The Shite Plane Ride and Gammon Steak

Ok...

I have been totally spoiled on JetBlue and British Airways.

To its credit, Aer Lingus DOES have some of the friendliest flight attendants in the business. But could it HURT to have the seats placed a little farther apart? I mean, I'm a midgetey 5 feet 2 inches and the seating was cramped even for me. I had to witness my poor boyfriend suffering with his knees practically to his chest the entire near-10-hour flight. We didn't sleep at all on the the plane by the way... surprised?

When we arrived at Dublin Airport, the weather was gorgeous - meaning gorgeous for Dublin standards - all pretty clouds and dappled sunlight and 60 degrees at noon. We arrived at our hotel, crazy exhausted and thinking only of ... well nothing... only to find out that check-in was an hour and a half away. We tried to kill some time, which in a normal state of mind, would not have mattered in the least, but in the current situation of mind-bending walking dead-ness, was mildly perturbing at best. When we finally checked in, it was like time ceased to exist. (Our hotel, btw, was lovely in the budget sort of sense, which mattered not to us, being of the budget sort of traveler. I found out later from the brochures that I happened upon in the lobby that the hotel was featured prominently in The Commitments!)

5 lost hours later...

Wandering Temple Bar and - yes - Dublin is fantastic. As I am writing this, JD and I had just finished a lingering boxty and irish stew dinner at Gallagher's, ending with an uber-bang of divine chocolate steamed pudding with fresh cream. For those of you who don't know, a boxty is like a huge potato pancake stuffed with various yummy stews or such, then topped with gravy, cheese, herbs, etc. Radical. Anyway, he ordered a "gammon steak boxty", thinking it was some sort of fancy irish-type BEEF, but when it arrived... gammon steak is some sort of ham. I didn't like it. He liked it a lot. You learn something new every day.

Anyway, I want to keep writing, preferably something wittingly observant and/or amusingly trivial, but I'm at an internet cafe right now and JD is standing out in the rain. Don't ask my why. I'll write more tomorrow. Just wanted to let all of you know we're well and good and ... goddamn we're in Dublin. I promise the next entry won't seem so rushed and checklist-ey. (I realize I make up a lot of words.)

JD also promised to take lots of pictures, so I've entrusted him with the camera. Unfortunately, no piccies today.