Ireland in a Fog Part 1

Day 27: July 13, 2012

            It has bee far too long since I have written anything. With Emily and Haley here I am staying busy and have found it difficult to get much alone time, but that is not a complaint. It has been absolutely great having them here. I feel like I get to have a second shot at doing many of the things I have already done with the group, but also we have ‘splored some new places as well. Plus, with the weather like it is in Ireland, you can visit one place two times and it is a completely separate experience! So here are a few posts from my time with Emily and Haley so far.

“Invalid Confirmation Number. Please retry using a valid number.” At 4:15 in the morning this is not something you want to see…

            I step back from the ticket booth and look around. I stand alone in the train station in Galway. Cold, damp from the rain outside, and weighed down from my heavy backpack, my heart begins to palpitate. You’ve got to be kidding me, I think to myself. I got to the station early because that’s what the email said to do. “Please board the train twenty minutes before departure time.” How was I supposed to know that this issue would come up with my ticket? I walked down next to the train in hopes of finding someone. Empty. The train station and my stomach.

The empty train car at 5am.

            I finally turned and looked into a door to find the station manager, sipping on coffee and still trying to wake up. I tell him about the issue and he says “Yer grand! Still got time ‘fore the train leaves. If yer still havin issues closer to five come get me.” Irish people are so laid back. A little too laid back for my plan it out, slight OCD self. Time was passing and “Invalid Confirmation Number” kept popping up. I continued to enter my number in the three different ticket kiosks as if anything was going to change.

            Five minutes till departure, my heart racing, the station manager comes and asks me my name. I tell him and he tells me to wait where I’m sitting. He checks the computer and tells me the Internet on the ticket kiosks is out. But he knew who I was, because I was probably the only person in Ireland who pre-booked a ticket for a train leaving at 5:05 am on a Friday morning.

They were filming a BBC show
on Jack the Ripper while we were
at Trinity this weekend!

            Once I arrived in Dublin to meet Haley and Emily at Trinity we were all affected by far too little sleep, if any, the past night. It’d be nice to have more of a recollection of what we did but all of Friday was basically just recovering from their jet lag. I attempted to take them on a quick walking tour of Dublin, but the next day when we walked around they had trouble even remember what we saw because they were so exhausted. Afterward we took at tour of Trinity College and then saw the Book of Kells. Both of those were pretty cool and something I had yet to do even though I had stayed at Trinity for a week at the beginning of the trip. This was the beginning of our foggy trip together in Ireland.