| First Ireland Holiday (2) |
I was next in line for the customs agent, which by the way, was the ONE thing I hadn't stressed about. When he asked me, "What
is your purpose of being in Ireland?" I simply said, "To visit a friend." However, when he asked me, "Where are you staying while
you are here?" I froze. I didn't know! I had no friggin clue! (You can now add in a full fledged panic-attack to go along with my
mini-heartattack) I almost broke into tears. I couldn't take this stress anymore! So, managing not to cry, I just told him that I
honestly didn't know where we were staying, that I hadn't ever asked. That's it, I just knew I was going to some kind of customs jail.
But, he stamped my passport and told me to enjoy my visit. Phew! Well, since I was convinced that I was obviously never going to
find Marco in that crowd of people, all that was left to do was get my luggage, and then go straight to the ticket counter to see if I
could exchange my return ticket for an earlier flight, like later that same day!
Actually, there were 2 things I didn't worry about. One was customs, and the second was having my luggage lost. I've flown since
I was a kid and never once had anything lost. There were 2 carousels. One that had my flight number above it, and one that said it
had luggage for a plane from New York. Well duh, I of course stood in front of the one with my flight number on it. The guy that was
sitting next to me had just gotten his bag so I figured mine shouldn't be too much longer. I waited. And waited. I waited until the
carousel stopped. No new bags were being pushed out. I simply thought to myself, "You've GOT to be kidding me!?!" That's what I
needed, to not only be stuck in some friggin airport, in a strange country, alone, but to have nothing but was in my purse. I seriously
just stood there in disbelief of the mess I had gotten myself into. What the hell was I supposed to do now? There was nothing I could
do. I decided that I should at least be looking for Marco while I was standing there. As I was looking at the faces of the few people
that were actually left (none of whom looked like Marco), I happened to glance over at the other luggage carousel, the one labeled
with a flight from New York, and saw my bag on it. Yay! So I grabbed my bag and headed through the only door available.
Once I got through the door, I realized that there was yet another room for another set of customs. Ok, so now the things I had
worried about were slowly being decreased. The plane had not crashed. Lack of nicotine did not force me to kill anyone. I got
through the first set of customs. I found my luggage. And the reason I hadn't seen Marco by the carousels was because all of those
people were from the plane. This gave me a little hope that things would start getting better.
I finished with the second customs agent and then walked to the door that was open at the end of the hallway. The moment I
walked through I looked up and saw Marco standing there. There was no way I could miss him. He was standing about 6 inches
away from the only opening in the roped off area that allowed us to get out. I couldn't believe it. It was finally happening the way it
was supposed to!
I didn't know what to do or say when I saw him looking back at me. All I did was smile, point and him, and mouth his name as I
was walking to get out. He just nodded his head and smiled back. Ok, so I found him, now what? Was I supposed to shake his hand?
Hug him? Kiss him? Hell I didn't know what to do! We had talked about what we would do before I left, but nothing else was going
as planned, so why the hell should this? I think the total shock of actually getting to see each other after all this time was just a tad
overwhelming. We both just said "hello" and left it at that.
He took my bag and we walked over to meet his friend Con who came with him. Now let me just add one sidenote here. This bag I
had, 1 bag, was all I was allowed to take. Not because of airline regulations, but because Marco was freaked out that all his damn
fishing stuff and all my stuff wouldn't fit into his little car on our road trip back to Holland. He said he only had room for me to put
1 bag in his car. Therefore I bought the 1 biggest damn piece of luggage I could find and managed to shove 18 days worth of living
into it. So when he took it from me and his arm was pulled down by the weight, I had to laugh!
We got to the car and made our way back to drop Con off before going to the Bed-n-Breakfast. It had been 10 minutes, and so far
the only words that I had heard come out of Marco's mouth were 'hello' and 'let me take your bag.' Now awkward uncomfortableness
(is that a real word?) was inevitable. I don't care how close we were, it was still a major step we were taking. But I'll be damned if I
was gonna go through pure hell only to get here and have him not speak! Con did a pretty good job of keeping up the conversation
while I just babbled on and on about the string of events that had happened. Marco however, still didn't speak. He just sat there
driving and smiling. My mistake was not asking him open-ended questions. Any time that he responded to anything it was simply
'yes' 'no' 'really?' all with smiles though, which was a good sign.
