Touch of the Irish (original) (raw)

We decided to head down to Dingle and the Ring of Dingle and perhaps see the Adare Castle on the way back. Checking out wasn’t bad. I couldn’t remember where crucified_love’s room was. We got up at 6ish. Banks don’t open until 10 a.m. The drive ways weren’t too busy. Narrow. Picturesque. Not too hot and not too cold. I should have worn my shorts. There are some strange looking tropical plants growing. We know why there are scratches around the entire car, the hedges aren't trimmed and the cars acted like a hedge trimmer.

Dingle…fishing village and tourist trap. We stayed for about 2.5 hours. Shopped for lunched, took pictures, and wandered around. crucified_love, audone, and I went into the church. crucified_love prayed. I lit a candle. audone snapped fotos. We went to the local internet café. audone checked her email to see if kay_ got the message or not and sent a message saying that we weren’t going to Belfast. We were going if she was. But she didn’t say anything. So no. There was a man who had his underwear label sticking out in front walking by, when I stopped him to ask him where the park was. He pointed it out and walked away. We couldn’t get into the park. We ate the wharf with our bread, lunch meat, cheese, and water. Behind us, a group of musicians were singing and playing Beatles songs. I saw a man with a donkey and a dog walking in the street. They had set up a spot a few meters away as a foto opt. The restrooms was a walk. The sign for the ladies was strange looking. The woman had an extra wide stance. I thought it meant that the toilets were the ones where we had to squat. It was just a sign. The stalls were full, so I had to go to the side where there more stalls. There was a man in there. I did my business. He was the manager or the restrooms and was cleaning up the graffiti off the walls. He was gone for 3 weeks and just returned. Speaking of toilets, they flush strange.

So we did the scenic route of the Ring of Dingle. Nice. Audone snapped a lot of fotos. Not too many people. We decided perhaps not Ring of Kerry due to a couple of factors: narrow roads, buses have the right of way, and did I mention narrow roads?

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Adare was too crowded and we needed to get to Deebert House B&B. Kilmallock is a small town. The lady of the house was nice and showed us to the rooms. audone and I shared a room again. I noticed that we had a cross between our beds. Whereas crucified_love had a shag carpet and no Jesus cross above her bed. We asked the lady where was a good place to eat. Apparently, she wanted us to eat next door. Her family was building a hotel. We told her that probably won’t eat at the Chinese restaurant. Checking out the hotel next door, we decided not to eat there. The prices were too expensive. We walked the main street. Audrey took fotos. We looked at the local ruins. The church is nice…lots of money…modern lighting candle system. Had to make sure that crucified_love called her parents again. My folks know that we tend to stay out of trouble and don’t bother them with calls. My folks never call us when they go on vacation, unless they want something done.

We decide to eat at the Chinese restaurant. Okey…strange to eat it in Ireland. But we got to try it in every country. Different styles of cooking. The guy greeted us in Chinese. I could tell when we walked in there, he was baffled and thought we were Chinese. The restaurant was empty. We ordered two entrees: chicken and pork. We noticed that the menu wasn’t in Chinese, but all in English. It didn’t mention anything about the different styles of Chinese cuisines. The guy didn’t expect us “Americans.” He took away the forks, spoons, and knives and came back with bowls and chopsticks. He wasn’t use to having Asians coming in. I had asked the waitress if there were a lot of American tourist. The woman said the tourists from America are rare in the town and that they don’t receive a lot of Asian American tourists. The meal was enjoyable. I did note that one other person ate in. But the rest did take away.

We stopped by the cemetery. Found out the O’Reillys were the richest with the gaudiest tombs (some what tacky as well). But the only family with a mausoleum is the Evans.

It is decided that we aren’t going to do the Ring of Kerry. Too many buses and we want to do other things. Adare Castle and Cork in the morning.

crucified_love and I had tea and tried the Bingo bar (it’s like a Twix without the caramel). The other guests are German and Australian. The B&B’s granddaughters were looking for her while she was getting more towels for the German guests. audone read the latest UK gossip news while I got ready for bed.

