DUBLIN!!!

Posted by Where in the world is Rachel... , Saturday, July 17, 2010 6:44 PM

When I got to Dublin, I headed straight to my hostel. This was going to be my first hostel experience so I was a bit nervous. I get to the hostel and find it to be very clean actually. When I get to my room, I find a few other girls already asleep, so I try my hardest to be as quiet as possible. I find my bed and settle in. It was Saturday night so I looked up where the church was and planned on how I was going to get there.


Sunday morning I woke up and asked the hostel workers what was the fastest/cheapest way to get to the church. They all told me to go to Parnell street and take any of the 40 buses. So I headed out to find Parnell Street. Well, i found Parnell Street but I guess I went the wrong way because I didn't find any buses. After a while I got tired of walking around and just hailed a cab. I finally made it to church, about 40 minutes early, but I didn't care! I was SOOO excited to be HOME!! The moment I walked into the building I felt relieved to be around well...family! Any feeling of homesickness had gone away and I just felt safe.

I sat in thelobby for a while and everyone was very friendly. Everyone was introducing themselves to me and figuring out what I was doing in Dublin all by myself!! :) After a while, a
big group of girls comes in and it turns out they were there on a study abroad from BYU! To my surprise one of the girls recognized me!! It was a friend from the Rock Hill ward in Stafford Virginia!! It was really funny to run into someone I knew in Dublin!!

After church, I tried to get together with some other girls from BYU who weren't on the study abroad, but it was clear they had no idea what they were going to do so I decided to go out and do my own thing. I headed down to the center of Dublin. I went to Temple bar and walked around Grafton Street. I also found the cathedral and this beautiful...PARK!!!

Dublin was actually a very nice city I found out. Later that night I decided to head to the Hard Rock cafe. Argentina was playing Mexico in the World cup so I watched some of the match and then headed back to the hostel. Argentina dominated Mexico!! I was proud to be half Argentine that night! Shortly after the match I headed to bed. I got to know some of the girls in my room at the hostel, but again some of the girls were asleep when I got into the room.

The next day was my last day in Dublin so I tried to see everything I could! I finally made it to the blasted Castle I spent most of Sunday looking for. I walked up and down the riverbank and then headed to the Guinness factory as well. After seeing more sights, I headed to the airport to go back to England to meet up with Juliana!

My flight got into Stansted pretty late and then I got to this random kind of creepy in the middle of nowhere lodge. It was a nice room but it was still in the middle of nowhere...kind of reminded me of a Bates Motel sort of thing. At about 1am Juliana finally made it to the hotel!! I was so excited to finally be with someone again!! A few hours later we woke up and headed to the airport to catch our flight to Milan.

That was NOT a fun day. We almost missed our flight because the cab didn't come get us from the lodge early enough! We were running and some English kid was rude to us...not a pleasant way to start the morning!! Even after a rough start, we ended up getting to Milan and meeting the nicest people ever!!!

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Giant's Causeway/Derry

Posted by Where in the world is Rachel... , 6:34 PM


On the 26th, I did the 2nd touristy thing of my entire trip. I hoped on a tour bus and headed to the Giant's Causeway. I didn't care much because I had always wanted to see the Giant's Causeway and this was pretty much the most effective way to get there. On the bus I met a few students from Seattle University who were doing an internship program down in Dublin and took a long weekend to visit Belfast.


The tour bus stopped at Carrick-a-rede rope bridge. It was pretty cool to see but I wasn't about to pay 5euro to cross it, I mean it wasn't THAT cool. It was an amazing view though!! I enjoyed getting off the bus and seeing a beautiful landscape.

After the rope bridge we took the short drive up to the Giant's Causeway. The causeway is a bunch of volcanic rocks that were formed into nearly perfect hexagons. There are some that are pentagons and squares or have even more sides. I have seen tons of pictures of the Causeway and never imagined I would be sitting there so soon!!

I felt very fortunate to have the opportunity to see a world wonder (if not by anyone else's standard but my own). It was bit chilly but that's what the raincoat is for!!!

After we left the Causeway we headed to Derry. Derry was a very nice little city. I could've taken a guided walking tour of Derry but I decided to break away from the crowd and go on a walk around town alone. I ended up finding this very picturesque park above the cathedral. For some reason I LOVE finding parks!! I find it gives me more time to think and ponder on what I really want out of life.

Once we left Derry we headed back to Belfast. I was originally supposed to take a different bus down to Dublin that night but apparently the tour bus was heading down anyway so I just stayed on the bus. I arrived in Dublin around 9:30pm. Luckily, it was still pretty light outside!

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Belfast, Ireland!

