When we arrived to our hotel/workspace in Warsaw, we immediately had to get to work. We had several liveshots in a small amount of time. By the time we were done with that, I had some other work to catch up on, including uploading photos from our previous stops. After almost a week of no sleep, I think it was the first time I was really, really time on this trip. Part of the work I was going to catch up on was to do something about my out of control hairstyle (thanks to France!) I thought I was being careful by plugging my flat iron into a power strip with American voltage but alas, I was very wrong. My beloved flat iron, which had changed my life (at least for my hair), was dead as a doornail. I literally almost cried. Luckily, there were engineers present so I handed over my deceased flat iron to them to see if they could revive it. It was the first time they had ever looked at a hairstyling appliance. They are used to cables and transmitters and satellites and other broadcasting stuff. Not flat irons. I had to come to terms that it was truly a goner.
Obviously, I was growing weary that I had another day of dealing with out of control hair so I had to come up with another plan! So I found one of the local people who help with setting up everything for us and asked her where the nearest place was that I could get a new flat iron. She told me that the mall was down the street and to find some particular store and I’m not sure what else she told me. She quickly realized that I was not going to make it by myself. I would have been in the same category as my flat iron: a goner. So she graciously called a taxi for me and took me herself. All for the sake of my hair!! We went to the mall, which was really nice, and led me to this Best Buy-type store. I picked out my new flat iron, without having a clue of how much I was spending, and was out of the store with my new European flat iron in hand. I was back to the workspace in 25 minutes!! It was a miracle!!
So after a few hours of sleep, I was able to wake up and get ready and do something about the mess on top of my head. I was heading to a press conference with POTUS and the prime minister of Poland. I had to look presentable. I was sort of representing our country and it was in America’s best interest for international relations that my hair looked okay. (Seriously, I’m really not that vain but had you seen me, you would have totally agreed. Trust me!!) We went to some non-descript government building where the presser would take place. About two hours after we arrived, we came to the even more non-descript room to get our seats for the presser. Here’s a little secret behind-the-scenes piece of information. There weren’t that many reporters who were actually going to the presser so they were taking away chairs and encouraging anyone in the room to sit down so the room looked a bit fuller. Each leader made opening statements and then took one question each. I wish I could tell you what was said but I have no idea. Something about the importance of US-Polish relations. My interpretation earphones worked and everything but since I was so ridiculously tired, I was having a hard time concentrating. Suffice it to say that no news was really committed in this “presser”.
Afterwards, we headed back to the workspace and ate lunch and then one of my colleagues figured that since our work was done, we had time to go exploring. We had exactly 45 minutes to go somewhere and get back before the bus left for the airport. So we got a driver to take us down to Old Town Warsaw. I really should have studied up on the city and its history as I only know general things and had no real idea of what I was exploring. The street scenes were colorful with a lot of people walking in the square. I loved the colors of the buildings and Shawna and I had a lovely walk for about 25 minutes before it was time to go. It was definitely a cool place and one day, who knows, maybe I’ll be back for more time to figure out what I was actually seeing.
All in all, I had a great trip. It went sooo smoothly and besides almost missing the bus in London and the deceased flat iron, was crisis-free. Those were just minor personal crises that were easily solved. In the past, there’s always been some moment of drama that defines the trip but this trip will be remembered for how well things went. I was able to cross three new countries off my list of places I’ve been and even found some things that I would be interested in seeing again in the future. Congratulations if you’ve made it through my entire travelogue. I promise my life will return to somewhat boring pretty much immediately!!Total sleep in Warsaw: 5 hours.
TOTAL SLEEP ON THE ENTIRE TRIP: maybe 25 (including naps!)
Our day on Thursday began in London where we had to be on the bus to leave the hotel at 2:45am local time. After several nights of very little sleep, I got very confused about the time change from Eastern time so when I went to sleep, I must have set my alarm clock on my blackberry wrong! Because at 3a (10p ET) while I was in a deep sleep, the phone in my room rings and a White House staffer calmly says “Hey Becky, are you going to be joining us to France?” Talk about a wake-up call!! The bus to the airport was about to leave without me!! In the six years I’ve been traveling, I have never once even come close to missing the bus and this would have been huge!! So of course I panic and tell the WH staffer than I’ll be down in a couple of minutes. Luckily, this time I was packed up and had actually dropped off my suitcase the night before. So I threw on my clothes, maybe ran my brush through my hair and made it downstairs and on the bus in 4 minutes! I didn’t even go to the bathroom!! I was the last one on the bus but luckily since it was 3am, most of my colleagues (about 170 in the traveling press corps) were asleep on the buses and didn’t recognize that I was the lone person holding things up!
