Okay, so many of you know that we have been struggling for a few years financially and with John's health. Well last May, John had an email with this amazing deal for going to Ireland for New Year's. It was 4 nights and 5 days in Dublin which included air fare from New York and 4 night stay in a hotel. He called me at work (IRS) and asked if I wanted to go. He said that we could celebrate our 10th Anniversary and such. I just could not break his heart. He served his mission in Ireland January 1987- December 1988 and has been wanting to go back. I told him to go ahead and book it as we had left over money from tax return. We also figured that we could turn in my 401K and use that money for our spending money. Well needless to say we spent that money WAY BEFORE the trip. So he booked the trip and extended the time for 2 weeks but that meant that we would have to pay for 12 nights lodging, food, etc.
Shortly after I was furloughed and no job in sight. As the time got closer and I still had not received a call back from the IRS we started thinking about cancelling the trip and losing out on the money we had already paid. We had no idea where we were going to get the money. So I just prayed that somehow we would be able to go. Well the Lord answers prayers!
John has a friend who owns a tax/accounting business and called and said that he had a big computer system project and asked if John would be willing to do it. Here was the money we were needing.
Also regarding John's health I was so scared about him getting sick while gone for 2 weeks or how we were going to go without him being hooked up to his oxygen machine. I was terrified that I would spend my vacation in the hospital.
So basically days before we left somehow (okay answer to my prayers) we had enough money to go and we went. IT WAS AMAZING!!!!
Never having been there and not really knowing a lot about Ireland except that it is a green country, leprechans, shamrocks, Blarney stone, and red hair, well that was my knowledge. I later learned about Waterford Crystal and Belleek china come from Ireland. Also that the Titanic was built in Ireland.
My mom graciously watched the kids for us. Evanslee went back home to go to school on the 2nd week that we were gone and she learned what being homesick was all about. She had Grandma Alice but without brother and sister (who stayed with Grandma Mel) she found out that she was very bored with no one here to play with.
We had a fabulous time. The plane ride over was an experience. It was kind of embarassing to have to ask for an extension and when I put it on there was only a few inches that needed to be added. When we got to New York we had a 5-hour layover but it was too expensive to go see Manhattan so we stayed in the airport. The plane to Ireland was packed with others who got the same email deal. It was a night flight and we were able to sleep on the plane (it was a 7-hour flight). That helped tremendously with jet lag. We arrived in Ireland at 9:30 in the morning their time. It was typical Irish weather of rain, but there it does not fall straight down I swear it falls sideways. The wind blew from every direction. The hardest part of the trip was that the Euro and Sterling were 1-1/2 times more than our dollar and our money went fast. The first day we took a bus from the airport to downtown Dublin where our hotel was located.
It was a lovely hotel and there were also quite a few people trying to check in at the same time, also from the same flight we had been on. We talked to a few and asked them what their plans were and most were just there for the 4 nights and heading back home.
We ended up the first day getting a bus pass that was good for the entire day on any city bus so we decided to go find the mission office. We located it, same place as his mission, John said it even looked the same inside. We talked to a couple of the missionaries who were in the office and asked where the best "chippy" or doner kabob was, they directed us to take a certain bus and marked on our map where to go.
Well we had to go back to town to catch the correct bus and as we were on the bus we were talking to an older Irishman and told him where we were headed to and he said that we were wasting our time. So we got off at the next stop and headed back to town. We did finally find a "chippy" in town and had dinner. John had fish and chips and I had chicken and chips (since I hate fish). It was lovely and I even enjoyed chips with vinegar and salt. But the one thing that I never got over in Ireland was Coke with NO ICE!!!! UUGGGHHHHH!!!!!
On New Year's Eve John became really sick and spent the entire day in bed sleeping. Needless to say I was a little bored sitting there watching TV and crocheting on my project I brought with me. We did finally go out at 10ish to get dinner and celebrate New Year's but after eating dinner it was snowing and we had no idea where the festivities were actually being held in town so we walked back to our hotel and celebrated in the room with our sodas and Guiness glasses (when I asked the receptionist where the ice machine was he gave me the weirdest look and when I said I wanted ice for my soda he told me to go to the bar and ask for a glass with ice and so they gave us Guiness glasses with ice in them).
Staying in the hotel we had complimentary full Irish breakfast. Now let me explain, you get toast, soda bread, "back bacon" which is essentially a slice of ham warmed up, eggs, "baked beans" basically pork and beans without the pork or the barbeque flavor, so essentially beans in tomato soup, sausages, and tomato slices that had been baked or grilled. They also had a selection of cold cereals, fresh fruit salads, and juices. Oh and coffee and tea. So essentially I had toast, soda bread, bacon, beans, cereal and fruit. I actually liked their baked beans better than pork and beans and wish I could figure out how to get them here. John said that you were supposed to put your toast on the plate and then put the beans over it but I chose to dunk mine in the sauce.
I also tried what I thought was some type of polenta thing and when John saw it on my plate he did not say a word but waited for me to taste it. It was a brownish yellow color about 1-1/2 diameter and about 1/4 inch thickness. I took a bite of it, it was DISGUSTING!!! John started laughing and saying that I can now say I have eaten BLOOD SAUSAGE!!! YUCK!!!
