There is nothing so exhausting as seeing the sunrise after a night of not sleeping. I did not get a bit of shuteye on the flight and the foreboding red glow from the east had turned decidedly angry by the time my flight landed at 7:55 AM GMT. Though I was tired, I could not sleep for the entire flight and the dawn (which comes early that far north) was successfully insistent in its attempts to keep me from continuing to try.

I felt bedraggled and grimy as I exited the plane but, fortunately, I’d done this routine in the airport once before, so I knew what I was doing, relatively. First, get screwed by the exchange counter when I change some American cash to pounds so as to have some walking around money. Grab some water from the W.H. Smith’s just outside customs. Get the pass for Gatwick Express instead of the local train. Be sure to actually get on the Gatwick Express instead of getting on the local train. Get into London and begin my vacation properly.

From Victoria Station, I hopped onto the Underground to Euston Station in order to grab a train to the coast in order to catch the ferry in order to make Dublin by early evening. Simple, no? No, it wasn’t that simple.

Everything at London Euston station was delayed. As in not a single train was coming in. Thus, it was very hard to actually get onto one of them. I stood there, idiotically looking at the departure board when I realized that I was tired, grumpy, smelly and in no mood to "hang around for an hour or so" like the guy at the information desk recommended, so I made other plans.

I went to a reservation counter and got myself a room. With that out of the way, I went to the appropriate station, went the direction I thought I was supposed to go, got hopelessly lost for a good thirty to forty minutes, then, finally, found my hotel. I checked in, went upstairs to my room, which was about the size of a small shed, and sat down for a minute.

The minute quickly turned into an hour or so before I finally managed to get myself off my bed to destink. It became rather clear about then that I was much more tired than even I realized and it was a good thing I did not try to press on to Dublin. It wasn’t so much that showering was really necessary, I was planning to sleep anyway, but I just knew I would feel better after I began smelling better. I managed to do so, then I returned to my room and feel asleep for the next ten-plus hours.