Tuesday + {Day Eight: Dublin + London, With an Unexpected Stop in Wales}

I woke up so quickly this morning that I hit my head on the wall. Hard. I was stressed about missing our taxi. In fact, I had a completely realistic dream that we had done that very thing. But thankfully it was just a dream.

We spent around twelve hours in transit today. Our taxi that we booked online never showed and we didn't have time to wait around for it, so we started to walk to the fancy hotel across the street. Our plan was to ask them to call us a cab, but then we saw several in the street. We flagged one down and got a ride to the bus station, where we caught our shuttle to the ferry.

The ferry was amazing! It was huge. There was a movie theater, three restaurants, a gift shop, and a child's playground. Gooligan and I just sort of collapsed and slept most of the trip. 

After the three and a half hour ferry ride (which dropped us off in Wales, to our surprise!) we took two trains to get to London. Probably another three or four hours in total.

We stopped in London to meet up with Liz my best friend from fourth grade! It was so surreal to see each other again after almost twelve years. I feel so lucky to have been able to meet up, since we had such a narrow window in which to do it. But it was really great to see Liz again after so long. Luckily with the internet, it's a lot easier to keep in touch with people. Hopefully one day she can come to the States and we can host her and show her around Seattle.

After dinner, since we each had some time until our next trains, we went over to King's Cross and all took photos at the Harry Potter statue. It was fantastic. Gooligan was so excited.

Then Liz helped us figure out how to get to our Airbnb. When we arrived, our host, Rita, offered us tea and muffins even though we were stuffed and it was already nine at night.

We met two of Rita's other guests--Americans from Michigan--who had a similar experience as us with Ryanair.

Just after the water boiled, the lights went out! We sat around in the candle-lit dark, sipping our tea and talking to Rita and one of her other guests.

Then, luckily, the lights came back on, just in time for bed. After all of our (mis)adventures in Dublin, we already love London. Our trip is looking up!

Monday + {Day Seven: Dublin}

After a great day in Sligo, we came home to find someone else in our apartment. We were told that the other people were going to check-out that morning. But I definitely almost walked in on someone asleep in the other room when I was exploring the new place. It was an unsettling experience needless to say. We had no problem sharing the place, since our last place was shared, but we just had no idea who the other people were. Anyway, whoever it was, they were gone in the morning, which was a little frustrating because the property manager never gave us the wifi password and I had hoped we could snag it from the other guests before they left.

I got up early to work on homework, blog entries, and uploading pictures. We’re using four devices to take pictures, so making sure we check-in periodically and reconcile our trip is important.

Then Gooligan fixed us some breakfast: scrambled eggs and bread and cream cheese, while I threw some clothes in the wash. The house was completely lacking in any oil or salt whatsoever, though. If Gooligan and I were in charge of hosting someone, we’d provide some basic seasonings minimum.

Since we had no internet, we hung up our clothes to dry and we walked towards downtown. On our way, we stopped to get some tea and deli chicken for lunch and checked our emails (in the hope that our property manager had emailed us back with the wifi password). He hadn’t, so we caught the bus the rest of the way downtown and got off at the bus station to get some more free wifi. We posted some photos, I updated my blog, and we got in touch with my best friend from fourth grade, Liz, who we’re on our way to see right now! It’s been twelve years since we’ve seen each other!

After our stop at the bus station, we ventured to a Guinness shop to buy some souvenirs for my brother.

Then we headed home. The buses here are so confusing. The fares are dependent on how long your journey is but there is no reliable way to figure that out without calculating it via their online app (no help to us since we’re offline on our phones 99% of the time) or asking the bus driver. And then you have a million people in line behind you, waiting impatiently as you dig out an odd assortment of coins from your tiny coin purse, peering at each one, since you’ve used three different types of currency in the last week and are not sure what each one is worth yet.

For better or worse, it turned out that we now had the apartment to ourselves! Gooligan fixed us a feast: bread, soup, couscous, and more scrambled eggs. After we ate, we packed up our still-damp clothes, curled up, watched some television, and went to bed, after setting about a million alarms for five in the morning the next day.

Sunday + {Day Six: Sligo}

Since there was an overbooking at our hostel-like place, we had to be moved. Again. The first time we were moved, it was only seven minutes away (walking) and not that big of a deal, since we hadn't even arrived in Dublin yet.

