Breakfast at airport is often the full Irish with wine at 8am
WHEN you’re knocking around the airport at 8am, you quickly come face to face with an existential question – which would you rather stomach right now – a glass of wine or a bowl of soup?
Dublin Airport is a foreign country – they do things differently there. So while most of us are reaching gratefully for caffeine at that hour of the morning, a pint of beer is also a possibility, should you wish.
A glass of wine with a nine-item Irish breakfast is also a ‘thing’. Soup, apparently – for those of us with the constitution of a horse – is also a ‘thing’. The holiday starts here. Vive la difference.
“Tea, coffee or drinks?” asks the cheerful server at the Garden Terrace bar and grill in Terminal One as he rings up breakfast orders at the counter. The place has the lively atmosphere of an American-style bar, though not quite in full swing.
A young woman in her 20s opts for a glass of sauvignon blanc with her fried egg and two rashers. It is 8.08am and, by her guilty grimace, it’s clear a boozy breakfast is not the norm.
This is a rite of passage that marks the official start of the season of ‘misrule’. Holiday time.
Her friend chooses a pint of beer to go with her bacon, egg and hash brown.
She laughs as she finds it a bit of a juggle to carry it all back to the table on her tray and so she takes care of the drinks end of business first.
In fact, there are a surprisingly high number of people dotted around the pub partaking in this ‘token’ drinking.
A couple in their mid-20s both have pints of cider in front of them, but the woman leaves half a glass behind her.
A lone man skulls a pint of Guinness while three young women have quite a few bottles on the table in front of them, though one announces: “We’re here two hours and I’ve only had one.”
The others sound a teeny bit tipsy, with one confessing: “I’m so full ... I’m glad I’m not wearing trousers.”
They talk about the day when they worked as holiday reps.
Another group, tourists this time in heavy metal band T-shirts, are contentedly sinking pints on high stools.
Nobody here might be said to constitute a threat to peace on board an aeroplane.
Early drinking might not be for everyone, but what for most people is just an innocent bit of subversive fun could now be under threat, with Ryanair on the warpath with the Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) over the keeping of early-house hours.
The airline called for a pre-10am alcohol ban to be put in place at airports after a group of holidaymakers forced an Ibiza-bound flight from Dublin to divert to Paris on Saturday morning.
It also suggested airports consider implementing a two-drink limit per passenger.
Ryanair itself, meanwhile, has no plans to stop selling booze on board its own early morning flights.
DAA described Ryanair’s proposed ban as “highly draconian” and said intoxicated passengers were not a significant issue.
The booze ban “would affect all passengers because of the behaviour of a very, very small minority of airline travellers”, it said.
Terminal One is such a hotbed of stress that holidaymakers could scarcely be blamed for reaching for a glass to ease their plight.
Just before the security area, a staff member brandishes a box of plastic bags while relentlessly tolling the list of items that must be placed in them.
“Hair spray, hair gel, shower gel, lipstick, mascara,” he says.
Only one bag per passenger or the others would be thrown away, he adds by way of warning.
“Everything’s going to be thrown away now,” he quips with black humour as he runs out of bags.
But the faces of passengers around him display alarm.
Outside in arrivals, the Angel’s Share bar, with more than 10 customers, has the contented air that most bars will just about be achieving in 12 hours’ time.
Airside, even Burger King is on board, with signs up tempting customers to “change your drink for a pint for €4.50”.
There is more drink on offer at the Marquette food hall and bar. It’s all teas and coffees for the most part but by 9.30am, there are a couple of beers dotted around the tables.
At the 300 gates, The Gate Clock has made such a successful attempt at achieving the facade of an old-style Irish bar that an Asian woman stops admiringly in her tracks to take several photos.
Inside, a backpacker is lingering over a pint of beer and is shortly joined by another man who orders a pint of Guinness.
A third arrives who also orders a pint. It’s still only 9.25am. But it’s all very civilised.
The real test of an iron stomach comes amid the alcohol-free surrounds of the Refuel cafe across the way.
“Two coffees, two scones and two soups,” an Irish couple calmly place their order.
Soup at 9.30am? Truly the airport is a most remarkable place where time and space have no meaning – unless you happen to miss your flight, of course.
Another group, tourists this time in heavy metal band T-shirts, are contentedly sinking pints on high stools