As for the actual G8, there’s not a lot to report. I never saw POTUS and he was busy with meeting with other world leaders talking about global economic issues and other pressing topics on the world stage. We did a lot of liveshots from this workspace that was several miles away. It was at this racetrack place and once again, it didn’t scream France. We could have been pretty much anywhere! 
Most of what we saw in France was from this view:
I’m not positive but before it was all over, we spent about 30 hours in France and about 14 of those were in a bus or a car. On Thursday night, we were getting a ride to the hotel from the workspace which was about 1.5 hours away. I was in a car with three of my colleagues and not only did our driver get incredibly lost, he was wearing sunglasses at 11pm driving aimlessly through the French countryside. I’m sure it was beautiful but it was dark. I think we might have gone to Normandy by accident. We drove around one traffic circle four times in a row!!
There’s one more thing I’d like to share about my quick visit to France. Memo to self: Next time, bring your own hair dryer!! I’ve come to assume that hotels we stay in for work will have a hair dryer so I didn’t bring mine. Well, the one in the room in France was more like a vacuum cleaner. More air comes out when a one-year-old blows out the candles of a birthday cake. Let’s just say the air flow is not good. 
So this is what I looked like at the end of drying my hair. Goodness, I missed my hair dryer at that moment!!
Total time of sleep on Thursday: 5 hours
This time was different. It was beautifully sunny and I was getting paid to be there!! My correspondent and I met up with a cameraman from my network’s London bureau and started our day going through security. For getting to see the Queen, I thought it would have been much more rigorous and would have included some interrogation in a dark room somewhere. But in reality, it was just the standard set of metal detectors and bag checks.
We set up our liveshots location in the backyard of Buckingham Palace (literally) which is something that my cameraguy says NEVER happens. Like never ever. There I was, standing in the Queen’s backyard with virtually free reign of the grounds (ok, that is a total overstatement. We had royal minders to make sure we didn’t storm the back door!) I have to admit, I had an ever-so-slight glimpse of heaven. I mean, I know heaven will be much more glorious than the grounds of Buckingham Palace but I had so many heavenly parallels going through my head at that moment. Then I remembered the fact that I was actually working (It’s my firm belief that will not be happening in heaven!) and it was quite busy!! We did liveshot after liveshot after liveshot.
Then all of sudden it was showtime for the Queeen when the arrival ceremony began. POTUS/FLOTUS had met with Prince Charles and Camilla earlier at the US ambassador’s house and then headed over to Buckingham Palace. They had also already met with Prince William and Kate, Duchess of Cambridge. The newlyweds stayed inside (my guess is that they didn’t want to take the attention off the Obamas) and then the Queen, Prince Phillip, Prince Charles and Camilla and the Obamas headed outside.
The bands played and cannons went off. Prince Phillip and POTUS reviewed the troops. Then some more music and bands marching. And then it was over. Not to sound too snobby or jaded but I’ve been to a bunch of official arrival ceremonies and while this one might have been the first at Queen Elizabeth’s palace, it was also the one where we were the furthest away. When the Queen came to the WH, we were much closer. I could actually see her eyes. This time we were quite far away and I wish we had been about 100 yards closer. But beggars can’t be choosers so I’ll take what I get but next time, I want to be just a little bit closer to the action.
On Monday morning, we swapped with my friends from CBS who had flown over on AF1 with him. While we waited for his arrival to the President of Ireland's house, it started raining. And raining really hard. I said a quick prayer that it would stop raining because that would make for the most miserable travel pool day!! Moments before he landed, that prayer was answered and blue sky emerged. At least for a few minutes. Luckily, our first assignment was a guest book signing inside so we were out of the elements. POTUS and FLOTUS came in with the President of Ireland and her husband. The Obamas signed the book and were out of the room before most of the press got situated.
We immediately had to run (literally sprint) around the back of the building for a tree planting. For the record, POI's white house is much bigger than POTUS's WH. After we sprinted and caught our breath, we watched POTUS plant a tree. It was right next to the tree that the Queen of England had planted a couple of days earlier. The wind was blowing so hard that I didn't think either tree was going to make it. POTUS came out and shoveled some dirt into place. He didn't actually do any planting. He took a pile of dirt and put it on the base of the tree. Then a bell rang and the trumpets played and he chatted for a few minutes with President McAleese and her husband and the three kids who rang the bell. Clearly, I wasn't in the best position for the tree planting because all I could see was POTUS's rear end. 
