Better Late Than Never

Yesterdays travel experience was one of the most stressful things I've ever had to deal with. We got to the Dublin airport right on schedule- we were pretty relaxed- with the exception of Deena of course who could have used a couple lamas classes to ease her with her pre-flight anxiety. The REAL downhill slope, however, began when Rocko and I tried to check in after waiting on line for abt an hr- they informed us that we actually had no flight. That's rt. The exact words were actually: "your reservation has been cancelled." My face turned white and I fought back the tears of anxiety and disappointment (not for very long tho). I still don't know wut happened but our travel agency cancelled our reservation for some unknown reason when rocko tried to change her return flight a couple days ago to extend her stay in Israel.

When I spoke to the woman at Lufthansa- the carrier we were taking to israel- she informed us that she didn't know why or how but that our flight was cancelled, and that there were no more seats available on our flight. She put us on standby for both overbooked flights into Frankfort-our connection- and then into Tel Aviv, and told us that we'd hopefully be able to get on the standby flight tom morning, but that she didn't know abt the next leg into Israel. A rush of concerns flew into my head: where were we gonna sleep, what were we gonna eat, how long until we would finally get to Israel? Overwhelmed by my thoughts, I then broke into tears, as I acknowledged the likelihood that I'd be stranded in multiple airports for the next three days without a phone, food, or a clue of how to take care of myself.

It was a brief- but scary- panic attack. About 15 seconds later I recollected myself and got on the fone with the travel agency-- using deenas fone that she soooo kindly lent me before leaving with sahar for their (our) flight. They already checked in and had to go before they missed their flight too. When I got through to the travel agent, I made sure to speak with RESPECTFUL urgency (no one will help you if you're a jerk- it's a rough reality when you're slowly coming off of a fresh anxiety attack) and I was connected very quickly to the supervisor. He apologized for the inconvenience and put us on a new flight with Air France only abt an hour after our original flight, now connecting thru Paris.

When Rocko and I got to the gate- I calmed myself down with one oh-so-very-necessary beer. Rocko, gluten free, turned to her quick fix-- chocolate. Thank god we quickly got onto our flight and we were put in the first row so we were sure we were now on path for smooth travels from here on in.

The flight was great bh- unfortunately our crazy adventure was destined to continue once we landed in Paris. It began with the most ridiculous experience with security that caused us to almost miss our flight. We misread the signs cuz they're actually impossible to understand- and ended up leaving the area within security. I'm quite good with my navigational skills, contrary to the my spacey front. The real issue was that I don't think I could have created such confusing and misleading airport signs if I tried. Meanwhile, once we left the security area, they wouldn't let us back in, so then we had to run around like fools to the other end of the labyrinth-like airport following the everso helpful signs. So ridiculous. O and no one speaks English- which really helped. It took us about 15 minutes to realize that our pronunciation of 'A' was being interpreted as 'E' so we had to change our accent fRom 'Ay' to 'Ah' when we asked a different person every daled amot where Terminal 'Ah' was. Through siata deshmaya- we somehow made it to the check in gate 10 minutes before it closed. After running around like idiots looking for our elusive terminal, we flagged down a bus. The driver, on a whim/he was fed up with my pestering questions about terminal 'ah', decided to drop us off near our terminal even tho his route didn't go there. If we didn't get on that bus there's no way we wouldve made our flight. Its crazy how these things just work out...not too smoothly tho- of course there's more.

When we tried to board, we experienced yet another hurtle as we got stopped by security and were interrogated further before we could board the plane. I glanced at the computer and saw that our names were flagged- of course- like why wouldn't they be. Meanwhile- we finally made it on the plane.. And we were given the first row of business class. With our 5 course meal, wine, hot towels, and complimentary El Al sunglasses (wouldn't be the same luxurious experience without those), Rocko and I marveling at how we had just jumped to the opposite extreme of today's events. Such a wild day. God willing things should continue on this new course in Israel.

