TRIP REPORT: Polishing Silver – Welcome to Dublin Airport and The Premier Inn, Swords

Welcome to Dublin Airport and The Premier Inn, Swords
Polishing Silver

Time for the first night stop on this trip, so that I can meet the service to the USA with ease in the morning. And it’s time to save a few pennies as well… by heading to the wilds of Swords for my discount hotel of the night. 

In this Tier Point-laden adventure

• All I ask is for one decent airfare. Just ONE. Anyone? 
• Off to Birmingham Airport
• FR669 Birmingham to Dublin Airport with Ryanair
• Welcome to Dublin, Premier Inn – Dublin Airport
• Early Morning Dublin Airport and US Preclearance, 51st and Green Lounge
• AA723 Dublin to Philadelphia – Flagship Business Class
• A Rocky Interlude – Exploring Philadelphia
• Return to PHL and the Philadelphia American Airlines Admirals Club
• AA2663 Philadelphia to San Francisco – US Domestic First
• A new terminal and The Crowne Plaza, Burlingame
• The Intercontinental San Francisco (and trying the new BART trains)
• Asian Eats around San Francisco
• A challenge unto myself: Crossing the Golden Gate Bridge
• Ferrying around the bay with Golden Gate Ferry
• Of Dragons and Lions – Celebrations in San Francisco Chinatown
• Back to SFO, American Airlines Admirals Club
• AA164 San Francisco to New York JFK – Transcontinental Business Class
• A snow-laden pit stop at JFK and the American Airlines/British Airways Greenwich Lounge
• AA104 New York JFK to London Heathrow – Flagship Business Class
• Transiting across Heathrow Terminals and the British Airways Galleries North 
• BA836 London Heathrow to Dublin Airport – Club Europe
• A Two Hour Dublin Turnaround featuring the Dublin Airport Lounge
• BA4469 Dublin to London City Airport – Club Europe by BA CityFlyer
• To the trains… and on the cheap
• Points in the bag

Into Dublin Airport

With the plane letting its passengers disembark, I followed the signs to immigration – which today would be via the 200 gates as opposed to the 1km hike you can get from the 100 Gate at Dublin Airport.

Thus, this means a quicker walk to immigration than usual.

Being it was 21:15 by the time I hit immigration, there was only a short wait to be seen.

I was greeted and after the passport was inspected – thanked by name. With that, I headed out to baggage claim (where I had none to claim) and to the public area.

The next challenge was where to go – as I needed to get to the Premier Inn. Yes, I could have just used a Dublin taxi, but the hotel also offered a shuttle bus.

And that sailed past me as I walked towards the bus stop.

Delicious. Rather than track back to the terminal and the taxi rank, I decided to explore the state of ridesharing in Dublin.

I then decided to try FreeNow to try and get me a taxi over to the Premier Inn, which went exactly as I expected it to – with three drivers cancelling on me for the short trip. Thus, it’s back to good old Uber.

Just remember, you have to hike to Zone 18 to pick up an Uber or Freenow at Dublin Airport. You can’t just rock up at the front of the terminal and request one to be picked up from there.

You’ll still get a Dublin-licensed taxi due to the way licensing works in the area.

With a Green option being the same price as an UberX, I hailed it, with a chatty driver for the ride over Swords Business Park and the Premier Inn Hotel.

Premier Inn, Dublin Airport

Price Paid – €79 (£67.26) via Premierinn.com

I headed inside to be greeted with a lovely warm environment.

Vending in reception

There was a short wait, as staff were serving elsewhere, but I was checked in quickly for the night.

I was asked if I wanted to take advantage of dinner or breakfast services, but I declined – at that moment, all I wanted to do was get upstairs and relax.

With a keycard issued for a high floor, I was on my way.

Goodnight, Reception.

There were two room styles on offer – their SuperRooms and Normal Rooms.

As I’m only using this as a layover point I’ve just gone for a normal room.

Going in, the first thing I was greeted with was an ominous purple glow. Branding at work here it seems.

After switching on the power to the room, it was a little less intense. Which is nice.

The bed is a large queen-sized bed – more than enough space for me. To each side of the bed, there was both a mains outlet and a USB-A Outlet.

Whilst USB-C is becoming popular, a lot of things will happily charge over USB-A – and that suits me nicely. That and for those of us who keep our laptops at our sides and not on desks, having a laptop to lull you to sleep is no bad thing.

The Wi-Ffi, however… the less said the better, with the basic level wifi offering under 1 MB of bandwidth.

Whilst Premier Inn offers better bandwidth if you pay (£5 for a night), I passed on it, keeping my fingers crossed that my legacy data package on my phone holds out for this trip.

There’s also a work desk, with a phone and a kettle.

And a corner chair just in the corner… chilling away.

Thankfully, the bathroom was a clean unit. As expected, there were wall-mounted amenities – and to be honest, I’m fine with this these days, especially in the budget hotels. The bigger ones, are less so (as it is more advertising at that point).

I got settled in for the evening, playing Backup King as well as watching RTE, BBC News and some of the items I downloaded.

Whilst there were dining options – both for breakfast and dinner, I wasn’t enamoured with them – thus I passed.

Eventually, sleep caught up with me, and I dozed off – but not before setting an alarm.

My sleep patterns are still up the chuff.

With the morning creeping up on me like a dark spectre, it was time to get washed and look slightly human for the long day ahead – with a flight to Dublin, a long layover and the flight from Philadelphia to San Francisco, being a little more fresh than usual was not a bad idea.

With everything packed in, I headed downstairs to check out. With that formality done, it was back on the shuttle bus to the airport.

€3 later, and I was on my way.

Overall

Sometimes all you need is a well-maintained and clean place to rest your head before you continue your journey – and certain hotels meet that need better than others.

You’re not paying for frills – you’re paying for the place to rest and relax.

And it’s more than passable in that respect. The only real fly in the ointment is the awful internet speed at the hotel – 1 MB isn’t enough these days to do a lot. And whilst this could be fixed by purchasing access (or spending more money for a room), we’ve long gone past the point of “internet as a high billable item” in a hotel.

Next

Let us get to the business class travel part of this adventure, including US Immigration and a lounge.

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