Dublin

24 hours in Dublin and quite possibly the most iconic trip & St. Patrick’s Day of my life. Dublin you were a time! 

For the sake of being vulnerable and writing on my own personal blog; I want to share the full chaos of this day.

I headed to the airport around 6am for my flight and grabbed some food. 

Halfway through my flight, I started to feel a little nauseous. It didn’t feel like a normal “hangover” but almost like a knot in my stomach that my anxiety amplified.

I realized that I wasn’t sure if I was going to throw up or not so I got up to go to the bathroom to be precautionary. I was trapped by the window seat so I had to ask the girl and the old lady on the end to get up so that I could go to the bathroom. Anyone who has ever sat in a window seat knows that that is the worst part about it.

Right when I stood up and was home free to the bathroom, the flight attendant grabbed the microphone and, over the loudspeaker, scolded me to take my seat and that the flight was landing. This embarrassment and fear triggered by nausea tenfold. Now, I was trapped.

Because I flew RyanAir (the low-fare flight), there were no puke bags in the seatback in front of you. So when we sat back down, I pressed the help “button” above me and raised my hand to grab the flight attendant’s attention. Instead of coming by me they looked at me, shrugged their shoulders, and then announced over the microphone, again, that no one is allowed to stand up since the flight was landing.

With no other option, or dignity to lose, I spoke out loud saying “well I’m going to puke so I don’t know what you want me to do”. Instantly, everyone around me scrambled to find me a bag. I felt the chaos surround me and was mortified, helpless, and on the verge of puking at any given second.

A nice lady handed me a small ziploc bag and within 10 seconds, I puked in it. Yes, a small ziploc. Those tiny bags that you would use to hold snacks in your lunch box.

You know when the flight lands and there is that harsh contact right when the plane hits the ground? That is the exact moment when my head was in the tiny ziploc bag. Not a great moment.

Everyone around me both heard and saw me puke and now I was left holding my ziploc bag, dripping in sweat, and mortified. Thankfully, I was in my bright green St. Patrick’s Day sweater as if enough attention wasn’t already drawn to me.

Getting off the plane was just simply embarrassing because I was alone and “the girl on the plane who had just puked”. I could see everyone looking at me but no one asking if I felt okay or needed anything. 

After apologizing to the people around me, my first response was “well shit, if there’s any day to puke on a plane it’s St. Patrick’s Day am I right?”. The people around me didn’t find that too funny.

But, as usual, I rallied. The rest of the day was amazing. I went right to our hotel and got ready for the day then headed downtown to the parade! We started the day at “Trinity Bar” which was on the street the parade was on.

It was a complete blast and the energy was unlike any I had seen before. Everyone was in their festive clothes, drinking and just enjoying life. There was live music at every bar accompanied by a large, drunk crowd singing along.

Grace arrived a couple hours into the day and met us at one of the pubs! We then drank a little more and grabbed some fish and chips. This was the first food I had eaten all day since my food eaten prior was now in a ziploc bag at the Dublin airport.

After eating, we went back to the hotel to freshen up and rest for an hour before heading out for the night.

The night, as expected, was a complete blast. We hopped from pub to pub all night. It was a night filled with Guinness, dancing, and lots of happy Irish people. Such a blast & definitely the best St. Patrick’s day of my life.

But, wouldn’t be a day in my life without a little more chaos, right?

When we got back to the hotel, we were aware that we had 2 extra people in our room since my friend Abby accidentally booked the room for 2 people. However, with me leaving at 6am the next morning, we didn’t think much of it.

The front desk man could not have been on a different page. He watched us go up to the room and then caused a scene.

He made passive-aggressive comments to the staff about us and when my friends Abby and Maya arrived back home about 30 minutes after us, he stopped them. He forbid them from entering the room, claiming that he knew there were two extra girls in the room.

Abby texted us and explained the situation so I went down and explained the situation in honesty and telling him I would pay the extra occupacy fee or for another hotel room. But, he denied all of my requests. I explained to him that it is 2am on St. Patrick’s Day and there is no place open or with open rooms and that I would have to wonder the streets looking for housing.

His response was unlike any I have experienced with any hotel concierge or employee for that matter. He told me that he “didn’t care if I was on the streets, as long as I was not in his hotel”.

He would not let Abby and Maya in the room until Grace and I came down with our bags packed up.

Grace and I, many pints of Guinness in, sat with our suitcases on the street for about 20 minutes until realizing the only place open was the airport. So we decided that since we both had upcoming flights, we would just sleep there. This was an experience, to put it lightly.

I have never been in an empty airport before but it felt a little bit exhilarating and like a playground since we had the entire place to ourselves (and the other travelers sleeping in miscellaneous areas).

After the fun and the drunk wore off, we found a bench and slept there for a couple hours. Grace’s flight left before I did, so when she left I went and found a lounge that had opened up at 5am and slept there until my flight. Then I got on my plane and headed over to Scotland to see my friend Isa.

Definitely one of the most iconic days/nights of my entire life. I will never forget this day (nor the guy from the hotel in Dublin). Regardless, being in Dublin for St. Patrick’s Day was surely a bucket list experience and a complete blast I will always remember.