There's No Place Like Oz

This is the second post about my 30th birthday trip to Dublin. You can read the previous one here.

On Sunday, Evan and I landed in Dublin after a layover in Copenhagen. We had both slept the entire 2-hour flight — a welcome event since we hadn’t slept in about 24 hours by that point, and sleeping on a plane is next to impossible for me!

We got our speed-walk on to Immigration and Passport Control (every second counts when waiting in long lines after long flights!) and were both overjoyed to see our bags on the carousel. Ever since the Air Canada lost baggage fiasco of 2008, I’m always grateful to be reunited with my bag.

Bus 16A takes you from the airport to the city in about 45 minutes, and it wasn’t without its own adventure! Within about 15 minutes, an elderly gentleman boarded the bus and headed straight to the back where Evan and I were sitting. There were several seats open, but he plopped right down on top of beside me. Like, *directly* beside me, as in our legs and arms were in perfect alignment and every inch of his side was not only touching, but pressing against me. It wouldn’t have been all that off-putting I suppose, but he smelled like he had been smoking a pipe every day of his life since he was born. Me and smoke don’t get along too well. Evan found it quite amusing and whipped out his iPhone to capture a few seconds of the precious moment on video. He got his when the man started playing footsie with him, all the while the man was snuggling up to me. Gotta love meeting interesting people in transit!

By the time bus 16A dropped us off at Avalon House, I was ready for a quick shower, change of clothes, and reunion with the Londoners 🙂

It had been about 14.5 months since I’d last seen the Brits…the longest we’ve gone without seeing each other since we first met in December of 2006. But as always, as soon as we saw each other it was like no time had passed at all. And, keeping with tradition, Dave bought me a latte straight away. After the two-hour power nap on the plane and the dose of caffeine, I was ready to roll.

We rounded up the group for dinner save for one…back in the states, Nicole’s flight had been cancelled and she wouldn’t be able to join us until Monday afternoon. She hung in there like a champ and rented a car with some other folks from the cancelled flight to drive to ANOTHER STATE to get a flight. If not for that, she wouldn’t have been able to join us until mid-week. (Love you girl!)

Since I was the only one who had been to Dublin, I didn’t mind making some suggestions for the evening. When dad and I were in Dublin in 2003, we had dinner at Bad Ass Cafe and loved it! I raved about the energetic atmosphere and excellent pizza to the group, so off we trotted to the well-known restaurant in Temple Bar for what I promised to be a fun dining experience.

Yeah.

You know when someone builds up a movie so much that when you finally see it, your expectations are high and the real thing falls short? That’s kind of how this was.

I had built up the memory so much that “Bad Ass Cafe: Take Two” fell way short. The fun vibe was missing and the pizza was average. No one else said so, but I thought it was true and felt silly for building it up so much for everyone else! I have fond memories of several places in Australia and hope I haven’t built them up so much that I’ll be disappointed upon my return.

Still, and most importantly, the company was far from lacking, and Evan fit right into the mix as we caught up over dinner. Afterward, we strolled around Temple Bar, enjoying gelato and the River Liffey at night…and eventually, a well-deserved night of sleep.