In Chicago, we had to transfer to the international terminal. Finding where to transfer was frustrating. We wandered the corridor a couple of times before asking the security guard. They had some strange light show in the tunnel to the international terminal (perhaps to trick you into buying overpriced things in the airport). When checking in at the Aer Lingus counter, I looked at the lady’s name tag. Okey, I can’t pronounce Slavic names. It’s too long and I just end up mentioning that she’ll forever be known as SS. Lucky for us, we just needed to get the boarding passes, our bags were on their way and didn’t need to be checked in again. The security line was long. We had enough time. I don’t pity those who randomly thought that this terminal was their terminal and realized that they were at the wrong one when stepping up to the TSA agent. Once we were through, we got a few things: a bottle of water, tick-tacs, and gum. It was quite crowded where we were. Those who were going to India had to go through another security check. All their carry on bags were individually hand searched. I’ll have to remember that if I ever want to go to India.

Aer Lingus is recognizable by the color green and shamrock on the tail. Our flight was an overnight flight. The movies: “Shrek 3” and “Lucky You” on the main screens. I didn’t really watch anything.

audone and crucified_love sat next to each other, while I sat by myself. Our seats weren’t too badly positioned, just in front of the wings. There was an idiot behind me who wasn’t suppose to be there. He had long legs and I couldn’t recline. I could have forced back my chair and made him suffer. Oh well. I just slept after eating dinner which was chicken with rice and vegetables. I wasn’t too hungry. I ate a Potbelly sandwich hours before the flight. A few hours of sleep were alright. I had earplugs and eye-shades. We did fly over Canada. The fly attendants were nice and polite. They served us breakfast: a sandwich and tea. I didn’t eat all of it. It was too early in the morning. We filled out our immigration forms just before landing. They were playing Enya on their intro to Ireland.

Enter Ireland without a hitch. There’s a smell to Ireland. audone says that if we could market the smell, we could be rich.

When we filled out the immigration forms, we all laughed about our occupations: analyst, clerk, and student. The guy at the immigration check desk asked how long I was saying: 7 days. Bags arrived without any problems. We had nothing to declare. It was time to pick up the car. The car rental…Dan Dooley (how Irish is that?). The car rental agent had never seen a vertical driver’s license. She thought it was fake. I didn’t bring my new license incase I lost my wallet or got arrested. This one was still good until the end of the month. I assured her that it was a valid form of license. After filling out the forms, and agreeing not to use a GPS system, we headed to the Bureaude Change.

audone and crucified_love changed some money. We stood outside for a while waiting for the Dan Dooley shuttle. Audone took fotos of the ravens. I noticed the key ring label: Ford Focus, Green, 02. We all laughed. Not only do we drive around in an American car, but it’s green. We get picked up and dropped off at the car rental. I do a walk about with the guy. He mentions that all the cars have scratches due to unfamiliarity with left side driving and narrow roads. We put our bags in the trunk and head off to the Clare Inn. We arrive about 8ish. There’s a lot of cars in the lot. Apparently there was a wedding and we can’t check in until 2. Audone bought us breakfast at the hotel due to the fact that nothing was open until 10. audone didn’t eat. crucified_love and I had the traditional Irish breakfast. It was too much and too sweet. The meal cost a lot.

We decided that we were going to the Cliffs of Moher for the time being since nothing was open. audone and crucified_love were looking around while I was driving. There were a lot of turnabouts and narrow roads. We managed to get up to the cliffs. It was windy, cold, and too many people. Nice view. It’s 8 euros for parking. I got 120 euros from the ATM. Too many bikers. Don’t want to bike in Ireland, might get ran over.

We stopped in Ennis for a while. Since it was a Sunday, we didn’t have to pay for parking. audone heard strange water noise coming from the car. I heard it once. We called the car rental. They said to bring back the car to the airport. There we stood, at Dooley Ford Rental, waiting to see what they will do for us. Meanwhile, my face is tingly from the medicine overdose. I didn’t have a pill cutter with me nor did I cut my pills before we left. I tried to bite the pill in half on the plane before I went to sleep, but I ended up swallowing the entire pill. So before the old man arrives, we sit in the waiting room. There’s a sign “No Smoking and no naked lights.” I thought that was funny. “Naked lights,” means “open flames.” We got a new car. Another Ford Focus, but silver and a newer model. We inspected it. They guy warns us that the signal doesn’t work in the car (but it works on the outside) and the park brake light is on all the time even if it’s “off.” Our little trip to the Cliffs of Moher was “free” since we got another car and a full tank of gas.

