Written by Hamish and Belinda

Belinda

This day trip to Belfast has been in the planning for months and was triggered by Hamish’s love of all things Titanic after a trip to Sydney at the start of the year with Rod. I booked tickets to the Titanic Museum and our return train journey a couple of months ago.

Hamish

The day arrived and we went to the train station, we had to catch a bus to get there. Mum had snacks in her backpack (pringles, chocolate and bananas) and activities for me to do. We had to wait at least a good half an hour before the train left Dublin. On the train we had to sit across from the grumpiest lady in the history of the world. I accidentally kicked her a couple of times under the table and she wasn’t very happy about it, even though Mum apologized. Mum and I ended up swapping seats – then the lady kicked Mum under the table.

It was a biiiiig walk from the train station to the Titanic museum. But it wasn’t raining – phew!! When I saw the museum, it looked amazing. It was ginormous! When we went inside, we had our tickets checked, then we put our stuff in a locker (which cost 1 pound, twice because Hamish locked it before it was closed…). Then we had lunch – my toasty was amazing, so big I couldn’t finish it. Then we started the tour of the museum.

I was given a challenge by the staff member, to find out information along the way. Such as, how high was the gantry the Titanic was built around (69m high!!). We got to see how much bread and provisions were on board – there were 40 000 eggs! At one point, we caught a lift up to the 4^th floor, to give an idea of what it was like to be a worker on the Titanic – it was scary! (It was 20m lower than the actual Titanic gantry).

Once we finished looking around, we bought a few souvenirs and then looked at the last remaining White Star Liner called Nomadic. I wasn’t especially interested in that, but we looked around and Mum took some photos.

Then we started to walk back to the train station. Mum said we should walk because it wasn’t raining and we had time. She fed me smarties to help me make it back to the station. On the way we saw a huge seagull dropping mussels on the ground to crack them open to eat the meat. It was very interesting.

After that, like ten minutes later, my feet were killing me! I was going to take a break, but Mum said you can’t take a break because we’re almost there. We caught the train back to Dublin, it was dark just after we left Belfast at 4pm. In Dublin, we caught the bus back to our street and went to the Spar to get some dinner (sushi), juice, bread, yoghurt, fruit and biscuits.

Belinda

Hamish has been the best travel buddy and I’m super proud of him. This makes it easier when we’re trying to navigate multiple public transport systems in an unknown city. We’ve not done too badly, us kids from the country. Rod arrives soon and he can update his 3 days from Germany.

Oh, and you might be interested in the menu from the train service. I could have purchased a full bottle of prosecco for my trip!

After a solid 14-hour sleep, Hamish woke up at 0530. Waking up this early is frowned upon in our household, but there’s no arguing with Madame Jet Lag. We were up and eating our breakfast as the sun rose at 0830. Yes, the daylight hours are super short, with the sun setting just after 4pm. At times today, it was difficult to tell if there was any sun about to set, but there were some brief moments which made the city look beautiful.

Apparently, there’s some bad weather around Ireland at the moment: Storm Atiyah is a particularly nasty weather system all the way from Iceland. We didn’t even know storm warnings were in place across Ireland until late this afternoon – we just thought sideways rain and frosty wind was the norm in Dublin this time of year.

 

As planned, we made the most of the hop on/off tourist bus, which has a stop directly across the road from our apartment in Dame Street, Temple Bar. After seeing some of the big attractions from the comfort of the bus (Zoo, Croke Park, Guinness Factory, Kilmainham Gaol), we hopped off at The Irish Emigration Museum. This is an impressive interactive overview of many aspects of Irish life, with displays tackling topics such as: conflict, famine, storytelling, emigration and whiskey. Australia features heavily in many of the displays – not particularly gleaming accounts I can tell you! Anyone remotely famous with ties to Ireland are proudly claimed, including Paul Keating (whose grandparents were Irish).

