Pubs, Football, Cliffs! Oh My!

I've done it again! I went to Ireland. However, one thing is different. I went with my best friends and saw some really cool things I never got a chance to see. What's not to like? Well... it wouldn't be a vacation with me if weird things didn't happen. Ladies and gentlemen, prepare yourselves for one heck of an interesting trip play by play. Don't worry I won't sit you down and show you a slideshow of all 659 pictures. Phew!

Day 1 & 2: A Journey of Epic Proportions

Many of you may not realize just how complicated it can be to get from London to a hostel in Dublin. Here's what we did and what you shouldn't do since it's overly complicated (but totally fun)

1. Underground from flat to Euston train station. For the non-Londoners that means a LOT of stairs with suitcases.
2. Train to Holyhead, Wales (3 hours of sitting fun... separated from everyone else since we didn't get seats together). It also meant I passed out for most of it.
3. Bus to ferry lobby
4. Stairs to another bus which took us to the ferry. Redundant much?
5. Ferry that made Laura and I sick. BUT... drum roll please.... I saw a SHARK. Yes I freaked out more than I should have, but hey I was excited and it turns out extreme excitement can momentarily cure seasickness.
6. Shuttle to terminal and a taxi ride to hostel where the taxi driver got lost in the city he grew up in.

Oddly enough we were tired by the end of that. (sarcasm for those who didn't pick up on it)

However being the true English ex patriots were are we decided to go see the sites and go out drinking. We made the fantastic choice to follow the music. We ended up in a tiny 2 story pub that had live music every night. We heard one of the best folk blues bands I have ever heard. Those guys can play some guitar.

We even got to meet one of them!

The next day we spent exploring Dublin. Everyone else went to the Guinness Storehouse and had a blast. I spent the day attempting to find some sort of museum/attraction that was open. Absolutely nothing was. I spent the day walking around Dublin in a futile search. Needless to say it was not the best first half of the day.

That night consisted of transport to Galway which was much easier than the trek I described earlier. We got in the football spirit and went in search of a pub that was playing the Ireland Euro cup game. We joined in yelling at the tvs and the Irish spent the rest of the night drinking until they had no more feelings or memory of the sad loss. We had an early night because the next day was nothing short of EPIC.

Next stop: the Cliffs of Moher!!!         Stay tuned for the next blog update in 2-3 days! This will most likely be a series of 3 parts.

From Heaven on Earth to Hell... I mean Leeds.

"The sea, once it casts its spell, holds one in its net of wonder forever." --Jacques Cousteau

The next day Lindsey and I ventured out to Howth. The first thing I saw as I walked towards Howth off of the train station was a giant shark. I took this as an indicator that the day was going to be pretty awesome.

As you can see I was pretty excited.

After I had my moment with the shark, Lindsey showed me the local seals. I was expecting something slightly smaller, but what I saw were seals of gigantic proportions.

Howth is really a fishing town that has a surprising amount of tourists. There are abbey ruins, a castle that we could not find to save our lives, and a really cool hiking mountain with a great view. We ventured up a very steep hill to see the abbey and I decided to Indiana Jones it and climb all over it. Sacrilege? Maybe, but it was still fun and the building is still standing... well let's just say I didn't cause it any harm. 

After we were done exploring there we decided to start the hike up the mountain. Halfway up I saw a rickety staircase leading down to a beach with mini caves, so of course we had to get down there and crawl in them.

Here I am getting attacked my spider webs.

And I survived without any mortal wounds to jump around in a different cave with Lindsey.

Back to the mountain we went! The weather held out on us long enough for us to get to the top and back and to get hopelessly lost on the way back down. How I can get lost when there was only one path to follow I will never know. The good things is we made it back in one piece!

After Howth we journeyed back to Skerries and I packed for my flight the next night. I arrived at the airport around 7pm for my flight. It was delayed by 30 min. This kick-started my lovely and adventurous night back to Leicester. I arrived in Leeds at 1130 thinking I was going to be picked up by the friend of a friend we had stayed with before departing to Dublin. After not returning my 5 calls, 2 voicemails, and 3 texts I figured that was a lost cause. When hearing from him an hour later and after yelling at him profusely I was on my own at the airport and in need of a hotel... I got the bus into town and arrived there at about 1230am. I followed the bus driver's instructions and walked 30 minutes to stay in the world's sketchiest hotel of all time for 4 hours to catch my 630am bus to Leicester. Needless to say I was not happy at all. 

To leave this post on a happy note below is a sign I saw in Howth...

 I swim... YIKES

"At the beach life is different. Time doesn't move hour to hour, but mood to moment. We live by the currents, plan by the tides, and follow the sun."--Unknown