Goodbye Dublin and hello Westport Ireland+

We have all our bags and have taken the DART into Dublin. It was great as we had stayed right opposite the station so it was easy to get our bags moved.

From Dublin, we are going to have to take the LUAS tram system to the Train station.

The LUAS is an interesting station. It has two platform sides, but no-one knows which side to stand on as it swings in either side. It is a bit like a Mr. Bean episode watching everyone with their luggage leaving after St. Patrick’s Day holidays, to stand and wait and decide which side it will come in on. As it draws in, everyone makes a run for it!

But then it sits. It sits and it sits and it sits!!!! 15 minutes later we are all deep in conversation about our world travels with all the people around us.  What a lovely group we are, except no-one knows each other.

We head to the train station and cross the road and we are in. Gee that was simple!

I want to go to the bathroom. Now, this is where I HATE the whole single parent thing. I have to leave my son outside the toilets – sitting on our luggage, and I have to head in. In this instance, the queue was so long. One of the lovely ladies off the LUAS spied me.  “I’ll hold your place in the queue and you go out to be with him – I know what it was like”, she says to me.  As I am bobbing in and out, another lovely lady off the LUAS is heading out. “I’ll stand with your son and I won’t leave until you are back – off you go”.

So I head into the toilets to re-join the queue.

I return and the ladies are deep in conversation with my son.

We enter the train platform area and head to the first carriage. I had no idea, but the lady at the Dublin Central Information Centre where we booked our tickets had pre-booked seat for us with a table, facing the right way.

She had also found us a special that was less than any internet price we could get – by miles! So we were happy.

An Irish fellow traveler takes my bags and helps me store them. Gee, this trip IS going well!

I sit and unpack and we have a heap of room, as no-one occupies the opposite seats. There is wi-fi on the train so we set up the laptop etc.  I tell my son I am off to get a cappuccino. There is a little hut at the end of the train – and so I head there, and as I collect my coffee the assistant gives me complimentary homemade truffles! Yummo !!!

The journey flies by. Before long we are zooming past sheep and cows in the fields. Dublin is left behind.

I am engrossed in my computer work and forget to look out the window, so am surprised when we seem to be pulling in to the station at Westport already. That went so fast!

We find a lovely big taxi van waiting for us outside the Train Station. If you want to have just the BEST taxi/shuttle service use this lovely lady. Mary or her husband Michael O’Toole  087-243 2600.  You can pre-book and it is a minivan and their email is otto@eircon.net

We head to the Wyatt Hotel.  The interesting thing is that this booking was made by my son. I had lost my voice in Dublin, and so we had to Skype to make the booking.  He called, read out the credit card and confirmed dates.

Whilst I was on the train ‘wi-fi-ing’, I found they had an extended special on their website, and we were able to arrange breakfast and dinner as part of the package. We were also promised hot chocolates delivered to the room – yummo!

 

Our room is lovely – and so warm.  So warm we open the window and dig out the summer clothes 🙂  Soon we have the heating turned down, and are unpacked and know we are going to love our time here.

It is great as yesterday was Explorason’s birthday, so he is able to unpack his lego.

He spreads out a towel from the cruise and is very neat and orderly in his building.

It is a pretty gloomy evening, so we stay in and have a nice chocolate candle burning.

A bubble bath is just the thing for a rainy day.

We decide to head out. We have to get new luggage bags.  We find soft bags that have wheels one end the best for long-term travel. They have a center zip that can expand and so we can add more or less as we pack for different seasons.  Our last bags have lasted us 21 countries and I think that is amazing.  The softness allows us to squash the clothes in more if we need to, and also if they are getting put in a boot/turn of a car then they seem to squash easier. They are also 2 kg and that is light!

So as we head out we find that Westport is a cute little town.  We have been given free passes to the swimming and Jacuzzi complex but for some reason my son does;t want to go. This is all part of the hotel package!

There is a hexagon area near the hotel and is easy to find direction around.

This has been voted as the best town to live in Ireland!

There is also a clock at the junction.  Little stores are found through arched tunnel entrances.

There is a cute little telephone box in the village center.

So in goes Explorason!

Next day we decide to head to the next town by bus. We have had no joy in finding these bags.

But here we do!  We go upstairs – wooden creaky and a small entrance and into a tiny store. There a lovely older man helps us. He has a great selection. What? I mean it. We get a choice.  So we pick our bags and wander around the town.

As it starts to run we head back.

We enjoy an amazing dinner at the hotel and we get to meet a lovely English couple that is living at the hotel for several months whilst they renovate their Irish home.

Next day we are off for a walk. It is cold and the wind hurts my ears as we head past the river and into the lake. We find a playground.  After a while I am so cold we turn back.

As we head back into town I am delighted to find gardens with lovely spring flowers blooming.

Even the bumblebees are furry and friendly on this day!

We go for about a 2-hour walk. We go through the village and along what they call ‘the mall’.

Explorason wants a toy store, and he thinks it is a shopping mall.   Well, an Irish mall is a road that runs each side of the waterway!  But wait.  We find a toy store. It is upstairs and had we not walked we would never have found it.

We spy very reasonably price packets of Lego mini figures, and out comes the pocket money.

I am not an expert at feel in the packets and can tell which character is which. A trick I learned in Legoland Florida!

It starts to bucket down. We pass a guard with a gun and I had forgotten that war and crime exist in the world.  Ireland has felt so safe to us.

Tonight is our last night.  We have an early dinner and head to the bar. There is going to be some traditional Irish music. As we wait we chat with Australians and Americans.  My son Skypes his friends in the USA.  It is a great night and I did take a movie I will load later.

Tomorrow sees us on yet another 2 buses. Then we will be picked up to start our Irish Country House-sitting assignment.  We are ready for a break.  To catch up and to recharge our batteries.

So we had better hop off to bed.

Westport & especially Wyatt Hotel Westport – I do hope we return when we finish our house-sit.

Our stay was amazing and we really had a great time!

Questions and Comments

• Have you been to Ireland?
• What do you find fascinating about Ireland?
• Did you get to visit Dublin?
• How was the experience?
• Do share your opinions with us below.