Sunday, March 20, 2011

Finally back in Cali

Sorry for no update yesterday it was a treacherous day of flying, 14 hours total, two very long flights, and the one from NYC to SF was horribleit, very rocky the whole yime, when we finally landed my mom was very sick and then we had to wait on the hotel shuttle to come pick us up, which was ubber annoying, since they had way too many people to pick up, so we had to wait in the pouring rain and finally after 2 hours we got to our hotel, starving, way and I was super annoyed and grumpy, mom was way sick so we went to sleep and now are heading back to Humboldt today.
I learned sooooo many things on this trip, and I pushed myself to do things I would ahve never done b4, it was such a great learning experience for me and I met great people along the way, overall I had an amazing time.
If anyone ever wnats any suggesstions on where to stay or what to do or eat, please feel free to ask.

Friday, March 18, 2011

Day 11 (Day 6 in Ireland)

So today was our last day in Ireland we kept it pretty low key, we went to O'connell street and bought some last minute gifts , oh and they have Milkshake shope here with over 500 flavors, believe me it was very hard to chose just one, LOL, but I had to have one b4 we left so I had them make me a cadberry creme egg milkshake, yeah sooo weird but it was actually good, there very big into Cadburry here, thats all the candy they pretty much sale. So after our shakes we walked around more then went back to the hotel to just relax. I actually ended up taking a nap, LOL! But it felt sooo nice, then we walked and got some pizza and wings, now were packing and heading to bed, 5 a.m here we come....... oh side note, tomorrow is apprently a huge Rugby match, Ireland VS England and both teams are staying at our hotel so its a huge madhouse in the lobby, so glad were out of here b4 the game starts tomorrow. USA here we come.......................

Thursday, March 17, 2011

Day 10 (Day 5 in Ireland)

So this morning didnt have a great start, I thought we had over slept but actually I was adding time wrong and we hadnt, but it was okay we got ready, ate breakfast and headed to the parade, we got there early enough that we got great spots, the parade is a huge deal around here, it reminded me of the Thanksgiving Day parade, I mean not huge flying floats like that but just how they have it all sectioned off and we had to stand behind gard rails, it was quite a great parade, best Ive ever seen and apprently there parade has a theme every year this year was Brillant, guess its a book, so we didnt really understand it, but it was fastinating to see how things in different places can be so different. After the parade we met up with our friends that we met yesterday, the other mother daughter traveling duo, we had to take turns sitting at the table to eat our lunches cause they could only get us a 2 person table, so that was funny, then we walked up to the Guiness factory, which was a huge waste of money, they dont even do a tour, its just paying 15 euros each to go to there gift shops and learn a little about how the beer came about and go to there bars, but even though it was a waste of money I ended up having a great time, Jenee and I actually left our moms and went into a bar, and these 2 guys smooth talked there way into talking to us, but they ended us being hilarious and from the USA, and we got free drinks so hey why not... LOL! No but they were really cool people, oh to go back right in the middle of the parade my darn camera died, casue I forgot to charge it, so I did get some good pics, but for the rest of the day I was camera less which sucked. Ok so after fun times at Guiness the moms wanted to go see River dance, apprently it was at some hotel, so we took a taxi, and ended up at a bar, which was very crowded, we did go in and get some drinks but realized very fast it was too much for the moms to handle especially mine, but I did have a very nice elderly irish man kiss me on the check and off to buy me a drink so that was very nice of him, we left there because it was too crowded and we ended up figuring out the taxi driver took us to the wrong hotel, so we deceided to just take a taxi to there hotel for drinks and dinner, we did that and ate at a very fancy place, I ended up almost having a norm St pattys day dinner, but instead of the corned beef I had chicken.... LOL, but we had Creme brulee for desert and man was it tasty,we said our farewells to our new friends and headed back to our hotel, man were there crazies out tonight, I mean green people everywhere and short, short, short dresses, man!!!! But overall a fabulous day, tomorrow is our last day in Ireland, so we will see what the day brings us.............

