Only Hours Away

I board my train to Chicago in roughly 18hrs!! I'm still packing, per usual, but I just have to get the clothes together. However I do need to go to Best Buy and return the wireless remote because the "knowledgeable salesman" told me it would work for my camera and it doesn't. He wasn't very helpful in the first place, I went in there looking to buy a camcorder and he just acted like he didn't care. Nor did he even try to sell me anything. It's probably because I have blue hair, he probably thought I was just some punk kid coming in to be lame. Well that's what he gets for stereotyping.

Either way I got to run out and do that, then I need to make copies of my passport and license. I would really like to get some food too, Los Tres Amigos sounds amazing right now!

Time to get crackin'!!

Feeling Accomplished

I was on a mission today!! Woke up and drove to Ann Arbor to do my pottery homework during open studio. It was SO nice, there were only four students there, the quiet and tons of room to work. After that I went to the mall (I HATE THE MALL) to buy some shoes. I just got new shoes two months ago, but those are my custom made roller derby shoes and I needed some everyday shoes. Plus Journeys had Etnies on clearance for $30! Half off!! Yay! I found the travel store and picked up a plug adapter to go from the US outlet to the Irish outlet.

Next stop Wal-Mart. I got all my travel sized stuffs like shampoo, conditioner, toothpaste...etc... All to TSA regulations. And I picked up some snacks and instant oatmeal; I had read on one of the thousands of sites I've been on, to bring some food if you're staying in a hostel because then I'll save money on at least one meal.

Oh I opted out of driving to Lansing today to exchange currency, one: because gas is $3.45/gal. and two: because I already drove to Ann Arbor and didn't want to drive anymore.

Now I'm working on getting everything I need together and packed in my suitcase. Two days!!!!

Note to Self

Exchange money at least three weeks before departure...

I figured I could just stroll into my trusty ol' bank and they'd change my dollars for euros. Nope. My bank doesn't do that and the ONLY bank (or place for that matter) that will exchange currency in town takes a week for the money to come in! So I frantically scoured southern Michigan searching for a place that would do it on the spot and the only one I found was in Lansing. I figure that the Dublin airport would have one, but I'd rather have it already and figured out BEFORE I get over there, so a trip to Lansing is in order tomorrow.

So Much Stuff to Do

There's five days left before I leave and I have SO much stuff to do still, I really should stop being such a procrastinator. I still need to:

• Exchange money into Euros and Pounds
• Pack
• Buy travel size shampoo/condtioner/body wash, etc...
• Make copy of passport
• Make sure all tickets and itinerary is printed

I took Friday off work so I could get all that done, I'm gonna need all the time I can get to pack. OMG so much stuff to bring, but I've got to have room to bring stuff back!

Highlights of my trip that I've scheduled:

1. Photo shoot with Irish model (every vacation I try to find a model to do a photo shoot with, just getting to work with people in different regions is fun).
2. Sitting in on practice with the Dublin Roller Girls!
3. Book signing with Steve McCurry (here's the link to his most famous image).
4. Kissing the Blarney Stone.
5. Seeing the Cliffs of Moher.
6. Seeing the Giants Causeway.

Dublin Zoo

I LOVE to go to zoo's and aquariums and I just looked up the Dublin Zoo. I was going through the list of animals they have there and came across a peacock, except the Irish don't call them peacocks, they're called peafowl. Thought that was an interesting tidbit I'd share with you.

T-Minus Seven Days

I've decided to start a blog to display my photos from various travelings that I'll do over the years. My resolution this year is to at least go on one vacation/trip a year (so it's a life long resolution, but it still counts!)

This year I'm going to Ireland and I leave in seven days. This will be the first time I've ever traveled off the North American continent so I'm really excited/scared/nervous/anxious/pumped/amazed!! I will be taking a train to Chicago and flying out of there (also awesome, I've only ever flew out of Detroit AND I've never been on a real, taking-me-to-another-city train before). My goal is to document my entire trip start to finish, I'll probably have a bajillion photos, but I'm okay with that! I've read SO much about Ireland in the last month I don't think my brain can take in anymore. On the other hand I have a TON of stuff to do before I leave, mainly go exchange some money at the bank and pack but I'm a procrastinator :)