Probably going to be a shortish entry today, as it was primarily a travelling day. Also, I didn’t take any photos I’m afraid! I’ll try and make up for it tomorrow.

First order of business for today was to finish packing. I didn’t think I’d bought that much stuff during my travels, but my pack is getting a bit hard to close, and I’ve apparently added about 4kgs of stuff to it from somewhere…

Checked out of the hotel without any issues, and it was only a short walk to the nearby tram stop. They were still working on the tram system last time I was here, so it was nice to see it all up and running. Luckily for me it’s a straight run out to the airport, and it only costs £5! It’s a bit of a hike from the tram stop to the terminal, but not too bad. Made it in plenty of time and checked in without any issues. Got a bit delayed at security, not sure what the hold up was but it took a while to clear, luckily I wasn’t in a rush! Had a quick wander around the terminal (which isn’t very big) and then sat down to wait for the flight to be called.

This flight actually turned out to be two personal records for me – shortest flight I’ve ever taken and smallest plane I’ve ever been in! Rated flight time was an hour and 15 minutes (we ended up taking an hour almost on the dot) and the plane was an ATR-72, a rather zippy little twin engined turbo-prop. Still, as I said, we made good time, and it wasn’t a very full flight, so I didn’t have anyone next to me. Interestingly, the plane is small enough that you pretty much -have- to stick to your assigned seat, as otherwise it’ll change the centre of gravity, and after we landed those of us in the front 10 rows had to wait for the people at the back to get off first so we didn’t all rush to the back (where the door is) and unbalance the aircraft! Even though we made really good time to Dublin we had a little bit of a wait until they could get a coach out to take us to the terminal. The perils of arriving early I guess.

The guy at immigration barely glanced at my passport, and thanks to the delay with the bus my bag was pretty much waiting for me once I got to the carousel. Found my way out to the coach stand easily enough, and bought a ticket on the shuttle bus to the city. Fortunately for me one of the stops was just down the road from my hotel, so it worked out well.

The hotel is nice, and I have a nice big bed again. The only problem is that it’s on the second floor and there’s no lift! This could be annoying after a full day of walking around… I spent a bit of time getting settled in, then headed out for a quick look around the city before the light faded. My first impression of Dublin is that most of the time the footpaths aren’t big enough for the number of people they’re carrying! It doesn’t help that there’s a fair bit of roadwork going on which cuts into it as well. Ah well, I might just have to find a different route back to the hotel. I’m staying not too far from Trinity College, and there looks to be a lot of nice little streets to explore around here, which should be fun! And clearly I must not look like a tourist, as I was asked for directions within two hours of getting to the city!

I stopped briefly for dinner and then found, on the way back to the hotel, that the footpaths are even worse when people are trying to get home from work / class! Tomorrow I’m off to a walking tour of the city with Sandeman’s New Europe tours. I’ve done them before in Edinburgh, Berlin, Paris and Prague, and they’ve always been great, so I’m hoping this is the same!