Dublin - First Post (written earlier, posted late)
(originally written on May 17th)
Its been 2 long days since i left india. And its been ok. Work starts from tomorrow. All i have been doing until now is go around Dublin.
This trip was off to a bad start since the beginning. We (me and abhijit, my team-mate at work) - had to wait in the Bengaluru Airport for more than a couple of hours, because the flight got delayed. And obviously, waiting at the airport is not such a great idea, specially when you are like totally tired and sleepy. Thankfully the new airport is much better than the old one. I shudder at such a thought of spending times at the old Bengaluru airport. But thankfully that nightmare is over for bengaluru. Actually the new airport is much better, small still as compared to other international airports, but good. Actually one gets to see a lot of sparrows in the BIAL. And that is quite good. I feel happy to see those birds, since i don't get to see them in bangalore, like earlier.
So finally the Lufthansa flight which had to leave at 1.50 AM left and 4.30 AM. My international travel experience in flights has been with Singapore airlines so far. And trust me, Lufthansa comes no where close in service or comfort, if you are taller than 5 feet and/or weight a little more than 40 kgs say goodbye to comfortably being seated on the Lufthansa seats. The people in the economy class are treated like chicken being shipped or something. And they even did not have any inflight entertainment-system. We reached frankfurt airport at 10.00 Am local time on Saturday, and our connecting flight to Dublin was at 10.25 Am around 5 gates away - and inspite of trying our best - running, like
we are being chased for our lives - we missed our flight. And the next flight out of frankfurt to dublin was around 5 hours later. So we were
stuck in the frankfurt airport for a while, tired, hungry and sleepless and definitely irritated. I was actually cursing myself not to have got a schengen visa. If i had - i would not have been stuck at the airport.
We reached ireland late in the evening, around 5.30 local time dublin. Its a pleasant country. A lot like bangalore actually, just a little less traffic and people - and a little more organized. Makes a lot of difference obviously.
The irish accents are difficult to understand. But so far its been good. We have figured our way around the important places in the city and we have been walking around everywhere - and sometimes taking the bus. There are enough local buses and they are usually on
time too. But everything in ireland is very expensive. Everything. If you want a decent meal - it costs nothing less than 15 €. Taxi minimum
fare is 4€, although the taxis are good - skodas, lancers, toyotas are the most common taxis. So in general its pretty expensive. i called up
one of shilpas friend, and spoke for a couple of minutes and it costed me 1€. So you get the idea. Its expensive.
If you can eat junk food - getting veg food is not a problem. Although eating french fries is a no go. They openly admit that they are fried in beef oil or share the same oil to fry meat. So french fries are a big no, and i think its true for most of the fried stuff. I ask for veg burger - no meet, no egg, no cheese and i get is 2 burger buns and some lettuce, no sauces too - since most of them are meat based. But
actually have been eating a lot. Feeling way to hungry; Abhijit tells me that, ".. its because of the weather, its too cold and one tends to
feel hungry when its cold....." Am not sure about that. I need to look that up somewhere.
Its daylight until 10.30-11.00 PM here. Feels a little wierd. But i guess in the next couple of weeks i would get used to that.
The service apartment we are staying in, is a two bedroom and has a kitchen, living area and entertainment systems and stuff. A balcony with view of the rest of the apartment block. There are pigeons aplenty, and they are perched on the balcony ledge all the time and fly away when we get any close.
Will be getting to work tomorrow. Need to figure out the way to Sun office, which is in a Tech-park a little distance away from the Dublin
City. Hopefully can make it in time. :)
Thats about it for now. Until my next post, cheers.
Its been 2 long days since i left india. And its been ok. Work starts from tomorrow. All i have been doing until now is go around Dublin.
This trip was off to a bad start since the beginning. We (me and abhijit, my team-mate at work) - had to wait in the Bengaluru Airport for more than a couple of hours, because the flight got delayed. And obviously, waiting at the airport is not such a great idea, specially when you are like totally tired and sleepy. Thankfully the new airport is much better than the old one. I shudder at such a thought of spending times at the old Bengaluru airport. But thankfully that nightmare is over for bengaluru. Actually the new airport is much better, small still as compared to other international airports, but good. Actually one gets to see a lot of sparrows in the BIAL. And that is quite good. I feel happy to see those birds, since i don't get to see them in bangalore, like earlier.
So finally the Lufthansa flight which had to leave at 1.50 AM left and 4.30 AM. My international travel experience in flights has been with Singapore airlines so far. And trust me, Lufthansa comes no where close in service or comfort, if you are taller than 5 feet and/or weight a little more than 40 kgs say goodbye to comfortably being seated on the Lufthansa seats. The people in the economy class are treated like chicken being shipped or something. And they even did not have any inflight entertainment-system. We reached frankfurt airport at 10.00 Am local time on Saturday, and our connecting flight to Dublin was at 10.25 Am around 5 gates away - and inspite of trying our best - running, like
we are being chased for our lives - we missed our flight. And the next flight out of frankfurt to dublin was around 5 hours later. So we were
stuck in the frankfurt airport for a while, tired, hungry and sleepless and definitely irritated. I was actually cursing myself not to have got a schengen visa. If i had - i would not have been stuck at the airport.
We reached ireland late in the evening, around 5.30 local time dublin. Its a pleasant country. A lot like bangalore actually, just a little less traffic and people - and a little more organized. Makes a lot of difference obviously.
The irish accents are difficult to understand. But so far its been good. We have figured our way around the important places in the city and we have been walking around everywhere - and sometimes taking the bus. There are enough local buses and they are usually on
time too. But everything in ireland is very expensive. Everything. If you want a decent meal - it costs nothing less than 15 €. Taxi minimum
fare is 4€, although the taxis are good - skodas, lancers, toyotas are the most common taxis. So in general its pretty expensive. i called up
one of shilpas friend, and spoke for a couple of minutes and it costed me 1€. So you get the idea. Its expensive.
If you can eat junk food - getting veg food is not a problem. Although eating french fries is a no go. They openly admit that they are fried in beef oil or share the same oil to fry meat. So french fries are a big no, and i think its true for most of the fried stuff. I ask for veg burger - no meet, no egg, no cheese and i get is 2 burger buns and some lettuce, no sauces too - since most of them are meat based. But
actually have been eating a lot. Feeling way to hungry; Abhijit tells me that, ".. its because of the weather, its too cold and one tends to
feel hungry when its cold....." Am not sure about that. I need to look that up somewhere.
Its daylight until 10.30-11.00 PM here. Feels a little wierd. But i guess in the next couple of weeks i would get used to that.
The service apartment we are staying in, is a two bedroom and has a kitchen, living area and entertainment systems and stuff. A balcony with view of the rest of the apartment block. There are pigeons aplenty, and they are perched on the balcony ledge all the time and fly away when we get any close.
Will be getting to work tomorrow. Need to figure out the way to Sun office, which is in a Tech-park a little distance away from the Dublin
City. Hopefully can make it in time. :)
Thats about it for now. Until my next post, cheers.