Mishap on Fisher Street

We left the city very relaxed- sure that we had forever to meander to the station. At 10:20 we officially ‘checked-out’ which was a matter of just saying goodbye to our friends that work behind the counter. After locking our luggage in storage we walked to the Temple Bar to kill some time. There we spent a good part of the morning looking over prints and photos in galleries and exhibitions. After grabbing a burger from Burger King and catching one last glimpse of Grafton Street and St. Steven’s Green, we went back to the Brewery to retrieve our luggage.
Since it had stopped raining we, or rather I, thought it was best to walk to the station. This central BusErian terminal was completely at the farthest side of our map so we lugged our heavy baggage practically 4 miles! After arriving to the station, we were told to wait and board the bus in dock 11. We actually asked three people to verify that we were bound to Doolin. We had to wait a half hour later than was printed on the ticket and boarded our bus to Limerick. Our ticket said Doolin so we were sure to get off at this exit. However, we switched buses to Ennis, which to our dismay was the last stop for the bus.
Stranded in Ennis we had a few options: Find a B&B or hotel to stay the night, try to catch a taxi to Doolin even though it was much later than the check in time (try to get into our hostel or find another place to stay). After talking to the taxi driver we discovered there was a conference in Ennis and most the hotels were booked. It was in our best interest (or his!?) to take a taxi and find out about the hostel. 50 Euro got us to Doolin and the rest was pure timing. The taxi ride was crazy and it seemed we were going at impossible speeds (I checked, but the max speed was only 80 kph.. how disappointing!). He took hairpin curves and turns in the pounding rain and approaching darkness with ease. I was clutching my bags with white-knuckles!
I instructed the driver that our hostel was on Fisher street.
‘Doolin’s only street!" was his quick reply.
"We’re going to find accommodation here?" I thought. Our hostel check-in times were very strict on the website.. 9pm or never! We surveyed the dark windows of Paddy’s Hostel with dismay. However, our Czech angel was waiting for us at the stoop. In broken English he informed us that we could enter the hostel through the rear door near the laundry and wait until the registrar (his uncle!) arrived from golfing. We figured if worse came to worse we could sleep in the living room. He apparently had left his key in his uncles office and was waiting for him to arrive when we had pulled in.
We crept around the yellow stucco building pulling on all the doors in sight. The first door that led us in opened to a large dark room, it had piles of things to the ceiling and I found myself tripping over mattresses and boxes. We pulled at the doors in this room with no luck. Frightened by the engulfing darkness and towering piles we left to try other exterior doors. The next door led us into a steamy laundry room that opened into a hallway. Suddenly, from around the corner, David appeared!
"No, you uh… must use the kitchen to come through."
Oh right, the kitchen… and where was that?!? Finally, we got into the main area and paid the taxi. We piled all of our luggage into the living room and sat around the coal stove to warm.
After ten minutes the front door opened and in walked the Uncle (also named David) who spoke quickly in Czech to his nephew. He asked us what we were planning to do, we informed him politely that we had reservations here.
"Tonight!?" he replied. "I always wait to golf until the last customer arrived to hostel! You are not on list."
I pulled out our printed itinerary to show him how dreadfully wrong he was. "Look here," I said. "We are booked for the 24th and 25th!"
"Yes, that is good, only problem is today will be 23rd."
How could that be? We missed our departure by a day?! Thankfully, he had room for us that night and we were able to spend an extra day in Doolin. After we explained our mistake he chuckled, "It is okay, I am glad to help, I rode up the hill and see you like three fish in the aquarium through windows. Three very nice fish. You can stay here!"