Day 76

I woke up around 6:45 to get ready for traveling. I tried to put more minutes on my phone one last time and of course it did not go through. Oh well, I just hoped for the best. I ate some breakfast, got my stuff together and headed into town to catch the bus to the airport. I caught the eight am bus, which arrived at the airport around eight thirty. It would have been nice to have slept a bit later and call a taxi to take me to the airport, but I could not do that due to the phone situation so I had to take the bus. I guess it was not so bad because it saved me like twelve pounds.

Upon arrival at the airport, it was so crowded. It was the busiest I have ever see it and it is not a big airport. I guess that is what happens when you travel around a holiday. I went through security and all that jazz, and then found a seat and waited for my flight. While sitting I heard an announcement that another flights boarding was going to be delayed due to gate congestion. I found that really funny. I guess now you can get a grasp on how tiny the airport was. While I was waiting I tried to top-up my phone in one of the store, but of course they don't top-up the service that I have. Go figure. So after that I completely gave up on the phone situation.

At around 10:15 the gate number was posted and everyone made their way to the gate. Everything was going smoothly until I got to the last checkpoint area. Now, I had a backpack, my little purse and a plastic bag with Emily's sweatshirt and the coloring book she left in my room in it. Apparently, they are really strict with the one carry on per person and I had to fit everything in my backpack before I could continue through. Now, understand that my backpack is full to the brim. It is stuffed to the max and I could basically take someone out with it. Somehow I got my bag to fit in the backpack and now I just had this sweatshirt and coloring book to worry about. I asked the lady if I could just carry the sweatshirt on, as I would be taking off my coat once I got on the plain anyway. She sternly said, "You are only allowed one carry on item." She said it in the cranky, it's too early, and I don't want to be here/deal with this attitude. My reply, "It's only a sweatshirt." I am now starting to get a little annoyed. Then she says, "Well, you are going to have to wear it." I had no words for her; I just made a really annoyed face and began to undress. Off came the backpack, the jacket, and the scarf. Mind you, I am already wearing a t-shirt and a zip up sweatshirt. So, I pull the sweatshirt over my sip up sweatshirt and put back on my scarf, coat and backpack. I now look like I just gained about twenty pound and look at her ready to go through. She then looks over to the luggage rack thing (where you have to put your bag to make sure it fits and you can take it on the plane with you) and says, "Your bag has to fit in there." Now, I am just worried because there is no way that my backpack is going to fit in this thing. There is just no way. So, I take off my backpack and I begin to put it in the little box area. It is about half way in and if I push it in any more I am not going to be able to get it out. So, I look at her and ask if that is good. Of course she says that it has to go all the way down. So, now I am just highly annoyed and I want to knock this lady out. I shove my bag all the way in the thing. She looks over and says, "Ok." After all that trouble of telling me to put my bag all the way in when we both knew that I was going to make it fit either way she just says ok. So now I have to get my bag out of this thing. I pull and pull and start to pull up the luggage thing with it. She looks at me with a nasty look and holds the thing as I pull my bag out of it. It was such a hassle at that point and now I am hot and sweating because of all these layers I am in and because of how angry this lady made me. I wish I would of hit her with my brick of a bag as I swung it back on, but I didn't. Oh, and let me just tell you that I was at the beginning of the line and I was basically the last one on the plan due to that whole fiasco. I finally made it on the plane and settled in my seat. Of course I took off my coat and took my purse of my backpack. Then the guy who sat next to me had his carry on and a plastic bag. I look over and said, "How did you manage to get on with that plastic bag?" He says, "The guy just let me through. It was not a problem." Of course, I get the crazy lady who gives me a hard time and then the guy who had it easy stoles on with exactly what I had. If you didn't already catch on, I had to leave the coloring book behind, as there was no way it was fitting in my backpack. It was sad because Emily and I wrote out a whole little story with each colored page, but I guess not all things make it.

I slept just about the whole flight, as I was exhausted after everything that happened earlier. At least this time the landing was not so dodgy. After landing I got all my stuff and went through customs, which was not a big deal. I then exchanged my money, got a little snack and found a place to sit and relax. I played some Sudoku and people watched as I was waiting. Around one I headed over to my next flight. I went through security and all that which is usually never a problem. Then I looked around in the shops to kill time. I went into the same shop I broke the shot glass in on Saint Patrick's Day to purchase a shot glass. This time I did not break anything though. After I purchased my shot glass, I went over to my gate and waited for boarding. It was like a four-hour layover, which was not so painful. In front of me the weather was nice and sunny with some overcast and when I looked behind me I could see really dark clouds moving in. Over the time that I was sitting there waiting it went from nice to dark to rain to cloudy. The weather over here is just so unpredictable. Also, while I was waiting I was watching the little kids. They are so cute. The one girl was laughing, as she was playing this peek-a-boo game with her mom. This other little girl was sitting on the chair playing with her make-up kit that her mom just bought her. She was putting on lip-gloss and eye shadow. It was so cute.

The flight was beginning to board and this time I was prepared for battle with that luggage thing. I got all my sweatshirts and coats on and I shoved my purse in my backpack. When I got up to the thing there was this lady who was having the same problem that I had the first time and I saw her over to the side trying to fit her purse in her carry on. I strolled up to that luggage thing and shoved my bag in and pulled it right out. Success! I walked onto the plane and settled in my seat. Once again I took off my coat and pulled my purse out of my backpack. This flight I had no one sitting next to me so I put all my stuff on the other seats. The flight was shorter than the last one yet, the attendants seem to sell just about whatever they can such as, food, drinks, smokeless cigarettes, newspapers, magazines etc. It is quite ridiculous what you can purchase on Ryanair flights. I slept just about the whole flight and was awake just in time for another dodgy landing, although I have gotten used to them by now.

Once off the flight I met Emily in the small airport. Her flight landed around noon and she was nice enough to wait around for me to arrive. She introduced me to Laura and taxi driver John. John is kind of their personal taxi driver, which is quite cool. The roads were narrow and small and John was quite a fast driver. He would even pass people on the other side of the road. As fast and crazy as he was I must say that I was quite comfortable in the car with him driving. I enjoyed all the sties while we drove from the airport to Dingle. While in the car, Emily and Laura told me all about their ten day Euro trip. They had some really crazy stories to share, such as their over night train ride and how people in Germany would randomly give them candy. Some of the things you just could not believed happened, but it really did. Their stories were like straight out of a movie.

After about an hour in the taxi and sporadic rain showers we arrived at their cottage. Now, their cottage is not a typical cottage. It is more or a modern cottage that houses five people has two full bathrooms, a living area, a fireplace, and a big kitchen. It is not exactly what I am used to back in Leeds, but it was so nice to be able to lie around on a couch and have a living space to hang around with everyone.

After we got settled in, Emily took me into town with her to get some groceries. The town is very little and everyone basically knows everyone. After grocery shopping we walked back and put everything away. Emily hopped in the shower and I took a nap. After I got up, Emily introduced me to the rest of the people she lived with and then he made some dinner. After dinner, we got ready and then headed out to the pub. It was quite different from Leeds, but very fun.