Mexico, Dublin, and London

So I have been SLACKING with my blog. I am sorry. I took a break during my vacation because hey, it is vacation. Mexico was great. Warm weather and sun; I did get a tan, but it doesn’t even matter because no one can see it!! >:( One day my bro and I went to a cenote for an adventure day. A cenote is a cave with beautiful, clear water inside. We took a 20 minute bumpy jungle ride into the adventure park, and we did all sorts of zip lines and things and ended with snorkeling in a cenote. It was beautiful, and I think it was Wyatt’s favorite thing. Mexico was very relaxing. I was so jet lagged and messed up, so I went to bed at 10pm and woke up at 6am every day, usually taking a nap before dinner time. Idk why I was so messed up. It was great seeing my mom and brother, and I just needed that family time. Mexico will forever be a good memory <3

Then to my travels back to Paris…. GAH. Mexico to New York was uneventful. I got a fried rice meal at the airport while waiting for my next flight, and I also called my dad and Amanda to kill time and to use my phone! But Jerome had warned me that it was snowing in Paris, so I may have problems. I was worried, but didn’t think it could affect me that much because I was arriving the next day from the snow, but I was wrong. When I boarded the plane, the pilot said that 40 planes were in front of us to take off, so we had to wait 40 mins inside the plane before we could leave (I wish we could have waited in the airport for this!). Just adding extra time on that 8 hour flight.

The flight was as good as a transatlantic flight can be, and then we finally landed, and Paris was a white wonderland. I was ready to be OUT of the plane, but the next blunder came along. The airport people had to clear out the ice from our walk path to the bus (because we didn’t exit the plane through those tunnel things as usual), and this took like an hour for some unknown reason! I was livid just waiting waiting waiting. I then got through customs easy peasy, but getting my checked bag was an ordeal. There were TV’s saying which number conveyer belt to go to for your flight, but they never put NYC on there, so I waited like 30 minutes until I found someone on my flight and asked what the deal was. He said he thought there weren’t any of our bags left to take, so I had been waiting for no reason, and my bag was available the whole time. I got it easy enough, and then I eventually found the RER to get into Paris.

The RER screen said it would arrive in two minutes, which ended up being like 15. Then we got on the RER, and it finally left 15 minutes later. I was crammed into a corner standing the whole time because it was overcrowded since the line was operating properly. We waited a good 15 mins in the middle of two stops, so it was just effed up!! I finally got to my stop to catch a bus to Jerome’s to discover the bus wasn’t running that day. I was finally in Paris, and snow was everywhere, so it made sense. I was dead at this point and hailed a cab for the rest of the way, but I was close so it was 10 euros.

I finally made it to Jerome’s and just had a day in his apartment of resting basically. It was great reuniting! Our trip to Dublin was the next morning, and I was in no mood for travel again, but I went and had a BLAST!

Dublin was great. After 36 hours of being awake and getting 5 hours of sleep, I was up bright and early for our travels to Dublin. We took Ryan Air to Dublin, which uses an airport way outside Paris, so we took a 1.5 hour bus there, but it was relaxing just watching the scenery. Nothing exciting at the airport or plane ride; it was like an hour ride, so very quick. But we were finally here in Dublin!!

It was invigorating being in an English speaking country with everything in English. I loved it. Dublin was a spread out city, so it reminded me of an American city because you needed a car to get around. Anyways we took a bus in the city center and got an Irish breakfast, which consisted of baked beans, mushrooms, a potato cake, fried egg, ham, sausage, and black and white pudding. I tried the pudding, but the thought of it was just so weird for me! I couldn’t finish it.

We met Jerome’s cousin and her boyfriend, whose stay was unexpectedly longer, and they were really nice and went to the zoo with us—the largest zoo in Europe. It was great! We then went to Jerome’s brother, Adrien’s, apartment. It was VERY BIG… biggest apt I have ever seen. Adrien eventually came home, and he ended up being the best host. I will overview everything we did, but Adrien drove us everywhere every day. One day, we went to a quaint harbor town and hiked and saw the cliffs. We took a walk along the beach one day in the cold, but it was very pretty.

St. Patties, we went to a parade and then a hurling and Gaelic football game. All cool experiences! We met Adrien’s Irish friends along the way, who were really nice and sometimes hard to understand (especially at the bar that night). That night, we went to one of me and Jerome’s friend’s apts, Romain, who recently moved to Dublin, and I met some French people. We then went out to a bar, and stayed there the whole night because it was so fun! There was enough room to dance and move around, so we were happy.

The next day was our return to Paris, a Monday. We left that evening and got to the airport an hour before as Adrien advised us to. When we got there, we discovered our flight was overbooked, so they offered us a deal to take another flight, but we wanted our flight, but while the guy was finagling getting us on, we debated. We decided what the heck, we will take a free night in a hotel and 250 euros each to take a flight through London the next day. When the guy came back, he had gotten us tickets, which I felt bad about because he probably had to pull a few strings, but he let us take the deal.

So I called my host dad and let him know I would be an extra day late, and we seemed totally fine, so it was all set! Me and Jerome stayed in a hotel, which was so cool because we have never done that together before. We had a king bed, which I found was two twins put together—wth, but whatever. We also got free dinner and breakfast! It was a well-made decision, and I am glad we made it. We flew through London, which added time to our day, but it was worth the price.

So Tuesday night I came back to au pair life. I learned my car still wasn’t ready, so that week was chill. I didn’t do a lot since I couldn’t drive. I got to sleep more too, but I was pretty bored last week. Then on Friday, the dad asked if I could just stay in Paris all day and not come home, which was cool! He was having to drive me back and forth to the train station, which was annoying for him, so I understood totally. More freedom for me! So I just saw Jerome and worked on my school applications with him, and that night I was off to LONDON to see my godmother, Vickie, and her daughter, Lindsey.

London was so great! I know I have been on travels galore, but I like it that way. I needed to have London to have something to look forward too after the vacation crash and beginning au pair life again. So anyway, I took the Eurostar to London and got there at 10pm or so. I took a cab to the hotel and waited in the hotel bar until they got back from a show. They came like 15 minutes after I got back, and we just chatted at the bar until bed time.

The next day, it was snowing, so we went to Harrod’s, which was a crazy shopping experience. It was so crowded! We bought all sorts of souvenirs, food, clothes, and then fro yo! I was wiped out afterwards. We got back to the hotel and watched Men in Black 3, and I napped through most of it. We had a nice dinner that night right near the hotel. The next day was my last day, and I was leaving at 2:30pm, but we squeezed in Madame Tussauds, a wax museum. I never went last time I was in London, so I was all for it. They had everyone from Morgan Freeman, Justin Bieber, to Ghandi. It was really cool! I then was on my train back to Paris. It was a quick trip, but I really enjoyed it especially seeing more of my family!!

And then I asked if I could stay in Paris Sunday night since I still don’t have my car, and the dad said yes, so I got like a 4 day weekend. I could get used to this! Me, Jerome, Vincent, and his gf had a picnic at Parc de Belleville this afternoon because it was very nice and sunny.

So that’s been my life for the last few weeks. I have no travels plans for two weeks, then I go to Lyon, then another two weeks, and it is the next VACA (and last).

I am not proof reading this, so I am sorry for the typos!