We're now at the apt- settled and safe. And even though Rocko and I don't have luggage- (I know you didn't think we'd actually get our bags with our luck) we couldn't be happier to be in Israel and comfortably settled in Deenas apartment. It should be a great finale for vacation. I couldn't think of a better ending to our already amazing trip. So psyched!!!!

wer getting lazy and trying to finish up

Today we had quite the adventurous day of shooting, hiking, and kayaking in Wicklow county- which our taxi driver just taught us is a word of Viking origin. Low=alow=meadow, and Wick=Vick=Viking. So Viking meadow is the meaning of the county's name. That was our educational piece of the day.

All in all, it was a greaaat day! The weather was spectacular- we got some good sun and a great breeze. We started the day off with the clay pigeon shooting. It was hilarious- my idea of course. It was hardcore...they gave us a ridiculously heavvy shotgun, ear muffs, and after abt a 10 minute tutorial we were yelling "pull" and shooting away at these clay dishes. It was hilariously random. We learned from the experience that Sahar is secretly a professional gunman- I think she may have hit about 20/25 shots. Not normal. I was decent- I hit more than 5 so that was enough kudos for me. I felt accomplished just hitting 1 of those crazy saucers. And the hike was more of a brisk 45 min jog on a coastal trail. Really fun and greaaaat views. They told us it was where PS I Love You and Braveheart were shot. So that was cool.

And then Sahar and I went kayaking by ourselves in a beautiful lake surrounded by gorgeous mountains and blue skies. Really romantic bonding time for me and Sahar. And it was such a great work-out...We were really into it. My abs and shoulders are nearly broken now- great feeling. Also- on our way back to the shore, it started pouring heavily, which was a really cool experience- being completely surrounded by water. It was an amazing feeling to be paddling through the waves with the rain pouring down on us and the water splashing in our faces. We felt like such rustic nature girls- 2 pts for Team Florida. K great adventure day.

We're heading back to Dublin now- going to shul at the Chabbad tonite and then having our meals by the rabbi. Very excited for our international Chabbad experience- should be wild!
cheers
mimi

The last leg...

Yesterday was the Dublin day. We did a tour of dublin called "hop on hop off"- the bus takes you around and u hop off to see the sites then hop back on to the next. Problem was it was great tanning weather and the top deck was open so we hopped on and never really hopped off...until we got to the guiness storehouse museum. Arthur Guiness is pretty much more revered than the Irish president (if there is one). At the end you're rewarded with a free pint. Only one of us took advantage of the free perk. Take a wild guess.
It ended up being that we didn't do much else in our educational tour of the city- but let's be honest- we pretty much hit all the main points in Irish culture right there. After that tour we enjoyed the city and ate dinner on Stephens Green.

Galway!?!?

Today I woke up at a normal hour since I ignored Sahar's first two wake up calls. When I finally got up from my king size bed (I got to bless team hotel) I immediately asked myself what are we doing here in Galway? What were we thinking coming here? While I davened I was disturbed by the ridiculous plans my friends were thinking of doing for today's activity. These ideas included cliff diving, clay pigeon shooting and more life threatening activities. After I expressed my thoughts on not dying we decided collectively that we were going to go on a bus tour to the Cliffs of Moher. For those interested- the cliff of moher is Ireland's most visited natural attraction with a magical vista that captures the hearts of up to one million visitors every year. The cliffs rise to 214m per 700 ft at the highest point and range for 8 km or 5 miles over the Atlantic Ocean on the western seaboard of Co. Clare. Now you might think I learned these facts from listening to the tour but actually I had to do my research from the brochure since I was sleeping for most of the tour. Tour guides MUST cater to those with attention deficit disorders! You got to grab your audience with the first minute otherwise its all downhill from there! Now who would interest you more? An Irish man talking about god knows what or Dee singing broadway tunes at the top of her lungs with complete disregard to the fact that she was in public! I believe you can all guess that I went with the latter. I have to tell you all that the cliffs were fabulous and breath taking. If you want to see them for yourself you can google them, watch a documentary or watch Harry Potter and other famous movies such as Leap Year. When we arrived at the cliffs we were granted one hour from our tour guide. We decided to stop at the cafe first to wake us up from the educational bus ride. 45 minutes later we realized that we had about 5 minutes to take in the cliffs that we just travelled on a deathly boring 3 hour bus ride for. The tour guide/bus driver warned us that if we were not back on time he would leave us stranded. Knowing me and Mimi and how we like to live on the edge... we almost missed that bus! He actually left 2 minutes early- we may have even left a few behind. Surprisingly we made it tho. The tour continued with lunch at a pub and some castles but I can't really tell you all that much about it since once again the tour guide had put me to sleep. Was this day a total bust? That's debatable among the group! All I know is that I had a blast making fun of today! - Designated Driver- RoCKo ( beer is gluten and I don't drink)