By this time, I was exhausted. The lack of sleep and tons of stress I had caused myself were catching up with me. I could barely
keep my eyes open. All I wanted to do was get back to the room and sleep for about 3 days! You can imagine my ummm let's call it
surprise, when they told me we weren't dropping Con off at his home, but instead at a pub. And yay, we were going in with him!
(that was sarcasm in case you didn't catch it)
We went into the pub (about 8am by this time) and were the only 3 people there besides the staff. Marco and Con walked over and
sat at the bar. I looked at the barstools, then looked at the booths, and decided that the barstool was a long way to the floor. And as I
was sure to fall asleep any minute, I chose the booth. Marco ordered me a coffee and got one for himself. While he and Con sat at
the bar, drinking their coffee and reading their papers, I sat in the booth thinking to myself, "Just shoot me now!" I couldn't believe
that after all this time, after all the anticipation, after finally meeting, that we were not only not speaking, but not even friggin
sitting together! OhMyGawd, this was gonna be one hell of a long vacation.
After about the longest 30 minutes of my life, Marco looked over and saw that I was just about asleep. He asked me if I was ready
to go. What a silly question. Of course I was! The car ride lasted about 15 minutes, but he was actually starting to talk a little more.
Not much, but at this point anything was better than the silence we had already endured.
When we got to the room, I literally threw my stuff on the floor and fell onto the bed. Ahhh yes, finally I could sleep! I apologized
and told him that I had to sleep, just for a little while. He said, "yes ok." I laid there for a few minutes and heard him tinkering
around with something. I opened my eyes and saw him sitting on the floor in front of a big box. I asked him what he was doing and
he said he was getting his fishing stuff prepared. I just laid there watching him for a few minutes. I couldn't tell if he was just so
intent on what he was doing, or just scared to death to look at me. I still couldn't believe I was in Ireland. I still couldn't believe I
was with Marco. I eventually closed my eyes and was on my way to dreamland.
You know how when you are just about asleep and you are woken by something, that slight feeling of shock that goes through
you? Well, double it and you will have the feeling I had when I was jarred awake by Marco getting into bed. I just laid there with my
eyes closed and tried to go back to sleep. Apparently Marco wasn't tired because now he was ready to talk. hahaha Continue
is your purpose of being in Ireland?" I simply said, "To visit a friend." However, when he asked me, "Where are you staying while
you are here?" I froze. I didn't know! I had no friggin clue! (You can now add in a full fledged panic-attack to go along with my
mini-heartattack) I almost broke into tears. I couldn't take this stress anymore! So, managing not to cry, I just told him that I
honestly didn't know where we were staying, that I hadn't ever asked. That's it, I just knew I was going to some kind of customs jail.
But, he stamped my passport and told me to enjoy my visit. Phew! Well, since I was convinced that I was obviously never going to
find Marco in that crowd of people, all that was left to do was get my luggage, and then go straight to the ticket counter to see if I
could exchange my return ticket for an earlier flight, like later that same day!
Actually, there were 2 things I didn't worry about. One was customs, and the second was having my luggage lost. I've flown since
I was a kid and never once had anything lost. There were 2 carousels. One that had my flight number above it, and one that said it
had luggage for a plane from New York. Well duh, I of course stood in front of the one with my flight number on it. The guy that was
sitting next to me had just gotten his bag so I figured mine shouldn't be too much longer. I waited. And waited. I waited until the
carousel stopped. No new bags were being pushed out. I simply thought to myself, "You've GOT to be kidding me!?!" That's what I
needed, to not only be stuck in some friggin airport, in a strange country, alone, but to have nothing but was in my purse. I seriously
just stood there in disbelief of the mess I had gotten myself into. What the hell was I supposed to do now? There was nothing I could
do. I decided that I should at least be looking for Marco while I was standing there. As I was looking at the faces of the few people
that were actually left (none of whom looked like Marco), I happened to glance over at the other luggage carousel, the one labeled
with a flight from New York, and saw my bag on it. Yay! So I grabbed my bag and headed through the only door available.
Once I got through the door, I realized that there was yet another room for another set of customs. Ok, so now the things I had
worried about were slowly being decreased. The plane had not crashed. Lack of nicotine did not force me to kill anyone. I got
through the first set of customs. I found my luggage. And the reason I hadn't seen Marco by the carousels was because all of those
people were from the plane. This gave me a little hope that things would start getting better.
