Category: Ireland

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Backpackin’

Four years ago I started this blog as a way to post updates while I was backpacking around Europe. At the time I was simply posting a few random, unedited photos from the road, all taken with an old Canon point-and-shoot. By the time I returned home I had several thousand pictures, and never really got around to sorting through them all.

Feeling reminiscent this morning, I decided to have a quick scroll through the albums and pick out a favourite(ish) shot from each stop on the trip. Here we go:

EnglandLondon, England

ScotlandEdinburgh, Scotland

Northern IrelandCounty Antrim, Northern Ireland

IrelandCountryside, Ireland

CzechPrague, Czech Republic

AustriaCountryside, Austria

GermanyBerchstagen, Germany

ItalyVenice, Italy

SpainMontserrat, Spain

FranceParis, France

SwedenStockholm, Sweden

FinlandHelsinki, Finland

I desperately hope I can do another Europe trip like this one day. There’s so many places I didn’t get to visit! Berlin, Nuremberg, Budapest, Geneva, Lisbon, Vienna, Zagreb, Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Oslo, Sofia, Madrid, Warsaw, etc, etc, etc.

Though I still haven’t written off the idea of going to Germany for a year, so maybe if I do I can knock most of those off the list while there!

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On The Mend

Well, so to speak!

I’m feeling much better. While life hasn’t actually changed all that much, I’m feeling a bit more positive at the moment. Which is definitely something!

New Years is 7 short weeks away, and I’ve decided to make the most out of what is left of 2012. I have an interview for another temp job later this week, which *fingers crossed* will go well. And I’m spending Friday in central London with a friend to do some shopping and exploring.

At the end of the month Orla is coming to London, which I’m very excited about. I haven’t seen her since February, so it will be wonderful to see her! The next week Aideen, who I also haven’t seen since February, is coming to town. She’s spent the last 6 months or so on a rather epic backpacking trek around the world, and I could not be more excited to hear about her adventures in person!

The week following that I’m headed to Belfast for a few days. Orla has been raving about their Christmas markets for years, and I’m finally going to go and see some in person. I think getting out of town for a few days will do me a world of good, too. Plus, the flights were only £15. Can’t beat that!

That will bring me in to mid-December, and less than two weeks until my mom arrives to spend the holidays here. She’s never been out of North America, and I’m so excited for her to come and see London. We’ve booked a hotel right in the city centre, and have lots of fun things planned. It should be really nice time! Plus, I miss her. A lot!

Come the new year, I don’t know. If I get this temp job, it will be a 3 month contract, so hopefully I’ll have that to keep me busy. I also really need to find an internship. Yikes.

Anyways. That’s what the remainder of my year is looking like!

Also, it’s still autumn and gorgeous here. I’ve been taking the dog at the house I’m lodging at out for walks and am loving the ever changing colours of the city.

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Ireland, Part Three

On Saturday Orla and I did a hop on hop off bus tour around Dublin. We also took a tour of Kilmainham Gaol, an old Irish prison:

On Sunday was the highlight of Dublin: The National Leprechaun Museum. This place was insane! We got to climb around on giant pieces of furniture, have story time with a guide who looked very much like what I imagine a Leprechaun would look like, and colour. It was priceless!

Living like a leprechaun:

Our guide and the pot of gold:

Which Orla tried to steal. Tsk, tsk:

Colouring:

Framed and on the wall:

After that we wandered in search of cupcakes. It was harder than it sounds! Us on the Liffey:

Sadly, Sunday evening Orla had to return home. Aideen and I had a very nice last dinner in Dublin, and then I headed out early Monday morning. The flight to Prague was short, and I slept through it, so that was good. I didn’t do much after arriving yesterday, but saw quite a lot today. I don’t have pictures uploaded yet, but I’ll do a Prague post next.

Thanks for reading! And apologies on the multiple parts. It kept freezing when I put too many pictures in. Strange!

~Spencer

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Ireland, Part Two

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We hiked around the area, which was lovely:

Lying in the giant’s boot:

On our last day in Belfast we went for lunch at the Crown Bar, a famous pub in Belfast. They had little booth/rooms, which we so cool! And I had my first taste of Irish Champ.

On Thursday we headed down to Dublin. Bright and early! We arrived to the hotel too early to check in, so had to kill a couple of hours. When we went back there was still no room available, and since we were too exhausted to move, we sat ourselves down in the lobby. I think to get rid of us the desk clerk gave us the first available room, which turned out to be some sort of suite. Worked for us!

That afternoon we toured Dublin Castle:

The following day Aideen was kind enough to take us on a mini road trip into the country. I believe the entire area was called Wicklow, but I could be wrong. I know some of it was definitely in Wicklow!

Our first stop was a beautiful park with an old monetary on site:

After that we drove to Enniskerry (the town where P.S. I love you was filmed) for lunch:

And then we drove to a mountain region that was beyond gorgeous:

Continued in Part Three…

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Ireland, Part One

Finally! As promised: An Ireland blog!

Sorry for the lack of updates. It’s been a crazy couple of weeks! Between non-stop touring, and a lack of Internet, blogging has not made it onto the agenda. Things have calmed down the past couple nights, so, here I am! In Prague, by the way. It’s rainy and cold, but still insanely beautiful.

Jumping ahead of myself though! Back to last week: I had an amazing time in Ireland.  We flew from Edinburgh to Belfast where we spent the next few days. Granted, we didn’t actually spend that much time in Belfast. Day one was a bit of a write off. Bumming around Orla’s apartment and some shopping. The following day, however, we rented a car. I was pretty terrified about this, since I was the one driving. Everything was opposite, roundabouts, miles, strange versions of automatic vehicles, no shoulders, rain- It was quite the experience! No, no, I’m making it sound much worse than it was. I think I did alright. On one or two turns I pulled into the wrong lane, but Orla quickly said something, and the roads were never busy.  Since we’d already been in the UK for two weeks, I’d been making a point to carefully watch which ways cars were driving. But by this time I was actually starting to confuse what I knew with what I’d gotten used to! It was a very odd feeling.

The car:

Anyway! The first day with the car we drove inland to the Marble Arch Caves. It was a good two hours, but I got to see a lot of the countryside, which was nice. And the caves were so neat! There was supposed to be a bit on a boat, but there had been so much rain that the water levels in the caves were too high, so we didn’t get to do that. It was still pretty cool though!

On the second day we drove a coastal road up to the North, which was incredible. We visited Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge and Giant’s Causeway, and thankfully the weather held out for both.  We were both getting quite nervous coming up to the rope bridge because it was very windy. But, the bridge was sturdy and not as long as we had expected (yes, yes, TWSS).

We were both very excited after making it across!

On the island the bridge crossed to:

Giant’s Causeway was amazing! It’s a rock formation on the north coast of Northern Ireland. It was so beautiful, and I’d never seen anything like it:

Continued in Part Two…

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I’m alive!

Hi everyone! Just a small post to let everyone know that I’m alive and well! I’m going to try and do a proper post in the next day or two. Lots to tell! I had an amazing time in Ireland. Tons of stories and pictures!

Anyway, my Internet time limit is about to expire so I better run! I’m sitting in the Dublin airport awaiting a flight to Prague. Excited!

Talk soon,
Spencer