the not so fast fast day

Hello fellow readers. I apologize on behalf of myself and my trip-mates for slacking in our blogging duties. Yesterday wasn't such an eventful day because of the fast and by the time it was over we were too exhausted to relate whatever details were even worth sharing. Essentially we sat on a bus for the bulk of our day. We woke up at around 830 and were ushered into our cab to the bus stop about an hour later by Jimmy- the everso friendly owner of the charming bed and breakfast we slept at that night- who was wearing a chef's outfit for reasons unclear. We probably missed out on a very serious breakfast...If only it weren't a fast day. O well.

From 10:15 to 5:30 we watched the open fields of lush greenery within its mountainous frame as we made our way from Dingle to Galway- another county on the western coast, north of Dingle. We then checked into our lovely suite in the Carlton Hotel--a well deserved concession to team Hotel after Sundays hike. There, we passed the time with some chatting, reading and nap time. Before we knew it it was 11:30- time to break the fast! We broke it on gourmet peanut butter sandwiches, fruit, and way too much chocolate.

Whoever thinks we may be losing weight on this trip due to lack of food and sahar's boot-camp-itinerary are mistaken. We've been compensating for lack of food with Rocko' never-ending supply of Caramel Cadbery and then justifying it by pretending that we're still burning calories from our 8 hour hike on Sunday. And just in case we're not doing enough damage here, Deena has already declared that the team goal in Israel is to eat our way through the country. So we're in a negative situation.

So that was our day yesterday. It's unclear what the heck we're doing here in Galway and why we trekked for 7 hrs to get here. This place is super random but I'm glad we're here. I'm too tired and lazy to describe our wild day of fun from today. Someone else will have to take the reigns for that one. Stay tuned though!

Cheers
~Mimi



DEE- I've been getting some personal gchats/ bbms/ emails etc that people miss my posts. And I think that's also clear from the amount of votes I've been getting so I will put in some input on the fast day. After getting off the first bus and arriving at the station we were informed our next bus wud not be showing up for another hour. What we do for an hour? Mimi is in the process of converting to chait so she listened to his shiurim on the essence of man??, sahar said some tehilim, rocko stared out into space, and I read my ever so intense book "19 minutes" which ia giving me nightmeres! We all didn't do much talking to eachother yestrday in fear of being snappy due to our hunger/ exhaustion. It was more of a day to ourselevs w some major introspection (and random people who went to mmy that we forgot abt who kept popping up in our heads) I left my white nike headband that I work out w on every single bus and had to go bak on every single bus to retrieve it so that was eventful and finally we got to the magnificent carlton hotel! We intended to wake up before 9 to get some grocery shopping for after the fast done but since mimi and I can't wake up, and our fearless leader sahar overlsept we were left w nothing but peanutbutter. (And mimi dedicated abt 20 lines to chocolate which I don't even eat...or cheese...or tuna...but that's a whole different story. Do I plan to eat my way through israel like mimi said? No, that's so 4 years ago. Do I plan to be fleishichs once in a while especially before the 9 days? Heck freakin yes!! And what a better acitivry for after the fast than to watch white chicks on an ipad??---well we were pretty zonked and all drifted off pretty soon after breakfast. Ok I gotta go to sleep, we're hitting up guiness tmrw and I needa be on my a game!
"Cheers"
Dk

FINALLY! - the hike!

