Today we have a 1 hour drive to the Holiday Inn Crowne Plaza at the Dublin Airport. First though we are going to do some gluten free food shopping! I know this is not the top of Andrew’s list so I am going to be very fast – I know exactly what I want to get! So we left the hotel at checkout time of noon (which is late for a hotel) after a really good breakfast buffet that was included in our room rate and drove to the local Tesco so I could get some goodies. Then we were off to the Dublin Airport! Again, the day was quite dreary – apparently this is the standard weather now for Ireland. As we could not check in until about 3pm, we decided to take the M7 then M6 motor way until the M50 which collects tolls where they join, and then make our way around to the Dublin Airport, which is north of Dublin by driving the various local roadways through some towns in order to get us there. My only concern were the “narrow” roads that Google was known to lead us onto, however being closer to a major city maybe that will not happen!
We did just fine getting off the M7 where it joined up with the M50 and had a very interesting time winding our way around the suburbs of Dublin to finally arrive at the Crowne Plaza Hotel. We actually got there a bit early (2pm) and they had our room read which was great however what a small room! It was at least half the size of our room at the Osprey Hotel last night! All I could do is roll into the room and leave my walker at the end of the bed folded (so Andrew would not trip on it). We got settled and about 15 minutes later we received a call from the Front Desk supervisor apologizing that the desk clerk, who was new, put us in that room considering I had a mobility device, as they knew it was too small for me to move around in. It did have a roll in shower though so it was an accessible room – it just was for people who did not use mobility devices too. I told them it was fine – we were only here overnight and had to leave fairly early in the morning so not to worry about us. It was really great though that they recognized the issue without me having to say anything!
So, in preparation to return the car to the airport tomorrow, and our trip to Iceland, we decided that it might be better to go out now and get the gas and take a bit more money out of my debit card account (which does not cost me anything) in order to get some Icelandic Krona at the airport. Also, I remember seeing a Marks and Spenser Food Hall next to the gas station that we had passed on the way to the hotel – so that might be a good place to stop and complete my mission on obtaining the last of my GF food acquisition! Now, the next part I cannot believe my “mall” sense did not realize – we went to where the Bank of Ireland ATM machine was and I withdrew my money. One thing that I had also wanted to get prior to leaving Ireland was a specific type of ring in sterling silver. I had seen them but not the right size or they were “fake” silver plated ones in tourist shops. So Andrew suggested we go in and look at the jewelry store inside. So we went inside and it was a mall! How could have I not realized that! Shopping time! Unfortunately, the 2 jewelry stores did not have the ring that I wanted or in the right size. So we then walked about a little and ran into an outdoor store where items were 50% off. Now as I beleive I already mentioned, Andrew brought his VERY think, non-waterproof jacket with him. It worked great in North Carolina and Washington DC when it was windy as it is a sort of windshield however it was not going to help in Iceland and the only other warm clothes he had other than the long johns was a sweater. We found a really nice black rain/wind jacket for him for only 45 Euros in this store! Mission accomplished! Andrew was originally going to get this coat if needed in Iceland but picking it up here in Ireland was a much better decision. Then we went to Marks and Sparks and got the 2 GF items that they make that I wanted to bring home, got our car filled up and returned to the hotel for our last dinner of turkey, cheese and crackers in Ireland!
Our flight to Iceland is at 11:15 tomorrow morning, so it was to bed early tonight as we have to get up early to get the car returned and then to the airport by 8:15am to check in! While I am sad to be leaving green Ireland, I have totally enjoyed this country and hope someday we can return – perhaps next time in the Spring instead! Here is what we drove today to get to the Crowne Plaza at the Dublin Airport.