Day 9 (day 4 in Ireland)

We had a very early morning, so no breakfast, we had to be at the train station by 7 a.m, we took a taxi down there, met our guide and hoped on a train, there was 6 of us with his tour and we were metting up with another tour on a coach bus to really do the tour, we were going to Giant's Causeway, unfortuanetly our train was delayed by 45 minutes so we missed the begining of the tour and were shuttle bused up the rest of the group, we stopped at a little shop along the way and came realize they took pounds where we were now, and yep you guessed right we didnt have pounds, well they gladly took Euros but gave you pounds in exchange, and the exchange rate was beyond crazy, we still never figured it out, lets just say we only bought a small ice cream and a hot choc. and gave her 10 euros and only got 4 pounds back , so it was a bit of a rip off. So we continued on our tour going up vey winding mountains heading to bushmills distillery and yep, I got car sick, just as we were pulling in, and the dam tour guide wouldnt move out of my way to get off the bus so I had to kick him, UGH so mortifying, cause evryone on the bus saw me getting sick. So for the rest of the day I had everone asking me how I was feeling, and the driver was nice enough to open his window for me. We headed to the causeways to ahve lunch and do a walking tour of them, I had guiness pie to eat, which was quite yummy, its kind of a stew type thing made with guiness and has a pastry shell on top, after we ate we walked with our new friends (Jenee and her mom Mary Lee, they are from Texas, and were doing a mother daughter trip too) The causeways were quite amazing and quite a hike, but we all made it. We got back on the bus and headed to the rop bridge, and yep to my suprise I crossed it, believe me I almoist chickend out at the last minute as I was going down the steep steps to it, cause all I saw was crashing waves below me,  but Jenee just kept saying no your doing this and I did, gosh was it scary I didnt look down at all, (mom couldnt come watch cause it was too much of a treck for her, Mary lee though went to take pics of us but wasnt so good with my camera and didnt get any of me, but its all good, I know I did it. We walked back op the moutnatin, got on our bus and headed back to Belfast to get back on our bus, such a long day, we didnt get back until 11:00, and the restaurants were all closed so we had to pay $27 euros for cold sandwiches from room service, and they couldnt fix out internet so we had to switch rooms again, and now our new room which is nicer but the phone doesnt work, I told my mom well I guess we cant have it all, so finally we went to sleep, I was sooo exaughsted and grumpy.

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Day 8 (Day 3 in Ireland)

The norm ate breakfast, got ready, had the morning conceirge book reservations at this little irish restaurant for us, called The Winding Stairs, then actually took a taxi to O'connell st. ( thats where most of the shopping is done at) The taxi driver was sooo nice, we went and walked around and found lots of shops we hadnt explored yet. It was funny I went in this little pharmacy type shop to get some gauze coverings for my tat and the guy was a shy irish man (you could tell) and he shyly asked (while turning all red) what I got a tat of, I told him and he started laughing, he actually ended us being sooo sweet and asked if I needed directions anywhere and I asked him  about the restaurant so he drew me out directions. We left there oh and I found a machine that weighs you and takes your BP, so I put in my 2 euros and suprised that I ahdnt gained any weight so far im still at what I weight when I left, and it says I onlt need to lose 29 more LBS to be in the normal ranges, so thats great to hear. Okay anwyas back to our day, we ended us eating at Mcds, yes we did! LOL, I cant eat it at home anymore so I figured what the heck, its pretty much the same except they do ahve some different items also and they dont do the whole meal number thing. After lunch  we got on the hop on hop off bus tour again, cvause your pass is good for 2 days so we took it to Trinity College and toured around there, its school to 15,000 students, could you imkagine trying to go to class with tons of tourists with cameras all over the place, no thank you! Its beautiful there, went to the book of kells but didnt go in and do the tour, too expensive and we didnt know much about it. So went shopping around at som shops around the college and then got back on the bus, and I mistakenly took a little nap and suddenly opened my eyes and said "its the white bridge, thats where the restaurant is by" so my mom said "oh okay we need to get off here then" so we got off ther bus and soon realized we had no clue where we were so we walked across the bridge and found this little place called Gallaghers and the baretnder was sooo nice he actually printed out the address and directions for me, so we left and tried to find a taxi with no prevail and just sat there hoping the hop on and off again bus would round atleast one more time and it happened to be our lucky day cause they showed up about 10 minutes later and as we were going in the right direction we saw our restaurant and got off. At first we saw the menu outside and were turned off but I wanted to go in and check it out, so glad we did but unfortunately our conceirge didnt make our reservations so they said we could eat but had to kinda be fast, but OMG the food was sooooo good, I got a potatoe patty type thing with mushrooms and spinach under it with a creme fresh and chive dip, and my mom got a steak and fries, the service was the best evr and , such cute irish men working, Id reccomend going there just to see them, LOL and they even take your bags and coats, gosh I wish all restaurants offered this service, LOL! We caught a taxi home, another nice taxi driver, now were at the hotel heading for bed, 13 hour train tour tomorrow............
So unfortunately our night didnt end here, after one too many drops of the dumb bells from the gym directly above us I had enough and asked to be moved, so they moved us and the room they chose to move us too had no internet, UGH, so they said they were going to try and fix it the following day, okay now were done for that day.

