Good-Bye Ireland / Ce n'est qu'un au-revoir!

Last day in Dublin. I did some "Fake" street art again and for the last time in order to keep some souvenirs
of the place and people I met.

Photo taken on Sunday after the Tea Party

This was the moment… As the plane rose to take some altitude, Agnes had her face against the window trying to catch a last view of Dublin, then, Dublin bay…Then, nothing… We have left Ireland and we both very moved. We had some of our best years in Ireland, 7 years for me and 4 for Agnes. A few days ago, we had our leaving party, one last opportunity to say Good-Bye to our friends. The move went smoothly, even though it caused a bit of stress (which created a bit of tension between us… the normal life as a couple!). We had everything prepared for the flight: 1 bag-pack each (that should not exceed 20kg) and one cabin luggage each (that should not exceed 10kg). In the end, all our bags exceeded the required weight but Aer Lingus did not bother and gave us our boarding pass with a big smile. Then, going through security, I realized I forgot to take out the laptop from the bag, and the case was already through. “Doesn’t matter, it was not detected on the scanner anyway” they told us. Dublin airport is also the only airport in the world to spend less than 1s per passport at immigration.

We’ll miss all this: the cool and relaxed attitude of the Irish…

Good-Bye Ireland, we will miss you…

A, our former flatmate, with his daughter Tess

Ca y est… Alors que l’avion prenait de l’altitude, Agnes avait sa tete collee a la fenetre, essayant de regarder derriere elle une derniere fois…Dublin, puis la Baie de Dublin, et puis plus rien… Nous avons quitte l’Irlande et nous sommes emus, car nous y avons passe nos meilleures annees (7 ans pour moi, 4 ans pour Agnes). Il y a quelques jours, nous avons organise un pot de depart a la maison pour dire au revoir a nos amis. Le demenagement s’est bien passe, meme s’il a engendre un peu de stress (et quelques tensions entre nous…comme un couple normal, quoi !). Nous avions bien prepare nos valises : un gros sac a dos chacun (ne devant pas depasser 20kg) et une valise cabine chacun (ne devant pas depasser 10kg). Resultat : nous etions en surplus de bagages tous les deux. Alors qu’on s’attendait a payer un surplus, l’hotesse d’Aer Lingus nous donne nos billets en souriant. En passant le portillon magnetique, j’oublie de sortir mon ordinateur portable : « Pas grave, le scanner ne l’avait meme pas detecte », me repond l’officier. Dublin est aussi le seul aeroport au monde ou les officiers passent moins de 1s a regarder les passeports a la douane. C’est ca qui me manquera : cette cool-relax attitude.

Au revoir, Irlande, tu vas nous manquer…

Ben

Pictures from our Tea Party: here with our South Korean friend Eonmi

I will miss the friendly people of Ireland, the walk along River Liffey, the seagulls in the city centre, the DART that goes along the sea and brings you to the best costal sceneries around Dublin, Howth harbour and peninsula, Dublin Bay, Mr Whippy calling me from his ice-cream van, the smelly Fish & Chips, the Irish indie rock scene & Phantom radio, the Celtic music, the pub at the very end of the Military Road and Donegal...
Finally, we will miss the Irish slang: “Are you SERIOUS!!?”, “It's GORGEOUS!!!” , “It's GRAND!”, “Thanks a MILLION”, “Thank you LUV’”, “What the STORY?!!!” …

Agnes