The day we both got word from our bosses that the vacation was approved, we also found out Ben got a completely unexpected 5% bonus. I joked to him that flying business class was only a few hundred bucks more each and he said, "Let's do it," and I said OKAY. No, really, I said, "Are you serious?" but as it turns out, he was serious. So I did. And honestly, it was amazing. It wouldn't have been been worth paying what I'm accustomed to paying for an international business class fare for my boss, who routinely does stuff like, say, fly to India for the day, but for a one-time thing of a few hundred bucks that's coming out of an unexpected bonus? Yes.
Firstly, I should say that when I first saw our plane in Boston I cried a little bit. I went over to take this picture and there was another lady also excitedly taking a picture and we made eye contact and shared a nerd smile moment. There have been a few times since cancer when I really, viscerally appreciate being right here and still being alive, and this was one of them. (Others: catching a glimpse of the Eiffel Tower for the first time, being at Hillary's house with the family on Mira & Harrison's birthday, watching Jerry Seinfeld do stand-up at Radio City Music Hall.)
Business class was a constant parade of delights. AWW YEAH HERE WE ARE. Ben was possibly not as excited as I was.
You get a toiletry kit! With the world's smallest toothpaste!
A fancy menu with entree choices and wine selections!
Champagne or orange juice before you even take off! Champagne gives me an instant headache and I knew we were going to be awake for like 24 hours after this point so I stuck with OJ. This was the last time my hair was straight for two weeks, by the way. Ireland is very wet and the ends of my hair are still very stubbornly curly.
So much leg room! My shoes didn't even reach the other side!
Look at all those things you can do to your seat! Including full flat-bed recline. We actually got to sleep for a couple of hours stretched out like a normal person, with a real blanket and pillow. Amazing.
APPETIZERS.
There was also this secret bottle of water in our seats.
My dinner was steak and it was actually good.
Ben got the chicken.
Honestly.
Then we got dessert, warm chocolate lava cake. At this point I was brainstorming ways to get super rich so we can do this all the time.
Business class is great, man. Offensively great, given how the other 95% of passengers on the plane are treated.
Sadly, once we arrived in Ireland we became normal people again when we picked up the cheapest, most unbelievably basic car you can possibly imagine. It was a Seat Mii. It didn't even have power windows. You have to ROLL UP THE WINDOWS like it's 1987.
Here we go! Getting in the drivers seat!
Reminder.
We flew into Shannon because it's a small town, close to all the places we wanted to go, and much much easier to get into and drive out of than Dublin. We stayed in Bunratty, 5 miles away, for the same reason - it's close to the airport. Hopefully a not so harrowing drive at 6:15am on no sleep on the left hand side of the road.
It was harrowing. Ben said he wasn't freaked out but I sure was, probably because I'm the one who has absolutely no control over anything that's happening, sitting in the passenger seat. Those freaking roundabouts! And WHY do they drive on the left. Come on, British Isles, get it together.
Anyway, we did make it safe & sound to the Bunratty Manor Hotel, where they served us our first full Irish breakfast, which we learned is essentially meat, plus an egg and half a tomato.
By the time we finished breakfast at 8:15, our room was ready, which was a blessing as we were already beginning to feel insane with fatigue. It was a nice little hotel, older and family owned.
We had a nice view of the back gardens.
Here is the front of the hotel with our terrible car parked in front of it. For about three hours we couldn't figure out how to lock the back doors. We did a lot of brainstorming, saying out loud to each other many times, "SURELY there is a way to lock the back doors of the car." No power locks or keyless entry, obviously. Google was no help, presumably because no one actually buys this car on purpose and therefore has no need to ask questions about it. Finally we deduced you have to press in on the door handles themselves until a little sliver of red shows. Oh right, obviously.
The only major thing to do in Bunratty is go to the Bunratty Castle & Folk Park. Rick Steves is not big on this attraction, I have to tell you. But as we considered this a lost day anyway, and our main goal was only to stay awake until nighttime, we headed over. The lady at the hotel told us to get there right when it opened to avoid the tour buses, so we did.
It had goats. We really like goats a lot.
The castle was completely deserted. The hotel lady was right on with her recommendation, as when we were leaving there was a big gaggle of people who had obviously come straight off a bus.
It was a pretty standard castle. Big thick walls, tiny windows, grand halls, etc.
They were still getting ready for the day!
It had quite a lot of my least favorite tourist thing, very steep stone spiral staircases.
The views of the River Shannon at the top were beautiful. Ireland really does look just like the pictures.
Tired.
The Folk Park part is a bunch of old (and re-created) buildings depicting what Irish life was like for people of various incomes.
It definitely had a manufactured Disney-like feel and I can understand why Rick doesn't think it's worth your time, but if your only interest is in filling a day until you can go to sleep, I recommend the Bunratty Folk Park. It's big and there's a lot of wandering you can do.
And it was really beautiful, in a quiet setting with gorgeous gardens.
There is also a fake village.
After this we couldn't stand it and we did go back and sleep for a while, then got up for dinner at a pub across the street, and then we went back to sleep again for 15 hours. Bliss.
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