Packed and ready for the three week journey that lay ahead. I'm not really sure how I fit everything into this duffel bag but I did.
The day was supposed to be the easiest day of travelling. We planned on getting the 10:30AM bus from Cork to Dublin for our flight to Amsterdam at 5:15PM. It would be a long day but we had planned it so we'd have time to get ourselves together and do it right.
Everything was going smoothly. Maggie, Ally and I made it to Parnell Station with perfect timing, even being able to grab a subway sandwich for breakfast/ lunch. We were mentally preparing ourselves for the nice long bus right up to Dublin while we sat there waiting for the bus. We had thought ahead and bought our tickets online to save a few Euros.
The bus pulled up into dock 2 and we tossed our bags into the luggage hold under the bus and climbed on board. We presented our tickets to the bus driver who looked at them and then said "this isn't the right bus...". Turns out we didn't realize that the GoBus (under BusEireann) isn't the exact same thing that we bought our tickets for. The GoBus that we tried to get on/ what we thought we bought tickets for goes direct to Dublin airport without stopping. The bus we had bought tickets for was the X8 that makes tons of stops along the way. Discouraged, we got off the bus and pulled out our luggage. We headed to the information desk to see when the X8 bus is leaving next.
The information guy told us that the next bus out that we have tickets for would be at noon. He showed us the bus schedule and told us we would be able to get to Dublin airport buy 3:50. So, now on a time budget, we decided to wait for the bus and hope for the best instead of buying a whole new ticket for the next GoBus.
Noon came and we were finally on our way to the airport. I was excited to start our trip and hoped that the bus situation was the only problem we would have. The information guy promised us we would be at the airport by 3:50 so now we sat back and relaxed. At least Maggie and Ally did... I however was stuck online emailing professors to try and get into a class I needed for Fall semester as it was registration day back home. Thank god for wifi, I was able to sort it out in about an hour or so but it was stressful. Between the wrong busses and my schedule I was stressed and wanted to relax and enjoy the beginning of my break.
As the bus ate up the miles, closing in on Dublin, I started to get the feeling that we weren't on schedule. I kept looking at the bus schedule the info guy had given me, trying to figure out where we were. I'm not really sure why I felt we weren't on schedule, maybe it was paranoia that we now had less time to get to the airport and through to our gate on time. But the more I checked the bus schedule, the more I felt sure it was wrong. The schedule said we should be in Port Laoise at a specific time (which I can't remember) but we were no where near there.
Soon, we were stopping behind a bus that had broken down and all those passengers came aboard our bus. An Irish girl sat next to me. We continued making our way to Dublin. It soon became very evident that we were behind schedule, and I started to wonder out loud especially when Ally asked me why I kept nervously checking the schedule. The Irish girl next to me asked where we were going so we told her and I asked how long it'd be until we get to Dublin because at this point it was after 3:30. She said it would be at least another half hour in to the city and since it makes stops in the city centre we should be there around 4:30.
At that, we all looked at each other and PANICKED. Our gate was to close at 4:50 and we would still have to go through security once we got there. Time was slowly slipping away as there was nothing for us to do but sit on that bus as it made so many painful stops along the way. Traffic wasn't on our side either. I was so anxious that we weren't going to make this flight... our first flight, that I literally started shaking. I think we all were at that point. The bus then made a stop at the bus station for like 10 minutes at 4:20 and then the next stop would be the airport.
We ran up to the front of the bus so we would be able to get off faster and grab our luggage. A new bus driver came on and we told him our situation. He told us that he'd be able to get us there for 4:45.... yes 5 minutes before our gate closed. My heart was just about in my stomach when I heard that. I was in straight panic mode. I've never been late to a flight before, and never missed one. As we left the station for the airport, the driver told us that ever since June, BusEireann has been telling people that this bus route takes 3:50 hours... when in reality it takes 4:30 hours. So this was not our fault but the stupid info guy that promised us we'd be at the airport on time when he knew full well the situation. He could have just told us to buy a ticket to GoBus that gets there on time!!
Time ticked by as we neared the airport. Our driver told us he would drop us off at Terminal 2 to save us a 10 minute walk from the normal dropping point at Terminal 1. We would have been dead if he hadn't done that... thanks bus driver!
4:45. We arrived at the terminal. 5 minutes until the gate closed and we still had security to tackle.
It was game time.
With adrenaline running through us all, we shot out of the bus doors like a rocket. We grabbed our bags and threw them over our shoulders, then sprinted like i've never sprinted before with 16 pounds of luggage on my back. I lead the way through Dublin airport, the layout of the place suddenly coming back to me as I ran up the stairs to the departure gates. We waited impatiently for the elevator to arrive to take us up to the security point, and nearly fell into it as the doors opened onto some business guy in a suit. We didn't care.
Once upstairs, I took one look at the security line, and nearly crumbled. The line was so long. We were never going to make it. It felt as if our mad dash was all for nothing. But then we saw an Airlingus lady standing at the end of the security line. We told her we were going to miss our flight and how can we get through security quick, or just tell the gate that we were on our way... we were hoping for anything at this point. The lady told us to go to the fast track security line and ask them if they would let us through. We ran over there, and Ally pretty much word-vomited our story to the lady who then stamped us through the fast track line. We had all our stuff ready for security at that point and nearly threw our stuff at them. Shoes were off, jackets were thrown, liquids were out and ready. We whizzed through security in record time and then headed to our gate... which of course had to be down stairs.
Hopping onto the down escalator, Maggie's boot lace got caught and almost sent her flying down the escalator had she not caught herself. We full out sprinted to our gate until we noticed there was still a line waiting to board. We dropped our bags and panted waiting in the line. We had gone through Dublin airport in 5 minutes flat. We were still trembling from the adrenaline and amazed we made it to the flight. It also helped that there was a slight delay on the flight... it was almost as if they knew. I had never been so thankful, someone must have been on our side that day. Finally everything was falling back into place.
We boarded the flight to Amsterdam and taxied out of the gate. I was so relieved we had made that flight. When the flight attendants came around we all ordered a well deserved Jameson Ginger to calm ourselves and cheered to the crazy start of our trip. At that point we figured if we could make it on time for this flight, we would be okay in foreign countries. It was definitely a whirlwind start to our spring break but it makes for a great memory in the end.
Next post I'll pick up in Amsterdam after we landed.
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