Days 9 + 10 + 11 - The Terminal

Well, the last few days. Where to begin. You may cringe, may even shed a tear or two... Don't say we didn't warn you.

This is at the Christmas market ---------------->
Belle's eating ostrich!

Day 9:

We began the day with a sleep in (Yay!) and a walk around the city of Galway with our new friends. After which, we headed back to Dublin, some in better condition than others - I (Bek) had a fever and managed to hold off spewing until our toilet stop. We completed our tour at night in Dublin with a photo in the freezing cold and somehow managed to miss saying goodbye to our friends... :( But the night didn't end there. Oh no. We caught the train to Belfast (a two and a quarter hour journey) at 7pm. It was all well and dandy until 8pm. The train stopped for 20 minutes (we woke up) and they informed us there was a bomb scare further on. Buses came to pick us up and drove us to Portadown. There we caught the train again to Belfast. All in all about a four hour trip. We got to Belfast about 11pm and God provided a taxi (train full of people and only one taxi!) to take us to the hotel. This was where we discovered that Northern Ireland takes British pounds instead of euros. Weird. The kind taxi driver took our euros anyway. Hotel was very clean and modern looking. The concierge told us how to get to the airport and said we could catch a taxi in the morning - he would ring for us. At quarter to 12 we collapsed into bed.

Day 10:

Early the next morning, the concierge informed us there were no taxis and no buses at 6:15am in the morning - all four companies had no free taxis! He gave us a map and pointed us in the right direction to the bus station. No worries - only 20 minutes! Yeah right. Forty minutes later and still snowing, having dragged our bags through six inches of snow, we made it to the buses. On our way to the International Airport, Belle noticed some signs pointing in the other direction that said "Belfast City Airport". We checked our itinerary and discovered that we were headed to the wrong airport. Oh the shame. At the International Airport, we couldn't find any flights to Inverness (You would think it would be at the International Airport - being in another country!). A very friendly taxi ride later, we arrived at the other airport, Belfast City, to find that all flights had been cancelled due to bad weather.

We queued for two hours to transfer to another flight out of the country, along with everyone else. By 11am we were pretty sick of being in doors and the snow looked very inviting. Unfortunately when we came back inside, the desk informed us that we had missed our flight by about 15 minutes, despite our regular checks on the flight information. Shame and sadness. A big apology to Joshua S who copped a fair bit from us about missing his flight. To our defense (small as it is), there was no definite time on when the plane left - it all depended on the conditions. After another hour of standing in line, we booked another flight, this time to Edinburgh which left at 5:20pm.

In Edinburgh (we're in Scotland!!) , God looked after us. We caught a train to Inverness (sooo expensive). It was a four hour train ride which left at 7pm. I slept most of the way but Belle made a new friend. A handsome, Scottish friend. She was all set for the rest of the trip. The train was delayed for half an hour at one point so we ended up in Inverness at 11:45pm. One very expensive taxi ride later, we arrived at OUR CASTLE HOTEL! Yes, we were very excited too. Then zzzzzzz.

Day 11: (check out the view!)

Belle dragged me to church. Coincidently, this happened to be the very same church that our new Scottish friend attended. Hm.

Church was so funny. We tried very hard to appear solemn and reverent throughout the service but there is something about the way the Scots speak. It was lovely to sing all the Christmas hymns and the people were so welcoming. We met a lot of people at the end over cups of tea. We spent the rest of the day exploring Inverness. It is so beautiful with all the snow over the surrounding hills and rivers.

We saw some more GIANT, MUTANT, SCARY SEAGULLS and a rabbit.

^^ Are these even seagulls??! ^^

Haggis is yet to be tried - but should be tonight!

We're the only guests in the hotel tonight! Freedom!!

Also, an early night tonight :)

How cool is this??? ---------------------->

Fluke shot.

<-------

First lunch in Scotland - really really good cheap food. Restaurant 27 on Castle street. Nice castle, too.

Love,

Bek and Belle

Embarrassing Moment: Belle (yes! Her for once!) spotted a lolly stall at the Christmas Markets in Galway. You know her. Anyway, I think Belle got distracted by the charming French guy and misinterpreted the signs displaying how much everything cost. She bought 14 euros worth of lollies only to discover she had left her wallet back at the hostel. I had warned her that I only had 10 euros on me. Awkward.