Tag Archives: holiday

Newry to Dublin – Day 34

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Today we slept in. Seems to be a reoccuring pattern now our Topdeck tour is over. No times we have to be anywhere. No one who is not me making her get up so we sleep. Anyways we got up in time and organised to go and have breakfast. Breakfast was included but it was strange. We went to the breakfast room and ordered our breakfast with the waitress. Just seemed off.

After breakfast we had a few hours to kill before our train back to Dublin. We walked around the small town and found our way too one of two shopping centers. We went in and had a walk around. Shopping centers on this side of the world are just as annoying and boring as those back home. Rhian looked through clothes stores and I used free WiFi to entertain myself.

After the shopping center we went back to the hotel and got our bags. We went across the canal to the bus station. The information desk told us the next bus to the train station was at 13:15. Our train was at 13:30 we were not sure if we would make it to the train in time. After just deciding if we miss the train we would buy a ticket on the next we waited for the train. Turns out the bus was fine. We got to the train station with around six minutes to spare.

On the train we had a snack and I had a Heineken. After arriving in Dublin station we walked to the hotel which was only around 1km away. Our hotel this time was on the main street of Dublin but the hotel was very basic and not fancy. However both Rhian and I fell asleep for a couple of hours. After waking from our power nap we went for a walk around town. We purchased out fridge magnets from the store near the hotel. After exploring for an hour or so we found ourselves in the Temple Bar district. This is where all the toursits come apparently. Didn’t see any Aussies myself. We had dinner at a restraunt called Mexico to Rome. Food was ok but I stuffed myself and just had no room left for more beer.

After dinner Rhian and I walked back to the hotel and retired for the night.

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London to Dublin – Day 32

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This morning we had an early start in order to get to the city airport and catch our flight to Dublin. We got up around seven and went down stairs for a quick breakfast. We managed to get up and get checked out by about 8am. With suitcases in tow we walked a few blocks to the underground to catch our first train to the airport. We only needed to travel a couple of stations before switching trains to the DLR line. This line then goes above ground to the London City Airport.

Once at the airport we checked-inn. My bag was 1kg over weight so I had to open the suitecase and pull some of the dirty washing out and put it into my carry on bag. I also took my coat out for good measure. Going have to pack the bags well for the return trip even it out.

Going through security I got pulled up for having an un-opened powerade in my bag. Also got my deoderante taken off me also. Rhian and I waited in departures using the free WiFi for an hour and a half. Our flight was also ten minutes delayed. When we took off from London we couldn’t see much out of the window because we were sitting right next to the engines. Our flight only took an hour and we landed at Dublin airport.

When we went through immergration I think we were the only non EU people on the flight. No line. The only question from the guy behind the desk was business or pleasure. He stamped out passports and took another drink of his Guiness. 😛 After going through immergration we collected our bags and walked straight through customs. Was no one to even check us. We bought return tickets on the bus that takes you into the city. Was only $10 euro each.

When we reached the hotel we were able to check-in early. Was a nice hotel and had excellent WiFi speeds. We stayed in the room until about 7pm when Rhian finally got sick of my bitching and complaining to go out. We walked the streets of Dublin for an hour before finding a restraunt to eat. After dinner we went to the movies and saw Rush. Was a good movie. 4.5 Heinekens. After the movie we walked back to the hotel and went to bed.

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Amsterdam to London – End of the tour – Day 30

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Today was day 30 of our Topdeck Discover “Dicover” Europe. This meant that it was our last day and all was left is to travel the four countries back to London. It was an early start with an 0730 departure from the Botel in Amsterdam. We travelled on the bus for four and half hours with no service stops. This was the longest stint non stop of the entire jorney. Because of traffic we arrived in Brugge around an hour and half late. This left us with only an hour to explore. Pretty much this gave us enough time to find a magnet and get lunch. We found and purchased a fridge magnet in five minutes. All the restraunts were expensive so Rhian and I walked around for half an hour before giving up and just going to pizza hut. After lunch it was time to get back on the bus.

Our next leg was to the Port in Calis in France. We arrived around 1530. We were due to get onto the 4pm ferry however it turned out the ferry was running an hour late so we actually left at around 5pm. This was the last stop for our bus driver Krzys. Sad to say goodbye he weas an awsome bus driver for the last month. Probably because his Polish. He was eager to get home to his pregnant wife and child. He drove us a total of 7,950kms around Europe and said himself he enjoyed this group., It was like travelling with mates not clients.

The weather across the English Channel was not very good today. Was very choppy but the ferry had stabilizers. This apparently eased it somewhat. I didn’t look out the window. Wasn’t helpful. We reached Dover port about 1830. We walked of the ferry and onto our waiting shuttle bus. This was an old shitty bus compared to the limo we travelled Europe in.

The bus ride into London and to the Umi hotel seemed to go on for a long time. We managed to watch an entire movie in the time it took to reach the Umi Hotel. We arrived at the Umi about 8pm. Sad moment saying good bye to all those we had spent the last thirty days with and those others we picked up along the way. Rhian and I both hope to see a large number of you again. After saying goodbe to everyone Rhian and I set off to catch the Underground to our hotel.

It didn’t take too long to reach our hotel however after arriving and trying to checking the fun began. We handed over our paperwork with the confirmation of our booking. When the assistant looked up our booking he told us to wait a moment while he went out the back. I turned to Rhian and said. He doesn’t have our booking. Sure enough when he returned he told us our booking was cancelled and showed us an email that stated our booking was cancelled on the 8th August. However our paper clearly stated our booking was valid and confirmed on the 17th August. The assistant agreed something didn’t add up. Short story is that we handed over the credit card to book a room and they just took a pre authorisation on the credit card until the mess could be sorted out. Upon getting to our room that was freezing. Rhian turned on the heater and it started to leak water over the floor. We called reception and they sent someone up to have look. It had stopped leaking and was working so they said they would have maintence come check it tomorrow.

By this time it was close to 11pm and Rhian finished writing her narky email to the travel agent about the booking screw up. We went across the road to a hotel for dinner. Food was ok and was not too expensive. After dinner we came back to the room and passed out.

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