(This post was written on Sept 13/19.)

_______________________

The flight went well. An extra treat was that the seat reclined almost fully flat, which meant that I was able to doze a little on the flight. It was really nice and comfortable and I’m so glad I treated myself – I’m sure I’ll be equally glad on the return trip, too.

We arrived in Dublin as scheduled at around 8:30 am. Customs didn’t take too long and I easily found the Express Link desk and got my ticket to get to the Heuston Train Station. It was a lovely day which meant a nice drive through Dublin.

When I bought my train ticket a month or two ago, I got a flex ticket so I could take any train that day. I wanted the flexibility so that if all went well with the flights and customs, I could head to Killarney earlier. Which I did. Instead of having to wait around for the 1:00 train, I was able to catch it just after 11:00, getting me into Killarney about 2:15.

I found my hotel easily enough – less than a 5 minute walk from the station, past a few horse-drawn carriages – a sure sign that tourist season is still in full swing!

My room wasn’t ready so I’m having a bite to eat at the Sandtrap Bar and Grill, attached to the hotel, while it’s being prepared and then I’ll toodle around for a bit. From the quick look I took walking to the hotel from the train station, it looks like I’m in a good spot for twacking around!

It will be an early night, though…As I said, I dozed a little on the plane – enough to keep me upright today, but I’m still pretty zonked. I’ve been up for about 28 hours so the betteries are definitely winding down.

There are so many similarities to how we speak in Newfoundland and how they speak in Ireland that I immediately feel at home. I don’t feel like I need to “edit” myself like I often do in mainland Canada. Of course, here I don’t want people to think I’m just mimicking them. They don’t necessarily know about Newfoundland like we in Newfoundland know about Ireland so it could easily come across that way. Hopefully not!

Well, my food is here (a yummy open-faced tuna melt sandwich with fries and a salad) so I’m off! More about Killarney to come!

_____________________________

If you enjoyed this post, don’t forget to follow/subscribe!