Trains, Ferries & Automobiles

We ate breakfast and headed back up to Dublin. On our way we both noticed a large sign that caught our eyes. It took a few minutes to sink in and then we both said at the same time, "Did that say Barack Obama?" We then drove past another sign and sure enough, it was advertising a Barack Obama rest stop. We decided we didn't really need a rest, but pulled off anyway. Back in 2007, US President Barack Obama discovered that his great-great-great grandfather was from a little village called Moneygall in Co Offaly, Ireland. He visited a few years later to sip a few pints and see his ancestral home… and the idea for Barack Obama Plaza was born. This Plaza was booming with people, mostly taking pictures, buying Obama souvenirs and paying for gas. The Plaza was large, clean and we later heard the food served was amazing.
We finished our journey up to Dublin, filled our rental car with gas, put our hubcap back on and returned our car. Next, we jumped on the Ferry heading to England.

We were surprised there was no screening of our luggage and no passport control. Inside it reminded us of a cruise ship. It was very nice with snacks and drinks and even had slot machines. It took about 2 hours and then we jumped on a train to London. The train followed the coastline for awhile and we watched the sunset. The countryside was beautiful with more sheep, but pictures were not turning out because of the dirty windows. We had to switch to another train line going into London. It was a high speed Virgin Atlantic and we got in about 10pm. Grabbed a cute little taxi to our Hotel and called it a night.

We thought we would encounter heavy security with the Manchester bombing the previous week and we very surprised not to see much. We heard and saw on the news about armed guards on the trains and the only guy we had was selling snacks. There was one leg on the train that no one even came to collect or check our tickets.