After the museum, we walked to O’Connell Street where we were meeting Rod’s uni mate Gerard, at The Spire. We navigated from the museum to The Spire with the use of a handy little mapping app, called MapsMe, which allows me to use maps offline. Hamish once again, commented about my navigation abilities: “Mum, you’re actually doing a good job of finding things” Thanks Hamish.

The day was rounded off with the second half of the bus tour which dropped us off where we started. We purchased a few little snacks for our train trip to Belfast tomorrow from the Spar (convenience store) and relaxed back in the apartment. Take away dinner from the Italian restaurant downstairs has topped off our day nicely. Hamish is now tucked up in bed and was asleep by 730pm.

Oh, and we’ve sorted the issue with the temperature of the water, so we’ve both had lovely warm showers, which makes us super happy. Tomorrow we’re off to Belfast on the 0930 train for the sole purpose of visiting the Titanic Museum. Rod arrives Tuesday morning.

To say Hamish has been incredible over the past 36 hours is an understatement. I’m so proud of him: he’s exhausted, but has not whined or even looked like he was going to lose the plot once. As I write this, he’s asleep. It’s 430pm Saturday afternoon.

Other than a seating mishap, our flights were smooth and uneventful. Hamish ate everything Emirates served up to him, including the ‘Mum, I think it’s spicy’ pide. He’s loved the entire onboard entertainment system from movies, games and quizzes to the mounted camera coverage and flight details. We had to make haste between flights in Dubai, where there seemed to be an endless stream of Irish people trying to make their way to Gate B20.

 

Once we arrived in Dublin, things started to resemble our tired state:

• Customs was understaffed
• Our bus left from another terminal (which was a decent walk for a tired 9 year old)
• I purchased two bottles of sparkling water instead of normal water (“Mum, this tastes just terrible!”)
• The airport bus drop-off point was not as close to our apartment as I had expected
• Cobble stones and suitcases (ergh)
• The hot water is rubbish at our apartment

However, our accommodation is cute (small), cozy and central. We have spent the last few hours sorting out our bags, showering (quickest shower I’ve ever had!) and planning tomorrow. We walked up to the Spar and got a couple of things for breakfast, then had a light dinner at Eddie Rockett’s Diner (so incredibly Irish…).

Tomorrow we’re catching up with Rod’s mate Gerard and his partner Fiona and we’ll probably do a bit of hopping on and off the tourist bus. I suspect tonight, I’ll be in bed by 7pm at the latest. Rod is safely in Germany, but he can update you next week.

 

You’ll be pleased to know Rod has packed. Final luggage weigh-in:

• Rod – 15kg plus 4kg carry-on
• Belinda & Hamish – 25kg plus 4kg each carry-on

Some of the weightier items include: Hamish’s winter jacket & boots, first aid/medicine kit, my make-up bag…all the essentials.

This week has been hectic. Hamish spent Saturday vomiting, which required three days off school, one trip to the Dr and a course of antibiotics (plus back up – thus the bulked up first aid kit!). However, he’s definitely on the mend and super excited for his last day of school tomorrow.

Our lovely house sitter (all the way from the USA) and her Wangaratta family popped in for dinner last night, so we could relay any final messages and show her how our complicated TV system works.

And from me, I think there’s nothing else to be done. Anything that’s required printing has been printed. There’s a couple of sticky notes on a suitcase reminding me to pack chargers, a brush and a shampoo bar. I plan to have a luxurious bath tomorrow, catch up with my friend Matilda for my last decent coffee for 7 weeks, put my feet up and finish Season 3 of The Crown (one episode to go).

Hamish and I will check in from Dublin. Ciao.

A note from Rod…

The time has almost arrived. We are all very pumped for what lies ahead. Huge kudos to Belinda for planning and booking just about everything. Tomorrow night the adventure begins.

 

A note from Hamish…

OMGW! We’re leaving tomorrow – this is excellent aka awesome!

I’m so excited to play 3 hours of Minecraft in the car on the way to Jessie’s place.

I’m excited to find our blue apartment building in Dublin. I’m going to say goodbye to all my friends at school tomorrow, which is sad, but also happy! Byeeee!