Thanks to the cancelled flight I can sleep a little bit longer. Breakfast at the hotel and then bus to the airport. My luggage is stored at the hotel until I come back tomorrow and I only travel with backpack for this one night trip.

Since Ireland is not part of the Schengen area, my flight departs from the F gates at Gardermoen. But since it is in the EU, I don’t have to take a passport and my national ID is enough to go through the passport controll.

Last time I have been in Ireland was in 1996 with school. Getting old here. 🙂 Just wait to hop on the flight and off we go.

Without any problems the plane lands at Dublin airport. I have preplanned this. My goal is to find Europs oldest Geocache, which is a train ride south of Dublin. So my best option was the Bus, that will take me to the city center, close to the right station where the train I need to take stops.

Outside of the terminal, the busses are easy to spot. A single trip costs 10 Euros. The ride to Tara Street station is about 25 minutes – on the wrong side of the road. 😀 Weather is a little bit on the unstable side, but that will not interfere with my plans – I hope.

I know where the cache is. Unfortunately, a landslide has made it necessary to move the cache from its location. It does not look as good at the original one, which was along a costal road, but I will check out when I am there.

The Dart train to Bray Daley – which is the closest station to the cache – arrives shortly after I get onto the platform. The rid will take about 45 minutes. A nice chance to let the landscape slide by. All the towns are part of the greater Dublin area. Seems to be some more well off areas along the coast.

Arrived in Bray and out of the station I see the cache location in the distance. And unfortunately, that will not be possible for me in the time I have. First there is only two ways to get there. Walking for 2 hours and half of that up a steep mountain or driving with a taxi and then climbing. With the dark clouds on the horizon, that is not an option. Maybe if I had arrived early in the morning and not the early afternoon. That is a bummer, but lets make the best out of the situation. Find my first cache in Ireland and then take a walk along the promenade at the beach. Seems to be a summer vacation spot. Not that much to do so best to get back to Dublin and Tara Street.

I have one other plan for today. I booked a massage. Nit easy to find the good offer among the creepy Thai massage shops. But until that I have some time to walk around the city center. I don’t remember a lot from last time, but the city is a tourist magnet as it seems. Lots of groups and it seems school classes. The shopping area is not different to any other big city. So that is not a reason to come to Dublin. That you can get everywhere.

I found The Bodywise Clinic online after a little bit of research. Good reviews and they to medical treatment and are not only a Spa. Qualified staff and that was what I am looking for. I booked 1 hour of Indian head massage to relax. It is up a steep flight of stairs. Nice atmosphere. My therapist is Zack and the first thing is a talk about what I want. After telling him about all the running around in Paris and that I should have gone for another type of massage to loosen up my neck and back he changes the strategy to work up from the lower back and end the massage with the head for relaxation. It hurts in some place – he finds the bad spots – but is is very good. Good talking and not just lying down. One hour is not nearly enough and it should have gone on for longer, but he says that my chiropractic should have an easier job with me. The hour was 85 Euros – which is normal even compared to Norwegian prices.

Time to get to my hotel. Food is some sandwich and stuff on the way. Tram to the North Wall district (10 minutes ride) and then to the hotel. I found the Premier Inn Dublin City Centre ( North Docklands) hotel (a long name) online after being shocked by the prices the known booking sites have. Not under 120 Euros a night. This one I got directly at the hotel for 88 Euro and it is definitely a good idea to book as early as possible! The hotel was totally ok. No breakfast included (they wanted a horrendous price for that and I do not like the English style breakfast) and they even wanted money for the internet. Are we living in 2005 when that was a thing? Unbelievable. Mentioned that to the receptionist that they are behind the world on that. And this is a quite new hotel.

Well, I had some vids downloaded on the tablet and cell date works for an evening. Last day tomorrow and still a few things I want to do before my Easter holidays come to an end.