Posted by Where in the world is Rachel... , 6:27 PM

On the 25th, I arrived in Belfast pretty early in the morning. I decided to make most of my time since I was only going to be there for a day. I got on a tour bus and did one of two touristy things of my entire trip. I went around Belfast and saw all the amazing murals around the city. I saw where the Titanic was built and tons of other historic sties in Belfast.


After that I decided to go to the grocery store and buy some essentials...bread, yogurt and cheese. I headed down to city hall where apparently everyone eats their lunch. I just sat down and made my little sandwich and enjoyed the crisp air. After a while I decided to text my host in Belfast. It was my first time couchsurfing!! My host texted me back with very detailed directions on how to get to the house! After a very scenic and long walk, I made it to the house!! It was a very nice house and my host was very kind and generous. I was completely exhausted from getting little sleep the night before, so I took a nap and when I woke up my host had made some pasta for us to share! I was VERY grateful!

Later on I decided to take a walk around Queen's College which was right across the river. It was a beautiful campus and the botanical gardens were gorgeous as well. I enjoyed having the time to reflect on my travels so far. I'm not going to lie though, I did start to feel a little homesick while in Belfast. It was hard not having anyone there to talk to or to just have around. I was actually very excited for the following day when I was heading up to the Giant's Causeway on a tour group.

Regardless of me feeling lonely or not, I really did like Belfast. It was a nice little city. Not to big, not to small. The people seemed fairly nice as well. Apparently it was ranked the safest city in the world a couple of years ago!

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England!

Posted by Where in the world is Rachel... , 6:17 PM

Sorry!!! Apparently I can't update my blog using my Blackberry? I don't know, all I know is that I would get to this point and it wouldn't let me type in the "compose" box.


Anyways, after I left Iceland, which was a beautiful place even if I was only there for a few hours, I headed to good ole' England! I landed at Heathrow airport in London around 8:30pm. Immigration was having a field day with me since I bought a one way ticket to London. I was afraid they weren't going to let me into the country!! Finally I made it through immigration and headed to the tube station. I get on Picadilly line and head to Liverpool Street station. Apparently earlier in the day there was a signal problem so ALL the trains were running behind. It took me over an hour to get to Liverpool Street station!! I finally get to the right station and board my train to Chelmsford! I get into Chelmsford around 11:30pm/12am. Andria Deighton was kind enough to meet me at the train station! We head back to the house and I catch up with the folks for a little while. I was completely exhausted from traveling so I went straight to bed. I don't think I woke up until well past noon the next morning.

Once I woke up, I went and picked up Alexia with Andria from school and walked her home. More like Alexia walked ME home since I had NO idea how to actually get back to the house. Later that night I went to the Bon Jovi concert with Andria. She was able to score FREE TICKETS!!! Wimbeldon AND the World Cup were going on at the same time so no one was buying tickets to this concert...or to anything really, so they were giving tickets away!!! Kid Rock was the opening act...so naturally we got dinner during his performance and showed up in time for Bon Jovi.

It was a really good concert!! We knew some of the songs and some of the songs we didn't recognize at all but over all it was great!! We headed back home and were completely tired again. I was still a bit jet lagged so I watched a movie and then went to bed. The next day I hung out with the family again. I love visiting the Deighton family!! I will have to do it more often! I miss the kids a ton!!!

On June 25th, I headed to the airport bright and early! I had an early flight to Belfast, Ireland!!!

I loved spending time in England and I was glad I started my traveling with familiar faces and in a familiar place. It was like going home again just for a few days. Thanks to the Deighton family for letting me stay at the house, and especially thanks to little Elena for letting me stay in her room!! I love you kids!!!

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iceland

Posted by Where in the world is Rachel... , Friday, June 25, 2010 1:17 PM


So I discovered my phone doesn't let me write in the actual posting part of the blog so sorry this has said nothing for a while.

Anyways, where to begin!! I only have a few minutes so a quick story.
I went to New York and hung out with family for a few days. It was so much fun AND my cousin Joann got ENGAGED while I was there!!!

Joann and Lorraine drove me to the airport on Monday night and it was sad and scary for me because I was going to be alone for a while. Once I got to Iceland I took the bus into town. I got into town around 8am, the town doesn't wake up until about 10am. It was nice seeing the city quiet though. I walked around alone for a while. It was a bit chilly but it was a beautiful city. I would basically locate an attraction and then just figure out how to get there!! :) I really did love the quietness in Reykjavik. It was a very peaceful place and even when it did wake up there wasn't much hussle and bussle. I would very much like to visit Iceland again, but for more than just a few hours when I'm completely tired!


Anyway, my internet time is about up but if you want to see pictures go to my facebook page!! :) haha I have uploaded a few pictures from my phone!!

