I thought I would start this blog to highlight how things pan out, some in your control, most are not, in getting to your plane. As my friend Sharyn back home would say “C’est La Vie”  .. (such is life).

As per usual, I don’t sleep well when I set my alarm. Brain mustn’t switch off. 6.30am I am up, having a quick bite of what I bought yesterday & my protein drink & when all was done, I was out the door by 7.10am. At my unit there are 2 underground train stations (Restauradores at the front door & Rossi around the corner & some 200m away). These stations have 2 different lines & each one has a different way to connect to the 2^nd train station to the airport. Rossi is the clear choice for the airport & I’m more confident on achieving the goal. The ticket machines are another thing. Luckily there was an assistant there & he guided me through it. First you buy a train card (1metro ticket with it or a day ticket). The card costs €0.50, then €1.85 ticket = €2.35 & I was able to pay in coins. Whew!! Now off to the platform (down the stairs). Train in 2mins (7.30am). Exact arrival time confirmed.

Arrived at my change station of Alameda (a few stops up the line) & more stairs (2 flights up), then a 100m walk & finally I see the one small, almost hidden sign below saying Aeroporto. I’m half-way down the stairs & the train comes in. You have 10secs to board or get out of the train before it heads off. Seriously!! Doors almost hit my arse! Thank God I’m reasonably fit to get down those stairs with baggage. With about 6 super quick stops we reach Aeroporto & 3 flights of stairs (1 escalator there but not working). The platform I came in on (main line) is 3 storeys below ground, yet crappy access with stairs mostly. A lot of people struggled with their luggage. Lifts are small & take for ages to get in one most times. From my last blog I discussed my routine of scouring the airport you arrive in & to see how your upcoming departure can proceed. Everything is going to plan & I know where I am to go in this ultra-large airport terminal. You can see in the photos the large lobby & HUGE departure board the second you arrive. This procedure of scouring also applies to train stations, especially & particularly Gare du Nord & Gare de Lyon stations in Paris. OMG, brutal stations!

My arrival went too well & I’m here ultra-early but thought I would do my bag drop anyway. After 2 check-in counters I obtained my boarding pass. I checked online the day prior but due to having another TAP flight upcoming into Bristol UK they sent me to another counter & after all that gave me a revised boarding pass. Following the line, you come to the Duty-Free area, large food hall, etc & that’s where you wait in the N Terminal (North), S is for South Terminal to a central area to see the Departures Board. It would be another 2.5hrs before my gate is even displayed. Once your gate is called on the board you must go straight to that gate as the brand-new section of the EES Schengen Travel Visa System is in action now (Oct 12th), so the line was very long. They have a section for EU residents & another section for all other country passports. Finally, you get through after a couple of questions (9am) & then I was allowed to go to my Gate 44A which was almost the furthest one in that N Terminal. No time to muck around.

Showing your boarding pass & passport was so slow at the gate; it was bordering on painful & some people weren’t helping by not being ready. Really? We walk down the aerobridge but then redirected down the stairs to the tarmac level. There we wait for an airport terminal bus to transport us to our plane. Some 5mins passes when the bus door open, we pile in, slightly crushed when another bus pulls up slightly after. We are left in this bus for more than 10mins before it travels (seemed much longer). The route now takes us past the full length of the Terminal 1/ Terminal 2 building, through the plane maintenance area & then turn right into another plane parking station & up to the rear of our plane. Why catch a bus at the furthest end of Terminal N & then travel about 3klms to the parked plane at the other end? OK … we now wait for the doors of the bus to open so we can board our plane up the steps. We have 3 babies, about 6mths old but so far, they are OK. It took about 13mins by my phone for the doors to open with utmost relief from the passengers. We were certainly NOT happy. Finally, we are off!! What a time phase of disorganized crap.

It seemed a quick 3hr flight where we land in lovely Dublin 4.30pm at a fantastic 11°C + wind factor (sarcasm). Obviously much colder than Lisbon. Brr! Outside the terminal are buses & the best one for most of us is the Dublin Express which also stops at Terminal 2 on the other side of Terminal 1 (across the roadway) & then to the City Centre & beyond. My ticket to the city centre (Financial sector) was €10 & 30mins travel. Some 300m away from my stop is my Travelodge PLUS Hotel & it’s very swank indeed. My room is glorious!! I quickly went back out in the lovely weather (more sarcasm), crossed the River Liffey bridge (Talbot Memorial Bridge) at my street (Moss St) & walked past the glowing Customs House, looking more like Parliament House. This is the bus stop to catch the Dublin Express again for the Airport to Bristol UK in coming days. I eventually found a recommended place with retro booth seating, great music & food at Eddie Rocket’s, 52 O’Connell St (main street) within a 6min walk.

Tonight, I finally had confirmation of a refund for the failure of the Tut-Tut Golf Cart Guide Tour in Barcelona (24/10/2025), so I found a one spot availability for the Guiness Brewery Tour for tomorrow arvo at 2pm ($52AUD) in time for my 2hr Walking Tour to finish at 12noon. Looks like my days are planned but still knowing I will only scratch the surface of fabulous Dublin.

I’ll end my Blog #19 here. Many thanks for reading my blogs. My next blog will be more of Dublin & eventually onward to Bristol. Please stay safe, happy & healthy. Cheers.