Goodbye Ireland – I’m Sure We’ll Meet Again

We had breakfast at the hotel in Galway. Then we went to check out and see about using their printer to print our boarding passes. The hotel didn’t have a printer, what an odd thing not to have. So we left it and hoped we could get the passes printed at the airport.

We drove to Dublin to return the rental car. The rental car that we had paid almost double for (462 Euros became 807 Euros) so we didn’t have to pay a 3000-5000 Euro damage deposit on the car (You can read about it as the bottom of this post). Parking at the rental agency to have then check the car we saw why they had such a policy. Of the 11 or so cars being returned at the same time as ours maybe 9 of them had damage of some sort. Ours included, which is another story but Mom swore me to secrecy. We had purchased their insurance so we were able to walk away from the car and it’s damage worry and payment free.

We were flying from Dublin Airport with Ryan Air. They are a discounted airline that gives great prices because everything is extra. You pay to get on the plane and that is all. Want a seat assigned = pay more, want to board first = pay more, checked bags = pay more. Want a boarding pass printed = usually pay more. Our lady was very kind when I explained that we tried but we were thwarted by the hotel and didn’t charge us the normal 15 Euros per boarding pass.

Due to the large group (5) we were able to get all our luggage mixed to be underweight and have two suitcases be free carry-on bags rather than pay for them to be checked. So we only had to pay for 3 bags to go on the plane.

Our flight was not only on-time but early. So we grabbed our bags and went to pick up our car. We had booked our car for 4pm and it was about 3:30pm as we were picking up the car. We were told the insurance wouldn’t start until 4pm so we could pack the car but should not take it off the lot until 4pm.

We found our hotel and found that all our rooms were down stairs, Kathy and I were downstairs, then upstairs into the neighbouring building and then downstairs again. Grandma was going to have difficulties so we went to the front desk and they quickly and easily changed G’s room to be on the ground floor.

Across the road from the hotel was an affiliated bar. We went in to see what food and drink they had and for dad to see some sports on TV. They didn’t have anything that called to us for food so after a drink we went for a walk to find somewhere to eat.

When we returned to the hotel we (I) looked into train tickets for Mom, Dad, and G the next day. They were headed to Troon to see “The Open” for the PGA. Kathy wasn’t interested in golf so she and I had plans to wander around Glasgow the next day.