Okay:
Well Thursday night we flew out to Ireland and yes the airport was crazy! We flew out from Bournemouth which is only a small airport but because of the scare that happend here August 10th, security was really crazy! We had to hand over everything except our passports, travel documents and some money. When we went up to go through the departure gate, we were sent back to recall our bags because I had some tylenol in my pocket. A lady infront of us was only allowed to take one nappy for her new born baby....no diapers, no bottle, no rattle nothing but one nappy. Another family had to recall their bags so they could check in their daughters shoes...they were the kind that light up when youw alk and because they had a battery in them, she had to go barefoot on the plane. When we finally went through security, EVERYONE had to remove their shoes, watches etc, and everyone had to go through to get a pat down. It was crazy! Anyway after all that our plane only left 45 minutes late. We got into Dublin and looked around a bit before settling in for the night at our hostel. The next day we were up bright and early to catch our backpackers tour! It was a tour of the west coast for three days and two nights with people our age from all over the world. We found Laura, our overly excited Irish tour guide, and headed to the bus. Our first stop was the Locke's Irish Whisky distillery. This was a lot of fun. We learned how whisky was made then had a tasting at the end. One of the guys on the tour named Regan (from Australia) was celebrating his birthday and ended up being bought and given eight shots of whisky at 10 am! It was funny to watch his stumble back on teh bus and Laura used him as the butt of many of her jokes for the rest of the day. Next we stopped at Clonmacnoise, a monastic settlement on the river Shannon. It was really nice and historical to learn about. Then we drove through a landscape of limestone that looked like the surface of the moon and stopped at an ancient burial ground where Laura told us an interesting and hilarious story about Fion Mcoul, an old Irish warrior. After passing through the small town of Lisdoonvarna where they have a matchmaking festival each year we went to the cliffs of Moher...the huge and beautiful cliffs on the west coast of Ireland. They were absolutely breathtaking. We then stopped for the night in Doolin where we were all bunked together in teh small hostel they have there. The town of Doolin was literally only a hostel and three pubs, so with nothing better to do teh 36 of us all went out pub hopping. During this time Mike and I mostly hung out with Paige from Santa Barbara California, Barbara from Etobicoke and Stephan from Bavaria Germany. Pub hopping was a lot of fun and beacuse it was a small town we got to meet alot of local people and here some true irish music.
The next day we set out early for Tarbert Ferry to cross the Shannon river. Laura told us all there was a glass floor on the ferry and all 36 of us spent most of the 20 minute ride across looking for it only to find out she was jokinga nd just wanted to sit in teh bus and alugh while we looked everywhere for the fake glass floor. When we got to teh other side we drove to Dingle where we stopped for lunch and looked around for a bit. It was a really nice small fishing village and home of Fungie the dolphin who lives in the small river there. Next we stopped for some nice photoshoots of the ring of kerry. We walked out to the most westerly point of europe and sat on the rocks over looking the ocean while Laura told a few mystical legends of Ireland. It was beautiful. We saw the 'three sisters mountains' and the 'legendary sleeping giant' which is a moutain in the ocean that looks like a man sleeping in the water. Then we stopped in Killarney that night. Yes...we went to Killarney...home of the famous Christmas song. When I asked Laura whether or not she had heard it, she said she never had! It was strange! Anyway, a few of us on the trip decided to do a horse dran carriage tour through the national park tehy ahve there in Killarney. So mike and I shared a carriage with Barbara, Stephan, Paige and Joy (a girl from California as well). It was nice and took us past some beautiful lakes and a castle! After this the whole tour had a nice dinner at a restaurant and went out to a club for the night where we danced alllllll night!!! It was so much fun!
The next morning we awoke to find that one of the guys from our tour had not come home and so we left without him! Turns out later he had stayed out with someone he met and slept in till 10 and missed the bus! So we spent a lot of the morning making fun of him on teh bus with the other passengers. We stopped at Blarney castle and stuck with Regan and Julia (his girlfriend) most of the time. We started off by climbing into the drak dungeons and caves at the base of the castle. They went very far and tehre were no lights so Mike and Regan went on ahead while Julia and I stayed abck for a while. After a bit Julia and I couldnt here them anymore in the cave so we started to call their names...they didnt answer and after two minutes we were a little nervous until finally Regan laughed and we heard him...they had just sat their silently to playa trick on us...haha...urgh. Anyway, after this we went up to the Balrney stone, and yes, we all kissed it! After this we headed to some caves that were discovered under a hill in the 1800's and went on a guided tour to see them before stopping quickly at the rock of cashel to take some pictures of the old cathedral. Then it was back to Dublin.
All in the the three day trip was absolutely fantastic and we met some really cool people. So much so that the night we got back to Dublin we all didnt want to leave each other and met up at a pub for some drinks. The next day I went shopping with Julia, Barbara and Stephan while Mike, Regan and Paige went to the Guiness brewery. It was hard to say goodbye to them but we had to get to the airport where we foudn out handluggage was now allowed. We flew home and Jason met us at the airport.
It was wonderful and we exchanged contact information with a lot of teh people we met. I think Mike really enjoyed it as well. Ireland was alot different t5his time when I saw it since I got to see more of teh country side which was absolutely gorgeous.
Now I am back in Wimborne and Mike is on the Isle of Wight with Val for a few days to set up his apartment. I have to work tomorrow before heading to London to meet my penpal! Not sure if I mentioend this before but I have a penpal in Australia whom I have been talking to since grade three. I found out this summer that she is touring Europe and she has just come to England so we have arranged to meet! I am looking forward to finally meeting her after 13 years of letters! It should be exciting!
Hope all is well at home! Thank you to everyone who has signed my guestbook, I love hearing from you!
Jenn
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