Day 11 – To Dublin by sea

Today we got up early, packed up, and began our journey to Dublin. We had purchased tickets for a 3 leg journey to Ireland via train and ferry, but the transfer time in between the first two trains was only 6 minutes. We couldn’t catch an earlier train because that was the first train of the day. In fear of not being able to make the transfer on time (especially after Matthew had warned that the train usually runs about 5 minutes late) we decided to take a taxi for the first leg even though we had already paid for the train. At the station we realized that we would have been able to make the transfer just fine, but there was no way of knowing in advance. After a 1.5 hour long train ride, we reached the port at Hollyhead in just enough time to get on the ferry for Ireland. Unfortunately it was extremely foggy, so there wasn’t much of a view. Jon got a little sea sick, but luckily didn’t need to use the vomit bags (which were conveniently placed at each table on the ferry). We made it to Dublin fine and checked into our hostel, The Avalon house. We wandered around the area a bit and grabbed a pint of Guinness (we had to, having just arrived in Ireland) at a nearby pub that the taxi driver had recommended before heading back for our first night in a shared hostel room. We had an extremely rough night of sleep, putting up with snoring, murmuring, wandering drunks, etc. But what could be expected when you are sharing a hostel room with 10 others? We made it a priority to buy earplugs the next day!