I am Here, Mostly

I am in Ireland, but things did not go exactly as expected. Buckle yourself in, this might be a longer post. I said yesterday that I really like airports, which is still true. I am not too fond, however, of airplanes, airlines and cars for that matter.

To begin with, the flight attendant call button for my seat mate's seat kept ringing by itself. It got to the point that the flight attendants stopped checking any time that someone needed them. It also had the uncanny tendency of ringing just as I was finally drifting off to sleep. This did not help my already weak skills at sleeping on a plane.

My seat mate didn't help. For a while I thought that it was going to be a very nice flight. I was sitting next to a woman whose parents are from Ireland, but she was raised in New Zealand, and now lives in Canada. It was a really interesting combination of vocal variations that emerged in our conversation. There was also a four year old Star Wars fanatic sitting in front of us who kept us entertained with his attempts at jokes and deep questions like, "Why did Anakin have to listen to the Emperor?". So things started off well. And then everyone fell asleep.

My seat mate passed out despite the constant dinging, probably a result of the sleeping pills and three mini bottles of wine she had consumed. I had finally started to nod off, when she sat straight up in her seat, started rambling and tried to wake up Star Wars boy's dad in the next row, probably a result of the sleeping pills and wine she had consumed. Luckily, the rest of her wine got in the way before she could grab this guy and she spilled it all over herself. She then spent the next hour talking to me, through slurred speech and wandering eyes, about her love of the Titanic, and her dislike of the Yogi Bear movie, which happened to be playing. Eventually, she fell asleep, and an hour later we went through the whole process again. So, I arrived in Ireland at 8 this morning, without having any sleep since the day before. This wouldn't have been a problem if I didn't have to drive.

I am so glad that I went with an automatic transmission. I could not imagine trying to adapt to driving on the other side of the road at the same time that I am trying to remember when to shift and trying not to roll down a hill. The real problem is not just that you have to remember to stay on the left all the time, which I have done, mostly, but you also have to remember that you now have half of your car on your left side. I did not take this into account. Two miles away from the airport I took a curve to sharply and ran my front tire into a square curb and blew it out. Luckily, the random street that I pulled off on had a sign in the middle of it for someone selling new tires. So, thanks to two nice boys, who might have been travelers (gypsies) and 70 Euro, I was on my way. They couldn't understand how I could come from a place that was 100 degrees and be so pale.

But, things are looking up. The weather has been cool and cloudy, which always brightens my spirits. I got to see some really cool places today, including the place where they filmed part of the new Count of Monte Cristo. I made it to my first city, Kilkenny, and only had to make the loop in traffic twice before I found the parking lot. I had the most ridiculously delicious Caesar salad and Irish stew, all while sitting in a leather arm chair. Let the jealousy commence.

And for those of you keeping track at home, Guinness is not at the top of my list.