HUMBLED ON THE STREETS

9/3/19: Bursting from the airport onto the street my first sensation was the smell of the sea. The triumph of having made it, after so many months of planning, rose in my heart. We stood there taking it all in, busses, pedestrians, taxis, all the ecoutrements of airport life. Wearing our back packs, and steering our suitcases (1 each), we found the seller of bus passes. I thrust my stapled bundle of papers to her which showed our first BnB. She cheerfully identified how to go about finding it, circling the bus number and stop. Then, as we waited for the bus into Dublin, I looked for my bundle of info on the BnB, but it wasn't there. I returned to her twice, hoping I'd left it on her little desk, and searched every pocket and section of our luggage, but no, it was gone. No address for our first night's stay (and two more nights).

There began our dawning awareness that though we were apparently homeless, everyone wanted to help! On the bus a young man from Germany used his phone to look on line at booking.com, where I thought I'd made the reservation. No luck. (It was his first day in Dublin too, a student of tourism, he was headed to his new student housing.)We deboarded the bus at O'Connell Street, THE center of Dublin with more rivers of humanity teeming the sidewalk. Only after we charged up my phone, and purchased a new SIM card was I able to reach Autumn, to check-in, who innocently asked "would the address be on the itinerary you gave me?" I doubted that, but later found my copy, and there was the address!

I knew the owner of the apartment had emailed me about where the key was. I looked in the parking lot, remembering that had something to do with it, and an older gentleman, who was pulling up weeds, took on our plight. Of course by then it was raining, and he kindly let us wait in the lobby of the building while he went in search of the owner's phone number. In the lobby we met two young gentlemen who lived there, and one helped me locate on my phone that it was airbnb, not booking.com where I'd made the reservation. Eventually we found the email, the location and code of the key box, and FINALLY (6 hours later) we unlocked the door to our little apartment in Dublin!

Fortunately there is a little pub across the street. Neither of us had slept much, of course, but Brian appeared quite restless. So we walked the neighborhood for a bit, then had our first Guinness at the pub, which was populated by older men, arguing and laughing at the other end of the bar. That did the trick. Both of us slept so soundly, and Brian is still sleeping as I write, at 9:30 AM. The beer was delicious, and that's coming from someone who is just learning to like beer!

Our apartment is very thoughtfully furnished with art deco items. The trolleys go by every half-hour or so, with a polite little bell to warn pedestrians. The owner checked in and told me how to operate the water system, which is different. The shower was heaven.

Brian has done far better than expected, on the plane, and on the streets. The only tendency was getting distracted and marching off in the wrong direction a few times. Today is a new adventure with a few tasks to accomplish, and much to see, with a home to return to!