Day 1: Tāmaki Makaurau to Dublin
Nau mai
Yesterday we travelled to Dublin, Ireland.
The journey from Aotearoa to Ireland is a long one. It takes two hops to reach the other side of the globe. The first is a seventeen hour hop that begins in the south Pacific, the aircraft soaring out across the Coral Sea as the four hundred passengers sift through the incomprehensibly large collection of inflight entertainment and enjoy the various grades of meal provided depending on the type of ticket purchased.
The cabin lights dim and the seats recline as you cross northern Australia and then pass over Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Bay of Bengal, spanning the Indian subcontinent, and then finally descending above the Gulf of Oman for a predawn landing in the brightly illuminated Dubai airport.
The connecting flight is reached by a trimodal journey through the terminal, an elevator, escalator, and APM (automated people mover) carrying you efficiently to the gate where a new aircraft is waiting. The sun has now risen over the Arabian Peninsula and you lift off into a hazy sky, climbing up over the Persian Gulf. A continental breakfast is served to the economy class passengers, several pieces of fresh seasonal fruit, a pottle of stirred yoghurt, a heated Mango brioche, and an apple cinnamon muffin.
This second hop is seven hours long and it seems that you are over a new country each hour. You cross northern Iran, Turkey, and the Black Sea, and then plunge up into eastern Europe through Romania and Hungary. Then you are into Austria, Germany, and the Netherlands before you finally reach water again, crossing the southern tip of the North Sea to overfly the United Kingdom.
After a rough but assertive landing Tristan, Gabe, and myself emerged from the airconditioned Dublin Airport into a welcoming climate, a beautifully temperate afternoon, moderately overcast with a spot of nice breeze that mingled perfectly with the cigarette smoke drifting through the pickup area.
Half an hour and one taxi ride later we were experiencing the central district of this thriving metropolis, pedestrians flooding the footpaths and trams clanging past as we crossed the broad boulevard of O’Connell Street. We were forced to suffer through a refreshing pint of dark beer in the sunny courtyard of a nearby pub as we waited for our hotel rooms to be prepared. Then finally we showered.
A sneaky picture taken from our adjacent hotel catches us in the act! (of enjoying a sunny afternoon).
The rest of our day was a full band reunion that began in the safety of a pub (a different pub from before) with a dark and cosy wooden interior and a dinner menu that listed various roasts. We heard all about Jon and Liz’s holiday in Scotland and we told about our two weeks of rest and rejuvenation back home.
Here we are enjoying a drink in the open air of this pleasant lane, back together and excited for the coming months.
