A Day in Dublin

I have not been home since June 2 of this year. No, I am not independently wealthy, I just make a point to be on vacation 4-5 months of the year. This equates to working my tail off for the remainder of the time. Even when I am on vacation, I sometimes pick up a job or two but the work is uplifting because it is in a strange place with new people. I am by nature a shy person, however, when I am in an environment where I feel safe and comfortable I am like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Those who only see me in my element have a hard time believing I am so shy, I sometimes ask friends to order more water for me because I am afraid to talk to the waiter.

One goal for me on this trip is to get over my fear of talking to new people in strange places. I am currently beginning a trip to Europe which marks the completion of my trip to Washington DC. I am always surprised at the kindness of strangers with so much happening in the world I relish in the unsuspected acts a person can do that to them may seem insignificant but to me have a profound effect.

I had just come off a flight from DC to Dublin on Aerlingus, a pretty decent airline with super nice stewardesses. The night before I left I went out with some friends Kathryn, Kaedy, and Keith. As always, with this group of friends, I had an exceptionally great time!! Thanks guys for that sending off bash. Needless to say, I was not at 100% as I boarded the plane. As I discovered later, fatigue affects my math skills.

My ticket showed a departure time of 7 pm with an arrival at 7 am. To me, this meant a good solid 12 hours in the air. I planned on 6 hours of winding down, listening to music, reading, and relaxing, then 6 hours of sleep. For those of you who are not yet laughing, let me explain the error in my logic. I did not factor in the time change. Just as I was hunkering down for a much needed respite from this continued wakeful state, the lights came on and the pilot announced we were 20 minutes from landing. It was this announcement that caused adrenaline to course through my veins and provide that little bit of extra alertness so that I could recalculate my trip time. I quickly went from tired, sick, and sore to seriously bummed out, tired, sick, and sore.
It's not like I had a choice in the matter, so I gathered my pride from the floor and packed my stuff in my bag. Going through customs, my phone battery died, so I did not have my outgoing informating for the customs dude. He chastised me for that. He was nice about it, but I was in a fragile state. Plus, I think I forgot my smile back on the plane because try as I might, I could not seem to get it on my face.

I picked up my rather large bag and checked in with my body. I needed food and sleep. Sleep seemed less likely at this juncture but food could be managed. I had not exchanged money into the local currency because this was only a layover for me. I searched the airport for a place to eat that also provided a nearby plug for my phone and laptop. I found one and double checked to confirm they accepted American express. They did and I was set. Problem was, I really needed to set my bag down before I tried carrying the bag plus food. This would have been a recipe for disaster. I found a quiet little corner away from people (remember, I am shy), plugged my stuff in, and nested. Then for whatever reason, my mind decided it was more important to fully charge my cell phone than to eat and sleep. I know, I was totally not thinking clearly. Actually, I am still not thinking clearly now.

I sat there until my body’s need to feed overwhelmed my flawed logic of cell phone charging. I packed up my fancy electronic gizmos and headed to the food queue (queue means line for those who don’t know). I got a plate of “stuff”. The plate included meat, eggs, bread, and some things I could not identify. Famished, I approached the till (cash register) only to witness the girl up there being scolded by her boss. Seems something was not balanced in her drawer. She was obviously new and still learning. The manager was pleasant but the poor girl was still flustered.
I handed her my American Express card, and as sometimes happens with this card she said she did not think their computer could handle it. (FYI: American express is not accepted in many places around the world) Luckily I kept a back up card with me. I handed her the second card and she looked around frantically for something at the register. Then she walked over to another register talked to a coworker and returned. Looking distraught she asked me politely, "do you have any cash"? I of course did not and all I could think about now was how good that food smelled. She must have seen it on my face because she smiled at me and said “why don’t you go ahead and eat your breakfast then got to the auto bank (atm) get some cash to pay for this later”. And that was that.

With a single gesture of kindness to a complete stranger at the obvious risk to her employment, she reaffirmed my belief in the kindness of humans. That final sentence then lifted the veil that had been obscuring my smile all morning. Now with a silly grin going ear to ear I thanked her most sincerely and headed off to eat my breakfast.

Amazingly, I found the energy to check my bag and hop a bus into the city center. While there I took the obligatory tour of the Guinness factory. I decided to walk there myself with nothing but a gut feeling and a vague description, but that is another story. Suffice it to say, she made my day and inspired me to write this post.

In case you are wondering, I did return to pay her directly after I completed my meal. She seemed relieved.


Transcript (by Heather): While flying, I'm thinking about what I'll do in Europe. All the seats on this plane are green, it's cool. This plane also has TVs, music and other stuff to relax with. Do you want to see the plane? I'll show you. TV. It's a huge airplane, it's cool. I'm relaxing now and thinking about what I'll do when I get to Europe. Bye.

OK so anyway, I took the bus here to Dublin. Now I have no idea where I am. I have a map, but I'm looking for the names of the streets, so I don't know where I'm going or what to do, but Matt told me I must find the Guiness place, so now I'm looking for where the beer is. I guess I'll see, but it's an interesting city. It's cool to look around, I'll show you. Now I look like a dorky tourist, but it's still cool. Bye.

Guess what? I found the street names, they are on the buildings, look. Anyway, now I know. I finally found out where I am. Now I'm looking for that guiness because it's very important to find beer. Bye.

This is called Stephens green. Let's see what they have here. I think it's a park. *shrug* Cool. OK, I'm satisfied with the park and you are too. Bye.

Again, I don't know where I am, but I'll keep looking to see if I can find guiness. Now it's like a hunt for beer.

There isn't much light here, sorry.

Writing on the wall: Centuries ago, many people were convinced that, somehow
lead could be transformed into gold. In a way, Arthur Guiness
was such a man. But where others failed, he succeeded.

Writing on the barrell: A copper has a 600 barrel capacity
288 pints --> so each copper ???

Now I finally have beer, see? Yum, I'm happy now. Bye.

This is called Saint Augustine and Saint John's catholic church. It's cool.

Well, I'm not sure how, but I finally arrived back to the right place. Now I'm waiting for the bus to come. The bus number is 747. When it gets here, I'll board it and head back to the airport. Bye.
*** End Transcript***