May 20 - Departure and home

Full disclosure: I'm writing this part almost three weeks since we returned.  I hope no one was in suspense wondering if we made it back.

Not much to do on the last day, except have breakfast in the buffet and then wait for our time to disembark.  Our deck was scheduled to leave at 10:30, but our tour guide said she wasn't leaving until later.  I didn't understand why, so we left when we were told, picked up our luggage, and headed to the airport on the  shuttle bus.  We arrived at Dublin airport, and then I understood why she waited: airline check-in for our flight didn't open for another hour or so.  Oh well.  I was ready to get off the ship by then, and we had a nice coffee at the airport cafe while talking to another couple in our group who also left when we did.

I guess I would start counting my international travel adventures as beginning when I went to the Philippines the first time in 1995.  Back then, flying was a relatively new experience--I always wanted a window seat and the flight time didn't matter.  I know a lot has changed since then--not least myself--but flying now seems to be a dehumanizing experience (in economy class, anyway).  At least Ireland has a pre-clearance agreement with the US where you can get through customs there instead of your arrival back home.  It may not have saved much time, but I wouldn't have wanted to go thorough that in Dulles after a seven-hour flight.  It was my first time in flying through there, but it seemed a chaotic mess.

Planes on the tarmac at Dulles

It was nice to get from DC to Pittsburgh in about 45 minutes though.

We left Pittsburgh at about 6:30 pm and dropped my dad off at his place around 8 or so.  Instead of driving another 2.5 to three hours on the Turnpike to get home, we stayed at the Holiday Inn Express in Donegal.  I'm glad we did because it made for a nice, leisurely drive back on Monday.

Final thoughts?  Again, I'm glad we got to spend time with my dad on the trip.  He looks forward to travelling, and as most of you know, I like to travel (internationally) as well.   It's a good way to share our interests.  This was our first cruise, so I don't have anything to compare it to, but I think I'd do it again.  A river cruise (which my wife will be going on with her aunt and some other girlfriends in October) may be more my style since I think you have more time to explore your destination on your own.  

We'll see what happens.

Shipspeak:  Voyage - an outbound and homeward passage; a complete round trip.

May 19, 2018 - Dublin

The last port of call on this cruise is Dublin, where we started.  It's the second time Fe and I have been here (the first time was in 2011 with my dad and the boys), but we still wanted to see the city on our own a bit.

First--we had to pack since the bags had to be ready for offloading on the pier tomorrow.  I hate packing, but I'll admit it was easier this time than on our last trip.  Probably because we were were always at the same "hotel" every night and not moving around so much.

Our excursion this time was Malahide Castle.  I was a little worried we'd miss it because our bus broke down just outside Dublin, but there was a backup on call and we continued.  Before we got to the castle though, we stopped at the Abbey Tavern in Howth for an Irish Coffee.  This was a neat little town, and since we were waiting just a bit for the replacement bus, I got some pictures of the place.

Church of the Assumption, Howth Parish

Howth Harbor

Seaside View

Forest near the Castle

Castle Tower

One of the oldest rooms in the castle

Detail of ceiling beam

Banquet Hall

Fe and I outside the castle

Ruins of the abbey.  It was destroyed by Cromwell.

We were able to get off the excursion bus at a taxi stand Dublin.  We were also with one of the ladies from our little tour group who wanted to see some of the town with Fe and I.  The first place we wanted to stop was Hard Rock Cafe, but it was closed for "employee training"!  So we made a quick stop at Trinity College, went up  O'Connell Street to see the Post Office (where the 1916 Irish Uprising began) and the Spire, ate dinner at O'Shea's Hotel (where me, Fe, and my dad often ate when we were here in 2011), did some souvenir shopping (of course), saw the Ha'penny Bridge over the River Liffey, and then headed back to the ship by cab (where  the Nigerian cabbie and I discussed Irish history, driving in Dublin and Waiting for Godot as we passed Samuel Beckett Bridge.  Fascinating!)

You'll have to click the links or visit my previous blog to see some Dublin pictures--we were rushing, and had seen all this before.  I was also enjoying myself because we were acting as tour guides to our friend from the group.  She had never seen any of these things, so it was like we were looking at them through fresh eyes.  

Shipspeak: Anchor ball - round, black shape hoisted in the forepart of a vessel to shoe it's anchored.