Locus: January 2020

Time: May 11th-21st,2019
Place: Dublin, Cliffs of Moher, Ring of Kerry, Killarney National Park
Company: Wife & Daughter

Highlights: Well, well, well. I always wanted to go to Ireland. It all began in my early teens when I was a big fan of Pierce Brosnan, who hails from Ireland. So, I automatically became a fan of Ireland, and hence wanted to visit this country - either as a tourist or on Business. Way back in 2012 when I resigned from Infosys in US, I was given an opportunity to continue with the company and based in Ireland. I was almost tempted to take back the resignation just because of that reason - but then there were far more places to see and experience in US & hence it was not to be. Come 2019, I joined a new organization with my boss based out of Ireland and soon enough (in fact very soon) an opportunity propped up & I grabbed it in both hands deftly!

I pushed the itinerary dates to such a time that it was apt for me to travel along with my wife and daughter (since it was summer holidays for the kiddo). So, I applied for my Business visa along with Visitor visa for them. Although the documentation, itinerary planning, etc. part of the whole thing was a strenuous thing, the visa process itself was a breeze. Within a few weeks, we had our respective visas with us.

The only sad thing though was that we were unfortunate not to have got the BIVS (British-Irish Visa Scheme) due to a technical glitch in the consulate office. With BIVS, we could have even traveled to UK (once more) & perhaps seen Scotland & Northern Ireland. When we were researching for Ireland visa, we got to know about BIVS and hence planned the itinerary as: India -> Ireland -> Northern Ireland -> Scotland -> Edinburgh -> London ->India. But when we were told at the consulate that BIVS could not be granted, we had to hastily change the itinerary to India -> Ireland -> India. Well anyways, it was meant to be "only Ireland" and we were glad that at least we were able to obtain the Irish visa. As the days neared 11th of May, we were ready with our packing and excited on our "another" international travel!

Day 0 (May 11th Saturday): The Etihad flight was at 10:15 PM. The cab picked us up at 5 pm and we were comfortably in the airport at about 6:45 pm. Formalities completed, we boarded the flight off to Dublin via Abu Dhabi. Slept through the whole first leg & most of the second leg too. Just enough time at Abu Dhabi for the layover.

Day 1 (May 12th Sunday): By the time we reached Dublin, it was 8 am in the morning. Border control formalities completed and we got the luggages and were just about to take the taxi when I realized I didn't have any cash. But alas, when I tried to withdraw from ATM, my travel debit card refused to work how much ever I tried! Checked with currency exchange and they could not convert INR to Euro! So with the help of Dublin airport wifi, I reset my US credit card pin (which I had forgotten) and was finally able to withdraw some Euros. Eventually, thus, I was able to get out of the airport at least with some cash to pay off the taxi guy. The taxi guy was very amiable and spoke about where I was from, why, weather in Ireland, water woes even in Ireland despite constant rains, etc. By the time we reached our (The Alex) Hotel, it was almost 10 am. The breakfast was served till 10:30 am, so we quickly had a hearty continental lunch - almost a brunch.

Took some rest, freshened up, and then at about 4 pm, we decided we might as well take a walk around the city. I had chosen this hotel specifically because it was right in the middle of the city with lots of nearby parks plus my office was within a walking distance. The air had a slight chill but it was sunny.

Our first stop was St. Stephen's Green. A very typical park that we were so used to in the United States. A soothing and calm atmosphere, greenery everywhere. A small pond with ducks and swans which were being fed and kids frolicking around. We walked through the park and then arrived at St. Patrick's Cathedral. We weren't very keen on entering (since we had seen many such cathedrals during our Europe trip the previous year), so instead we went to the park behind the Cathedral and lazed on the grass while Paavani enjoyed playing on the swing and slide with other kids.

Then we walked on to Grafton Street. This seemed to be "a very happening place" with street performances, music, dance, etc. Some colorful pubs, pavements, crafty lights adorned every part of the street. Had a nice coffee at a Starbucks, and then walked on - absorbing the essence of Dublin, so to speak! By this time, it was almost 8 pm (still sunny because it was summer and we were up North in the Northern Hemisphere) and we realized we had seen 50% of what the city had to offer on Day 1 itself! We walked back to our hotel and retired for the night.

