Even though we went home early, 
we were dead this morning. Absolutely dead. To avoid paying €25/day to park near the hostel, we had driven the car down near the hospital and parked in a neighborhood, about a 30 minute walk away from our hostel. Brian and I walked this morning to get the car to come back and pick up Diana with all the bags. Problem is, traffic was terrible. And on top of that, what I remember to be a 30 minute walk, was actually a little over an hour. So when we left our hostel at 8 to be back by 9:30 and at the airport by 10 to pick Emily up, we were WAY off. Fortunately, I got a message from Em saying that her plane was delayed and that she wouldn’t be in until closer to noon. Since we actually left the hostel at 8:30, didn’t get to the car until 9:45 and then took an entire hour plus to get back to pick up the luggage (not leaving the hostel until 11:15) it was a damn good thing.
Regardless, we walked into the airport RIGHT when Emily was coming out of the gate and she was none the wiser (until I told her – which I should have lied and said we were waiting for hours).
Back in the car. We’re off to Galway.
The drive was fun and uneventful. The middle of Ireland isn’t exactly the most amazingly beautiful, and in addition we were on a four lane motorway (which I hadn’t seen until then) so there wasn’t much to see. 
We pulled off the main road for about an hour to grab some food in Raheen at the Mill and so Emmy could have her first Guinness in Ireland. We also tried to do some castle chasing, but by the time we got to the castles, Diana and Emily were both asleep. Sad day.
We rolled into Salthill about 5 PM and got ready to go out before taking the car back to the rental hut when it was due at 6 PM. When I tell you that the doors to the Budget office were locked and I literally had to knock the door to get the guys attention so I could give him the keys and NOT incur another day’s worth of charges – WHEW!
From here, we walked down to the Spanish Arch to grab a pre-diner pint and say hello to my good friend Aidan. We had dinner at the Front Door and then went pub hopping in hope of finding some good trad session music. We went to Neachtains, Massimos, Taaffes and finally ended up at Kelly’s for lack of other options. Naturally, when we left Kelly’s around 3:30, we headed to get late night Cheese and Bacon Fries and home to rest up for the amazingly GIGANTIC St. Patrick’s Day festival we have planned for tomorrow.
WOO ST. PATRICK’S DAY!!!!!!