Car rental drama

You know, Ireland has been as gracious and as kind and welcoming as London..except for the car rental system. Seriously, it is now a racket. The bad thing for Ireland is that for many travelers the car rental experience is their first and last impression, so if you ever go there, have a heads up on being scammed on your car...and I would recommend going with a big name like Hertz, even if it costs more.

We had an 8 passenger van and no luggage would have fit with that many people. Anyway, when they guys took the van back, the punks (Jay's word) at the Budget counter went out and looked at the car and said they were charging $600 for a new spare since there was not one in the van. There never HAD been one in the van! At one point the Budget guy told Jay to shut up and Jay told him to come over the counter and say that. They threatened to call security....oh the drama. I missed it all, thank goodness. And they all came back in one piece. Jim is going to try to solve it through American Express, but he was frustrated too.

Other highlights? Fish and chips were fabulous everywhere. The open air, local market at Kilmare. The views of rivers and parks and farms and cattle and sheep. Hearing little children speak with Irish accents. All the thousands of redheads. The flute player on the Cliffs of Moher. Seeing school kids head home in their uniforms - no buses or cars; they were just walking.

Donna's cemetaries. That was too funny. She kind of had an eye for doors and cemetaries throughout the trip. The first one, Jay said 'You aren't going to know anyone there.' Duh.... don't think he got the whole idea of the artwork of the headstones and the impact of that on the skyscape. She spotted one abbey ruin by a cemetary and it was rich indeed. We managed a negotiate a stop for that one, but I have no idea what town it was in.

Ali would love it -- they served us little pizzas on the flight from Dublin to Chicago. I got on this plane and was out cold for 6 hours because I stayed up most of the night working on my paper. Some moments I feel good about the test and writing, and other moments I feel hopeless.

Oh well, we are about to land and I am breaking the rules by having my electronic device turned on.

ttfn~slc