Ireland (at last!)

After virtually 24 hours of non stop flying - we have finally arrived in Ireland!   I am beyond tired, but wanted to post this update before heading off to bed.   I am pretty sure I will be in a total coma before my head even hits the pillow.

The day awoke with the sun appearing like a giant red ball over the Persian Gulf - what a spectacular sight.  Looked like something from Lawrence of Arabia.

Into Abu Dhabi - such an amazing place literally built in the desert.   We then had to do a bit of dash to catch our connecting flight to Dublin.  Such a miniscule turn around time.  It almost felt like we were in an episode of "The Amazing Race".

8 more hours of flying (by this time I was well and truly over it).  If someone can come up with a way to comfortably sit in a 1 metre x 1 metre space on a plane for 22 hours - they would make a fortune.   Cankles and an aching back are what I have ended up with.

Arrived in Dublin and were met by Alan D.  It was great to see a familiar face when we walked through customs.   Took off for Galway City on a fantastic highway that links the east to the west.  Only took around 2.5 hours - far quicker than the journey Kendall and I made in 2006.  It took us 2 days!  

Too tired now to write any words that might remotely make any sense - so I'll just upload some photos of the place we are staying in in Galway + some other random shots of Galway City, our first meal in Ireland and a fabulous Irish duo we happened to stumble across on our walk back to the hotel after dinner.

More tomorrow - GOODNIGHT!