3 more days till I catch that big bird

---

Sunday October 21 – Taking care of the last detail before leaving for Europe for 6 weeks and trying to learn what French I can in the time left. I have also bought an Instant Immersion Italian program from Sams for $25. I really haven't been able to make heads or tails of it yet but I guess I'll make another stab at it while I am in France. I'm focusing on French for now.

Tomorrow I will go to Harmony and gather up some stuff and leave some stuff.

I notified the Wells Fargo bank easily that I was going to Europe and not to flag my debit card while I am there.

The Bank of America was quite another case. After wading through their prompts I was put on hold with an estimated wait time of 15 minutes. After a lengthy wait I gave up in disgust and went online and waded through all their links and finally got on their live chat and managed to notify them I would be in Europe from October 25 through December 5. So hopefully my card will continue to work over there.

I have taken my precautions so I think I have it taken care of. I stuck back £175 and 320€ from last trip so I have enough foreign currency to bridge the currency changeovers. I also have about $175 US.

Today I continued to do homework on various things and started putting away whatever I won’t need to take on this trip.

For Sunday dinner Bill and Annette fixed up steaks, baked potatoes, and Bush’s baked beans. The steaks were huge so I just had half of one. Afterwards more chocolate cake and Blue Bell ice cream.



Monday October 22

The particulars of my trip are firming a bit. After I get to Ballinasloe and then back to Dublin, instead of taking the ferry I just decided to fly to London and then take the train to Weymouth on the south coast of England. After enjoying a few days there I will take the train to Portsmouth and then cross over on the ferry to Caen.

I decided to fly across the Irish Sea and to London instead of taking the ferry and train because in the end I figured I had already crossed the Irish Sea both ways on a ferry so why not just fly.

I checked the airfare and luggage restrictions and decided to fly on British Airways as there allowed luggage weight was 23kg(51)lbs plus the usual allowance of one piece of hand baggage and one laptop bag/purse, and the one way airfare from Dublin to London was only $114. There is a hefty overweight charge so I need to make sure I don't exceed it.

The flight I chose to go on leaves Dublin at 6:30PM and gets me into Heathrow at 7:50PM. That allows me to ease over to Dublin From Ballinasloe at my leisure instead of trying to get there in time for an early flight. I’m really not into marathon travel in one day so that is enough, going from Ballinasloe, Ireland to London Heathrow. I booked a bed overnight through Hostelbookers.com at the Heathrow Hostel at 198 Kingsley Rd Hounslow, London. I got a good rate of £11.1 ($17.84) for a bed in a 5 bed mixed room with a shared bathroom. It will suffice me as I will stay overnight and then head on to Weymouth the next day (Sunday). I ran into something of a snag on planning the train section part of the trip from London to Weymouth on Sunday but I think I have gotten it ironed out.

I have been doing quite a bit of homework on Weymouth and it looks to be a place well worth exploring a bit. So I am booked there a couple of days but may stay longer if I like it. After all I had intended to stay in Kinsale, Ireland only a couple of days but it stretched into 2 weeks.

I have booked a bed in Weymouth through Hostelworld.com for Sunday the 28^th and Monday the 29^th. The bed was £17.50 ($27.95) a night. I booked at the Bunkhouse Plus hostel at 47 Walpole St.

I invested most of today in taking care of final details and putting away everything that I won’t be needing for the trip. So I am down to one suitcase and one computer/stuff messenger bag.

One thing I learned very thoroughly on the last trip is that it isn’t necessary to make sure you bring everything you may need. Europe isn’t the Dark Continent. I can acquire and discard things as I go along.

---