Transition day

Today is the day to leave Dublin and travel to Shannon and meet up with the group. This involves several modes of transport: walk the luggage up to the LUAS, which is the light rail from Dublin City Centre (pronounced center) to the Dublin Heuston rail station; then an intercity train from there to Limerick Junction, because the noon train is bound for Cork, and a shuttle train to Limerick; and a bus from Limerick to Shannon airport, which is the rendezvous point for the Men of Worth tour.

The ticket purchase requires no interaction with humans, just a few machines in the waiting hall that take currency or credit cards. If you’re in Ireland sufficient time in advance, you can buy tickets on line and pick them up at the automat, too. But it seems to require a European credit card, one of those more secure chip and PIN cards that have not penetrated to the States yet. Looking around for which platform our train will leave from, a couple of passers wave us to Platform 5, assuring us that’s the one to Limerick. Guess we look like tourists.

Our train from Dublin.

New app on the iPad is a GPS tracker, that works with the Apple Maps (wish us luck) and shows you direction, speed, location, elevation, and accel- and deceleration. The last is not so accurate, as it shows acceleration of .292 G’s as I’m sitting in this chair. But it worked on the train. Top speed of 92 mph, and maximum elevation of 369 ft above sea level on the trip to Limerick. Which goes to show that Ireland is not terribly mountainous. Or maybe that the folks who laid out the rail routes were pretty clever.

Changing trains at Limerick Junction caused some worry for Paula, due to the luggage load, but it was pretty relaxed. Although the train change was scheduled for 3 minutes and our train was four minutes late getting in, the station is just one platform so it’s a 50 step hike across, the little shuttle train waited for everyone, and pulled out in a leisurely way. And we’re into Limerick on time. No time to look around, as the bus to Shannon Airport is right outside the station. Again, the ticket is spit out by automat, and despite initial confusion that almost caused us to board the express bus to Galway, we gained the bus in good time and got front row seats for the trip up to Shannon Airport.

Time was once when Shannon was a busy airport, since every transatlantic flight had to refuel there, and it was the gateway to Ireland. Now it’s not so important, and there is not a lot to see in the area, either. I guess that supports the fact that there is no train to Shannon, only buses. Bunratty Castle is about it for historic Ireland in the area, and that’s about 10 minutes away. So the airport hotel has seen better days. When we were here four years ago, I seem to remember that it was a Holiday Inn. Now it’s a Radisson, but minimally updated, so it looks like new paint on WW II administration buildings. It’s windy on the west coast of Ireland, the wind buffets the one-storey buildings, and the windows rattle. Beds are comfy, and like many Euro hotels we have been in, there are only three electrical outlets in the room.

Did I say it was windy? The bus drops us off at the airport departure area, and the hotel is across the parking lot. Winds are 20-30 mph, and at one point, the rough pavement catches Paula’s roller bag, the wind gives her an extra push, and down she goes on her left hip. The rest of the hike is accompanied by assorted exclamations, and once in the room, the hip calls for two Aleve pills and a nap. Dancing may not be on the activity menu for a few days, and sitting on the bus may require some pillows.

Looking forward to meeting the gang at 6.