Ireland, the dream and the reality.

I have always wanted to travel to Ireland and this year, I finally made it! I brought my niece, Katie, for her dream adventure, St. Patrick's day in Ireland.

Katie's trip began in Phoenix. She then flew to San Francisco to meet up with me. From there we flew to Frankfurt. When we arrived in Frankfurt we ran for the next flight to Dublin. Not going to happen! Our flight in was late and we missed the flight to Ireland, so we made a small stop at my apartment in Walldorf. We had a nap, dined at my favorite Italian restaurant, Pizzeria La Tettoia‎, Kelsterbacher Straße 14, 64546 Mörfelden, Germany06105 75398‎. This is a family owned business and they are the best! The pasta is homemade and the food is delicious as well as reasonably priced.

Rested and fed, we continued on our journey to Ireland. There was a 10 PM flight to Dublin on Lufthansa. Now, my reasoning was this. If we did not arrive in Dublin to pick up the car on Saturday, the rental fee for the car would almost double on Sunday. The 10 PM flight would get us into Dublin before midnight and the price would stay the same. Now, I needed to find a place to stay the night. So, I got on line and found a travel lodge (after all, we were only going to sleep here) in Ballymun, County Dublin, Ireland. As a side comment, there is a reason that only the top half of the hotel shows in the ad. When we arrived in Ireland, we headed for the Hertz rental to pick up our car. This was just getting better and better.

At the Hertz counter we met Sheamus. I asked if we could be upgraded to a car with GPS and he said he upgraded me to a larger car. Later I figured out that this is not necessarily a good thing. We are talking about a lady that drives a Mazda getting a Sherman tank to drive in Ireland's very narrow parking garages. He then informed me that I did not have CDW on the car and therefore I would not be insured should I have an accident. He related a story about a woman that had not purchased the insurance and had an accident within 30 minutes of renting the car. I said I should probably get it as it was protection against other drivers and he said it was rather protection from me. HA! Did you know that collision damage waiver is more than the weekly rental price? And you probably need it as your U. S. Insurance and or your credit card does not cover any damage. When I asked for directions to Ballymun, Sheamus said "at least your vacation can only get better". Hmmm. At least I remembered to get in the car on the right side.

Our first stop in Ireland was Ballymun and this is a seriously bad looking area. Especially at midnight. When we found the hotel we couldn't find the parking area. So, I had to pull up in front across from the front door as there was a large truck in front of the door. Katie got out and walked across the street. She had to waive at the door in order for it to open so that she could get instructions to the parking garage. I waited in the car for her to return and kept watch on the area. All around this hotel are vacant lots, run down buildings and broken windows. We were going to leave here very early! She finally came back with instructions and we drove around the block, past the derelict buildings and the wild horses and into the tiniest parking garage ever. However, the poles in the garage are the biggest! With Katie's help, I managed to maneuver the garage without incident and we checked in for the night.

The hotel room was clean, the price was reasonable but the bathroom had an odor that would knock you over. So, we closed the door, went to sleep so that we could begin our adventure in the morning.