I made it to Scotland in one (very tired) piece! I left the hostel Tuesday morning at 7:00 and was in Glasgow by 5:00. It did take longer and cost more $$$ and the ash decided to disperse, but if I hadn't taken the measures I did my flight would have been cancelled and I would have been very unhappy.
I wish I could have been in Belfast longer than the 45 minutes that I was...it seemed like a very nice city. The train ride from Dublin to Belfast was great-the North was so beautiful. The train from Stranraer, Scotland to Ayr was also unbelievably beautiful. Clear BRIGHT blue skies, more sheep than I saw my entire time in Ireland, and landscape that was similar yet very different to that of Ireland. I have a few pictures-not many, though. I was so tired by the time I got on the train that my head was drooping and I was in that numb halfway between sleep and awake phase. You see, in he 48 hours prior, I only got about ten hours of sleep combined. If I would have listened to my mother and not procrastinated on packing and organizing things would have been different-Mama is always right
There was an American couple sitting across the aisle from me on the train who giggled every time I lurched forward. Made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside-haha.
I've spent the last 36ish hours doing what I normally do during the first few days at the end each school semester and that is completely spacing out. For example, I slept until 11:00 this morning, stayed in my pajamas, and watched The Flinstones while I ate cereal for lunch. Good day.
I won't lie-I stood outside on the back of the ferry and watched the coast of Ireland disappear onto the horizon and I cried a bit when the last strip of land faded away. I'll be back, though. No doubt about that.
I'll be back stateside on June 11th and I will be going to the beach (Isle of Palms, Charleston) on the 15th, where I will do nothing but read books and lay in the sun and get some color back in my skin!
Thanks for the well wishes, Maggie!
