When Irish Eyes are Smiling...

Today it was time to say farewell to England, even if only temporarily. We were off to Ireland to visit Anita's cousin Paul who lives near Galway. For now though, our destination is Dublin. Although flying there is commonplace, we decided to take up the opportunity of a bargain fare and go by train and ferry. So after an early breakfast, we checked out and dragged our bags across the road to Euston Station. We had arrived with plenty of time so we joined the "waiting game" - standing in the forecourt waiting for the platform number of your train to come up.

The Waiting Game at Euston

Ours came up as Platform 3 with plenty of time available to stroll over and board (sometimes it seems that you get less than 5 minutes). It was a brilliantly fast run with stops only at Milton Keynes Central, Crewe and Chester before we crossed the border into Wales where we stopped at Rhyl, Llandudno Junction and Bangor before arriving at Holyhead less than 4 hours after leaving London. There is no way you could do that trip in anything like that time in a car.
 

 A line up of Virgin trains at Euston - ours is on the left

Arrival at Holyhead

Holyhead marked the change from train to ferry and it was here that we saw the fabled English passion for queuing at its best. We had to check-in for the ferry so after walking around from the train, nearly everyone lined up at the check-in desk. Having taken our time to get there, we would have been at the back off the queue so we went off to buy something to eat. When we returned, the queue hadn't progressed so I went to have a look. The reason why was simple - there was no one on the desk! We sat down and ate lunch while we waited for the queue to start moving...

After checking in for the ferry and going through the security check, we all got a bus to be taken out to the ferry. In the "good old days", the ferries docked beside the railway station but these days the ferries are much bigger and are much further away. We left port on time and headed out into the Irish Sea. About a third of the way over, a RAF Rescue helicopter caught up to us and circled for a while. All passengers were cleared from the outside deck and the helicopter dropped onto the helipad a couple of times. Nothing was said as to why and they were thar quick, it may have only been a practice. Anyway, it was a little bit of unexpected entertainment.
 

 The Ulysses - our ferry

 Leaving Holyhead

The RAF pays us a visit en route

We docked in Ireland and disembarked. Passing through Immigration was almost perfunctory, customs even more so. The EU has certainly simplified internal travel within Europe. Once on Irish soil, we jumped in a taxi and went to our B&B, Tinode House, in Drumcondra. For dinner, we wandered down to Fagans, an Irish pub opposite Budget where we will get our car tomorrow.

 Land Ho! - it's Ireland

Tinode House - our B&B

One really shouldn't laugh at the Irish but ...