News Tour Diary: The Whigs (Part Five - Dublin)

Day Five: Dublin

Yesterday’s ‘day off’ was spent trekking across Europe. Before sunrise, we had already blazed a trail eastward through western Deutschland, Belgium, and France to the port of Calias, where we parked our trusty tour bus beast aboard a seafaring ship. We bid farewell to the European mainland and the ferry floated us off into the chilly horizon. Neatly tucked into the bunks inside of our bus, we slept all the way to the jolly old shores of England. And boy oh boy, we sleep well inside that bus inside that boat. After getting our land wheels back underneath us, we spent the remainder of the day fending off boredom as the bus hurdled across Great Britain. Onward we rolled from those cliffs of Dover, past London, around Birmingham, took a slight left at Manchester, and then all the way to the banks of the Irish Sea. There was lots of sleeping, eating, sleeping, reading, sleeping, playing, sleeping, watching, and sleeping. So by the time we reached the port of Holyhead for our second boat ride of the day, we were ready to party. Mutiny at sea!!! Just kidding… For those of you who have not made this voyage, you’re really not missing out on much. That is, unless your idea of a good time includes: smelling bad smells, being cold, eating overpriced soggy fried chicken, or being annoyed by loud hyperactive children. Our only relief was found in the ship’s bar that provided us with plenty of beer and gallons of free WiFi. After three hours aboard this ultimate party barge, our bus emerged again, but this time onto beautiful Irish highway. The sweet smell of clover and Guinness wafted over the dells and into our American noses, and made us feel happy. After nearly 26 hours of driving and sailing and driving and sailing, we were finally in Dublin. And now we’d like to say a very special thanks to our favorite German bus drivers, Herman and Dan, for without them we would be sitting on a frozen corner somewhere far far away.