I finished with the second customs agent and then walked to the door that was open at the end of the hallway. The moment I
walked through I looked up and saw Marco standing there. There was no way I could miss him. He was standing about 6 inches
away from the only opening in the roped off area that allowed us to get out. I couldn't believe it. It was finally happening the way it
was supposed to!
I didn't know what to do or say when I saw him looking back at me. All I did was smile, point and him, and mouth his name as I
was walking to get out. He just nodded his head and smiled back. Ok, so I found him, now what? Was I supposed to shake his hand?
Hug him? Kiss him? Hell I didn't know what to do! We had talked about what we would do before I left, but nothing else was going
as planned, so why the hell should this? I think the total shock of actually getting to see each other after all this time was just a tad
overwhelming. We both just said "hello" and left it at that.
He took my bag and we walked over to meet his friend Con who came with him. Now let me just add one sidenote here. This bag I
had, 1 bag, was all I was allowed to take. Not because of airline regulations, but because Marco was freaked out that all his damn
fishing stuff and all my stuff wouldn't fit into his little car on our road trip back to Holland. He said he only had room for me to put
1 bag in his car. Therefore I bought the 1 biggest damn piece of luggage I could find and managed to shove 18 days worth of living
into it. So when he took it from me and his arm was pulled down by the weight, I had to laugh!
We got to the car and made our way back to drop Con off before going to the Bed-n-Breakfast. It had been 10 minutes, and so far
the only words that I had heard come out of Marco's mouth were 'hello' and 'let me take your bag.' Now awkward uncomfortableness
(is that a real word?) was inevitable. I don't care how close we were, it was still a major step we were taking. But I'll be damned if I
was gonna go through pure hell only to get here and have him not speak! Con did a pretty good job of keeping up the conversation
while I just babbled on and on about the string of events that had happened. Marco however, still didn't speak. He just sat there
driving and smiling. My mistake was not asking him open-ended questions. Any time that he responded to anything it was simply
'yes' 'no' 'really?' all with smiles though, which was a good sign.
By this time, I was exhausted. The lack of sleep and tons of stress I had caused myself were catching up with me. I could barely
keep my eyes open. All I wanted to do was get back to the room and sleep for about 3 days! You can imagine my ummm let's call it
surprise, when they told me we weren't dropping Con off at his home, but instead at a pub. And yay, we were going in with him!
(that was sarcasm in case you didn't catch it)
We went into the pub (about 8am by this time) and were the only 3 people there besides the staff. Marco and Con walked over and
sat at the bar. I looked at the barstools, then looked at the booths, and decided that the barstool was a long way to the floor. And as I
was sure to fall asleep any minute, I chose the booth. Marco ordered me a coffee and got one for himself. While he and Con sat at
the bar, drinking their coffee and reading their papers, I sat in the booth thinking to myself, "Just shoot me now!" I couldn't believe
that after all this time, after all the anticipation, after finally meeting, that we were not only not speaking, but not even friggin
sitting together! OhMyGawd, this was gonna be one hell of a long vacation.
After about the longest 30 minutes of my life, Marco looked over and saw that I was just about asleep. He asked me if I was ready
to go. What a silly question. Of course I was! The car ride lasted about 15 minutes, but he was actually starting to talk a little more.
Not much, but at this point anything was better than the silence we had already endured.
When we got to the room, I literally threw my stuff on the floor and fell onto the bed. Ahhh yes, finally I could sleep! I apologized
and told him that I had to sleep, just for a little while. He said, "yes ok." I laid there for a few minutes and heard him tinkering
around with something. I opened my eyes and saw him sitting on the floor in front of a big box. I asked him what he was doing and
he said he was getting his fishing stuff prepared. I just laid there watching him for a few minutes. I couldn't tell if he was just so
intent on what he was doing, or just scared to death to look at me. I still couldn't believe I was in Ireland. I still couldn't believe I
was with Marco. I eventually closed my eyes and was on my way to dreamland.
You know how when you are just about asleep and you are woken by something, that slight feeling of shock that goes through
you? Well, double it and you will have the feeling I had when I was jarred awake by Marco getting into bed. I just laid there with my
eyes closed and tried to go back to sleep. Apparently Marco wasn't tired because now he was ready to talk. hahaha Continue
