Day 6
Today everyone wakes up in a packing frenzy – pack all our bags to go to Ireland. Quick breakfast and we all lug our bags dowstairs and pack the bus. We’re all exhausted because we stayed up way too late packing, so once the bus starts moving, most of us fall asleep. The plan is to drive to Glasgow to take the flight to Shannon, Ireland. Everyone sleeps on the bus and we wake up at an airport, but it’s the wrong one. Personally, I was thankful because it gave us more time to sleep on the bus. Once we got to the correct airport (probably after 1.5 hrs) we unpacked our lighter bags and left the heavier ones in the bus so they could drive them to Ireland (taking a ferry I guess). The airport had this really odd marketing campaign of “Pure Dead Brilliant!” which is not something I would think to link to an airport. Checking in was a bit of a nightmare because this was when they would weigh our bags and we’d have to pay if we went over the weight limit. We were at the check-in line taking stuff out, putting it into other people’s bags, relaying the messages that so-and-so had 2 more kilos to spare if anyone wanted it. There was also the additional trouble of weighing our carry on that couldn’t be over 10 kilos and should be only in 1 bag. We were all wearing our heaviest shoes along with our polo, our fleece and our big heavy jacket because they wouldn’t weigh what you had on. Needless to say we were all sweaty and overheating.
We had a few minutes so I got some Earl Grey tea and a chocolate croissant (which was another highlight of the trip) and we went through the lax security where none of us had to take off our metal or our shoes or even take out our laptops. Europe could stand to beef up their flight security. The seats are not assigned and we walk out to the plane and board from the back. It was under an hour flight and we were in Shannon before you could blink. Supposedly the flight only costs 10 or 15 pounds or something ridiculously cheap like that. Anyway, we get our luggage and board another bus which takes us to our swanky hotel. The rooms are awesome and the place is classy. We find out that we have the same roomies (Roomies!!!!) and I explain to Tina and Kate Cox that it’s hard for me to sleep with other people because I’m a light sleeper and they are so awesome to give me the single bed (accepting to share the double. There are 3 to a room here and I actually like the layout of the rooms of HMS Caledonia better – more drawer space, better common areas, you can leave your door open, etc. I have to say that nice beds, maid service, and clean towels are really nice though…
The morning was spent traveling and after we get our rooms and drop off our stuff, they have sandwiches for us in the pub. We’re all starving because we haven’t eaten since breakfast (most of us had chips and/or a bar) and this was perfect because the pub was playing rugby on TV (the Heineken Cup) so we got to watch some before out pool recovery with Carrone. That was fun because we basically just stretched and swam a few laps and loosened up. For whatever reason, we’re all pretty tired and it was good to get the blood flowing again. We quickly get ready for dinner in our jeans and polos and we enter a room that is beautifully set and an even more beautiful buffet (yet another highlight of the trip). The salad had different types of lettuce and feta cheese and a tasty dressing. Baby shrimp and smoked salmon as appetizers, with the main course of chicken, lasagne, steamed veggies, and lo-mein. Dessert was apple crumble with custard (seems like a traditional desert) and all of it was delicious.
After dinner we watched the Scotland match from Saturday after some struggling to hook up the video camera to the computer to the projector, we got it working and watched the match. I was looking up support from Apple (Kathy has a PowerBook) and the Canon manual for her Elura 90 but nothing really gave us the answers we needed. Finally, she played it through iMovie and we just had to turn everything on and off a few times. I jokingly asked if we needed to expand our staff to include tech support so we can watch games while we’re on tour ☺
It’s really good to watch tapes because you can see so many different things and improve your game. Kathy and Candi didn’t say much during the game, so I think it was more for us to watch for ourselves. After the tape, Kathy and I were talking and she stressed the importance of both Claudia and I become more of an offensive threat by running or kicking or supporting a break because it’s important to have all 15 as attackers. That and commanding my fwds when I need better ball are 2 of the things that she mentioned specifically to work on for the Ireland match. After dinner, we went our separate ways to our own rooms and there were rugby highlights from the Heineken Cup on TV so we watched that for a while. It’s amazing that there’s rugby all around us over here but it’s so rare to see in the US. I can only imagine how much better we would be if we got to watch it growing up.
There’s free wireless in our swanky hotel, so Cox and Ashley (English) used my computer to check their mail. There was an awesome package from Laker waiting for Annie and we opened it to find a bunch of decorated and personalized carepackages from our NY teammates. They were such a great reminder of why our NY teammates rocks – so much love and support, with people thinking about you and going out of their way to make you feel good. There were handwarmers, crossword puzzles, a picture of the NRU team, almond and M&M mix, powerbars, etc. It was truly above and beyond and we were all so thankful to have such awesome teammates.
Now it’s time to go to sleep – not bad, only 11:30. Wake up call for 7:10 so I better get some sleep for our 2 sessions tomorrow.
