A day in Dublin

How do you summarize a day in Dublin?

Its hard. Because being me i could write all day about every little thing and have every photo uploaded. but thats not the point of this and could be annoying.

But heres a few highlighted points of what you should do and what we found interesting.

FIRST STEP!
Have good shoes, socks, jacket, and layers because it is cold and wet and dark by 430pm, being winter here, i dont mind it but if you dont have these things, get them ASAP and be sure to find a good store ( off the main streets ) that have some half price gear in there as AUD to EURO is expensive enough as it is, we got some great quality socks 75% off with our half price shoes.

Second step,
Get yourself a hop on hop off bus pass for two days its €24 ( online booking price) its a great way to see the city on two different lines, even better on the top deck, and get your rough bearings on the city, it also includes discounts in different locations and selected restaurants.

Thirdly!
Dont be in a hurry or drive because the traffic is a nightmare in many ways and you wont get anywhere as fast as you like so just kick back on your bus and enjoy the views or learn to walk and navigate weird streets and no real signs to figure where you are. But still take a map.

There is many amazing things to see everything in Dublin, from the guinness brewery and how its evolved throughout the years, several of the city bridges, many pubs and restaurants, cathedrals and parks, to a big tall needle in the centre of town thats the tallest free standing needle known as the spire of Dublin.

The hop on bus was amazing as the only reason we stayed on for the whole hour and 45 minutes on the red line, in the cold early morning of 6° on a open top deck bus. The driver was the best, just talked the whole time without having an automated tour thing on, interesting knowledge throughout the parts of the city we followed, telling jokes and singing when we were stuck in traffic, seemed like a guy who loves his job.

As part of the bus ticket, it comes with discounts in several places and a few restaurants, once such place called 'pacinos', which is a Italian restaurant on route with the buses, inside it just goes to show how in a big city, space it used to make for different layouts within a small three story building, the food was amazing and service is nice all for a 2 for 1 meal about €15.

The main strip and city market areas are packed, with live music whereever you go, its worth popping into a few different shops and having a look for cheap stuff, mainly looking just off the main st in the same shop name but different building, as their is a difference in price.

if you need the toilet, public is hard to find and shop ruling is "buy something then you can use it" does apply so aim for fastfood places like burgerking and get large chips for €2, or Starbucks as they are everywhere, WIFI is in most places free too and good speeds too, speaking of starbucks, i see why they are everywhere, its not bad coffee for the price or maybe its because i hadn't had a half decent warm coffee since I've been here.

The last major attraction we had gone to was the guinness brewery.
Now for €48 - €50 for 2 people, you may think this is abit expensive, and it is, but within is a 6 story self guided tour that has rich history into the brewing world, how the old barrels were made all by hand and eye, how guinness became a global market, the power of advertising many other things too and of course, the sampling and pouring of your own pint (free) and the amazing 360° veiw of the whole city on lvl 6.

I know this is abit long and as i said i could write all day about everything but i try to limit it and still make it interesting, i hope you enjoyed this read and be sure to check out the next post, or follow my instragram " Matowitz2 " for more photos, bye bye

"The beginning... of airport security"

And so it begins...

It starts with the drop off, standing there outside having your photo taken by your wifes bestfriend, and thanks brooke for the lift buddy.

Then there's check in, standing around moving at a half pace look at everyone and everything, staring at cameras and pulling faces like Mr Bean because why not?

Then check in, hand the bags over, cant hear the lady giving instructions so just relying on my stupid face and guessing what needs to happen next, fuble the passport and throw the bag on the rollers the looking at soph and the lady like I've done a good job.

Then bam, all checked in, now its the main event of check points, the new layout, finding where things are and all the dutyfree booze you can get ( make the flight fast in one way or bad in another ), milling around the shops and prices.

After that, its the first check point (ID)
its the good old stick your passport in the thing that goes beep, stand in the yellow feet and stare at the screen and hope you don't get locked out as i got nervous because 4 people beforehand got turned away before me but happily all went fine, nod at the customs guy and walk through....

TO CHECKPOINT 2 ( metal scanners and xrays )

The best part is kinda wanting to get the special " sir, please come over here and arms up". Full body scanner as its alot faster then the general lines, but that didnt happen sadly, and yes im probably the only person thats sad about that.
But did get the swob test so close enough.

As we went through the lines, an old school mate is working at security at the airport handling my gear asking how we're going etc. Which was a odd place to see someone who you went to school with 400 kms away from here, but there you go, i know people in airport securuty which means its likely ill end up running into someone i know in europe on the street now.

Now we are just sitting around waiting for another hour or so for our flight and getting prepared for a 18 or so hour flight total to Dublin, Ireland.
That includes a 2 hour stop over in Doha, Qutar.

As we have been nearing this trip, I've  been asked several times if im getting excited or nervous or anything, but the thing thats running through my head is this version of leaving on a jet plane

https://youtu.be/_SN7sLORnYQ

But yes, i am nervous, excited and scared but happy too, happy that this trip can happen.

( If your 'fortunate' to hear my singing, you know i get it as good as that video)

This will probably be the last post for few days till wither i get a European sim card or free wifi everywhere but do take care all and look forward to writing the next thing.

"Saying goodbye"

Its hard to say goodbye....

Goodbye to our mums and dads, to our brothers and sisters, and really hard to say goodbye to willow too.

But in saying that, it isn't forever, only in perth atm and already feeling the stress of it all starting to come off of our shoulders and starting to relax, slow down the pace alot, thinking it going to be strange on monday morning when we wake up and not have to worry about going to work and not have several alarms going off to start the daily grind...

And turns out i got the airline and stop over places wrong but lucky i wasn't the one who booked it otherwise will probably end up in Asia or some other place...

Prelude...

Things they don't tell you about international travel.

The extreme feeling of nervousness, things your body does before you calm down and remember its going to be fine, the staying up late at night dwelling over the minor problems and overthinking and playing the 'what if this happens'.

But in saying that, it is nice to be prepared, me and my other half have been waiting all year for this trip and now that its here we just cant wait to finish work, get in the car, go to the airport and start flying to start new adventures that await and explore, create memories and have the adventure of a life time....