And they said the British Isles were going to be cold...

Fall Break was a very interesting process to plan for. Lots of kids are going with their parents either all over Europe or having a nice quiet vacation in the surrounding Tuscan and Umbrian countrysides. Being rather on the late side of planning for most things, I was very late in planning what I was going to do for my fall break. One roommate Julie was going to Germany, Austria, and the Netherlands and invited me to go with her. Unfortunately ticket prices were through the roof to travel with them so I had to opt out. Another roommate of mine, Jeanette, is backpacking across Sicily which sounded like fun, but my third roommate, Erica, had no plans either. So about four days before fall break started, we decided on a tentative itinerary of Ireland, Scotland and another country. At first it was going to be Spain, then the Netherlands, and finally Greece. They were all hard to get to from where we were going to stay in Edinburgh, Scotland, so we decided on going to London. Erica has never been there and we’re already going to be on the same island. So we bought plane tickets to Dublin and then to Edinburgh, but we hadn’t booked a flight back to Rome. We now do have a flight back home – out of London. Our plan was to rent a car and drive from Edinburgh to Salisbury to see Stonehenge before we have to go back to school. Unfortunately all the affordable car rentals are for ages 23 and up while the most expensive ones allow 21 yr olds to drive. Train tickets and plane tickets in the UK are god-awful expensive. In Italy to go from one end to the other is about 40 euro. From Edinburgh, Scotland, to London, England is about 150 POUNDS! So we’re now looking for bus tickets down to London. But that’s all background. Now to the real adventure!

Our plane from Rome to Dublin left this morning at 9:55am, but the only way to make it was to leave yesterday so we’d be able to get to the airport with enough time to check-in and go through security and passport control. We had two options: get a hostel in Rome for the night or take a late train out of Perugia, sleep for about 5 hours in a train station, get to the airport and save hostel money. Being two thrifty college kids, we decided to take the later train out of Perugia. So around 10pm last night we finished packing our stuff and started walking down to the train station (apparently walking takes about the same amount of time as taking the bus and we saved a euro). The walk down was a bit shady since it was 10:45pm on a Friday and we were given very crude directions to the station (just keep walking down and you’ll see it). We finally made it without any problem to find out that the ticket machines weren’t working, but somehow we got a ticket to the layover station, Terni. So onto the train we got. It was so cold outside. I’m wearing a tank top, long john shirt, sweatshirt and a coat with 2 layers of pants on as well as gloves and a hat. We get to Terni and look for a nice place to spend the night. A man gets up from one the long benches in the main waiting room (it’s about 1am by now and our next train leaves at 5:39am). Right as we sit down Erica notices a girl she knows from class who is also doing the same thing we’re doing (sleeping at train station to catch her plane). It’s freezing cold. We are all shivering. Parents, do you remember that one time a long time ago we spent the night at Connor Praire? Well, I think this might have been worse. Someone between consciousness and sleep I notice she’s gotten up and when she returns she mentions that the sottopassiggio is a lot warmer, and that there is also a chapel down there. So we grab all our things and head down to the little chapel. We each grabbed a pew (about 2 feet too short for me) and tried to sleep. But it was still frigid down there. I tried to use my towel as a blanket, but it was too thin and basically did nothing. At 5:20am we all woke up and grabbed some HOT cappuccino cioccolato from one of the vending machines. It was so nice to hold something warm in my hands. Still shivering we wait for the train to arrive, get to Roma Termini (the big train station), transfer to Ciampino and then get a bus to the airport. The airport takes hardly any time to get through at all. We’re checked in and waiting at the gate within fifteen minutes. Throughout these transfers we’re still trying to get warm as well as catch some sleep. So the plane ride is highly uninteresting besides RyanAir gives you no leg room and the stewardesses come around at least six times trying to get you to buy a soda or chip bag on the plane since they are not complementary. But we arrived in Dublin!!! It was so green outside and not as cold as Perugia. The Dublin airport was under construction so it took some time to walk through it all especially since they put all the cheap airlines out in the boonies of the airport. None of that mattered though when we got to baggage claim and our bags were there!!! We grabbed out bags, I got a smoothie to eat/drink, and then we headed to information to find out which bus to take to the hostel downtown for the night. The plan was to get to the hostel, drop our stuff, take a nap, eat something, look around a little bit, get on the internet to finalize our plans for the trip, and then go to bed very early. So we get to the hostel with little trouble (we had help from a nice lady sitting next to us on the bus) only to find out that we’re staying in that hostel tomorrow night. Erica had forgotten that we were staying at a different place near the airport tonight. We need to find the bus to get back to the airport which takes forever because it’s not on the main street with the rest of the bus stops; it’s on a side street and down quite a ways. We are wicked tired due to not sleeping for 36 hours by now as well as schlepping our bags across Dublin and back again. Back to the airport we go to get directions to the hotel Erica knows she made reservations for. On the way to the airport four boys dropped a stink bomb in the bus and ran off. Luckily for me, I couldn’t smell it but everyone around me had their sweaters and coats over their mouths and noses. The hotel has Wi-Fi which is all we care about now to figure out our days in Ireland and the bus from Edinburgh to London. But when we get to the hotel they don’t have our reservations, we paid an exorbitant fee (we were too tired to try and even find another hotel especially since we’re near nothing), and the Wi-Fi is not free whatsoever. At this point we’re hating life and just want to sleep. Unfortunately our heat is not working so well in the room, the people above us are having a trampoline party, and there’s this little Asian boy running up and down the hallway. Oh, earlier we also got ripped off on power adaptors. We just got back from having decent cheeseburgers (the first in months…we also had fish and chips today! We’re not eating pasta while we’re away and we’ve vowed to eat lots of meat) and watching the semi-final world cup rugby match between South Africa and England. South Africa won. We are tired and delirious and still have no idea what time we can get to the hostel tomorrow because it’s not written anywhere and the hostel people were mean to us today. This trip will get better when we drink some real Guinness and buy some Ireland shirts. Maybe those giant Leprechaun hats too.