I miss everyone and I LOVE getting emails!!! Send me an email to keep me from getting to lonely!!
rmarquez2188@gmail.com

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Wrapping up Peru!

Posted by Where in the world is Rachel... , Friday, June 11, 2010 11:38 PM

After spending an amazing day at Machu Picchu, we headed back to Cusco for the night. The bus ride/ train ride/ bus ride back to Cusco took FOREVER and was very uncomfortable. There was considerable damage done to the railroads in between Aguas Calientes and Cusco during the mudslides earlier this year, so there isn't a train that goes directly from Aguas Calientes to Cusco, hence all the bus rides! Once we got to Cusco we went straight to the showers and to bed. We woke up really early the next morning and said bye to Sean and Joann. They headed back to Lima and were heading back to the States on Sunday. My family and I hoped on a bus and headed to Lake Titicaca in Puno, Peru. It was an EXTREMELY long bus ride. It was only really a 6 hour bus ride but we broke it up by having 5 different stops at different ruins and for lunch.

Lake Titicaca is higher than Cusco but about 1,000 feet, the altitude finally hit me when we got to Puno. No amount of coca tea or coca candy was going to help me this time. My family went out to dinner but I stayed in the hotel and slept. Sleeping helped a little bit but I still felt awful. My dad bought me Sorochi pills which help altitude sickness. Let's just say that after that night I started acclimating and felt much better by the morning.

The next day we took a tour on Lake Titicaca. We went to Los Uros, the floating islands. It was amazing how these people first of all MADE this islands from the roots of the reeds on the lake but they also lived on these islands. They even had electricity through solar panels. They had TV, radio, phone...pretty much everything! The people that lived on these islands were incredibly humble and loving. I fell in love with the little kids.
The little girls sold me a picture they drew
and colored at school. I paid 2 soles for the drawing... in any other circumstance I would've bargained done to probably 10 centimos for it but the girls were so cute I just wanted to give them whatever they asked for!!

Once we left Los Uros we went to an island in the middle of the lake called Taquile.
It was a beautiful island. We went there to have some lunch. It was an amazing view and a good lunch. The view was absolutely perfect!! After lunch we headed back to Puno.
I was still feeling a little under the weather so I didn't go out to eat again. My dad did bring pollo a la brasa... rotisserie chicken. The next day we were on our way back to Lima. It was amazing how much better I felt once I got back to sea level. Other than the fact that I was suffocating from the pollution in Lima, I felt tons better!

Back in Lima we take a tour of where my mom grew up!! We go to her elementary school and
even go into her old house.
It was cool to see where my mom grew up and see the things that my grandpa made were still there. That night we went out to dinner with my Tio Duilio and Mila. The next morning we headed back to the airport and headed for New York. Overall, it was a very tiring vacation with a lot of traveling from place to place, but it was awesome! Machu Picchu was an amazing experience and so was Lake Titicaca. I loved seeing where my mom grew up and getting to know my Tio better. I look forward to going back soon!!!

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Machu Picchu!

Posted by Where in the world is Rachel... , Thursday, June 3, 2010 2:36 PM


After a long day of touring Cusco and another long day of touring the Sacred Valley,we all hopped on a train to Aguas Calientes, which is where Machu Picchu is located. We went to bed probably around midnight and woke up at 3am. We woke up at 3am so we could walk down to the bus stop. Yes, we just went to the bus stop and waited until 5:30am for the first bus up to Machu Picchu. We woke up that early so we would guarantee one of 400 daily spots to hike up to WaynaPicchu which is the big tall Mountain that is the most recognizable structure of Macchu Picchu. We started a guided tour of Machu Picchu at 6:30am and ended around 9am. Afterwards me, my dad, my sister, Joann, Sean and our new friend Holly all started the steep hike up to the top of WaynaPichu. It was a steep hike and different in some parts but it was well worth it. The view and serenity from the top was like nothing else I have ever experienced. It took us an hour and 10 minutes to get up there. We relaxed once we reached the top and then hiked down in about an hour. The entire day was filled with breathtaking views! Tonight we are all heading back to Cusco where we will part our ways tomorrow. My cousin Joann and her boyfriend Sean are returning to Lima and will be leaving for New York on Saturday. My family and I will be taking a long busride from Cusco to Puno, where Lake Titicaca is located. We will spend all of Saturday there and return to Lima on Sunday afternoon. We come back to the states on Tuesday, June 8th and then drive back to Virginia on the 9th!! I will be visiting the Health Department on June 10th to get anymore vaccinations I need before my travels on June 21st!! I will update again when I can to finish my Peru adventures!!!

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