Crete, belated - Part One

Hello everyone!

I shouldn't have waited this long to talk about my trip to Crete, because I am sure I will have to guess on much of the details -- basically, I will just be talking in 'vagueties' (in the words of Corb Lund) and telling you how wonderful it is and encouraging you to make Crete part of future travel plans!

So to begin, we'll go back to the Thursday before my flight. I was flying out of Dublin on Friday at noon, and I had just recently learned that I have access to the libraries at Trinity College in Dublin, so I thought, "why not combine the trips?" So I did. I took a train up to Dublin from Limerick (about a 2.5 hr ride) Thursday afternoon and got to Dublin around 3ish. I had decided to be adventurous and not book a hostel in advance, so my 1st stop was to the tourist office.

The guy at the tourist office was WONDERFUL! I went in and said, "I would like an inexpensive room near Trinity College for tonight, please" and he laughed and found me one instantly!

I paid a deposit through the guy at the tourist office and went straight to Trinity Library for the next 3 hrs. It was HEAVEN! over 400 years of books at my disposal! WOOT!!!

Ok. Enough of that.

I checked into my hostel, asked them to hold my laptop behind their desk because they didn't have safe-deposit boxes, did some reading in the Norton Anthology of Theory & Criticism, and tried to sleep. The sleeping was near-impossible with 9 other girls in the room. All of them were Spaniards and they literally talked ALL NIGHT LONG. And not quietly, either! One girl, after about 20 mins of quiet, got a phone call at 3:30am and talked for a full 10 mins in full-voice before deciding, "hey! maybe I should leave the room for this..."

I woke up at 7:30 to have breakfast and try and find a book that I thought I had to have read by Tues class, which didn't exist AND didn't have to be read. But at the time, I was a little stressed. I got sidetracked by a souvenir shop and picked up a few trinkets for my family and went to check out of the hostel. It had started to rain, and I was running a little late for the airport because of my shopping 'spree.'

So I had a noon flight, which meant that I had to be at the airport for check-in by 10am. I figured, the bus on the way into the city in Aug took about 20-30 mins, so it shouldn't be much different and I planned on a 9:20 or 9:40 bus. I missed the 9:20 because of the shopping, but made the 9:40 and was on the right track - or so I thought! I get 15 mins into the bus ride when I realize that my backpack is extremely light... for holding a laptop... that I left behind the desk in the hostel in my rush to check-out and catch this bus!!!!

So I get off at the next stop at 5 to 10 - Cross the street to wait for a bus, that doesn't come during the next 5 mins - only to catch a cab that gets caught in every kind of traffic imaginable. I make it to the hostel and onto the next bus an hour later than originally planned. But I am on my way!

15 mins into this trip, where I had gotten off the 1st bus, I thought, "halfway there - alright!" It's 11am. 11:30 rolls by... and I go to ask the bus driver if this bus actually DOES go to the airport, getting a little worried... when he says, "yeah. We'll be there in 15 mins or so." not stressful at all. My plane was scheduled to leave at TWELVE O'CLOCK.

I get on the phone with my travel agency who informs me that there is no way I am making this flight and that the tickets are non-refundable, non-transferrable, so I just lose the $$.

By the time 11:40 rolls around, I am literally in tears thinking, "what am I going to DO???" and the bus driver sees me crying. He asks me where I'm from and if I am catching a flight (umm.. YEAH), trying to calm me down, and decided to pull the bus right up to the door for me under the circumstances.

I get to the airport at 11:45.

I run into the check-in area full of about 50 kiosks and find an available agent who looks at me with pity and says, "well, maybe they haven't closed the counter yet... there's a tiny chance!"

But God is good!

No closed counter. Checked in in 30 secs.

On the plane to Manchester!

Now Manchester is a different story that won't take long b/c all it includes is a 2 hr wait and annoying security measures restricting carry-on baggage to ONE. Including a purse. So I checked my tiny bag because I had a laptop backpack.

Next post will actually INCLUDE Crete!