After waking up early and saying bye to Killarney we set off to Dingle with 6 days worth of clothing and food on our backs. 2 hrs later we got off the bus at Dingle and took in the unique smell which characterizes the Irish country: a mix of fresh mountain air, cow maneur and beer. We cabbed to Veentry to begin the hike since we were told that from dingle to veentry it was 5 km of road walking. We were all on the same page about not doing any extra walking than necessary. Our hike began with about 3 km on the beach. This part seemed to never end, and our hopes of what the hike would be dimmed a bit as we trudged along with our heavy bags, feet sinking in the sand and the sky grey. For 3 of us, the time passed quicker with a "let's see if we can name everyone in MMY" game, for the other one of us, tiime was never slower.
The guide book read that we would cross a few streams on the way and so when we spotted the yellow man who marked the Dingle Way turning slightly inland, we followed blindly. We crossed about 6 bridges before we realized we were right back on the beach only a little past where we begun. Clearly the yellow man was testing our faith. We followed him anyways since we're Jews and know how to follow blindly in wilderness situations (and b/c there really was no other option) and headed inland yet again. This time we were not let down as we headed towards Mt. Eagle. On the way we managed to bring back some eleven eggs and hairy hummus from our trip in Israel.
We decided it would be a good time to stop for lunch when we found a little pad of grass by some of the houses we were passing. Mimi made a stunning sandwich, but apparently it was too perfect for our rough hike and Mother Earth sent a little brown present from the bird passing over head- which landed PERFECTLY in the middle of her top slice of bread. Amazing. If that wasn't enough surprises for one meal, 45 seconds later, the couple whose house we were trespassing on, tried pulling in to their driveway, ie our picnic table. We gave eachother a scare, but they showed us true Irish hospitality and let us use place till we finished.
After lunch we began our ascent up the mountain. It was a tough climb and every step we take left us more and more breathless. Literally and figuratively. The backpacks made it hard, but the views we saw distracted us. I'll spare you with the details of this hike, since its hard to describe without waxing poetic and even then won't do it justice. In fact one of our greatest frustrations were that we'd spend 10 minutes with tthe camera trying to capture what was in front of us, but we were left in confusion at how the tiny screen resembled the scene in front of us, yet just wasn't conveying it. We were completely enveloped by the mountains around us, tucked away on the coast of Ireland, with the sea slapping on the vast cliffs 300 meters below us. The mountains were larger than life, and the sea stretched out till it meshed with sky. It was the feeling of being less than a dot on a map. Besides for the tie-dyed sheep, it was nature in its most raw and unadulterated form. It was being face to face with yad Hashem. We couldn't help but stand in silence, we were totally awestruck.
As we walked on, we saw plenty of "clochains", ancient ruins from the 5th and 6th century pagans. We also saw a ton of sheep and goats... We felt at one with the earth as we had stepped again and again in their droppings. We even had no choice but to contribute to the collection..Slightly exhilarating and more than slightly scary. You would think Rockos backpack was as light as air since she seemed to be having a blast chasing the goats through the mountains. Ha it even feels weird to say that. But that's really how we walked, and it was not a fenced petting zoo. Don't worry Chan, we bodyguarded Deena every time they came close.
Right before our descent we came to a point where we saw the Blasket Islands off the coast in the distance below is. This is the most westerly point of Europe. And for such a lofty title, the view did not disappoint. After all that hiking we felt like we had to just engrave it in our minds before we were done. Proved to be an inspiring point for mincha, and soon we were back on the road.
The cafe at Slea Head which had served as our motivation was closed. But we got a few great pics and documentaries (stay tuned to anything deena) and continued after the yellow man. We walked and walked. And walked. But again, the Irish and the American concept of distance seems to completely differ. Last time I checked a "slight 2 km" at the end of a hike, did not take 2.5 hours. We doubted the yellow man. We continued thru the rain, up a hill, asking every car hpw far more to go. You would think we saw mashiach had you seen our reaction upon finally arriving at the Dun Chaoin hostel. The yellow man did not let us down!
The rest of the story you can probably infer from Rockos blog.... Suffice it to say- it was interesting.
All in all, we experienced something reeally special that day. It was nice to relive it by writing this. All I can say is after seeing those sights, the only thing that keeps me convinced that its not the promised land is that I don't believe we were ever meant to b in a place where we have fast to 1130 pm. I'm. 100% positive we were much more meant to be in the land where even yom kippur ends at 6.
Ooolright. Take it easy lads.
Sahar

