The Most Expensive Day of Spring Break

I woke up this morning (early again) but fell back asleep for a bit. Once really awake I had two pieces of toast for breakfast :) I checked out of my hostel and decided to try the coast again, after consulting the directions I had written for myself. There was one other large park on my list, and it was much closer, but I really wanted to wee the coast. None of the other cities I was visiting are near the sea, and I wanted to take advantage of its proximity here. The walk was gorgeous, and I took a detour through a park just to enjoy the beautiful weather. I found the beach with east, the sea not so much. I walked along the beach for half an hour or so with no major body of water presenting itself. I settled on a rock and decided the sea breeze and people watching would just have to do, and that's when I noticed the waves in the distance. I didn't quite have time to reach them so I tried to take a picture (unsuccessfully) and enjoyed watching what must be the happiest dogs on the earth play with each other in the puddles and on the sand. I lingered for an hour or so before walking back to the city center. I went to a little jewelry shop I found the day before called Funky Munky. They had two hair clips with ribbon bows on them for a euro. Stu's sister Hannah has one really similar and it is way cute. I bought them for myself and then stopped at McDonalds for a happy meal. This was an excellent decision, I got a cheeseburger, drink, fries, and raisins for less than four euro, plus people were coming around with samples so I tried a smarties (like m&m's) McFlurry and cheese balls. I am all about free stuff, especially free food. I stopped by the Abbey Theatre for a quick picture before finding my bus and heading to the airport. I was at my gate three hours before my flight left, and I managed to miss it. When I attempted to board I was informed that I was missing a necessary stamp on my boarding pass. I ran down the sky walks that connect the terminals to the check in area. When I say run I mean trying very hard to be quick and not dislocate my knew cap. I started to cry for the third time this week. I've cried more in the past three days than I have in the past five years. I didn't know I had it in me. I saw that i couldn't get back through security, and really started to freak out. A man pointed me int he right direction and told me I had to leave the airport and come back in again. I knew I wasn't going to make it. I was still crying when I explained to the passport check man that i wasn't staying in Ireland, I was trying to leave (the cool think is my passport is stamped twice for Ireland) I found the ticket counter and raced myself for bad news. All told I'm now on a flight that cost me 119 euros. Not to mention the money I spent on airport transfer. It's the only one I booked before hand and now I'm flying in through a different airport, this one is closer and the bus transfer takes me within walking distance of Becca, awesome. The flight arrives in London at ten so I won't meet Becca until eleven, I'm just glad it's all sorted out and I didn't have to stay another night in Dublin. I found my new terminal( I had a different type of boarding pass, no worries) and got online to try and warn Becca of the change in plans, luckily she was on facebook, double lucky someone left fifteen minutes of internet on the computer and I only paid a euro for another ten minutes to continue to talk to her and look up new airport transfer. By the time I was finished it was time to board my flight. One hundred euros might not be a bank buster for a lot of study abroad students, but it nearly is for me. I have almost that amount in savings, and I'll have to be careful with my budget from here on out, but it will be doable, thankfully. Once my new flight was booked I told myself to get over the cost, learn my lesson and try to enjoy the rest of my spring break. I'm going to try and do just that. Once on my flight I realized I had misread the military time on my ticket (which after two months is inexcusable) so I would be at Becca and I's meeting place two hours early. I texted her this information and after awhile with no response I tried calling. It didn't go through so I just decided to sit it out. The bus station was pretty sketchy and I hadn't had a great day to start with. At ten past eleven I called Stu. I didn't know what else to do; I was scared, for myself and for Becca who had to talk to this bus station by herself at night. I vented and he assured me he would get a hold of her via Joe (her boyfriend). She showed up before he got the chance, but I was so grateful that he calmed down while I was freaking out. All the previous stress of the day melted away as I chatted with Becca and talked to Stu who helped me figure out my bank balance troubles (after pounds withdrawal and flight switch fees) Becca and I caught up late into the night before turning in for our busy day.