Enterprise to Belfast (With Unwanted Bustitution)

This morning, we packed out of the Holiday Inn Express. I won't miss it, I'm afraid. I let us sleep in too long, so when I got back from breakfast I found we were running a bit short on time. It took a long time to pack up our room — long enough that we couldn't afford to use the rest of our Leap card credit to take the Luas, and instead we spent €10 to take a taxi from our hotel to Connolly Station. We could also have walked, but we have a lot of luggage, and even that relatively short walk was too much in these circumstances.

( This Was the Voyage... )

Cheryl met us at the station and helped Lisa and I make our way over to Great Victoria Street, the other major station, across from which was our hotel. (She's staying across the street.)

( A Hotel Upgrade )

While Lisa took a very-much-needed-bath, I took our laundry down to Spin City, a coin-operated laundry not too far from the hotel. Cheryl and helpfully given me GBP coins and some extra money. (I later gave her the demonetized ten-pound note and one-pound coins I had from previous trips; she can exchange them at her bank later.) It took about an hour to do our laundry and a little bit longer to get back to the hotel, where Lisa, who has been in a considerable pain (TMI not shared), felt much better after a long bath and a pizza from room service.

Lisa and I then went back out for a walk around the immediate area so we could both be familiar with it. Returning to the hotel, we had dinner in the restaurant (I have an offer for bonus IHG points for eating there). I all but inhaled dinner, but felt a lot better afterwards.

I'm glad to have the extra room. I also hope that over the next few days I will be able to get more than three or four hours of sleep each night.

Crossing Belfast

Today after breakfast, we purchasing a mailing box in which we hope to mail some things that aren't likely to fit in our luggage back to the USA on Saturday. The Post Office is closed Sunday, and also this Monday, which is the August Bank Holiday. We fly to Iceland on Tuesday, and there won't be time to deal with the post office then, so we need to pick out what we're going to mail home by tomorrow so we can take it to the nearest post office on Saturday.

We had several things to do today, so instead of using the multi-day transit pass we have (it starts running from the first use and we haven't used it yet; however, the discounts associated with it still work) we walked. We found the nearest Barclay's bank (with whom my bank is affiliated) so I could draw cash without a service fee), then went to see The Big Fish.

( Kuma Meets the Big Fish )

We crossed the river and headed for the Titanic.

( To the Big Ship )

Once we'd looked through the SS Nomadic, we went to the Titanic Experience building proper.

( Into the Storeroom )

We ran out of stamina and did not take full advantage of the Titanic Experience, including exploration of the shipyard. Besides, it was raining again, and we did want to check in at Eurocon. While we could have walked, or possibly puzzled out a bus, we were lazy and took a taxi.

At Titancon, we registered without complication. We do observe that the convention badges have names printed in unreadable small type. G. David Nordley loaned us a Sharpie marker with which we wrote our names in a size you could actually read.

We hung around in the first-floor (second-floor by American standards) lounge area talking with people and also making plans with Feòrag NicBhrìde for taking the train out to the Giants Causeway on Friday. Cheryl and I spent some time in Program Ops seeing if they could sort out a plan for Cheryl and me to do a kaffeklatch about the Hugo Awards and Translation, but as of today it's still unresolved.

Around 6 PM, Lisa and I joined Linda Deneroff and Mike Willmoth for a dinner expedition. The nearby restaurant was booked up, but they have a sister location that had availability, and they not only made a reservation, they called a taxi. Unfortunately, I got an urgent phone call just before the taxi got there. Lisa sent the others on while I retreated away from the street to a place quiet enough to take the call. After dealing with the urgent business, we walked back to the Hilton, where they called us a taxi and we caught up with the others at Holohan's Restaurant, where we had an excellent meal and good conversation.

Mike and Linda caught a taxi back to the Hilton, but the Holiday Inn was only 950 m away, so we walked "home" for the night. I'd sort of hoped to get to sleep before midnight for a change, but there were lots of messages queued up. Still, I don't have to be up quite as early as during Worldcon, even though we have a long trip planned for tomorrow.