Day 61 March 25th 2009 Galway, Ireland

Jumped on a bus to the Cliffs of Moher this morning to do a little sightseeing in Ireland. First off, the bus driver was certainly satan’s chauffeur because we were trucking along one lane roads with oncoming traffic at 50 miles an hour. I don’t get car sick but this ride almost changed that notion. Did have a chance to take in a lot of the Irish countryside and see the never-ending rock walls that extend in every direction for miles into the haze. The cliffs were amazing with straight razor edge walls dropping downward for 500 feet or more. Made for good pictures typical of Irish postcards. Crazy bus ride back to Galway where the girls left to go back to Dublin. Myself, on the other hand, had not booked a hostel for tonight because I had found a little scheme. My flight from Dublin to Valencia Spain was at 7am the next morning and there was a bus that left Galway at 2am and arrived at Dublin airport at 5am. So I would sleep on the bus, paying only 5euros for the bus and use that as my transport + mobile hostel. But I had to kill some serious time before 2am so I walked over to Kelley’s apartment. If you’re reading this, thanks again Kelley! I did laundry and got to watch english TV after quite a few days of hectic travel. I was also living out of nothing but my travel backpack which I had filled to maximum capacity but just under the weight limit so I could take it on the plane and not pay check bag fees. A rainy walk to the bus station and shaky sleep ensued. A bit groggy I arrived at the Dublin airport and met back up with Courtney and Rebecca as they were traveling to Madrid to stay with their friend there. Ryanair is a great airline if things go smoothly, but if bad things happen, they are really bad. The suitcase that the girls were using for the two of them was 8 kg over the check bag limit allowed by Ryanair and they had to pay 120euros! to put the bag on the plane. Just awful. I once again slipped by with my backpack without paying but only because I was wearing 3 layers of my heaviest clothing.

Day 60 March 24th 2009 Dublin Ireland / Galway, Ireland

Early bus across Ireland today to Galway for a night in the western atlantic town. I love the Irish accent. I tried to talk to every Irish citizen I could and I don’t care what were talking about as long as I can hear the accent. It makes me happy for some reason. Too bad Vermonters don’t have much of an accent...”sigh”. Checked into the Kinlay Galway Hostel where I was sleeping in a 4 bedroom dorm. I had no problems in the 8 bed one back in Dublin and lord it was so cheap to stay like that. After dropping the bags off at the hostel, Court, Bec and I wandered down into the main street of town, which really reminded me of Church St. back in Burlington. Lined with shops and eateries of every sort, street performers playing tunes, just a really fun atmosphere. Well the weather wasn’t great so we ended up just cruising from pub to pub and shop to shop. Drink a Guiness, check out some Ireland T-shirts, go down to the water, go to the pub and drink a Bailey’s, you get the idea. That night I met up with Rice classmate Kelley O’Brien who is studying abroad in Galway this semester. We went to a place called the cellar which has 5euro pitchers of beer on Tuesdays. So a pitcher per person it was. It was interesting to hear a whole new perspective of study abroad in a different country than Italy. Back to the Kinlay house for top bunk sleepin’.