Memories on My shoestring : Ireland: Day 1

During my birthday week, I made a trip to Ireland! I have never had Ireland in the list of places that I want to visit but my boyfriend would like to visit the country and I just wanted to be in a new place so I agreed to it and did the research. It was relatively easier to research on the country as everything is in English and I don't have to change language or use Google Translate because the website only has information in the local language. We were away for 9 days and since this is my first time, I visited the must-see or recommended tourist attractions. We rented a car too because there are no trains between towns. Not sure about buses though. It was easier with a car as we could drive to the attractions.

I rented a small automatic car from a third party operator, DiscoverCars, which turned out to be very helpful. The customer service was very attentive and real! Not an AI agent. The operator has a website that lists down all cars based on preferences and the prices were cheaper than renting directly from the operator. Small car because we were unsure about the width of the roads in small towns. Good thing we chose small car because during those drives in the small towns or on the way to an attraction in a small town, we had to drive very close to the hedges or even over the road's border to give way to buses, vans and bigger cars. I purchased a full-insurance too from DiscoverCars and we did not need to get the full insurace from the car rental company, which in this case is Sixt, who of course, recommended to get their insurance but we declined it. The downside is in the event of any damages, we have to pay Sixt first and make the claims to DiscoverCars. Thankfully, we did not have any damages to the car. Phew. We did a mistake though by purchasing full tank from Sixt as the staff told us that it will save us the trouble from finding a petrol station and can return the car at any level in the petrol tank. My boyfriend agreed to it, and during our trip, I told him that it is more expensive with that purchase as we had a hybrid car which means that the car charges the battery and the battery is used during drives in small town so we did not need to pump the car so often. So, my boyfriend did an estimated calculation at which level in the petrol tank we should return the car so that it is worth the money spent. He did quite a good job at that and we returned the car with 30km left which is sufficient for the staff to find a petrol station.

When I was asked the places that I was visiting, I explained that we start from Dublin and then drive westwards to Galway and then southwards to Killarney but not a straight south. Less than 90 degrees and back to Dublin so it is a sort of upside-down triangle. Do you get what I am trying to explain?

Dublin (1 night) -- collect car in Dublin -- drive to Galway (2 nights) -- drive to Portmagee (2 nights) -- drive to Killarney (1 night) -- drive to Dublin (2 nights)

Here is a summary of what is spent on Day 1.

19/9 Day 1: Flight from Stockholm (1730 hours) to Dublin (1915 hours). 2 hours and 45 minutes flight. Dublin is one hour earlier than Stockholm. Bus and walk to hotel. Had fish and chips for dinner.

Costs

(1) Flight return ticket Stockholm to Dublin - SAS Airline SEK2588.

(2) Dublin Express airport bus return ticket (Dublin airport to town) - EUR24 (EUR12 per way)

Accommodation

(1) Academy Plaza Hotel, 1 night (booked from Trip.com) - Shared room EUR230,73 for 2 persons, EUR115,36 per person

Food

(1) Dinner at Madigans O'Connell Street - Fish and chips EUR23, Guiness EUR8

The Story

19092026: Flight departed and arrived without any delays. We landed at Dublin airport, collected our luggage and waited in line for the Dublin Express airport bus. I selected 784 when I bought the bus ticket but we boarded the 783 bus instead. The bus stop on the 783 route was not very far from the hotel so it was fine for us. In the Dublin Express bus website, the bus ticket is valid within 12 hours from the selected time. 12 hours before and 12 hours after. Basically, a 24 hour ticket. Also, bus ticket for route 782, 783 and 784 can be used interchangeably and one can alight at any station despite the selected station on the ticket. Dublin town is not big so everything is a relative walking distance.

The next bus that will arrive is 783 hence the reason the staff directed us to wait in line for the 783 bus. I asked the staff on which stop to get down but I did not understand what she said. Yes, the first experience of speaking to an Irish. And not the last time I do not understand them. We checked Google Map and we got off at Anton Quay stop. If we took 784, we would have alighted at Eden Quay.

The bus ride took 15 minutes. Here, at Anton Quay stop. I was welcomed by very loud people. It is a Saturday so the streets were very lively. I noticed too that there are many pubs in Dublin. So, it could be one of the reasons of the lively people around me. I felt uncomfortable initially because I am not used to large crowds anymore. I held tightly to my belongings.

It is a short walk to our hotel. 10 minutes maybe. We checked in. I had booked an Airbnb in the beginning but a month before our trip, our host contacted me and told me that he is renovating his apartment and unsure of its availability in September. So, I cancelled the accommodation and got refunded. We took a hotel as we were staying for 1 night only. All hotels in Dublin are very expensive. They are double the prices of Airbnb. We booked the hotel for the first time from Trip.com which has the lowest price in comparison to other hotel websites.

Then, we visited the nearest pub with good ratings - Madigans. Here, I was greeted by even livelier crowd and also live music. You cannot talk at all or maybe talk directly to the ears. Then, a random person came to our table and spoke to us. Wow. Irish people are so friendly. It felt very nice and actually, welcoming.