Two Weary Travelers

We're in London now, but we're both still exhausted. I'm just going to list everything we've done since Sunday.

Sunday we got completely moved out of the apartment and took care of remaining tasks, chores, and errands. Stayed at David's house.

We were both wired and slept horribly.

Monday morning got up early, went to Starbucks for coffee, took care of all last minute stuff before leaving for the airport. David took us to the airport. Caught the plane to Newark, NJ. Changed planes to Dublin. No sleep.

Tuesday morning arrived at Dublin airport, took the bus to the city center. We weren't impressed with Dublin. It felt to much like steel, cement, dirt, and trash. I was feeling nauseous. What am I doing here? Let's get out of here!

Took the train to Dun Laoghaire, a quaint little seaside town. Found a couple of oases where we could sit and eat a picnic lunch, then laid down on the ground and napped for a while. We both decided we'd rather go on to London than look for the Dublin campground.

So we got tickets on the ferry from Dun Laoghaire to Holyhead, Wales. Took the ferry, tried to nap on the ferry. From Holyhead, we took the train to London. While waiting for the first train, we found a little oasis called St. Cypri's Church. Laid down on the grass to relax for about 15 minutes, then back to the train station to catch the first train. Arrived in London a little after 9:00pm.

Took the Underground to St. Paul's to find a hostel. Wandered around hopelessly with a map, finally asked for directions, got a little closer but still couldn't find it. A very kind man saw us sometime close to 11:00pm staring at the map, our 40-pound packs on our back, looking bedraggled and he said, "Are you by chance looking for the hostel?"

"Yes!"

"Come this way."

"Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you."

Got to the hostel just before 11:00pm, then find out my debit card won't work and I have no cash, no money. The woman at the counter tries to run the card 6 times, but it still won't work. I get teary-eyed and say, "We have to sleep somewhere. I don't know why it's not working, but I can call the bank in the morning."

They let us stay if I let them hold my passport. Finally we haul ourselves up to the room, take a shower, crawl into bed. The nearly-endless day finally comes to an end.

Wednesday morning, we get up, go to breakfast. They had given us vouchers. I said, "Sarina, eat up, I have no money as of this moment, so this may be our last meal for a while."

Then I get an idea. I go to the atm and manage to pull out 10 pounds so I know the card still works. I'm guessing the problem was that I had accidentally ran out of money in the account. I got a half-hour of internet time at the hostel, made a balance transfer, and finally had money again. Paid for two nights and two breakfasts, so we're good to go.

First thing, we took the Underground to the British library, found out we can get free wireless, got on the computer to search for a flat in London. Sarina could barely hold her head up and I had a raging headache that wouldn't go away after 2000 miligrams of Tylenol. Was functioning on 50% brain capacity, so we decided to go back to the room and sleep. Slept for 4.5 hours.

Then went out again, got food for the evening. Ate while we walked. Found a store to buy a track phone. Our number is 07535602708.

Went back to the library, but it closed at 6:00pm. Took the Underground back to the hostel. Finished eating our dinner. I took a shower while Sarina got us an hour of wireless time. She's playing with our new phone while I write this blog.

That's brings us to the present moment.

Love y'all, but we're still both really tired.