Adventures: part 1

Andrea and I were taking the ferry from Dublin to Holyhead (Wales). We walked to the port in the beating sun because it looked a lot closer than it was, and then tried to hitch only to find out that cars come and park as early as 3-4 hours before the ferry, so we were too late. Tried to buy seats, but only super-premium seats were left- way too expensive. So we sat down to write some postcards with the intention of hitching on the next ferry. It didn't work out because everyone had booked their tickets online for a specific number of passengers. On returning to the terminal to buy a ticket, we saw a group of crazy young people (New Zealanders, it turned out) dancing in a circle outside the building. I told Andrea to ask them if they had any room on their tour bus- they replied that they were foot passengers, but had an extra ticket for Tara! So Andrea became Tara and went for
free, and I paid and met them onboard.

They were totally drunk and hilarious- they ran down the length of the ship doing Mission Impossible poses and singing the theme song, and then posed for pictures in such an enthusiastic manner that one girl hit her head on the table and ended up with a huge bump over her right eye. Upon arrival in Holyhead at 12:30 in the morning, they drove us to their crappy dorm in Bangor- they worked for People to People (a program that takes rural American kids to other countries) doing a one-day program of self-esteem building and rappelling down a castle tower! This was their last day, and they were all parting ways tomorrow. They put us up in extra rooms, fed us breakfast, and gave us Full-On T-shirts (their program name)! The next day, they went to clean up the stuff in the castle, and we explored Bangor and its amazing pier with a tea room on the end before buying train tickets on
into England.

This is a great example of how just when the inconvenience factor is getting too high, something amazing will happen that makes it all worthwhile. to be continued...