Africa Great Migration, Ireland, England 2019: 1 - Costa Rica To Dublin Ireland

Monday, July 1, 2019

A visit to Africa to see the Great Migration of animals in Kenya and Tanzania has been on Marilynn's wish list ever since she saw a program about it on TV. Our main travel suppliers, Bestway Tour and Travel in Vancouver, Canada, had a deal for us – if we could arrange for 4 people we would get a special price for a private tour.

Good friend Pat Martin from Victoria signed on right away, and we bought grandson Esteban Piercy the trip in lieu of the 10 year old trip he missed, as he was already more than 10 when we started the program of taking grand-kids anywhere in the world they wanted to go after their 10th birthday. He was delighted, and as he is a medical doctor a good person to have along in remote areas. The plan is for Marilynn and I to go to Ireland for a few days to see cousin Patrick, who is also the family historian, and then to London to meet Pat Martin, as she has not been to our favourite big city. We'll then meet up with Esteban in Nairobi, Kenya.

Our 2hr 15 min flight on an Avianca airlines A320 to Bogota was comfortable and on time, but the food was pretty awful. On arrival in Bogota the plane was parked miles from the terminal, and a long flight of stairs rolled up to it. We couldn't carry our baggage down the stairs, but a kind young Colombian man grabbed two heavy bags and put them on the waiting bus for us. It was then a walk of miles to get to security and the departure area. They had some cold plates to make sandwiches in the lounge in Bogota so that, along with a good Colombian beer, set things right.

The flight to London Heathrow on a Boeing 787 was almost two hours late leaving Bogota. Not good news, as we had a 2 hour connection for our Dublin flight. Once underway the flight was comfortable – I slept through dinner but made up for it with a good breakfast. They made up a little time on the 10 hour 35 minute flight, leaving us an hour to get from terminal 2 to terminal 5. The airport is very well organized, but the walk was miles and required a lengthy bus ride as well. A machine checked us in and produced out boarding pass security hustled us through, allowing us to arrive at the gate with minutes to spare.

The A319 had the European style short haul business class, which means no leg room. It is simply economy class seating with the middle seat blocked off. They did have drinks and light meals during the 1 hour 25 minute flight, but it certainly wasn't comfortable for my long legs..

Once we cleared immigration and exited into the main terminal cousin Patrick was there with his brother Mickey, who had flown from Vancouver Island, Canada to see us all. Their father had been very Irish in naming his kids – Mickey, Patrick, Kelly, Duff and Laurie! It was a wonderful surprise.

We all piled into a taxi to the very nice Iveagh Garden Hotel. Pronouncing Irish words is a whole study – the hotel name is pronounced "Ivy" and were soon in the pub with Irish been in hand. After a few pints we turned in – Marilynn and I were super tired.

Tuesday, July 2, 2019

We gathered for a massive Irish buffet breakfast before walking through the pedestrian streets in the centre of Dublin in search of the Whisky Museum, where a one hour tour give us a very good idea of how whisky came about, and in the tasting room four different whiskys were tried, each with an explanation. We all pitched in to help Marilynn with hers as she doesn't like whisky. Mickey bought a very nice one not available in Canada to take home.

Marilynn wanted to get a haircut in Ireland, so after asking she found a recommended hairdresser called Peter Marks, locate right in the centre of town. We three Walker cousins, in respect to family tradition, headed off in search of a pub – not very difficult in this city of great pubs. We settled into a small, lively place called O'Donaghues, where we were soon talking to everyone around us – very friendly, the Irish. During conversation our family historian Patrick pointed out that as the oldest living member I was now head of our clan.

I had to break off to pick up Marilynn at the hairdressers, where she proclaimed the hair work as very good, and brought her back to the pub. Later in the afternoon the owner joined us, buying a round of drinks. Marilynn has gone to him and in front of a waiter told him this fellow was doing a terrible job, ignoring customers and giving no service. It turned out to have been the owner's son and he was delighted that Marilynn had dressed him down, hoping it would be a lesson to him. He also made Mickey's day by giving him a Carlsberg Beer pump – not just the handle, the whole tower. There were a lot of photos taken of him as he lugged his prize from pub to pub.

Our final stop was The Bankers, where we had a superb lamb shank dinner, and from there we weaved our merry way back to the hotel, all thoroughly inebriated and very happy. We had laughed the whole afternoon away.

Tomorrow we will take the train to Carrickfergus, North Ireland, home of cousin Patrick.