Day 2 - Dublin to Gorey

Well, the adventures have begun already....

This morning I was awake at 4 am, as my body tried to adjust to the change in time zones! Bern texted to say she was awake too, so we went down to have a lovely breakfast at the Radisson Blu hotel. I love the Irish bacon and their sausages and a little bit of black pudding too!!!

Irish Breakfast

Then the next part was where the adventures really began!!!

My first task was to collect the  hire car from the airport, but that is not always as simple as it seems. We decided to leave our cases at the hotel and catch the courtesy bus across to the airport, something that I've managed a few times before. But this time we came across a few obstacles!!!

I obviously have access to the Internet at home through my phone, and I knew that wouldn't work over here, so I had decided to buy a Vodaphone sim card here first thing and put it in my old phone, as I had done last year.

A few little problems came with this great idea!!!

The first was that getting out of the Car Rental car park and back to the hotel was no easy thing, especially with no Internet for Google Maps! We went around the block a few times, and eventually asked this very nice Irishman who was crossing the road, how to get there, and after a few times of going around the block, we eventually made it back to the hotel.

First problem solved!

Next was how to load the car... lots of heavy cases and bit a pieces, but we managed eventually..

My rental car is a Renault Captur. with gears..  Now, as I have frequently mentioned in previous blogs, I love driving with gears, and this car is lovely to drive...

Renault Captur

However.........

There is always one little problem with the car that as I drive away, I think I should have asked them about before I left. Things like how to work the handbrake, which these days have more variety than the showers in Ireland!!!! Also, how to open the petrol cap can provide its own set of challenges.

But today's moment was how to get the car into reverse!!! My brother Jim is going to have a chuckle about this,  because the very same thing happened to me in Melbourne when I was driving his car ....

They mostly provide a picture on the gear stick of where the gears are... which is all very well and good... but they don't mention the trick of how you have to squeeze a little button and pull the gear stick up a bit before you can put it in reverse.... During our many goes around the block this morning, at one stage we hit a dead end, and I definitely needed reverse gear... I tried everything and Bern made many suggestions too, but to no avail... Then I remembered my debacle in the Heidelberg car park, when I had to ring Jim to ask him how to back out of a car parking spot.... and him telling me about that little trick!!!!

And lo and behold, it worked!!!  Thank you big brother!!! One of life's learnings was put to good use!

But there's more...  the best or worst was yet to come....

The next item on the agenda was to go and buy that Sim card to enable Google Maps... 

I knew there was a big shopping centre called Omni on Swords Rd - one of the main drags into Dublin City. And I knew approximately where it was from last year, as it was the place I bought my Vodaphone sim card and used it on my older phone just for internet access, especially for Google Maps.

So we got within the proximity but couldn't quite find it. We pulled into an Aldi store and I rocked up to this couple who gave us an excellent description of how to get there. We were actually close, but their instructions got us straight there. The gentleman we chatted to was so like Tommy Moran (RIP), for those of my Newman friends who may remember him.

We thought we were on top of this all now. Found the shops, found the Vodaphone shop, got the guy to install it in my old phone and even celebrated with a coffee.

Bern and Moira having a coffee at the Omni shop.

But....

When we got back to the car and tried to install it on the Android Auto screen in my shiny new car, the computer said NO!!! My old phone was too old and it wouldn't connect.... *sob* *sob*

What to do...????

Anyone who has followed my blogs will know how completely I rely on Google Maps  during my International Travel. Not many choices were rumbling around in my mind. I really needed that connection, as my earlier experiences that morning made so clear, when we got seriously lost a few times.

So I bit the bullet, and bought a new cheaper phone just for the car and the  GMaps.

But I had forgotten that when you buy a new phone you have to go through all the rigmarole of setting it up. And you need an internet connection. So we sat on a seat in the Omni shops and spent about half an hour going through the set up and then downloading the Google Apps etc...

Meanwhile, poor Bern was busting to get down to Gorey to see her brother...

When we got back to the car we tried to connect, which it sort of did, but as soon as we started driving, it wouldn't move as we moved. It was just a static map. Location, location, location was missing....

Eventually we  sorted the problem and finally set off for Gorey!

Sorry... that is such a long description, but all these things just kept happening! I always find the first day of a holiday the worst, until everything is set up and working!

Anyway once we got on the open road, we had a great drive down to Gorey in Wexford. Double lanes the whole way, and no tolls!

Paddy and Bern

So I'm now nicely ensconced in the Ashdown Park Hotel in Gorey. I've stayed here before and it's a lovely old world hotel.

Ashdown Park Hotel

Then tomorrow I'm off to God's country on the West Coast of Ireland. 

Hopefully my Google Maps will still work then!  🙏