Made it!

Hey all. So. What a trip that was.

I got to Rochester airport (thanks Jon) and when I arrived, they told me the flight was running late due to a ground stop in Boston. So, that was fine, but then they loaded us on the plane anyway? Yeah, not sure about that one because we got to the runway and they told us we wouldn't be taking off until 1 hour after that. About 30 minutes in, I approached the flamboyantly rude and obnoxious flight attendance simply inquiring why we were here instead of in the terminal so that those of us with international destinations could be looking at other places to go to catch flights to our respective countries. He was not pleased with my effecientness and proceeed to yel at me in front of the whole plane. My mouth dropped... obviously... and I was stunned with no words. He returned back a few minutes later and I said "Excuse me sir, but I would appreciate it if you would not speak to me that way ever again." A Gentleman in front of me clapped and said "Amen Sister!"... he was embarrassed and, loudly again, said "I'm sorry if you interpreted my response to your question as rude." I said... "That was a nice backhanded apology. It was rude and it had nothing to do with my interpretation." and so it went on... kept my cool though and he was definately the one who looked like the ass. Especially when we did, in fact, end up returning back to the terminal for more craziness. There were 6 of us with international connections and, during our time on the runway, we had missed a total of 3 other flights to other cities that could have met our destination. So, they just started shoving us on whatever flight they could get us on. Stupidly, I accepted their suggestion of... "We'll send you to Hartford and you can make it to Boston by the later flight but you will miss the earlier one to Shannon." Dumb. But this lady standing in line offered to drive me so... thought it was all good until I landed in CT and realized it was a 2 hour trip to boston. Not good. I finally went to the USAir counter and explained the situation. A manager came over and was so kind and helpful and appauled at the situation... he couldn't understand why I was even in his airport. Still keeping my cool because it was working in my benefit to appear helpless...

Dave, the manager, put me, and another guy (Ryan... a physicist from Boston) in a $260 cab ride to Boston. The mad race was on (people does this sound familiar? yeah... this happened to me in February). I was due to arrive in Boston around 10:20pm and the flight, that was scheduled to leave at 9:20, was delayed... we didn't know by how much. I called Dave and he said... "I was just on the phone with American Airlines (this is at 10pm) and the flight is leaving at 10:50! You will make it!" AWESOME.

I did get on the flight, sat next to a really nice freelance photographer... Slept the entire way... went without a veggie meal again, but the flight attendants were amazing and kept bringing me endless salad and bread and anything else they could find. Awoke to the beautiful rain in Shannon, Ireland. Then, of course, the box (containing my sleeping bag, tent, towel, whistles, etc.) got lost along the way so it wasn't in the airport. I got on the bus to Galway totally exhausted and talked with Peter from Poland for a good hour and half. He was so nice. Arrived in Galway to familiar faces at my hostel... happy to see me again. The room is great. I went to the Saturday market (sat the woman, Juliette, who made my necklace I lost... will get another from her next weekend... maybe a bracelent instead) and then went outside to watch some street music and, as I'm holding my camera, I feel someone tugging on it... HATIM! That was awesome. We went and got some coffee, I took a nap in the common room of the hostel... I cooked my dinner and then I took an other nap in my bed. I was trying to stay awake, but it wasn't working! Pulled myself up to the sound of drums and found an AWESOME band playing on the street. That, honestly, was the best drumming I have ever seen. So great... Hatim showed up, Liam and I connected and I will hopefully see him on Monday (yes, Liam... even though we might fall asleep at Andy Irvine, you best get your butt here!), Rachel called, Vinny is MIA (as usual) and Hatim and I spent the night over some pints, great trad music and good people at the Crane Bar. Awesome.

So... talked to the airline this morning and my box is on it's way. Whew...
Gotta get outside cuz the sun is shinin'!
Going to see a band called Lunasa tonight.
Smiles, Jess

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