Turns out my computer is still logged into this blog...

Hello, hello old friends!

I thought I would have to create a new blog, but as it turns out this one is still functional! Let's give it a bit of a re-boot, eh?

So: here I am, sitting in my bedroom in York, England (Old York, as I like to call it).  I have been out of the country for a week and a half, now, and have been awful with updates.  Over the course of this weekend, I am hoping to get my blog updated with fun tales full of mishaps and mayhem, as well as my own general cluelessness.  You will (maybe) laugh, you will (maybe) cry, you will (maybe) come back for more! Jumping back to the beginning, allons-y!

Tuesday, 16 September 2014:

Shit. Running late before I was even travelling! A morning spent catching up on Outlander, and then a lunch with two of my closest friends from high school meant that at 2:00, an hour before I was due to leave for the airport, I had yet to shower, finish packing, book transportation between Ireland and York, and generally get myself together.  A quick shower accomplished the first, followed by a mad Google search for 'train Dublin to York'.  I booked a Sail & Rail, hoping that was a real thing and not just an internet prank, printed my information and threw it into my duffel bag, praying to several deities that I would remember where it was when the time came.  Shoving a few other random things (including my Jimmy Johns!) into bags I was taking, I hollered like a proper young lady for someone to put my bags in the car (thanks, Daddy!).

Naturally, we made it on time, and after a not-so-fun discussion of how a second suitcase now costs $100 on an international flight, I said a minimally-teary goodbye to my parents and hopped into the short (for once!) security line.  The rest seems unworthy of accounting- got through, bought a tea, and spent the next hour and a half reading, followed by an easy boarding and calm take-off.  The lady I sat next to was a "talker," regaling me with tales from her life.  She enjoyed researching her family's genealogy, and had made contact with family members in Ireland whom she was going to visit.  I had a laugh at that- go figure I would be sat next to a woman who had several hobbies in common with my mom on a flight that would take me away from her for over a year! Life stories include a time she hit a "coyote" which she later found out may have actually been a human, having a truck driving gig that may have at one point involved trafficking drugs, and being one of the first female police officers in New England.  I can't make these stories up, folks- I sat next to one interesting lady! There wasn't much in the way of sleep on the trip, but I figured that would help me reset my sleep habits much better.

We arrived early in Dublin, and customs took possibly 5 minutes- including waiting in the queue.  We may have been the first flight in that morning, as there was no one else around.  My suitcases came through safely and still locked, and I settled in to wait for Ian to arrive.  An hour later, we were on the bus headed to a fellow Drake alum's flat where we were to store our gear while out in the counties.  It took a few friendly Dubliners to point us in the right direction, but we eventually hauled all of my stuff to the re-purposed movie theater that served as Kate's apartment building.
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*Interesting Story Ahead*
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Ian had Kate's address on his phone, and attempted to unlock apartment 53, which he was sure was the proper one.  After some struggling and absolutely no help or support from me, he had the door open.  Happy to finally set my things down, we dropped everything and had a look around.  There were a few things to notice at first: although he said she had two cats, there were none and the balcony door was open.  There were also a lot of mens shoes, and only one bedroom, despite her having roommates.  About thirty seconds before I started the shower, Ian re-checked his phone and discovered that Kate in fact lived in apartment 52.  We paused momentarily to register the horror of our situation before running around grabbing everything we had discarded and rushing out of the apartment! We got ourselves into the proper apartment and collapsed laughing before I sent him back in to check that we had removed everything and left it as it was before proceeding with my shower.

Half of an hour later, we were headed to the tram station, which would take us on to the train headed for Killarny.  We had a bit of time, so we grabbed sandwiches and beers from one of the depot shops and people-watched while we waited.  Once on the train, we had the pleasure of meeting a local dairy farmer, a young mother of two on holiday, and an older woman going to take care of her elderly mother who had recently been ill.  We had a really lovely conversation for the duration of the train ride, discussing a range of topics from the current state of Ireland to advice for our stay.  We switched trains, and continued on with Gwen, the young mother of two.  She was also Killarny-bound, intended to relax in a spa on her weekend off.  She was very friendly, and had spent some time in America, giving us plenty to talk about!

Arriving in Killarny, we found a local hostel and dumped our backpacks before heading into town for dinner, window-shopping, and drinks as we took in the sights.  Killarny is a gorgeous town in Southern Ireland, County Kerry, and is known for it's rampant tourism and gorgeous Killarny National Park.  Ian got his first fish & chips there, and I had a beautiful smoked salmon on a hearty brown bread open-faced sandwich.  As the sun set, we prepared ourselves for a proper Irish pub crawl! More to come in my next post!