Monday, March 14, 2011

Day 7 ( Day 2 in Ireland)

We woke up bright and early and ate breakfast and got ready for the day, we had Hop on and off bus passes which we were told were at this certain stop at 9:20, well we walked prolly close to 5 miles to get there (thats close in Ireland, im starting to learn, LOL) Well aprently that was for a different bus, so waited over an hour for ours, which finally arrived and man was it freeeeeeezing, we actually went coat and glove shopping  once we got off and got Mocha and hot cocoa to warm up, well big suprise they didnt have any coats that will fit me so I settled from some mens sweaters and we bought some gloves, we shopped all day, bought tons of gifts, spend way too much money and guess what???? we went and got tattoos, yes we did!!!! We got 3 three leave clovers,my moms is a little lighter color though and its on her shoulder, mine is a darkier greena nd it's on my hip area on the right side, she says this is her first and last, im glad we got to do her first and only in Ireland, hence why we got the three leave clovers, LOL! The guy was a hilarious irish man, he kept telling me how he was drunk, he kept us both entertained though for sure. We got back on out tour bus and finished the tour, which was warmier now and then we walked the 5 miles back to our hotel, we freshened up and walked a little ways to an italien retaurant, and guess what? I didnt have pizza, LOL, our food was yummy, we went back to our hotel and mom actually wanted another daquiri so I said what the heck so we went to our bar/lounge in our hotel and got dessert and daquiris, unfortunately mom started feeling ill so now shes asleep and im typing, tomorrow we are off on another journey........

Sunday, March 13, 2011

Day 6 (Day 1 in Ireland)

So we woke up early and ate, packed and got ready, we were driven to the airport by a taxi that our hotel supplied for us, apprently they forgot to tell him we weren't going to America though cause he pulled up in from of the Atlantis terminal (thats what we flew in on from NY) I then informed him that we were going to Ireland and that we needed to be a Air Lingus so he pulls up like 200 feet and just stops and proceeds to get out, so we figured it was where we were suppose to be, oh boy were we suprised, we walked in and dint have a clue and none of the display screens said Ireland, finally we found an information desk and she told us where we needed to be, so we got checked in and finally boarded our plane which was an hour late, luckily we met great Irish people along the way and a couple that was from Texas but moved to Ireland because they loved it soooo much, they told us where the great restaurants, pubs and places to for sure check out were, the other lady that was born and raised from Dublim made me a long list, off to a great start here. The line to get through customs was herendous but we finally made it through, and onto our air bus to the hotel. OUr hotel is sooooo nice and huge, we have 2 twin beds, which have wheels gthat should make for an interesting night, LOL,but the staff is amazing, sooo helpful especially the conceirge him and I have  special connection already... LOL, well maybe not yet but Ive already bugged him like 4 times I even called him looking for my lost mom, LOL dont lowrry she appeared with soda and candy... LOL typical mom. We ate dinner at the bar downstairs and I tried the there wings and fries and they were much better then the ones I tried in Rome and guess what? My om actually drank a starwberry daiquri, for those of you that know my mom thsi is very rare, she doesnt ever drink, ever! So it wa sa good bonding moment, LOL! Ok well were in our room for the night now, off for a tour bright and early tomorrow.