We really did not get the chance to see all that we wanted to see in Dublin do to being on a tight budget, John being sick, and just not having the strength to walk everywhere and that is exactly what they do WALK EVERYWHERE! One day I needed to go to the pharmacy to get John some medicine to fight the chest cold he had and I asked at the desk where the nearest pharmacy was and she said only just a few minutes down the road. Okay it was like 6 or 7 blocks down the road and I was exhausted by the time I got there and rushed back to the hotel. I need to live there and adopt the walk everywhere lifestyle and I will definitely lose weight.
We got to go one evening to spend the evening with the O'Farrell clan at Ben and Mary's house. John had baptized Mary O'Farrell's sister and brother-in-law. They have sinced moved to the US and arranged for us to have dinner with the O'Farrells. We had a lovely evening talking about their conversions and how it used to be to now. They also told John about different people he remembered from his mission and what they were up to. We had planned on going to church with them the last Sunday we were there but ended up being sick in bed on that Sunday.
The oddest thing about Dublin is that you do not hear a lot of Irish accents, it is more Eastern Europe and others. Where here we have a lot of Hispanics in our lower class jobs they have the Eastern Europeans for theirs so I had to go out into the country to experience the accents.
After we spent our time in Dublin we traveled up to Northern Ireland, planned on going to church in Portadown but the train did not leave Dublin until 10 and their church started at 10. By the time we got there they were just changing to Relief Society/Priesthood and we attended those classes. The weird thing for me was the RS President was actually from America and she not only was in charge, she led the music (they used a CD for the accompaniment), and she taught the lesson. The Young Women joined us because their leader was not at church. It was an enjoyable lesson and so nice to know that no matter where you go church is essentially the same. We talked to quite a few members afterwards and to the couple missionaries that were there. The couple missionaries told us that they were from Minnesota and had only been there for a couple of weeks. Their job is to reactivate the nonactive members. This particular ward was 80% inactive, so they had a busy job ahead of them. They gave us a ride to the train station and we headed to Belfast. We found a Travelodge and spent the night there. The next day we hired a taxi that gave a tour of the murals from the troubles of Ireland. It was interesting to watch John and see him be amazed at the changes in the last 20+ years. He remembers hearing bombs going off daily, seeing military presence everywhere with machine guns in hand, and being terrified of doing the wrong thing. It was hard to realize that overall it was 2 religions fighting over who was right and in the end they have settled without either being correct.
We went the next day up to Antrim, spent the night at a nice B&B, had a lovely Chinese dinner, and went on our way the next morning. We rode the train up to Portarush in the hopes of getting to Giant's Causeway but by the time we got to Portarush it was SOO COOLLLD so we stayed there and walked around the town. It was a beautiful seaside town and we took lots of pictures.
We took the next train to Derry/Londonderry (depends on where you are from) and spent the night there. We planned on staying in a hostel but when we got there and saw the conditions and then went to our room where there was nothing but a mattress on the floor, no heat, and I went to use the shared bathroom, and there was no toilet paper I wanted to scream!!! Luckily I had tissues in my pocket. John had passed out when we first went to the room and when he woke up about an hour later he asked me if I wanted to stay and I said no so we went and asked for our money back. We ended up going to a B&B (which was only a few minutes away, yeah right!) and had only barely better accommodations. We did not get breakfast the next morning because there was somebody passed out in the kitchenette that we were supposed to use (they had a party there the night before).
The next day we took a bus to Sligo, spent the evening trying to find a hotel to stay in and the next morning we got up and caught a train to Dublin. We watched the beautiful landscape go by as we rode the train. It was absolutely beautiful but snow and/or frost covered. Once we got to Dublin we then took a train back out west to Galway and spent the night at a B&B there. I got up the next morning and walked back to town to the bank. The bank did not open for another half hour so I spent time window shopping and seeing the little town. It was a lovely place and I wish we could have spent the day walking around but with John's health we got back on the train and headed to Dublin. He still had not gotten over his cold, in fact it seemed to be getting worse and I was afraid of pneumonia. Also his legs were swelling up like balloons and he needed to just find a place to stay for a few days and rest. He found a Travelodge in Dublin in an area called Ballymun and we spent our last few days there. We did go back into Dublin and spent an afternoon walking around the shopping area which included an outdoor market and bought fruit and fresh baked bread and sandwich supplies which ended up saving us as we both got sick on Saturday night and spent all day Sunday in bed. By this time I was ready to go home and get him back where I would feel that he would get better care.
I so enjoyed the peace and quiet of the vacation and did not regret leaving the kids behind. I can even say I did not miss them at all the first week out but by the second week I definitely missed my kids.
I have to say the worst part of going on vacation is the long trip back home. I swear the plane rides took longer coming home than going there and in reality we made excellent time. By the last hour of our flight to Salt Lake I was ready to have a panic attack. It was hot in the plane and the guy in front of me pushed his chair back. I am claustrophobic and the 2 together are nt a good combination. Also I was sitting in the middle between John and this nice young lady who had the window seat and it was difficult for me.
John kept saying how amazed he was that he never thought he would go back to Ireland as poor as we are and here we did it and actually enjoyed it. We did not get to the Southern part of Ireland but basically saw the rest of Ireland.
The funniest part was they were having a "BIG FREEZE!" It snowed about 1-1/2 to 2 inches total and the entire country was ready to shut down. In fact they did shut down the buses and trains on New Year's Day because there was too much ice and snow! hehehehe, seriously!
So all in all I completely enjoyed my trip and would love to go again, but the reality is that this is probably the one and only time for me and the last time for John.
