Luck of the Irish? Part Four
I will spare you most of the details, but unfortunately, David had gotten sick. We boarded the bus on Tuesday morning and were dropped off at Saint Luke’s General Hospital. I asked for the A & E, because I knew that was what the ER department was called in England, so I figured it would be called the same in Ireland. Thankfully, I was right, and we were directed to the Accidents and Emergencies department. We had all of our luggage with us, because we had to check out of the hotel since the whole group was now on their way to the next city on the tour: Killarney.
David got checked in, and then I waited in the waiting room for over an hour. I got to watch an Irish good morning television show while worrying about my husband. He emerged later with some drugs to help with nausea, a diagnosis of a bad stomach bug, and a bill for 100 Euros. We suspect it was food poisoning from the Left Bank restaurant where we had dinner the night before.
Thankfully, EF Ultimate Break connected me with a staff member who helped me rebook a room at the Kilkenny River Court Hotel and gave me reassurance that everything would be okay. Our group leader was also very helpful in checking in with me to make sure I had everything I needed. I then got us an Uber to take us from the hospital to the hotel. Thank goodness that Uber works in Ireland!
I then took care of David while he continued being sick. I found out quickly that Irish people are very helpful especially when you tell them that you just came from Saint Luke’s! I also learned that Irish hotel rooms do not have air conditioning, which stinks when the country is experiencing abnormally high temperatures. I was very grateful when I either found an oscillating fan in the room, or a staff member brought it to me; I can’t remember! Also, Irish hotels do not have an ice machine on each floor like American hotels. The hotel had a restaurant and bar attached to it, so I would go down the stairs to the bar every so often and asked for two glasses of ice. The staff looked at me oddly, but I would explain that my sick husband needed them, and then I was given what I asked for. My husband found it funny that each time I returned to the room, I brought back bigger and bigger glasses!
At one point, David felt good enough for me to leave the room for more than thirty minutes, so I walked into the village to check it out some more. I walked by the castle where some musicians were playing music, and I shopped at the Kilkenny Design Centre, where I bought a Christmas ornament and two t-shirts. I walked behind the shopping mall to find the beautiful Butler Garden. I then walked into the center of the village, where I stumbled upon a department store! This was pure luck and quite needed! I hadn’t packed any shorts because I thought the average temperature was going to be chilly, so I had only packed jeans. David had packed one or two pairs of shorts. I was able to find a pair of shorts for each of us! It took awhile because Irish sizing is different than America’s, but I was able to figure it out! Throughout this time, some of our travel mates reached out to us to check on us, which was sweet.
After spending two extra nights in Kilkenny, we boarded a train that took us to Dublin, where we got a room at the same hotel that we had stayed at during our first two nights on our Ireland trip. We could have caught another train to Galway to meet up with our group, but I wanted to just get to Dublin and make sure that David could rest and recuperate and be well enough to get on the plane in Dublin headed home.
