Team Ireland Gathering at Dublin Airport
Jul18Written by:
18/07/2011 15:58 
Here it was - the final day had come for me before heading off to Athens. It was a nice wet Sunday morning here in letterkenny and had been a crazy weekend as the Donegal rally was on and there had been so many people up for it. Hughie & I met up with some other families at St Conal's Church, got a few photos taken and said our goodbyes.
Emma & Francis drove us to Dublin on their big white bus (we're really grateful to them for doing this) and we picked up the rest of the Donegal lads in Lifford. We got into the Louis Fitzgerald Hotel in Dublin some time after 5.30pm. There was a huge crowd of families and friends there to say goodbye to each other as tomorrow was the start of our big Greek adventure. We checked into our rooms and me and Hughie were sharing. I knew from this day that for the next 2 weeks he and I would be bunking together and I really must get some earplugs before we left home as he can really snore badly
The team football team met up and got our dog tags and other stuff off Paul, our FAI coach, to put on our bags and our ID cards too. After that a great friend of mine, Henry, came in to see me. He wanted to wish me the best of luck and told me to bring home the gold. It was really nice to see him. Then we headed down for our last supper in Ireland and after our dinner we got our bags shorted out and weighed. I didn’t really sleep that much as the room was warm and was like being in an oven being cooked like a turkey. I just listened to some music and watched a movie and then after 4am got myself ready and then got Hughie sorted.
There was a great buzz that morning in the hotel and most of us were really looking forward to this big trip and to see what Rhodes was going to be like.
We made are way on buses to Dublin airport and once there, we were all put into our teams. Next thing, all I can see was the telly guys who showed up from RTE News & TV3 and a guy taking photos. It was weird been recorded but some others loved it (It didn’t stop me giving a big wave to everyone that knows me back in Donegal!) Then it was our turn to check in and all 7 Donegal lads got pulled to one side to get our photo taken!!
Once through security, we got a few things from the shop and then waited on boarding the plane for Rhodes. This was it now, the start of the Greek adventure and we all made our way on to the plane and after 10am we took flight on the 4 hour trip to Rhodes. This is where the adventure of our 2 weeks out in Greece begins……
We touched down in Rhodes some time after 2.30pm and I never felt so hot as when I came off the plane. The sun was beating off the ground!!
We got onto buses and all Team Ireland were taken to three different hotels around Rhodes. We were taken to a hotel called Sofitel Capsis - what a hotel!!