No, I haven't forgotten my blog. It may seem that way, but it's been a busy couple of months! I went to Yellowstone for a weekend with Kelsey and Meghan (which was rudely interrupted by the arrival of President Obama...nothing like road blocks and cancelled tours to make the trip a downer...) and have been working my tail off at the Sheriff's Office and Sam's Club. But, that's not that thrilling to talk about.
I guess I'll start by discussing my upcoming vacations...yep, that's plural. Apparently I've decided to rack up quite a few frequent flyer miles this year, and have another three trips before the end of the year. (I should note that I'm flying on six different airlines...I don't want to be too partial to any one!)
Trip #1: RENO
So I'm sure everyone knows of my everlasting fanaticism towards Rob Thomas, lead singer of matchbox twenty...heck, I wore a cast for a week just for a chance to meet the guy! He released another solo cd back in June, and made plans to go out on tour this fall. Unfortunately, his tour was not scheduled to come to the thriving city of Boise, so I had to venture out a bit to see him. The closest place within driving distance was Reno, NV, which is a mere 7 hour drive. Not ideal, but it sounded like fun. Two of my friends, Kelsey and Meghan, decided to tag along, and so we've made plans to embark on a girl's trip. We booked a room at the Peppermill in the luxurious Tuscany Tower, and after some deliberation, have decided to fly to Reno. (The hour flight is much more appealing than a 7 hour drive...) We'll be in Reno from Friday, October 16th through Sunday, October 18th, and we're stoked to see Rob Thomas! (Okay, I'm really the only one that is super excited.)
Trip #2: Phoenix/Mesa
Several months ago, my friend Whitney announced her engagement and began planning an October wedding in Scottsdale. As one of my few high school friends, I was excited for her and agreed to do my best to try to come to the wedding. So, she sent me the date and I started scouring the web for a cheap flight. US Airways went to battle with Southwest in a huge fares war, and I managed to book a direct flight for $140 roundtrip. (This is a FANTASTIC deal; it's usually about $230+ to fly from BOI-PHX.) So, I booked my non-refundable flight and spread the news that I was coming back to town. Unfortunately, a couple months ago, Whitney sent me a message stating that the wedding was rescheduled for next June...so it's now just a social visit to see friends and family, and I'll be making another trip to Phoenix again next June. I'm excited to see my grandma and aunt, as well as some of my old friends in the valley. I'll be down there from Thursday, October 22nd through Monday, October 26th.
And trip #3: New York, Ireland, London and Paris
I know, this is a huge trip for me. I've always wanted to go to Europe, but no one really seemed interested in going...that is, until I found a deal for airfare, 6 nights hotel and rental car to Ireland for less than $700 per person from NYC. Yep, you read that correctly...6 nights. So, I begged my parents and coerced Meghan into going with me! It's going to be a whirlwind trip. Here's the lowdown: Meghan and I will fly from Boise to Los Angeles on Alaska Airlines on the night of Monday, December 7th. We arrive at LAX, will have to leave security to check our bags with our next flight on Virgin America Airlines (since Alaska Airlines doesn't transfer them for us), and go back through security. We're taking the red eye flight from LAX to JFK on one of Virgin's awesome moodlight planes. (You've gotta check out their website at http://www.virginamerica.com/ to look at the planes...so sweet!) It's a redeye flight, so we'll arrive in New York at about 6am on Tuesday, December 8th. We'll meet up with my parents there, spend the day sightseeing and stay overnight in the city that night. Then, we fly from JFK to Paris (CDG airport) on an Air France redeye flight that leaves New York at 4:50pm...arriving in Paris around 6am. We have a couple hours layover there, and then fly from CDG to Shannon, Ireland, arriving there around 12:15pm. We'll pick up a rental car from the airport, and make our way to the Adare Manor, which is the awesome hotel/castle that we're staying at. (However, we're not staying in the main manor; we have a 3 bedroom villa home on the resort.) You can check out the hotel at http://www.adaremanor.com/. We're planning to tour around to see the Cliffs of Mohr, the Waterford Crystal factory, Dublin and all over the country. I don't think we'll venture towards Northern Ireland though...still a bit unsettled up that way. At this point, we're also planning a day trip to London. There's an airline in Europe called Ryanair that offers ridiculously cheap flights to neighboring countries. Flights from Shannon to London are about $20 USD roundtrip...yes, I said roundtrip. It's unbelievable. Strangely enough, it'll cost more to take a train from the airport into downtown London than it costs to fly there. But, I'm thinking that a double-decker bus tour would be a nice way to see the attractions in our short amount of time, so that we can at least say that we've been there. Then, back to Ireland. We leave Ireland on the morning of Wednesday, December 16th, and connect through Paris, where we have a 7.5 hour layover. I think we're planning on taking the subway into the city, then trying to see at least the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, Arc de Triomph and maybe the Mona Lisa at the Louvre, if time permits. Then we'll be taking off from Paris and flying back to JFK, where we arrive at 7:05pm. We will stay at a hotel near the airport before flying back to Boise on Delta Airlines on my birthday, December 17th. Our flight gets back into Boise around 1:40pm that day, so we'll have some time to rest. I'm actually going to work on Friday, December 18th...jetlagged and all!
That's pretty much the latest news here! More later...with pictures from my trips!
