Trains and Ferries, Monday

Thinking back on Monday’s traveling, I don’t remember every little detail – but here are some reasonable bits.

Dad sat next to me most of the trip – Mom and Grandma sat a little ways down the car. The train filled up pretty fast, so we had to get seats that were empty – and sometimes we had to move, if someone had paid for a particular seat. (Still don’t quite get that. Had to move twice.) We ate sandwiches. We read books. We zoned out and watched the countryside. I took lots of pictures. I was traveling with far too much luggage. (I don’t know how I managed it.) Our train from Swansea changed in Cardiff – our clever aid in Swansea (a very nice train manager! who had competed in the Eisteddfod when he was young! who was very helpful and leaned out the window as that train left to point me in the right direction in Cardiff!) had told us exactly what we needed to do, so we had a minimum of confusion. The train from Cardiff to Holyhead lasted forever, but we got there eventually. Daddy is a great travel buddy.

At Holyhead we found the ferry. Oh yes, this is a funny story. The ferry tickets my family had bought… were Stena Line. The return trip ferry ticket I had… was Irish Ferries.

So we waited in line forever, and then the fellow at the front told me if I was going with them, I had to run (fast!) and buy my own ticket for Stena Line.

So I did. Grrr. Insert frenzy, worry, fretting, and inhuman Megan speed here.

We made it onto the ferry (and found out it wasn’t leaving until a good forty minutes after he had warned me I only had ten to stand in the ticket reservations line), found ourselves a table, and staked it out for the rest of the trip. I’d learned my lesson on the Jonathan Swift – never, ever leave your seat! It will be taken from you! Mom and Dad went to get us food. I kept Grandma company and read my book. After we ate, Mom bought us ice cream and hot chocolate, and then Dad and I went to explore.

We wandered around the store for awhile. I wanted to buy things, but didn’t find anything that looked good (well, except the giant chocolate). Daddy bought a book. We went to the rear deck and took pictures. Then we wandered around more, and ended up back at the table. We pretty much all stayed there until the ferry got into Dun Laoghaire. (That’s another thing. The Stena Line ferry didn’t go to Dublin Ferry Port – it went to Dun Laoghaire. I was seriously concerned because all of a sudden I didn’t know exactly what I was doing… but what can you do?)

Long story short; we waited a long time outside the ferry port building, I galvanized the troops, we found a hotel reservation and a taxi, piled all our junk into the trunk with the help of my clever bungee cords, and hauled off for the Jurys Ballsbridge in Dublin 4. (I’d like to know what the Dublin numbers mean, I’m assuming they are parts of the city, but at the moment I’m trying to get all this writing out of my system, and I don’t feel like it.)

We got to the hotel and all collapsed in our various rooms. (WITH INTERNET ACCESS THAT WORKED. I can’t tell you how gleefully I paid for that functional internet access!)

I stayed up awhile on the web, and I got some food into me, but ultimately, that was my Monday. I was totally tuckered out by the traveling, but it kept reoccuring to me that I didn’t have to hop onto a plane – we had all of Tuesday to rest before we headed to the airport. And that was a relief!

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