We got started off right with picking Dublin, Ireland as the first place to begin our adventure! Getting off the plane in Ireland, our flight attendant asked if we liked wine…but I guess that had been pretty evident by how much we’d consumed on the flight from the States 🙂 …we said, “yes, of course” and he gave us an entire bottle they had just uncorked up in First Class. Welcome to Ireland!
While in over 40 years, this was the first time either of us had ever even seen a hostel, we couldn’t have picked a better spot for people contact. Dublin International was staffed by a friendly, vibrant group of people who couldn’t have been more fun.
As our first evening begins, a small group starts to gather in the “Chapel” room with us. The first energetic guy we meet is named Garrett. He is from Texas and unfortunately will be leaving Dublin within the next few days. He offers to take up a money collection and go buy a few bottles of whiskey and rum so we can all continue our fun evening.
Tanya, Garrett, Paco, Luis , Jose, DeDac, Sergio, Aude Marie, and Cassidy – almost every person is from a different country and there are very few shared languages except for a few common words. Somehow we start to have a very enjoyable evening of card playing and songs with this eclectic bunch of people.
It starts when Garrett asks Cheryl if she knows how to play Texas Hold ‘em. She says “Yes, of course” and now he wants the two of them to teach the rest of this group how to play. Now, Cheryl speaking no language other than English, and Garrett speaking a smattering of Spanish and most of the others in the group knowing just a little bit of some other language in addition to their own — teaching a group like this the rules and strategies of Texas Hold ‘em was going to be interesting at best. Well, we had a few bottles of liquor, a deck of cards, and a large number of beer bottle caps found somewhere to use as our chips. Within an hour we were all somehow engaged in a nice, yet internationally competitive game of poker.
After the game settled down (I think Sergio from Spain finally won), someone brought out a guitar. A few of the group seem to have experience playing and the guitar is passed around while they tune it and practice some songs. Eventually we are all singing along. Now, what would you expect a group like this to sing? The most popular music came from the Beatles. We sang “Twist and Shout”, “Yesterday”, “Yellow Submarine”, and “La Bamba”. The instruments that we played, along with the guitar, included 2 spoons, several bottles, and a chair. Needless to say it was a fun night. We could not believe this was what hostel life could or would be! Dublin was indeed a special place.
Next…A Haunted Hostel!