Dublin for the day

Yes, living the jet setter life is fun. Hoping on a plane to Dublin for 24 hours - what a life. Actually I did get to go. One of my close friends from Dallas was there with her husband for a few days and I went up to visit with her. I was so overcome with emotion when I saw her, I cried. Finally, so see someone who knows me! I know it sounds silly, but hey, that's how it is.
Started out as a planes, trains, automobiles kind of day. Rode push bike to train station, took train to airport, flew to Ireland, bus into town and hoofed it the rest of the time.
Dublin is great. LOTS AND LOTS of people on the streets shopping and touring. The weather was gorgeous and I bet there were 1,000 people just laying out on the lawn in St. Stephen's Green just soaking up the sunshine. It is such an easy town to get around in. The pedestrian streets are so nice and I felt completely safe walking around by myself the first day. I did not get a chance to see the Guiness factory, but it is only 1 hour plane ride away, so I think we will go back. I did get a kick out of all the colors of the front doors. It is something Dublin is known for and it's true, every Georgian style front door is painted some cool color of the rainbow. Didnt have my camera with me though. The locals were very friendly and when flying in, the fields looked so green. I look forward to traveling out in the countryside one day and seeing the "emerald greens" of Ireland. They use a different currency than England, so had to get some Euro. And Euro or not, still couldn't afford to buy any Waterford crystal made right there in Ireland.

One issue I have though is with Ryan Air. That is the airline I flew on and it is cheap to fly on Ryan. (i know, you get what you pay for). My fare was 10 pounds round trip, but with taxes it was 50 pounds (Taxes aren't the airlines fault, but deceptive when others include the taxes in their published prices). Ryan prides itself on quick turns. they do this by doing everything in their power to stop people from checking luggage. No luggage = faster turnaround. How do they get people to avoid checking luggage, your wallet of course. You have to pay for each checked bag, and tell them how many bags you are going to check when you make your reservation - as if you've packed and know. Anyway, if you decide later to check a bag, you have to pay more. I knew this so I decided to travel with one small backpack and just carry it around with me all day while touring. The other catch is that only one carry on is allowed at UK airports and that includes a ladies purse, so you must fit your purse inside your bag when you walk on. One carry on only and pay to check any other bag, got it. OK, non of that is a big deal when you are traveling for 24 hours, but the getting on the plane is the issue. You can once again - pay - to get a priority boarding card. And from what I saw, Ryan will sell the whole plane a priority boarding card. There is all open seating so 1st come 1st serve. Now the English are good at queing, but when they call for people, there is a mad rush for the doors and no separate lane for the priority boarders, so everyone is pushed up in a bunch - yuk. Ryan really needs to tear that page from Southwest's manual and come up with the multilane - group by letter scheme. At least have a separate line for priority boarders to avoid pushing and shoving! On the plane you pay separately for everything, from sodas to snacks to meals. They are always hawking something - bus tickets into town, duty free perfume, magazines, etc. It's a real racket. No seat back pockets so that they dont have to take time to clean the plane between flights and they have advertising on the overhead bins. I felt like this was a real cattle car. And being from AA and SWA area, trust me when I say, you've got it good in Dallas - Love Field/ Wright amendment battle or not - you are flying posh from Big D!
But all that aside, I wouldnt have missed seeing my friend in Dublin for anything. It was a great day in a great city.