(Dun Laoghaire, Ireland)
Travel is not artificially separated from real life. Real things happen…and you can get sick. Unfortunately, my earlier suspicions were correct and I had a full-blown cold by the morning of June 10. This was scheduled to be a travel day from Portrush to Dublin, with a stopover in Belfast.
I dozed for most of the train trip to Belfast and can’t comment much on it. In Belfast itself, I had to decide whether to continue onward or to see a bit of the city with my backpack. Although I hate to miss an opportunity to see a new place, it really was better for me to get to Dublin (actually Dun Laoghaire) and rest. In fact, I slept for most of the trip from Belfast to Dublin too.
I’m staying in Dun Laoghaire (a town about 20 minutes by “subway” from downtown Dublin) to escape the high cost of accommodation in Dublin…as well as to experience life in a once-busy but now quiet port. Even when you can find reasonably-priced accommodation in a city like Dublin (in which rents were recently the fifth-most expensive in the world), there is a good chance that it won’t be in the most desirable part of town. By staying in Dun Laoghaire, I was able to wander freely in the evening and also have my dinner in (relatively) inexpensive restaurants that still offered good food. This was important, as my sore throat and congested sinuses were begging for spicy Asian soups!
Dun Laoghaire (pronounced approximately “Dun LEER-y”) used to be the terminal for most, if not all, of the ferries arriving from England and Wales. However, most of these ferries now go directly to Dublin Port. The only remaining service is the car ferry from Holyhead, Wales. Dun Laoghaire’s tourist infrastructure is therefore a little on the old side, as there is understandably little motivation to build anything new for tourists. My B&B, and I suspect many others, is a Victorian building with very high ceilings and the sort of design that would be impractical to build today.
A side-effect of staying in a smaller community is that you can get more personalized attention in the various shops and services. I was able to get a quick (and free) consultation with a pharmacist as soon as I walked in the pharmacy door. Apparently, I don’t have an exotic disease…but this particular cold virus has swept through Ireland and will likely linger for a week or so. I’m glad I know that: I will have to set reasonable expectations for my stay in Dublin, as I don’t want to deteriorate further and have a miserable flight home. This means prioritizing: if I’ve already seen or done something similar on this trip, there’s no need to see or do it again in Dublin.
Even if I weren’t sick, it would still be important to pick my spots as I near the end of this trip. No matter how beautiful a particular cathedral or painting may be, it won’t pack the same punch if you’ve already seen a dozen of them in the past week. I suppose this is even more true if you’re travelling as much as I am this year: I will really have to be careful not to get over-castled.
Stay tuned for the details on how I decided to spend my time in Dublin – there are still a couple of Irish posts to come!