Bananas, Guinness and Tappas

I arrived safely in Madrid, Spain on Tuesday night. But before that, I was drinking Guinness in Dublin and trying not to beat the little boy who kicked the back of my seat while screaming "I don't want bananas" from Boston to Ireland. Laura, my partner in crime and traveling comrade, and I arrived in Dublin, Ireland at 7:50am, local time. We stopped in Shannon, Ireland about an hour before that and was about to deboard the plane, when the nice guy who was sitting next to me on the plane (who I rudely hadn't said two words to for the entire flight) informed me that if Ireland was our final stop, I should stay on the plane.

I did and hoped that the lady with the three screaming toddlers behind me was deboarding, but to my surprise, her short absence was only to the bathroom. Luckily, I was right in front of the only child whose feet could reach the seat in front of him, so my seat jerked not only from the plane's turbulence, but also from his kicking tantrums. Thank goodness my body only experienced the abuse, as I turned up my Ipod to full volume and let Genius get me through the flight.

I had an 8-hour layover in Ireland, so I hopped on a bus and headed into the city for a day of sight-seeing. FYI: Downtown Dublin does not have that many interesting sights. The city looks a lot like Boston, seeing as they are sister cities. Most of my time was spent walking up and down O'Connell Street, the main road. I spent 1.50 euros (about $2.01) to use the Internet for 15 minutes and 1.70 euros ($2.37) for a 10oz. bottle of water at McDonalds. Did I mention that Europe is hella expensive!?!? After walking around, eating and snapping pictures like typical tourists, Laura and I decided to get a drink (we were really just trying to kill time so that we did not seem like lushes drinking before noon). We stumbled upon a pub and posted up at the bar, not ashamed that we were the only ones in there as we each ordered a pint of Guinness. Of course it was on tap so it was delicious though thick going down (get your mind out of the gutter if your mind is wandering).

We ended up back at Dublin airport an hour and a half before our flight. At the security check-in, I was not required to take off my shoes but the guard did open my umbrella and proceeded to pat it down. Flight time from Dublin to Madrid was just over 3 hours. Cordae was patiently waiting for us at the gate and gave me a big hug. She admitted that she was about to leave us because Laura and I were the last ones through customs and the doors had not opened for 15 minutes before we had come out. Apparently, Cordae thought that we might have had one too many drinks in Ireland and missed our connecting flight. We cabbed it to our hostel (http://www.madhostel.com/) which was another 30 euros. (Gosh, this trip is adding up and it is only day 1...)

After checking in, Cordae took us to a great tappas restaurant, Lateral, and we cleaned each of the small plates; there were about 7. For those of you who have been to Europe, you probably understand my next statement. We did not leave a tip. Actually, you are not supposed to since servers do not made sub par bases like back in the states. Service was bearable (the waiter forgot my white wine after he and a runner were both reminded that I ordered it) and the food was great.

Laura and I conked out at our hostel before midnight, as we were exhausted from traveling ahead 6 time zones, taking 2 planes and being in 3 countries in just under 24 hours. I look forward to the next 4 days in Madrid; we plan to visit Toledo for a festival, celebrate Cordae's birthday for the entire weekend and of course see the sights and experience the culture before heading to Barcelona. More details to come, but please check out the pictures from Dublin and Day 1 in Madrid here: See more pictures!