Today everyone wakes up in a packing frenzy – pack all our bags to go to Ireland. Quick breakfast and we all lug our bags dowstairs and pack the bus. We’re all exhausted because we stayed up way too late packing, so once the bus starts moving, most of us fall asleep. The plan is to drive to Glasgow to take the flight to Shannon, Ireland. Everyone sleeps on the bus and we wake up at an airport, but it’s the wrong one. Personally, I was thankful because it gave us more time to sleep on the bus. Once we got to the correct airport (probably after 1.5 hrs) we unpacked our lighter bags and left the heavier ones in the bus so they could drive them to Ireland (taking a ferry I guess). The airport had this really odd marketing campaign of “Pure Dead Brilliant!” which is not something I would think to link to an airport. Checking in was a bit of a nightmare because this was when they would weigh our bags and we’d have to pay if we went over the weight limit. We were at the check-in line taking stuff out, putting it into other people’s bags, relaying the messages that so-and-so had 2 more kilos to spare if anyone wanted it. There was also the additional trouble of weighing our carry on that couldn’t be over 10 kilos and should be only in 1 bag. We were all wearing our heaviest shoes along with our polo, our fleece and our big heavy jacket because they wouldn’t weigh what you had on. Needless to say we were all sweaty and overheating.
We had a few minutes so I got some Earl Grey tea and a chocolate croissant (which was another highlight of the trip) and we went through the lax security where none of us had to take off our metal or our shoes or even take out our laptops. Europe could stand to beef up their flight security. The seats are not assigned and we walk out to the plane and board from the back. It was under an hour flight and we were in Shannon before you could blink. Supposedly the flight only costs 10 or 15 pounds or something ridiculously cheap like that. Anyway, we get our luggage and board another bus which takes us to our swanky hotel. The rooms are awesome and the place is classy. We find out that we have the same roomies (Roomies!!!!) and I explain to Tina and Kate Cox that it’s hard for me to sleep with other people because I’m a light sleeper and they are so awesome to give me the single bed (accepting to share the double. There are 3 to a room here and I actually like the layout of the rooms of HMS Caledonia better – more drawer space, better common areas, you can leave your door open, etc. I have to say that nice beds, maid service, and clean towels are really nice though…
The morning was spent traveling and after we get our rooms and drop off our stuff, they have sandwiches for us in the pub. We’re all starving because we haven’t eaten since breakfast (most of us had chips and/or a bar) and this was perfect because the pub was playing rugby on TV (the Heineken Cup) so we got to watch some before out pool recovery with Carrone. That was fun because we basically just stretched and swam a few laps and loosened up. For whatever reason, we’re all pretty tired and it was good to get the blood flowing again. We quickly get ready for dinner in our jeans and polos and we enter a room that is beautifully set and an even more beautiful buffet (yet another highlight of the trip). The salad had different types of lettuce and feta cheese and a tasty dressing. Baby shrimp and smoked salmon as appetizers, with the main course of chicken, lasagne, steamed veggies, and lo-mein. Dessert was apple crumble with custard (seems like a traditional desert) and all of it was delicious.
After dinner we watched the Scotland match from Saturday after some struggling to hook up the video camera to the computer to the projector, we got it working and watched the match. I was looking up support from Apple (Kathy has a PowerBook) and the Canon manual for her Elura 90 but nothing really gave us the answers we needed. Finally, she played it through iMovie and we just had to turn everything on and off a few times. I jokingly asked if we needed to expand our staff to include tech support so we can watch games while we’re on tour ☺
It’s really good to watch tapes because you can see so many different things and improve your game. Kathy and Candi didn’t say much during the game, so I think it was more for us to watch for ourselves. After the tape, Kathy and I were talking and she stressed the importance of both Claudia and I become more of an offensive threat by running or kicking or supporting a break because it’s important to have all 15 as attackers. That and commanding my fwds when I need better ball are 2 of the things that she mentioned specifically to work on for the Ireland match. After dinner, we went our separate ways to our own rooms and there were rugby highlights from the Heineken Cup on TV so we watched that for a while. It’s amazing that there’s rugby all around us over here but it’s so rare to see in the US. I can only imagine how much better we would be if we got to watch it growing up.
There’s free wireless in our swanky hotel, so Cox and Ashley (English) used my computer to check their mail. There was an awesome package from Laker waiting for Annie and we opened it to find a bunch of decorated and personalized carepackages from our NY teammates. They were such a great reminder of why our NY teammates rocks – so much love and support, with people thinking about you and going out of their way to make you feel good. There were handwarmers, crossword puzzles, a picture of the NRU team, almond and M&M mix, powerbars, etc. It was truly above and beyond and we were all so thankful to have such awesome teammates.
Now it’s time to go to sleep – not bad, only 11:30. Wake up call for 7:10 so I better get some sleep for our 2 sessions tomorrow.
posted by Lee Knight at 8:24 PM
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