We finally checked in. audone and I share a room, while crucified_love gets her own room. Our rooms aren’t together. The Clare Inn is more like a roach motel with a golf course. The rooms reeked of mold. audone keeps mentioning how it smells. I say it’s “Irish Spring.” The bathrooms are moldy. Lucky we only stay there one night.

We drive back into Ennis. It is a small town. We had to pick up some supplies. The phone card is a “receipt.” We picked up some breakfast food because the hotel doesn’t serve us breakfast. Parking was free, but almost everything was closed. I made sure that crucified_love called her folks. audone tried to call kay_, but she dodn't pick up. I did call my parents just to let them know audone and I were in Ireland. We managed to pick up a few other things at the “everything is 2 euros” store. There was a Monastery that was 1.60 euros to look around. It was refunded after we bought the Heritage Card at student rates: 8 euros. We at the local pub. I didn’t have much. I had the soup. The food wasn’t bad. We returned to the Inn to sleep. There’s a lot of children running around. audone fell asleep while watching the first season of “America’s Got Talent.” I soon fell asleep.

So, we made it here without inccident. Thank god, I suppose. We met someone at Dulles who happens to work with my cousin Pat back in Hays, KS. Talk about a small world. And knownickname sat next to her on on flight to Chicago.

We also sat next to some guys that are way too skinny with Euro-Mullets. Talk about FREAKY. We should've gotten pictures.

Upon arriving in Chicago, we ran to the bathroom, which smelled faintly of Jellybeans. Seriously. No joke.

Now, we just spent six bucks to bring you this abfab update. Perhaps, now we can go to the terminal and catch our flight?

More of an update later.

Apparently audone's friend, Nuha, has some seriously bad juju indeed. Our cohort in this journey, kay_, is not being let on her flight out of Heathrow into Shannon. Quite peculiar. We have no real details, as she says that the British authorities aren't telling her anything as to why she cannot board the plane.

This is seriously effed up.

Perhaps things would be smoother if there were all Americans on this trip? Who knows.

EDIT: Apparently, kay_ has a Thai passport and it is required that she get a Visa in order to visit Ireland.

Well, this sucks. Instead of the four of us, it is now the three. Oh well, someone is going to get to room all by themselves, and there's more room in the trunk and the less Petrol we'll have to use carrying three of us around in the car instead of four.

*le sigh* I had a bad feeling since last night, but, oh well, at least we're still going!

To Dulles we go!

UPDATE: I had just called my parents, and, YES, this is SERIOUSLY BAD JUJU! Upon their return drive home last night (we live in the Richmond Metro Area), a woman had ran into the back of my father's truck. Plus, they did not return home until Midnight last night.

Oi, BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAD JUJU! *hides face*

Things are hectic around the Home Base as knownickname and I finish our final preparations to begin our journey to the Emerald Isle. (While audone is too busy watching Flash Gordon on SciFi to actually help.)

The bags are packed, and boy, are they heavy! (Images forthcoming at a later date.) There are notebooks, traveling books, papers, cell phones, the cameras, and all sorts of stuff lying on the computer room floor, just waiting to be tucked away in some dark corner of our bags.

I am well prepared for our long wait at Dulles tomorrow morning. Nothing that a Fig Newton Bar cannot cure! HAHAHAHA! I am armed against hunger with three granola bars and two Fig Newton bars (of which I am almost certain that I will be sharing with my cohorts, knownickname and audone).

I am well guarded against the cold with my hoodie and warm socks.

I am missing my liuttle Duster as we speak and Rocky. I wonder if that co-worker of mine is going to miss me as well. I miss my home, but I am anxious and willing to get going.

Och! Hunger pains me. I must find sustenance. Good night, and good luck all!