Hurling, sportily, not literally

Today was an epic fail. It started out well as Kathleen, our B&B hostess, reminded us both of our moms. She loved flowers, loved to talk, and seemed a little absent minded. She was very sweet and we enjoyed our breakfast with her.

We headed out for Dublin and all was going well. But as we drove, the road turned into a motorway that had a toll. We needed euros instead of pounds. We exited and spent two hours looking for an ATM that would work with our card. To say it was unpleasant in the car would be an understatement.

We finally decided to take a non toll road and to say to heck with the euros. Of course as soon as we gave up, we found an ATM that worked. Later in the day we ended up going through another toll. It accepted credit cards and had we known, two plus hours of our lives would not have been lost. UGH!!!

That should have been our sign that Dublin was not in the cards today. But instead of heeding the warning, we plowed on. Tony has been staying with a hotel called Ibis while he's been in London. We found one online in Dublin and thought that would be a great place to stay free with his points. We put the address in the GPS and let James guide us.

James is the GPS voice with a British accent. Last trip I practiced my British while trying to be patient (read to avoid killing Tony) because we didn't have a GPS (and he was honing up on his annoying British driving skills). I switched it to him so I could hear how some of the names of things are pronounced. Tony claims it's because the American chick made the faux pas with the ferry deal and I fired her. Whatever the case, the GPS gave him the name James, and I've went with it. I've also continued to work on my British, Scottish, and Irish accent along the way. I'm getting pretty good!

Tony sometimes listens to James, and most times doesn't. James even repeats himself two and three times. But it usually takes me repeating the instructions a couple times, increasing the decibels with each, for him to actually get it. Today was no exception. I was already irritated that we wasted so much of the day that after we got back on track, when Tony missed an exit off a roundabout, I got a little overheated. In turn, Tony got a little overheated. I think both of our valves were a little sensitive to the situation. Nonetheless, I decided I was done being the navigator's assistant, and he'd have to listen to James on his own. Needless to say, that didn't last long.

In trying to get to the hotel, Tony missed the exit the first time. The second time, he didn't want to take James' advice, and went on his own route. Finally on the third time, we made it to the hotel. It only took us 20 extra minutes in city traffic.

Maybe I should have mentioned earlier that we had tried to call the hotel to see if they had availability. For some reason we can't get the cell phone to dial the Ireland numbers. I suggested we ask to use Kathleen's phone. Tony, a.k.a. Mr. Let's Just Wing It, decided "Nah, we'll be fine." Me, a.k.a. Idiot That Still Trusts This Man After Nearly 30 Years Of Numerous Bad Outcomes, said "Okay".

We wheeled around the reception circle to put an end to this awful day. He walked in to find out that not only did Ibis not have a room, but probably no one on that entire side of Dublin had one either since the equivalent to our Super Bowl was going on tonight for their sport called hurling. They suggested the city centre (the equivalent to our Main Street) might have something.

So, he comes out to share the GREAT news. I switched back to patience mode and went along for the ride. That didn't really last too long. Let's just say city centre is NOT the place to be for a city's Super Bowl. I did really well for a long time. But when we hadn't gone a mile in about 30 minutes, I asked one of those questions with an obvious answer that most smart men get right - "Do you give up and want to find a room outside the city?" And of course you guessed it, Tony didn't provide the right answer. That's when things got a little warm in the car again.

Intelligence prevailed and we picked a place on the map to head to. When we got there, we tried a B&B. She let us know that we needed to continue to head out of town for no less than an hour because there wasn't a single room to be had around. UGH!!!

That was not the news that we wanted to hear after traveling all day. But oh well. It is what it is. Good bye Dublin, hello Galway. We traveled across the country from the east coast to the west coast. We've done it before in the US and we can do it here in Ireland. Fortunately here it's only about two hours.

As we were headed out of town, we stopped to eat. This place had a hotel that was also sold out, but this time due to a wedding. We ate and saw the hurling match on TV that had caused all the raucous in Dublin. It's a game that seems like a mixture of baseball, field hockey, soccer, and football. It's a very fast paced game and very physical. We watched and cheered once the waiter explained the concept. We decided maybe not being there was a great thing once we saw all the people. It would have been loud and obnoxious all night long I'm sure.

After dinner, we headed out. To cap off the wonderful day, the Ibis that my internet search said existed in Galway, doesn't. We circled the supposed address a couple of times and stopped at the next hotel. Fortunately our Irish luck kicked in, and they just had a cancellation. Seems there is an International Oyster Festival going on a block or so away and this town is jam packed full, too.

Tony is currently in search for some ice so he can calm his frazzled nerves with a glass of Jack. Personally, I just want a knock in the head. Tomorrow is a busy day of seeing sights. Hopefully we can afford to make it back to Dublin from a time perspective, or maybe not. Maybe that will be what brings me back for the next visit under much better circumstances!