The Great Reunion
After strolling the streets of Derry and taking photos of all the gates and murals, we headed back to the Angel House, where we were finally able to use the internet and tell our family and friends back home everything about our journey that had taken such an unexpected turn.
In the meantime, the stranded five were desperately trying to cross the Irish Sea, but were destined to do it in the middle of the night, at 2:30. Luckily, the ferry wasn't cancelled and they arrived in Dublin early Saturday morning, exactly 47 hours after they left Zagreb. It was a real drag, but what the heck, they were there, happy that St. Patrick had finally let them set foot on the Irish soil.
However, he wanted them to suffer for another five hours, while they were searching for a rental agency with an available car. Ironically, we booked a car before the trip, but I just didn't dare to drive on the left - I simply couldn't make myself do it, so I cancelled the reservation at Dublin Airport. Lesson learned: Never, never go to Ireland without renting a car in advance!!! The demand was so huge that all the cars on the whole island were rented. All but one, that is. A rental agency, called Company Car (never heard of) had a Toyota van, aka mini bus (a 10-seater - wow, so much space for shopping bags, unlike last year in England, when we were all cramped in a tiny Kia Sedona). And all those seats for less than 500 euros for five days, which was a good deal, considering that we split the price in half. Actually, we would have paid anything just to have a car.
The two of us arrived in Dublin at noon and we definitely brought the luck back to our gang because from that point on everything went as planned.
In the meantime, the stranded five were desperately trying to cross the Irish Sea, but were destined to do it in the middle of the night, at 2:30. Luckily, the ferry wasn't cancelled and they arrived in Dublin early Saturday morning, exactly 47 hours after they left Zagreb. It was a real drag, but what the heck, they were there, happy that St. Patrick had finally let them set foot on the Irish soil.
However, he wanted them to suffer for another five hours, while they were searching for a rental agency with an available car. Ironically, we booked a car before the trip, but I just didn't dare to drive on the left - I simply couldn't make myself do it, so I cancelled the reservation at Dublin Airport. Lesson learned: Never, never go to Ireland without renting a car in advance!!! The demand was so huge that all the cars on the whole island were rented. All but one, that is. A rental agency, called Company Car (never heard of) had a Toyota van, aka mini bus (a 10-seater - wow, so much space for shopping bags, unlike last year in England, when we were all cramped in a tiny Kia Sedona). And all those seats for less than 500 euros for five days, which was a good deal, considering that we split the price in half. Actually, we would have paid anything just to have a car.
The two of us arrived in Dublin at noon and we definitely brought the luck back to our gang because from that point on everything went as planned.