After our mad dash across two countries – there we were standing in the Holyhead ferry terminal, with nary a soul in sight and the metal shutters closed on most of the ticket windows. We went over to the Irish Ferries desk to find out just what we had to do to check in and it was at that moment we realised all our carefully balanced plans had come unstuck. The 6pm swift ferry (which is apparently a catamaran), was not sailing because the seas were too rough. Originally we had just planned a bit of a leisurely drive around England’s Southeast and back to London for NYE. However, about a month or so out, after all our (non-refundable) bookings had been made, we discovered that my favourite band, Madness, was headlining a NYE show in Dublin. A bit of back-story is probably needed here to explain just what a blow the ferry cancellation was. You see I have been a fan since early 1982 about six months before the day Madness played their one and only show here, a show it was deemed I was too young to attend. They broke up and then reformed for annual Madstock shows in the UK. Each year I mourned the fact that I wasn’t there. I belonged to local fan communities, spent hours on the band’s forums in the early days of the internet and even conversed with band members directly. In 2009, when I was on my first ever trip to the UK, I had researched relentlessly to see if they were playing anywhere in Europe so I could structure my entire trip around a show. The day after I arrived in Helsinki in 2009, they announced a tour of Australia and I finally got the chance to see them play live after 17 years of waiting. This was to have been my second ever opportunity.

This was the problem with the rail-sail passes the girl told us. If we just bought a ferry ticket we would have had a phone call yesterday to let us know and we could have caught the slower 1pm ferry which did sail. All well and good but just like the police officer who told us we should have planned to be there at least a day before, not very much help now. So what were our options? 1. Spend some additional cash and fly – nope – the airport was shut too. 2. Give up on Dublin altogether, stay the night in Holyhead and catch the train back to London the following day. Nope. The airport closure meant that finding a room in Holyhead was near impossible. 3. Catch the next (slow) ferry to Dublin leaving at 8pm and due to arrive about 11:15pm, with the hope of seeing at least the end of their set.

We chose option 3. The wait for four hours in the ferry terminal was excruciating but Dan tried to do what he could to cheer me up and bought some goodies from the convenience store before it closed so we could have a bit of a picnic on the ferry. Eventually it came time for us to board – a quick ticket check at the gate (no passport control like there had been on our way into the UK) and we headed for the waiting lounge. We could have checked our bags in but given we were keen to hightail it as quickly as possible; we kept our packs with us on the ferry. Of course that meant nursing them on the bus on the way to the ferry. Eventually the ferry was fully loaded and we were on our way.

We got some champagne to toast our new year and had our little picnic before we had got too far into the open sea. Another couple of beers and then the fun started. The sea was indeed rough. The horizon bobbed up and down from the ferry’s front window and the waves crashed across the bow, which would have been OK if it weren’t for the fact that we were about 5-6 stories up. Every time we went over a wave you could feel the massive boat tilt and then crash with an almighty bang. You hear the term having your sea legs quite a lot and now I know what that means. I certainly didn’t have them and Dan had lost his altogether choosing to lie down very early in the journey. I chatted away to an Irish guy who was quite a lot like every other Irish guy I had encountered – a bit of a drifter who was endowed with the Irish ability to get people to do stuff for him. And who, like all Irish boys, had a very close relationship with his mum. She was driving halfway across Ireland in the pouring rain to collect him and he was worried she would smell the Guinness on his breath. He was in his 30s. Eventually the sea became too much for me as well and I lay down for the last hour of the journey. (M+Ms – Blink 182 – One of the earliest songs – which showed their incredible ability to capture the intensity and angst of teenage relationships – “Is this going to be the end or are you going to me my new girlfriend?”)

The rough seas had of course delayed our arrival time and we pulled into port just in time to see in the new ye3ar on the bus taking us to the ferry terminal. No passport control at this end either. We grabbed the first cab we saw and headed straight for our hotel. We had mused on the ferry that we could probably just stay out all night in Dublin and be done with it. We had originally intended to catch the 1pm ferry back but it too was a swift ferry and was also in danger of cancellation. So we opted to re-jig our tickets and catch the 8am slow ferry back. The only problem was we had our backpacks with us and there was no way they would let us into the concert carrying them. The taxi seemed to take forever but eventually dropped us at the doorstop of our hotel. We could faintly hear music in the background. We probably should have dropped our bags right then and there and checked in properly on our return, but we didn’t really think of that. . The really nice night desk guy upgraded our room – which meant that it was as far away as it could possibly be and was impossible to find. After having to go back downstairs for further directions we eventually found it and made our way back downstairs following the music. (Video games – Lana Del Rey- it is true that I happened onto this song and Ms Del Rey through an infamous Gossip Girl sequence but this was just a catalyst for the experience. Lana Del Rey is one of the first female artists that has really grabbed me in quite a while.)

Christmas themed activities – 24 War museums and model shops – 3 Design experiences – 2.5