Saturday 13 June 2009

The trip begins!

I am sitting at our hostel, waiting for my ride to the wedding. All duded up; black suit, white shirt, white shoes.

The white shoes were such a silly idea. Ewelina and I found them for pretty cheap in Dublin a few days ago. What we haven't yet found, is hiking boots. So for the duration of our trip so far, these white shoes have been my only pair and obviously they got dirty rather quickly. Last night I washed them in the shower, lots of hot water and hand soap. Then I tossed and turned all night hoping they would be dry enough to wear by morning. Of course they weren't, but a half an hour on the radiator took care of that. The excitement!

Our last couple of days in Dublin were quite busy. I finished work on Monday and then foolishly spent all of Monday night drinking and talking with Al. Tuesday was therefore almost a complete write-off for me, and most of the last minute errands had to be taken care of on Wednesday. Ewelina and I walked and bussed all over the city: we mailed things home, shopped for party supplies, changed our addresses at our banks and at the last minute visited her old employer to buy 1 year's worth of backpacker travel insurance. We had a nice meal to celebrate, and then made it back home by 4pm to pack my bags and prepare the party. It was a ridiculously productive day, and all the walking made it quite a workout at the same time.

The party officially started at seven, but it wasn't until going nine that things started to get busy. Lots of people showed up; all the food was eaten and all the drinks were drunk. Most of the stuff we had put in the give-away-shelf was taken, nothing was broken and no neighbors complained. Overall it was a resounding success. I was happy to see how well Ewelina's Polish crew, my work nerds, our housemates and the people from our Spanish class all mixed and had fun together. I love parties like that, it's a shame we didn't get around to throwing one until we were leaving.

On Thursday it was Ewelina's turn to be hung over. While she packed her bags I cleaned the apartment. Around 2pm we hailed a cab and stuffed it full of bags: three destined for Oxfam, two massive backpacks, Ewelina's laptop bag and a gym bag full of things she was carrying to Poland. Our first stop was the Oxfam in Phipsborogh, where we were surprised to find Krista behind the till. We gave her lots of stuff to sell and a good-bye hug. By 3pm we were at the airport, tired and hung over and all we could do when faced with a 90 euro excess baggage fee was pay up. Ouch. But we made it, and that evening we slept in Krakow, in the most luxurious hostel (not hotel, hostel!) room I've ever seen.



Yesterday we travelled to Rybnik and hung out with Ewelina's family, and today is a wedding. Overall, I'd say our trip is off to a pretty good start!

2 comments:

  1. You had told me you were making a blog entry as you waited for a ride to the wedding. I kept looking for it and wondering why I never found it; now I know why! :) This is all very exciting. I love your SpongeBob Storagepants. hehe And I look forward to reading about all your adventures and, hopefully, getting a glimpse of some of the pictures, as well! Take care. On to Spain! Hasta luego. Love, Mom

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  2. I was super-delighted to see you for five more minutes and get in one last hug.

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The past!