This time, however, we're out by the airport rather than near Dublin center. Again, not that big of a deal, since we've seen most of what we wanted to see in Dublin anyway and are leaving in two days. But it's frustrating for two reasons. The property manager was shady about the whole situation originally, telling us that we had to move because of scheduled maintenance. 

Then we're informed that it's because a group of 10-20 Spanish men have booked the place solid for a really long time. (They're here on a construction job.) 

The manager did give us a ride to the new place this morning to drop off our bags and then dropped us off at the airport so we could catch a Bus Eirann to Sligo. It was a terrifying ride, to be honest. Both the property manager and his business partner were really misogynistic and racist in their remarks.

I'm just happy we only have a couple days left here and that they don't stay at the places they let. The new place is definitely an upgrade, but it would have been inconvenient if we were staying here longer since it seems to be designed with a car in mind. (The place in a decent walk to the bus stop and then it's probably a half hour ride into the city.)

Enough about that, though!
  
Today we took a day trip to Sligo. It cost about 21.00 euro for a same-day return ticket. Not that bad for a four hour bus ride across the entire country.

The countryside was beautiful. We snapped a lot of photos in-between reading, napping, listening to music, and working on homework.

When we got to Sligo, we found a cute café to eat lunch at. Gooligan and I split a warmed chicken ceasar salad and a mozrella, pesto, and tomato panini. Hands down, some of the best food we’ve eaten so far. We also had a pot of earl grey tea.

After lunch, we strolled through the city. Situation on a river, Sligo is absolutely beautiful. I’m envious of Maddi staying here for three months. There’s also an apparently stunning (from the looks of Maddi’s photos) town nearby on the beach called Strandhill with surfing lessons and a spa that does seaweed baths (50 minutes for only 25 euro). If we were here longer, we definitely would have tried that out

Then we walked Maddi to her hostel where she’s staying for a church program she’s participating in and headed back to the bus with a detour to the grocery store to snag food for dinner and breakfast.

The bus ride back to Dublin was long—about four hours—but we made it back to our hostel just past midnight. The only problem is that the property manager never gave us the wi-fi password so I'm posting this from Bus Aras, the main bus station in the Dublin city center.

Overall, Gooligan and I are grateful to have gotten out of Dublin and see another part of Ireland, since Dublin is huge and very urban.

Saturday + {Day Five: Dublin}

So yesterday, while Maddi dropped her friend off at the airport and returned their rental car, Gooligan and I slept in a little, which was really relaxing. Then we got up, ate some scones for breakfast, and headed out to catch a free walking tour of Dublin.

I highly recommend free walking tours. There's no pressure, so you can leave the group whenever you want (which we did). After we toured Dublin Castle (mostly completely rebuilt), we bowed out and grabbed fish & chips at Leo Burdock's, a famous fish & chips place in Dublin.

 
Then we headed to the Chester Beatty Library--an amazing free library that is basically a museum. It's part of Chester Beatty's extensive private collection that is on display. Aside from Istanbul, it has the largest collection of Qur'ans. They were beautiful. Each passage was laid out in amazing calligraphy and inked in gold or other metal inks. Unfortunately we weren't allowed to take any pictures, but I did buy a postcard from the gift store for my parents.

 


After the library we headed back home and grabbed some dinner from a local grocery store--spaghetti & sauce & bread--and came home to shower. A good thing we did, too, because a bunch of Spanish men arrived at the hostel-like place we were staying right as we were finishing showering.


They were having a lot of trouble with their phone, but only one or two of them knew any English, and Gooligan and Maddi tried to help them the best they could but to no avail.

After dinner, we walked to the store and bought some chocolate milk and came back and just sort of vegged. A nice relaxing evening after the frantic hurry of the last few days.

Saturday + {Day Five: Financal Run-Down}

Since several people have asked us how much our trip is costing, I thought I'd keep a running list of expenditures; I'll rehash this in a larger post at the end, but I wanted to chime in periodically both for whoever is following this blog (if they're curious) and for ourselves. As you might have read, we had a little crisis when we missed our flight and had to rebook, but otherwise we've done a spectacular job of sticking to our budget. Fingers crossed.

