I ran out of steam after a short visit. I considered going to the Guinness brewery or one of the museums (the EPIC museum of Irish emigration looked especially good) but I was too tired. If I hadn’t spent a full day in Boston already, I might have made better use of my Dublin layover, but it was not to be. So I caught the bus back to the airport around 2pm and killed four more hours in the duty free departure area. There I did at least have a proper pint of Guinness. I know I didn’t give Dublin a fair shake, and I do look forward to someday coming back especially to visit western Ireland.
I slogged through the hours at the airport without falling asleep, scared I might miss my flight, but was mostly dead on my feet. I considered paying Eu39 for the airline lounge but decided against it, figuring I would just eat and drink too much. I decided after three hours to get a bite to eat and found a warm corned beef sandwich with some water. Decent, but only just…but I was glad I got it because there ended up being no food on the subsequent flight. Once it was finally time to board, I ripped my pants getting into my window seat and barely had legroom to shove my backpack under the seat. The seat next to me was empty until the very last person got on flight, a young girl who was Facetiming with friends all the way until takeoff when I told her to please stop. If transatlantic Aer Lingus seemed stingy, the inter-EU version was worse, making you pay even for soft drinks on flight. I make do with what’s left of my bottle of water and slept most of the way from Dublin to Lisbon on the packed flight. We arrived in Lisbon at about 9:30pm. The bag retrieval was thankfully easy and airport wifi was free so I contacted Laurie to let her know I’d arrived. She suggested getting some liquor at duty free, so armed with one bottle of Jameson’s in honor of Ireland, I was on my way. I caught a taxi without difficulty to the Lisbon apartment Laurie had selected, but overpaid (40Eu) for a late Monday evening fare. No matter. Made it up the 4 flights to our apartment and Laurie gives me choice of bedrooms in the spacious place. After a shower and a glass of whiskey I was well-ready for bed a bit after midnight. I survived my 36-hour trip. I slept 8 hours, very soundly.
You must be logged in to post a comment.