Day 2 (May 13th Monday): My first day in office. Using maps, I made my way walking to the office. Not too bad. Familiar scenes like how I had my life in US for a long time - with people walking in overcoats, carrying coffee mugs in one hand and a bag in the other. Slight chill in the air but crispy. I arrived at the office and then onwards it was just another day in office.

While I was away at office, wife and daughter enjoyed the day off in the room. They even tried tracing the route to my office after breakfast just to pass some time. In the evening, after I returned, we went walking to Merrion Square park. Another park for the daughter to enjoy. Another set of green grass for us to laze for it was another sunny day! Two sunny days in a trot in Ireland, how lucky!

Day 3 (May 14th Tuesday): After my office, wife and daughter had walked over to River Liffey water bank which was close to my office. So I met them right there (as we had planned earlier). Spent some nice time lazing around the water. Splendid sight and time spent. Returned back home walking.

Day 4 (May 15th Wednesday): My boss took me to lunch near Trinity College during the afternoon. It seemed to be another "happening place", so I instructed wifey to come over same place she had come the previous day in the evening. After office, I took her to the same Trinity College area and we entered the premises. Took some pics, and wandered around the college. A nice cricket match was going on and we sat on the lush greenery to enjoy! When we felt it was enough, returned back home walking.

Day 5 (May 16th Thursday): Didn't do anything significant. Just lazed in the hotel room itself & planned for the weekend. Played daughter's Uno cards for the umpteenth time. Now it was a regular ritual to play at least 3 Uno games before sleeping! Dinner at a nearby Subway - after so many years!!

Day 6 (May 17th Friday): Alas, my last day in Dublin office. Hence I left the office early. Went back to the room, picked up wife and daughter and went to Temple Bar area. Roamed around that area and saw the many famous pubs including the Temple Bar. Crossed the LIffey over the Ha'penny bridge and crossed back over the Millenium bridge. Then walked all the way towards Christ Church Cathedral, took some pics, and walked back to the Temple Bar area to have dinner at Sitar Indian restaurant. To our shock, the place was overcrowded - being a Friday night. And we were asked if we had a reservation - of course we did not! Looking at our dismayed faces, the manager somehow arranged a table and couple of chairs and asked if we could manage - of course, we could! The food was delicious. Finally, we were done with most of what Dublin had to offer - and we were more than satisfied. Returned back home walking and packed for the next day's departure from Dublin.

Day 7 (May 18th Saturday): Got up early, had breakfast, checked out and took a cab to airport's Rent a car. Rented a car and drove on Ireland's M1, M50 and other highways towards Cliffs of Moher. It was a nice peaceful journey and lush greenery (typical of Ireland) everywhere with cows and sheep grazing. Very pleasant.

We reached the cliffs at about 3 pm and boy, are they awesome! We packed ourselves completely since it was way too cold, thanks to the Atlantic breeze. The last time we saw the Atlantic was in 2011! It was a steep climb from the parking lot but once we were on the top (near O'Brien's tower), we had the expansive view of the cliffs on both left and right. We walked on the edge all the way to the north. And beyond that was the "unprotected" part - which is not really governed by the Cliffs of Moher authorities. Hence, there was no protecting wall. There was a sandy trek right on top of the cliffs with steep fall directly to the Atlantic on the left and that was thrilling! We walked a few distance and then headed back. Had nice hot chocolate since it was too cold and then we walked all the way to the southern end. Every step of the way, the cliffs looked different and we kept taking snaps.

Again, at the southern end, we reached the border beyond which we had little bit of a thrilling trek with no protecting walls. Excellent views and sceneries of the crashing waves more than half a kilometer down below. After we had had enough of the views, we went inside the museum for some more eye-opening facts about the cliffs - how they were created, how they moved and where they will be in future! Also, there was a 3D show about a bird that flew over the cliffs down to the waves and below the seas. Wonderful!

Finally we were done at about 5 pm. We left to Shannon and directly went to Bollywood Temple Indian restaurant. Had our dinner and then went to our airbnb renter's house set in a residential area. A not-so-clean house but it gave us a feel of localite's life in Ireland. So I guess it was worth it! Best part about the room was a bunk bed - something which my daughter always wanted to experience!