9.16.13

Spent flying; didn't spend anything, since my parents took us out to an early dinner before our plane left.

total: $0

9.17.13

£1.50 on a muffin 

£7.00 on airport shuttle bus to downtown edinburgh
£3 on a sandwich
£2.00 on bus to our airbnb (we accidentally paid minor fare and they didn't question us)
£14.00 on dinner at Merlin's

total: £27.50/$44.05
transportation: £9/$14.42

food: £18.5/$29.64

9.18.13

£3.90 for sandwich & two apples
£7.00 for two all-day bus passes
£3.00 for gelato
£25.90 for dinner
£6.64 for groceries: yogurt, sandwich, apple, pretzels

total: £46.40/$74.33

transportation: £7/$11.21
food: £39.44/$63.18

9.19.13

£3.00 for bus
£2.25 for hot chocolate
£78.00 for tour
£3.20 for quiche and macaroni pie
£0.60 for bathroom
£0.88 for postcard stamp
£22.00 pounds loch ness boat ride
£3.50 for shot glasses for brother
£2.00 for postcards
£5.00 for scone & soup

£3.00 for bus
£2.88 for dinner: soup and Indian food

total: £126.31/$202.34

transportation: £6/$9.61

food: £13.93/$22.31

attractions: £100/$160.19

gifts: £6.38/$10.22

9.20.13

£20 cab
£220 rebooking

transportation: £20/$32.04

emergency: £220/$352.42

€30.00 for two 3-day bus passes

€8.60 for dinner + drinks + breakfast: pizza, bread, cream cheese, beer

transportation: €30.00/$40.57

food: €8.60/$11.63

total: £240 + €38.60/$436.63
transportation: $72.61
food: $11.63
emergency: $352.42 

9.21.13 

€1.00 for coke

€8.98 fish & chips

€1.00 locker fee

€0.50 for postcard

€5.66 for dinner + breakfast + toiletries

€1.60 for chocolate milk

total: €18.68/$25.2
food: €17.24/$23.31

attraction: €1/$1.35

gifts: €0.50/$0.68

GRAND TOTAL FOR FIRST SIX DAYS: 

transporation: $71.85 (average $6 per day per person)
food: $150 (average $12.50 per day per person )
attractions: $161 (average $13.46 per day per person)
gifts: $11 (average $0.90 per day per person)
emergency: $352.42 (average 29.36 per day per person; over the course of our entire 40 day trip, this cost will be essentially $5 per day per person)

So, having crunched the numbers, so far it has cost both Gooligan and myself $32.86 a day! Hopefully your curiosity is now sated!

Friday + {Day Four, Part Two + Dublin}

After our lovely, chaotic morning, Gooligan and I made it to Dublin mid-afternoon. The irony of the whole situation is that because we had to rebook and they had to print our boarding passes off at the airport (instead of our home-printed ones) there was no need for anyone to stamp our passports after all.

But we did get a stamp on our passports after arriving in Dublin! The customs agent informed us that we could have gotten a ferry/train ticket for only €50 a piece. The more you know!

At the airport we found a bathroom and immediately took off the extra five layers apiece that we had put on to make our suitcases fit Ryanair's strict dimensions (weight-wise our suitcases are absolutely fine, but we're traveling with two awkwardly-shaped backpacks instead of hard suitcases). Then we took advantage of Dublin Airport's free wi-fi to look up some information about bus passes.

According to Maddi, who we met up with yesterday afternoon and are staying with for three days, Dublin is more of a walking city than a busing city. Our passes were €15 each for three consecutive or non-consecutive days until the end of the year, but since the airport shuttle (included in the pass) is €6 each way, even if we don't use the passes that much it's not a huge difference. Especially since Gooligan pulled her foot a little during our frantic rush around the airport yesterday morning.

After we met up with Maddi and her lovely friend Ruth, we went to the local grocery store, picked up a few things for dinner/breakfast the next day, then went out to see Dublin's nightlife. Dublin is beautiful at night, especially the river, and we walked around a lot looking for the perfect place to go. We caught the very end of one of Maddi's friend's shows, had some deliciously hot chips, and then called it an early night around 1:30 in the morning.

After several nights of rough sleep, I was out in seconds, wrapped up in a surprisingly warm duvet on the top bunk.