We got ourselves up and organised for the walk to terminal 3 which took about 10 minutes walking briskly. The flight to Dublin was on Aer Lingus and there was just one check in person. Oh and the boarding pass printer was on the blink. We had no option to check in on line so had to wait for the lady to do it but eventually got through. No issues with the 20kg weight limit on the 2 check in bags. 

We were directed down to security B which was along and down and around and along and down some more. When we got there all was normal in terms of sticking your bags and laptops etc into the trays for scanning. 

Normality ended then. At least 75% of the trays got rejected. We were using 3 trays and 2 got rejected. All of the passengers with rejected stuff (practically everyone) then milled around at the end while the security staff randomly selected trays and located the owners so they could search them ( the bags that is). There was no system to the tray selection. Just whatever bag took their fancy got pulled out. There were about 5 people doing the checking and they were reasonably fast but only 3 places where they could actually do the checking. All liquids had to go into plastic bags, one per person only. Everything including lipstick and toothpaste is a liquid although the lady only pulled out half the stuff in our spongebag. I haven’t come across that being done anywhere else for years and clearly it was a surprise for most. 

Eventually we got through that (the bags and liquids had to be swabbed and tested for explosives) and we set off for the Emirates lounge. That’s when we discovered that our Emirates ticket through to Dublin is not an Emirates ticket through to Dublin so no lounge for us!  Had we realised we could have flown out from Nottingham with Steve and Fiona!!

We bought a coffee while we waited for the boarding gate to be shown and then passed through gate 5. All good. No, not yet. Next we waited on the steps down to the tarmac for about 20 minutes for some unexplained reason. Then we set off for the short walk to the plane in the pouring rain. Of course the people inside the plane needed to organise their bags and themselves so we waited more minutes in the wet. 

Eventually we took our seats: row 3C and 3D.  But of course 3C and 3D are both aisle seats as 3A and 3B are windows.  Fortunately the lady meant to be in 3B didn’t care so we didn’t have to move. After another 30minutes on the tarmac waiting for the final bags to be loaded (hopefully ours) we set off for what is apparently a 45 minute flight. We declined the offer to purchase a coffee and have our fingers crossed for a nice day in sunny Ireland. 

We upsized the hire car to a biggish Skoda sedan so we could get all the bags in the boot. With some juggling that was successful. Then we headed off towards the coast on our way to Waterford. I was driving and managed ok with some excellent navigating from Steve. It takes a bit of getting used to a manual and it’s a diesel but is certainly roomy.
We stopped at Joel’s cafe just out of Dublin beside the motorway. It has deservedly good reviews and is utterly enormous with a menu that caters for everyone. Kung pow chicken and veges for me, nachos for Mike, pork ribs and spicy chicken for Steve (it came together with mashed potato as a single menu item) and a duck stir fry for Fiona.
Then we cruised off to the south in some very mild and sunny weather, getting to Waterford at about 5pm. We are staying at the Tower Hotel in the city centre just across from the estuary. We have a great outlook from our room and the hotel is nice although a bit musty smelling.

We went out for a walk to get a drink overlooking the water and of course found everything was reserved or already full. There was live music in a square just over the road. Evidently that happens every weekend during the summer. We muscled our way into a bar and sat at a table with a couple of friendly looking locals, who turned out to be roofers from Scotland. They go all over Europe doing the cladding on big industrial developments. They’ve been in Waterford since October working on a new cheese factory. They had some good tips for places to eat and things to avoid.
We all tried the Guinness first and then had a glass of lager before heading back to the hotel for a bopite to eat. Fish and chips for Steve and me and soup for Mike and Fiona.
We have no fixed plans for tomorrow. We’d like to go to the crystal factory and may do one of the walks than Jen has suggested in our itineraries. I’m even contemplating a visit to the cemetery. We came here as I think my maternal grandmother’s parents came from Waterford. I don’t know much else at all except that they were called Malone. My cousins seem to know no more than me except that they were catholic. What are the odds there might be some catholic Malones in an Irish cemetery? We don’t even know their first names but nanny was born in NZ in the late 1880s so they must have left Ireland in the 1870s or 80s. I must have a good talk to our friend Eric Wilson when I get home as he has done extensive research on his family. We really should know more than just our grandparents’ names and I can’t even manage that for my paternal grandmother!