Monday, August 25, 2008

A Travel Blogger, I Am Not!


Hmpf! I have to say that I am the absolute worst travel blogger in the history of travel bloggers! Before my trip, I set up a blog to document my travels and post all my pictures for friends and family to see. Much easier than repeating the same news! HOWEVER! I am sooo lazy and it is my eighth week away from home and I still have only one draft half done! Luckily, I have been very good with my travel journal and have been keeping track of all my activities with my trusty pen and paper. So now instead of doing bullet-points of what I've been up to, I'm just going to transfer my travel journal onto my blog. (,")

Well....I arrived in Manchester on the 20th of June to drama, drama, drama. It is a long, boring story but basically, I left everything until the last minute (as usual) and some ill-timed problems meant that I ended up leaving the country with $10 in my purse and two bank cards that were out of order. Who does that? Boards a plane to the other side of the world with $10 cash. So Manchester was about three days of stress and bellyache trying to sort my funds out.

I left for Dublin the Sunday after I arrived. I actually nearly cancelled the whole trip because I was so stressed out with the money situation and my bad planning. I'm so glad that I didn't though. I flew to Dublin on one of the windiest days possible. My mom would have hated it! This tiny plane was being blown all over the place and I was just praying that I would get there in one piece. I was so happy when I heard the wheels touch down on the tarmac and see the seatbelt sign turn off. I just wanted to get off that plane!

It took me about an hour to get to the B&B from the airport. It was actually a lot nicer than I thought it would be, considering how cheap it was. Carly was already there and what a joyful reunion it was!! Hugs, smiles and lots and lots of laughs. I love you, Carly!

After exchanging some stories and meeting Kathleen, Carly’s European travelling buddy, we left the hotel to get some lunch because we were all starving at this point. We somehow managed to end up eating at the unfriendliest pub in the Temple Bar district. The food was great though and we sat there for hours chatting as we had sooo much to catch up on. Poor Kathleen had to endure so many hours and hours of SUISS reenactments and 'Do you remember when so and so....'. She put up with it like a champion though, I must say. Good on ya, Kathleen! :-)

We went back to the hotel with the intention of resting before going out for the evening but every one of us was asleep before eleven. I didn’t even take my contacts out. So much for seeing the Dublin nightlife!