Arriving in Ireland

Thursday morning was my last morning in London...so sad! I had a wonderful time during the short 5 days I was in London, and I can't quite figure out if it was because London itself was such an awesome city or if I loved it so much because they spoke English. Anyways, I packed my stuff up and left our hotel at about 10 am yesterday and sat at Starbucks (and had their delicious Salted Caramel Mocha...try it!) for about two hours waiting to go to the airport to fly to Dublin! At about noon I decided to make the long trek to London's Heathrow Airport via the 'tube'...or London's subway system. That journey lasted a little bit longer than I thought it would, but thankfully I'm crazy and left ridiculously early! Phase 1: Get to the airport...complete! I found my airline check-in place with little trouble and I even got the OK for my large-ish bags to be carry-ons! So..now time for my least favorite thing ever...airport security. Well the day was going okay so far...until security. So I take my shoes off (when apparently nobody else had to) and was patiently waiting for my bags to come through the x-ray machine...and waiting...and waiting...then they flag people over to look at my stuff! I am about ready to freak out! I was talking to this guy next to me and saying how I was getting nervous and stuff and he kept reassuring me that it was fine, so I was like oh what a nice airport worker! So anyways, the airport security guy asked me what was in my backpack and I had to quickly search my brain and said, "I don't know...clothes?" "Any electronics?" "Uh...like an adapter....OH and a battery re-charger!" "That's probably it Miss"  Whew! All that work for a stupid battery re-charger that doesn't work at all with these European plugs! This didn't stop the airport security from completely taking all of the items out of my backpack and purse anyways and putting my bags through the x-ray machine again. Although I do have to say that all of the staff were really nice when I was completely clueless as to what was going on and trying to keep my sanity together! Even the nice man who was reassuring me when they were looking at my bags on the x-ray screen was very helpful...even when I saw that he clearly didn't work at the airport and was just waiting for his stuff to go through security...whoops! Phase 2: Go through airport security...finally complete! So now is the boring part where I wait in the airport for 2 hours until my departure time. The flight went well and was only 55 minutes! When I arrived in Dublin I was so excited but a bit nervous because I was supposed to find my friend who was coming on a later flight, which made me nervous again! After waiting for around 30 minutes she finally showed up and we found a double-decker bus that would take us to our hostel! At this point I'm starting to relax more and realizing how exhausted I am! So I power through my fatigue and we venture out to the oldest pub in Dublin/Ireland called the Brazen Head. I had such a great time! Way better than I would have thought! The pub was a traditional Irish pub with tons of pictures pasted to the wooden walls and a small traditional band playing awesome Irish music! After my first Guiness I didn't feel as tired anymore! ;) We met these two American guys who had just come from Oktoberfest in Munich and they were a blast! They were really funny and we learned they were from Indianapolis and Atlanta...or something like that. After they left we talked with these 3 older Irish gentlemen who were hilarious as well! (Even though I could only understand 1/3 of what they were saying...seriously) The old Irish guys we talked to were from Western Ireland, and kept talking about how they loved Garth Brooks...? Anyways, they were hilarious as well and I definitely consider my first night in Dublin a success! I cannot wait until Saturday when two of my best friends from high school are coming to stay with me here! I have been waiting for this Irish reunion for a long time now! Slán go fóill (shlahn goh foihll) or Goodbye for Now in Gaelic!