And clearly, all this was for show because they told us that the tree would be moved elsewhere on the property. I'm not really sure about this because he didn't really plant it and it's going to be immediately moved?? I'm not really getting the point of that but we didn't have any time to ponder that because the moment that was over, we had to sprint the half mile back to the vans. I'm not sure how far it really way but we were running for at least 10 minutes. I know I'm not a runner but even the people who I consider to be completely in shape were out of breath by the time we got back to the front of the building. We were almost immediately off to our next stop to see the Taoiseach (prono TEE-shuck) of Ireland. I don't really know what that means but he comes to DC every St. Patrick's Day and shares a bowl of shamrocks with POTUS. I've never understood why the leader of Ireland would be in America on St. Patrick's Day but then again, I'm not Irish.
After this, we went back to POTUS's hotel for a little break and then to the US Embassy for a little meet and greet. As we drove through the streets of Dublin, it was amazing to see how many people were packing the sidewalks to get a glimpse of POTUS. Those Irish people really do love Mr. Obama. From there, we went to catch a ride on helicopters to Moneygall, the tiny town about two hours away where POTUS can trace his ancestors back to.
As soon as we got out of the helicopters, the rain started again and we made it to the buses for the motorcade into town. Talk about the Irish people loving Mr. Obama. All 300 residents of Moneygall and then other nearby towns were waiting for the chance to see him for hours and hours. He pulled up and you would have thought it was the Second Coming. The cheers were incredibly loud! We had to sprint from the end of the motorcade to where he started shaking hands along the ropeline. Of course, there were so many people around him that I very rarely actually saw POTUS but I could tell from the cheering and screaming where he was at any given moment. These people were so incredibly thrilled to see him!!! It poured down rain at least once while we were in the street while he shook hands. Say what you want to about POTUS (actually don't because I'm not here for anything political) but that man spent about an hour shaking hands, holding babies, and giving kisses on the cheek to thousands of people in the rain. I would have called it a day after the first storm but those people had been waiting for so long to see him. 
Eventually, he stepped inside one of the two pubs in town to meet his relatives. We were crammed in the back of the room and once again, being 5 feet tall proved to be a big disadvantage. Even if I had been a foot taller, I'm not sure how much I could have seen since we were packed liked sardines into a small, small area. He had a pint with his 8th cousin, Henry and a bunch of others. Eventually, I am going to need to see the tape and pictures of the event because it sounded like it was pretty funny. 
After finishing the rest of the ropeline, we raced back to the motorade and then off to the helicopters and just like that our time in Moneygall was over. The flight back to Dublin was just as bumpy but luckily we were flying into the wind which made the bumpiness last half the time.
Once back in Dublin, the next stop was a speech in downtown Dublin on the College Green. I'm not positive it was green because it was covered with thousands and thousands of people. As far as the eye could see. It was a little crazy because it felt like a campaign event except that none of those people could actually vote for him. I had to remind myself that we were in a different country. The fact that there was a high percentage of redheads reminded me that we were in Ireland but that was the only thing. Lots of people waving American flags and screaming. Bands were playing and it was as loud as a rock concert. Except this was an official speech by the President of the United States. It was pretty crazy. 
After the speech, we were on our way to the US Ambassador's house so POTUS could have dinner with them (the press had bologna sandwiches). But before that, we found out we were leaving Ireland early to go to London because of the volcanic ash cloud. I admit, I was so wrapped up in trying not to puke on the helicopter that I had absolutely no idea that there was an ash cloud, much less that it could alter our travel plans. So like that, I found out that we were going to London that night and since I was in travel pool, I would be flying Air Force One.
I usually don't mind a ride on AF1 but I had one really big problem. Since we were supposed to stay in Dublin a second night, I hadn’t packed my bags. And since I was travel pool and couldn’t run late, I had just taken a lot of stuff out of my suitcase and it was all over the place. I wasn’t even entirely sure I had put my dirty clothes in my suitcase. Since I couldn’t return to my hotel, the White House staff had to pack my bags. Talk about being embarrassed. I am not usually that unorganized but this time was the exception. I just prayed that whoever did it wouldn’t leave stuff behind and would forgive me for being a temporary slob. Luckily, I actually knew who the WH staffer was which calmed my fears greatly. But I was still embarrassed!!