Day 8 (May 19th Sunday): We left at about 9 am after a typical cornflakes breakfast - just like US days! Our destination was the Ring of Kerry starting from Killorglin. It was about a couple of hours ride in short country roads. Often times we kept seeing sheep grazing nearby to the road. Once the Ring of Kerry started, we had nice expansive views of the Atlantic. It reminded us of the 17-mile drive road in California except that this is much bigger. It almost takes an entire day just on this road if we stop and explore each view point. Since our plan was to return to Dublin by end of day, we had to be choosy about where we wanted to stop.

Our first stop was Kell's Beach. We hadn't planned on stopping here but the view was gorgeous. Also, there were innumerous pebbles. Paavani enjoyed playing with the pebbles. In fact, she wrote 'Rama' in Hindi on one of the pebbles and threw it into the Atlantic to see if it floats - since that is how Rama's army made a bridge of stones on the Indian ocean from India to Sri Lanka to get back the kidnapped Sita! After spending a considerable time on the beach, we headed next to a view point called 'Ladies View'. Although I did not really get why it is called so, it was a nice place for good amount of clicks!

Of course, we stopped en route many times for more clicks. In fact, at one of the valley-peaks we stopped for a cone of ice cream despite the freezing cold! And another place to get a click of a grazing sheep. The Ring of Kerry gives riders a great joy since it goes through crests and troughs of mountain passes with great views of the Atlantic every now and then. Of course, there is more to Ring of Kerry than just a half-day trip that we did but we were satisfied with what we experienced!

Our next stop was the Torc waterfall. It was a short trek to the waterfall and it was awesome. The cascading water falls was mesmerizing. We went as close to the falls as possible. And then we jumped rocks on the stream, splashed water on ourselves, threw tiny rocks, etc. After some time, we climbed up higher on the trek to be amongst the lush greenery that seemed to surround us from everywhere - including the trunks of the trees! After many more pictures, we left Torc waterfall towards Muckross castle. But then we realized we were running short of time. So decided instead we will visit Ross castle. This is close to the city of Killarney which is super traffic-jammed. So it took us some time to get here. But this too had nice views & definitely worth a visit.

Alas, that was our last point of visit. We then started heading back to Dublin airport. It started raining, finally. All through the last 8 days of our visit in Ireland, it had never rained - which seemed so rare. We felt we were so lucky! But it was good to finally experience the Ireland rain too! And with rain, we were lucky to see a double rainbow - so stopped the car on the highway just to get some clicks!

We had dinner at a subway and headed straight to the airport. By the time I reached Dublin it was 11:30 pm and I had a strict deadline to reach the rental agency before midnight to get the shuttle to airport. Unfortunately I lost an exit at the last minute and hence ended up spending a lot of time just to get to the fuel station to refuel up the car. By the time I reached the rental agency, I was still a few minutes before midnight but the last shuttle to the airport had already left. Thankfully one of the last leaving attendants mentioned that I could park the car in the airport parking lot itself and gave me correct instructions. Finally, reached the airport, logged off the car, took the luggage and went to the terminal for a long night sleep-over in the airport chairs (since our flight was in the morning at 9:30 am).

Day 9 (May 20th Monday): As expected, it was way too cold in the airport despite us having so many layers of clothing. Also the chair was not convenient to sleep either. Realized later that we should have instead slept in the car itself since the rental was due only in the morning! Anyways. Once the counters opened, we checked in and went to our gates for boarding. Rest of the journey to Bangalore via Abu Dhabi was uneventful.

Day 10 (May 21st Tuesday): Reached BLR at 3 am. Company cab took us home and that was the end of Ireland sojourn.

Overview: Lucky me that the Sun stayed out all through my stay in Ireland. I have heard so much about the overcast & rainy conditions but it hardly occurred - maybe except for the last day.

Lucky me that I was able to get this travel done because in a couple of months, my reporting manager changed and the new manager was not based out of Ireland! Hence, it was important that I had to rush and get the visas done to make this trip when my the then manager asked.

I guess, all in all, luck was truly with me - and it was as if I was destined to visit Ireland at least once in my lifetime!

A very pleasant, not-so-straining, take-it-easy vacation-cum-Business trip that lasted for just the right amount of time. Wife and daughter enjoyed the weekdays in a luxurious hotel room. Weekend was a nice getaway with an exuberance of all that nature had to offer. A nice memorable international trip - 18th for me, 17th with wife, 15th with daughter!

Locus

Sunday, January 12, 2020

Hubli

Ireland