Arrived in Dublin, Ireland This Morning

Stephen F. Dennstedt

We arrived in Dublin, Ireland at 9:10 a.m. (local time). We flew super-economy on WOW Air from Reykjavik. Never heard of them? Neither had we until we booked our flight. It’s like flying in a giant grape Popsicle.

Checkout the photo of the plane below. Their entire fleet of planes look like that. Doesn’t instil a great deal of confidence. I mean they look a little ridiculous. And their motto mentions something about their playground in the sky.

The individual ticket prices were good but everything else was up-charged from there. Charges for checked baggage almost equalled the ticket price and you didn’t even get a courtesy cookie or cup of water on the flight—you want a cookie or a sip of water you pay for it. Thankfully the flight time from Reykjavik to Dublin is normally 2½ hours and we shaved 20 minutes off that time (we left Reykjavik at 7:00 a.m. and arrived in Dublin at 9:10 a.m.). Flying in initially over Belfast and then heading south to Dublin we saw a good dusting of snow on the ground.

WOW Air

It’s warmer here than in Iceland but still plenty cold (for us old guys) with a nighttime low of -1°C/30°F and a daytime high of 4°C/40°F. Checking through Immigration & Customs was pretty routine but we did have to prove we had the financial wherewithal to stay in the country for 90 days. I had to trot down to the nearest airport ATM and print a bank balance statement to show solvency—we had to do that a few times in Latin America too. In the future we will probably keep a current printed bank statement with us if it comes up again. Those with cellphones simply show the online information to the agent.

Charleville Lodge – Dublin, Ireland

However, as mentioned so many times before, Joel and I absolutely refuse to own cellphones again (we are both stubborn to the max on this issue). We inquired about a shuttle from the airport to the city but found the taxis to be pretty reasonable. The fare to our lodge was about $20 Euros total ($1.00 Euro = $1.17 USD) and Joel and I split the cost at $10 Euros apiece. It was about a 20 to 30 minute ride into the city and our first impressions of Dublin were very positive. Our driver was cool and provided running commentary the whole way. Charleville Lodge was our destination and we arrived safely.

Charleville Lodge – Dublin, Ireland

We’re paying more than we usually do to stay at the Charleville Lodge but the cost is still very modest by Dublin standards. And after all we’ll be here through New Years (almost a month) so we might as well be comfortable. The hostess and staff have been super attentive and helpful already, the internet seems to work good (so far) and they even have an attached cafe called the White Moose where we spent some time eating a breakfast burrito (Mexican food in Ireland?) and downing a couple of beers while our room was being readied (we arrived before official check-in time).

Charleville Lodge – Dublin, Ireland

It was a long day today. We were up at 2:30 a.m. (the alarm was set for 3:00 a.m.) for a 3:30 a.m. pickup at our Reykjavik guesthouse to the airport coupled with the normal stress and anxiety associated with a travel day. Although the flight itself wasn’t very long it was pretty cramped and uncomfortable. We’re happy to be in Dublin and look forward to getting out and exploring a bit tomorrow. Again, we’ll be here for 3 weeks so we can take it pretty slow and easy and really enjoy ourselves. Our hostess said she will help us to organise some day tours outside of Dublin in the days to come.