The Surprise Diaries

So, where to start?? I guess the fact that I was NOT in fact packed when I should have been, so I got just under 3 hours of sleep Friday night…. Wuups. We got up at 4am because I had to be to the airport at 5am, for my first fight of the day at 7am. Security went pretty quick though and I went and found my gate before getting breakfast and a coffee at Thomas Hammer.

My first flight was Spokane to Chicago, and I had just under an hour and a half layover, but that airport is HUGE and we took forever to actually get off the plane so I wasn’t waiting at my gate for too long for flight #2.

Flight #2 was Chicago to Washington D.C., and I only had just over an hour layover in D.C., which was fine because I only moved over like 2 gates. Then my 3rd flight of the day was from D.C. to Dublin! It was a 7 hour flight, and I did not get a ton of sleep, but they served dinner which was fun, and flying into Dublin was so pretty! For dinner I got pasta, and then they also served breakfast before we landed, and I got a breakfast sandwich.

When I got to the airport, which took FOREVER to get off the plane, immigration didn’t take very long, but I was waiting for a while for my checked bag at the carousel. I made it to the bus stop though, and booked my ticket, then waited about 45 min for the next bus to get there.

At this point it is 8:40am on May 11th, and I left Spokane at 7:10am on May 10th. When I got the bus I was told that the Carrickmacross station was closed (which is the one I was going to get off at), so I texted my host while we got moving and asked which station I should get off at instead. He told me to get off at Castleblayney because their house is about halfway between Carrickmacross and Castleblayney. Driving on the left side of the road wasn’t super weird on the bus, but we were super close to the edge of the road for a while. I also saw a rando castle turret on the side of the highway which was crazy cool! The architecture was also fun to see and all the signs being in Irish and English was fun.

When I got to Castleblayney my host was about 10 min out so I just sat at the bus stop for a few minutes. Then driving to the house was way weirder than the bus because I was in the front passenger seat and being on the left side of he road and the colors of the lines were also switched! The traffic lights are also super short here.

When we got to their house, it is GORGEOUS and I put all my stuff in my room and got a tour of the house. Then I had lunch and just chilled for a while and tried not to fall asleep, which was a STRUGGLE. I almost fell asleep like 3 times but I made it until we went out and I learned how to feed the horses and put harder on their front hooves. Then we had dinner and I went to bed!

That’s all for travel day/day 1, and I’ll see y’all tomorrow for day 2!