Its my trip and I'll cry if I want to

Waking up in Dunquin's girl dormatory in a freezing sweat was not ideal but at least we didn't have to share our cozy bunkbeds with foreign roomates. sharing our room with strangers would have been pretty hilarious yet potentially very awkward haha. After Dee packed up her "soaking" clothes we headed downstairs where we were greeted by the hostle's nice but ever so slighty creepy caretaker who had snuck into our room at night and who had an eye on us with every move we made. I was convinced that Mimi and I would have no shoes this morning since we had violated the hostle's cardnial rule of bringing our hiking shoes inside. Call me crazy but I'm not leaving my shoes outside where cows roam and people have not one store to buy food who shoes. Seriously who knows if someone would steal my sneaks for foot protection or perhaps sell my shoes for some bread. I wasn't taking any chances! We then head outside to stand in a cloud waiting for the bus to Dingle. After waiting for a few minutes in the rain and cold we flaged down the jolly bus driver who greeted us with "the top of the morning to you" which began our upbeat day of fun. Once getting to Dingle we headed straight to the local super market called Super Valu ( no "e") since we all know its all about the food. We then went to the tourist center to plan our next days since we decided to cancel the last days of our hike due to rain and other reasons. Sahar and Mimi sat and planned while I was busy taking a tourist survey with a women wearing a orange traffic vest. Was I trying to help a women with her job, did i admire her choice of style or was I trying to avoid planning the trip? That is a great question but ill save you from another Dee blog vote since I truthfully admired her orange vest and I would do anything to get a closer look. After the deathly long survey I caught my friends being kicked out from the tourist center for the second time since we had made ourselves way to comfortable ( read with my accent) with our backbacks sprawled out which was not good for business We then spent some time in a internet cafe where I checked my mail the old school way which included dail up .. I'm just kidding but seriously I love being the only one without a blackberry as well as being the slowest typer on this trip. These keys are so small that I can't even use my fathers one finger typing skills. Frustrati-on! The internet cafe was very useful since we booked our bus tickets and hotels for Galway which were all really looking forward to. We then took a seriously awesome boatride where we watched our dolphin friend, Fungi do some wild tricks. After having a blast with our water friend we decided to continue our fun with running through the Dingle aqurium. We never quite got to witness the fish feeding by the native river but hey we were yelled at once again and dee won a claw stuff animal. With Sahar needing another coffee we then sat by the pier drinking cappucinos and eating rice cakes. After eating like animals we headed to the gym and pool however we never got to that pool since Mr. Shorts never left that suana! Or did he? Who's turn is it to check? Haha! We then hit up another internet cafe where we were kick out to wait for our cab to take us to Jimmy's bed and breakfast. Basically Jimmy is the man! Jimmy served us tea showed us a documentry movie of the Dingle penninsula and told us how he lives in Riverdale part of the year. Tommorow is the fast so we will not have the experience of having the breakfast part of the bed and breakfast but thankfully we have the bed component! Wow look how much I typed... Only. Took me three hours! Nebach - RoCKo