prowler1971 | Ireland Part 2

My plane landed safe and sound a little over two hours ago. Right now I'm at a place I think is called Platform 5 in Limerick. The plan is for

scullerywench to meet me at the bus station in Limerick. But her bus/train (I'm unsure what she's arriving on) isn't due in until 10 AM.

I was unable to get any decent sleep on the plane. But I got a little. "School of Rock" was entertaining enough but I'm not real fond of Jack Black's over the top style. After landing, I said goodbye to all my new friends who were on their way to Dublin. I had an aisle seat near the plane's exit so I was off pretty quickly. It was also near the bathroom which it's pluses and minuses. They'd fed us chicken (or mac and cheese) for dinner. Not awful. They gave us orange juice as we got closer.

After getting off the plane I had to go through where they check your passport. They didn't ask me any questions there. Then I got my luggage. The outside pockets had opened during travel apparently and stuff was sticking out. I lost my pack of blades and didn't care enough to wait for them to come around again. Then I had to go through the customs area. Two lines. One for people with items to declare and one for people without. There was nobody there if I *HAD* wanted to declare something. So I just wandered through into the main terminal. There was a convenience store and a book store and one little coffee shop. I got some water, a snickers, and an outlet adapter (not a voltage adapter). Allowed me to convert one of my traveler's cheques to cash. I got 41.10 Euros back. This gave me change to call

scullerywench. So I did. She was on her way to the bus station. Presumably by taxi.

I found information and asked about the bus to Limerick. She told me where to go. It wasn't marked clearly and to be sure, I asked no less than two other people. I realized not digging out my watch was a mistake. They'd had them in the duty free shop in Boston but they were ugly as sin. The bus finally arrived and took me to the Limerick bus station. I fell asleep on the bus but awoke every time is stopped. At one point, I became wide awake and I'm unsure as to why.

The men's room in Shannon Airport was disgusting. They have one of those pee troughs I haven't seen since the last time I was at Fenway Park. The idea of peeing in a trough with a dozen other men is bad enough but they don't wash the urine away all that well and the smell is awful.

I got off the bus in Limerick and found this place. Got a quick bite, then went to the bathroom, then sat back down. I'm paranoid enough to not want to leave my bags sitting unattended. I've picked a window seat so I can see when

scullerywench walks by. According to the clock on my laptop, it's 3:35 AM EST right now. I'm wide awake. But I'm a little congested and coughing some. I blame this on my parents. It also may just be from being tired. My feet hurt. I think I need to retire the boots I decided to wear. They are giving me blisters. They didn't back when I got them and they're in great shape. Maybe I just need insoles or something. I can be gellin'.

So, if you don't listen to anyone talk, there's very little to tell you you're in a foreign country. The bottles of soda are narrower and the 2 liter bottles look like out 16 oz bottles just bigger. The cars appear to be smaller but I quickly realized there just weren't a constant flow of SUVs everywhere I looked. There were a lot of compact and sub-compact cars. The only SUVs I did see were Isuzu Troopers (not Trooper II) which gave me Joe Isuzu flashbacks,

Riding in the bus I sat up front. I thought to myself that driving on the left side of the road would not feel odd. Oh boy did it. As soon as we hit the first round-about I felt like we were going the wrong way. Then there were headlights approaching on my right. Every time he swung out into traffic I expected him to turn left but he turned right. It was very odd.

People have been very nice (except for one bus driver who ignored me). The airport was overrun by high school girls, I assume Irish. Apparently there were about 50 of them going on a trip somewhere. Made me want to get out the airport faster.

I've set my iBook clock to GMT and it's now 8:44 AM. I've got a little over an hour before

scullerywench gets here. I could sleep (not gonna happen with two bags to attend to) or I can read. I suppose I could watch a DVD. I have 2 hrs 42 mins left on my battery. I think I'll read.

Oh yeah, there was a pigeon inside the bus station. That was odd. It's also cold inside the bus station and warmer in this restaurant. They told us it was 9 degrees centigrade when we got off the plane. Took me a second to let centigrade sink in. 9 degrees is warmer than Boston. YAY!