This will be my second to last blog I think. My next one I will quite when I am at home. Currently I am sitting on the train from Galway back to Dublin where Nick and I will have to find a way to kill about 6 hours before we head to the Dublin airport to catch our flight to Heathrow, then Vancouver, and Finally Seattle. These last three days we have spent on the west coast of Ireland, based out of Galway in a little hostel called Salmon Weird. This hostel was by far the best hostel experience we've had (apart from the private apartment we got in Prague with the entire gourd, but I don't count that as a hostel anyway). The staff here consisted of two guys in their late 20's, Rob from New Zealand, and Sam from Australia. They were a blast. The philosophy of the place centered around everyone in the hostel talking and interacting because otherwise, according to Rob, his job would be too boring. This was also the first hostel we've stayed at where we cooked in the hostel instead of going out all the time. We went to dinner the first night we were there, and breakfast the first morning, but after that we pretty much ate in the hostel after buying some groceries at a local market. We're both a little soar from spending so much money and our a little worried about spending much more so we decided to buy groceries to save money, and we pulled out our last amount of cash and said that cash would have to last us home. Right now I have 38 euros left, and we have lunch and dinner today, and breakfast in Heathrow tomorrow. I suppose we'll have to eat in Vancouver since we'll be there for 6 hours before we fly to seattle, so that'll be some more cash needed. And airport food prices are NOT the lowest so I am guessing money will be tight if I want to survive on the 38 euros I have in my pocket.
When we got to Galway, we had expectations of a small city, next to the water with green flowing fields. And its not quite all of that. It is a relatively small place, but not too green, at least not from what you can see just around town. Its a very popular place with lots of culture though. There was one street we walked down quite a bit called shop street that had a ton of pubs, shops, music, and food on it, always packed with people. The city sits in the center of a bay with some beautiful islands surrounding the bay. The first day we got here we just explored the downtown area and ate some great food, bought a few things in the shops, and enjoyed the night life with some irish music and lots of drunk people stumbling around. That night when we got back around 10 (most of the traditional music stops at 9:30-ish) and actually spent a few hours just talking with people in the hostel. Along with Sam and Rob we hung out with Patricia from Berlin, Beatrice from Holland, Tom from England, another guy from New Zealand, a couple from Italy, and a couple from Arabia. Quite mix huh? It was really cool to just to talk with all these people and be in the presence of such a different group of people, all of whom spoke perfect English lol. We talked about what everyone was doing there, the different school systems, which country made the best alcohol, and other places each of us had been. Very good night.
The next morning Nick and I slept in and went to a place that apparently served the biggest Irish breakfast in town. That was correct lol. There was eggs, sausage, bacon, big hash brown pieces, and Irish pudding things both black and white that were very good, toast, brown bread, and a whole tomato. I didn't come close to finishing it. Nick and I weren't sure if they did the whole to-go box after meals (we hadn't seen anything like that since getting to Europe) but Nick really wanted to take his sausage, so he wrapped it and some other food into a napkin and put it in his sweatshirt. We ended up using the sausage later in a dinner dish we made and it was a fantastic add, so good job to him. After breakfast we decided to go to the grocery store and get food basically for the rest of our stay in Galway. We got enough for two dinners and all our lunches and breakfasts through this morning. Great prices on food. After that we went to a bike shop we had seen and rented some hybrid bikes for a few hours. It was ten euros and at this point we already were considering just stopping them money outflow for the rest of the trip lol. But I had this outlook where we are only here for two more days, how bad can we make it, and we're in Ireland for two more days and we haven't fulfilled out Ireland fantasies of flowing green hills and cliffs. So we rented the bikes and it was fantastic. We rode down a coastal trail to a small cliff area. We got to a point on the trail where we had to leave it and walk the bikes along the beach to this hill leading up the cliff. We locked the bikes to each another at the bast of the hill and found a small trail in the middle of the thick brush leading up to the cliff. Once we reached the top I went ecstatic. It was sooooooo cool. Although it was a small cliff (point defiance size), it overlooked the Irish ocean and islands, and it was a beautiful day, and was much better than just sitting in the city. It was a great afternoon just spending a few hours chilling at the top, sitting, relaxing, talking about home, and everything deep. We made it back to the hostel around 5:30 and started cooking. To our surprise, we made a fantastic dinner. Peppers, broccoli, sausage, and garlic in a stir fry, and penne pasta with a sauce all mixed together. It was great and fulfilling for much cheaper than what we would have paid for the same amount in a restaurant. After dinner we walked around that same street, got some soft serve at out new favorite Irish fast food place, and then found a pub with some music. We had a few beers and met up with some people from a traveling Irish traditional band. They were there to listen to the band playing and were actually from Virginia. Its odd but we met and talked too a lot of people from places other than Ireland. Its kind of like the Irish people already had their friends there, and a all the people we talked to were there as travelers and wanted to meet and talk to new people like us.
We made it to bed around 11 after talking with our drunk hostel staff haha. One of them had just come back from tackling a friend at a bar in celebration for a soccer game and broke his tooth! That next day Nick and I got up and made breakfast in the hostel, then went to the bus station to catch a tour ride to the cliffs of Moher. We paid 16 euros for a there-and-back trip to the cliffs. We got much more than that. It was almost like we ended up on a tour group that was much more extensive than what we paid for. Our bus driver took us to about 7 stops, castles, other natural features, the cliffs, traditional thatched roof irish cottages, and ancient tombs from the pre-christian Gaelic peoples. It was very cool, and the driver with his thick irish accent was a blast to listen to talk the whole time. We definitely got our money's worth from that trip. The cliffs themselves were just as I had imagined, massive and just sooooo Irish! We spent a little over an hour there and it was fantastic. Amazing views and the drops were insane. The wind was probably hurricane level, maybe 60 miles an hour. It was difficult to stand let alone walk. But that just added to the effect. On our way back however, Nick and both started getting a pretty bad allergic reaction that just destroyed our eyes. We Both have had miserable allergies this entire trip. But we stopped at a pub and had some food which always seems to help.
Once we got back we cooked our final dinner, which was essentially the same thing, and it was delicious again. We took our daily hour and half break from life by listening to music, and then went out for ice cream one last time. I went to bed at about 8:45 last night because I was so exhausted and didn't wake up until 8 this morning when I went for a run along the coast toward the same cliff we visited on the bikes. Along the way I watched a group of older couples go for a morning swim which was really cool to see actually. It reminded me of my parents and their morning tri-training swims. Cant wait to see them!!!
When I got back from the hour run we ate a quick breakfast and made our way to the train station. And here we are, in the middle of Ireland. We have 6 hours of time to kill in Dublin like I said, then 13 HOURS between our flight into Heathrow and out to Vancouver. Then 6 hours before the final flight leaves. The whole trip starting with this train ride is 39 hours. I am going to try and think about it one thing, or one leg at a time. All in all though its weird to think about how long we've been gone. Its summer time but this, for my family has been kind of like the long stretch of school between christmas and easter. Expect the catch being I can barely talk to them. That has been the thoughts part of traveling solely by hostel since leaving the center: communication. Wifi most of the time costs money and even then isn't very good quality. This last place was the best for quality. But I do feel like its been ages since I've seen the face of my girlfriend, and family. Its hard to believe 8 weeks has gone by, I can remember the first days trips from the center we took like they were yesterday. I am glad I have kept track of everything in this blog because I have been soaking up everything so fast, it will be cool to go back and read everything again.
We still have another 2 hours before we reach Dublin, so I'm going to plug in, listen to some tunes and try and fall asleep. Next time you hear from me I'll be in Washington!!!!
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