Waiting for the AirLink bus on O’Connell Street last evening, after a long week of hauling stuff around Dublin (mainly my laptop, which always feels like it weighs ounces when I leave in the morning but 20 pounds when I head back at night). In addition to the laptop I had a small duffle from my four nights’ stay in the city, my handbag, and a Chapters Bookshop bag of books, which of course I had vowed not to buy but who can resist?

A taxi driver started hustling the crowd waiting at the bus stop, but it turns out everyone but one other person and me already had tickets. When he offered to drive the two of us to the airport for 7 euro each, one euro more than the bus fare, I jumped at the chance. The ride was great: My companion for the trip was a young man from Brazil studying IT in Dublin and looking to work at Facebook in Menlo Park. The cab driver with a very heavy Irish accent was born in Bensonhurst. And I was an American transplant with an Irish passport who can’t seem to stay away. This is Ireland, through and through.

When we got to the airport I gave the driver a twenty and told him to give me back ten. Best tip I’ve ever given.