Ireland Part 1-We Made It!

So after recovering from Karneval, I had to quickly study for an exam on Monday. I was taking it on Monday because on Tuesday morning Lyndsay and I were heading over to Ireland for five days. This is the tale of the very long and exciting first day of the trip...

At 7:00 in the morning on Tuesday, Lyndsay and I are walking out my front door to walk to the bus stop. We are packing only what can fit in our carry on back packs, since Ryanair charges ridiculous fees if you have checked luggage etc and we already had spent well over $100 on fees after purchasing the tickets(Moral of the story: dont ever use Ryanair, it is not as good as it may seem... EasyJet is a much better option for cheap flights) However to get to Ireland the easiest way was to fly from Arhus, DK to London to Dublin so that is what we did. We catch the bus into the center of Aalborg where we travel to the train station (80 to 90 min travel time to Arhus) to take the train to Arhus center from which we will take a bus to the Airport (~45-50 min bus ride). At 7:45 we have our train tickets and are sitting in the train station looking for the train when I check our plane tickets...

OH NO!!!!!!!!!!!!! I had mixed the tickets up! I thought that we were supposed to take a flight from Arhus to London with a take of of 1:35 pm but instead that was the ticket from London to Dublin. Or Arhus flight takes off at 10:30... Thanks to Lyndsay we decided to take the 8:01 train to Arhus so after the train and bus ride we would arrive with plenty of time... Even worse was there is only one daily flight from Arhus to London so if we missed it we would have been screwed....

Lyndsay tries to calm me down after I am freaking out.. We decided we would give it a try and maybe if everything worked out we could catch our flight... If the train departs Aalborg at 8:01 and it is an express it should arrive in Arhus at 9:20. If we catch a taxi instead of the bus (which would be far more expensive..) then maybe if he drives fast then we could make it to the airport by10:00. Ryanair however requires a check in procedure where the check your passport and they say that the desk closes 40 minutes before the flight. And the gate closes 30 minutes before the flight. So we knew it would be close but maybe if we called the Airport we could ask to check in late. I asked the woman at the train station if she had a computer with internet but I had no luck. Luckily I had my cell phone and so I knew I could call a friend at home, but it was still early in the morning so I decided I would wait until 9:00 before I called.

Then 7:55 rolls around the corner and a train pulls into our track, however it is not ours and it leaves and by 8:00 our train still had not arrived. Then at 8:01 a train arrives, everyone on board gets off and they say that that train is the end of the line... Where is our train??? Every precious minute counts and we need to be getting to Arhus. At 8:02 a train pulls up to the adjacent track but it was traveling other way and is supposed to be the train to Fredrickshavn a city north of Aalborg unlike Arhus which is south. So I am freaking out even more...

At 8:04 we notice that some of the people waiting for the same train as us are heading to the other train that is bound for Fredrickshavn but both trains are just idling in the station. We follow them and ask where the train is going, they say that there was a mix up and this train is bound for Copenhagen and Arhus is a stop on the way and it is an express!! Excited we jump on board and the doors close right behind us and the train departs at 8:05! Well we succeeded at step one...

As the clock struck 9:00 we were hurtling through the Danish countryside and making great time. We had already passed Randers and it looked like the train was going to make it to Arhus shortly before 9:20. I called up Vincent to ask for the telephone for the airport. No answer! I didnt give up so I called Kathi hoping she was awake... No answer!!! Now as I am looking through my contacts about to call Sandro, I get a call from Kathi, "you rang?"!! So I tell her quickly the situation and she says she is going to look for the number and text me it.. By 9:04 I am on hold at the Airport. I talk to the guy who had this very interesting mix between a Danish, Middle Eastern, and English accent. He tells me that if we get to the Airport by 10:05 he can check us in and we should make our flight! Awesome that extends the check in by 15 minutes, a window large enough for us to just make it if the taxi ride is only 40 mins.

At 9:17 the train rolls into Arhus station. Lyndsay and I are impatiently waiting by the door.We hop out onto the platform and run to the stairs and through the station. I have been before so I know where the taxis wait. We go over to them and I ask "how long to get to the airport?" They respond 45 km and I ask how long in time and they say with luck 40 mins. So we hop into a nice Mercedes Benz taxi and by 10:22 we are driving the streets of Arhus. I try to explain to the driver we are in a hurry but his english is not great, but it was shortly evident that he understood.

In the city we hit literally every light, but the driver made every possible move to speed the trip up. Unfortunately we end up on a highway with lights and literally every single one was red. But before long we are on the main highway. He is where I knew he got the picture. the speed limits in Denmark are generally low and I believe this highway was alternating between 90 km/h (~55mph) and 110 km/h (~70mph). However on one straight away we hit 150km/h (95 mph)... At 9:55 we rolled into the airport. The ride cost exactly 500 DKK and I didnt even think about a tip (oops) I just handed him the even 500 and we booked it into the airport. We may make it!!!

Unfortunately there was no one at the Ryanair desk. But there is someone at the adjacent Cimber Sterling desk but she is with other people so we decided to wait because they are the only ones in line. (Arhus Airport is very small it is even small than Aalborg Airport) Finally at 9:59 she finishes with them and we explain our situation. She tells us to go over to another desk and we do. There we meet the guy I spoke to on the phone and he quickly stamps us through so we can get to security. And by 10:05 we are standing in the line getting ready to board the airplane!!!

Phew!! amazingly we made it. We cut 3 hours out of the travel time to the airport and by shear luck we were there.  A few hours later we experience another snafu because we didnt factor in the time difference so we just had to wait an extra hour for out plane to dublin, no big deal. And by 4:00 we were on the bus from Dublin Airport to Galway where we were going to spend the next few nights. What and exhausting trip....

In 12 hours our trip consisted of a crazy amount of transportation:
Foor-City Bus-Train-Taxi-Plane-Plane-Bus... Luckily the hostel was literally right next to the bus station so that was easy. And we put our stuff down after some room confusion (We ended up paying for a 8 bed dorm but sleeping in a 4 bed dorm ensuite and no one joined us so we paid 10 Euro a night each for a private hostel room...) we decided to go downtown for dinner..

The beginning of the Galway story will begin on the next post..