Manchester

Finally in Manchester, and after a week of just relaxing and doing nothing, Natasha finally arrives.  It all started when I was in Dublin, and I decided to plan a surprise party for Shannon because she is going to be alone on her 21st birthday. So her flatmate Wallis and I devised a plan of action...

 ...With Natasha's help of distracting Shannon with her arrival, we quickly set out to decorate her room.  The funny thing was, for someone who considers herself to be great at picking up on things, she had no clue what was happening, whatsoever, and was pleasantly surprised to see decorations set up for what she though was for Natasha....

...she soon found herself dumbfounded when she saw her name in balloons and realized the joke was on her. Muahahahaha. And she was not just set up by one, or two but all three of us. Her aloofness quickly turned to gratitude then self-hatred for no one has ever been able to pull off a heist over her sheer intellect...

...quickly getting over self-hatred, we celebrated and turned our attentions to the pizza and not the cake, and more importantly the fact that Natasha was here on the same continent as us and no longer in the Land Down Under. We were all smiles.

 Because it was Natasha's first day here, they decided to show her around town.  We walked down the streets of Manchester doing what tourists do best.

A lot of people seemed to stare at us, while we jokingly laughed and made merriment, but of course we did not care, caring only about our reunion after so many lonesome months apart.

Manchester, has many interesting architecture that drastically differs from that which is seen back home in Vancouver, mainly due to the rich history of the former industrial power city...(that we didn't really care about)

 We brought Natasha to a local tea shop that the two students love...that is all.

The town hall was grand, nothing much to see.

Chillin on the grounds of the cathedral.

Natasha deep in thought, contemplating her decision to leave her life of luxury and travel across Europe like a common nomad.

More buildings

"Shopping" at a local factory outlet...EWOK!!!!

The first and final departing points of Manchester...more to come...or is there?

Ireland

So first things first, I must apologize for the lack of pictures that I've been posting here on this blog.  Because I don't carry around a laptop around I don't have constant access to a computer that I can connect my camera with but if your following me on twitter or facebook, you know I try to keep that updated with photos.
Ok back to my weekly recap.  Since I last posted, I have travelled from Dublin to Cork to Killarney to now Galway.  And boy, has my plans around Ireland change a lot!  But lets go back to my last day in Dublin.  Now that was going to be my "cultured" day so I decided to visit the Museum of Archeology, Natural History, National Gallery of Ireland and catch a matinee performance of "Bookworms" a hilarious comedy playing in the Abbey theatre.  It really was a funfilled day so when I got back to my hostel I crashed.  The next day I was off to Cork, the bus took about 4 hours to get there and my first impressions of Cork weren't that great.  It was a city like Dublin but it seemed a little less occupied.  My hostel, Bru Bar hostel was a fair hostel, I really had no roomates so I was able to enjoy the privacy of my room to myself.  To be honest, I didn't really find much to do in Cork, so I booked a day tour to see the Cliffs of Moher and the Burrens for the next day.  The tour company, Paddywagon was really great and informative and the whole tour was great, I even managed to meet a fellow Canadian and another friend while on the bus.  But as soon as the tour ended, I ended my day and planned to go to Killarney to see the Ring of Kerry.  Now, I spent 2 nights in Cork and a total of 4 nights in Killarney.  Killarney is a real small town, town made for tourist.  I made my way to the family owned Neptune Hostel (amazing service, real friendly) and I even managed to find a local cafe that I ended up going to everyday.  So in Killarney, I did the Ring of Kerry tour, hiked up to Ross Castle in Killarney national park and even cycled a total of 36km to see the Gap of Dunloe.  All this nature truly allowed me to experience Ireland in all its glory.  It makes me wonder why I don't explore more of Canada, especially if I can survive doing this alone.  I have seen so many beautiful castles, hillsides, and cliffs here in Ireland.  They are such a rich country full of history and lots of joy that it ignites a joy in myself.  Plus the people here are so friendly to everyone they meet and are always willing to give you a hand.  Now during my stay in Killarney, I managed to switch my plans around.  I figured instead of travelling up through Limerick, Galway, Sligo, Derry then Belfast, why not just spend more time in Galway then go back to Dublin (because 4 nights was not enough time to fully experience the city) then just train up to Belfast?  So that's what I decided to do and as hard as it was to change my plans I figured, I have all my life to come back if I wanted to, to see the rest.  Because the last week here in Ireland was all about seeing everything, experiencing Ireland and just constantly going  and going, I figured this would be the week to really enjoy the luxury of being alone that many of us so often don't have a chance of experiencing.  Plus, in just a few days I will be meeting up with some family friends and then I'll have a hard time finding/wanting time alone.  So far, I've managed to read a couple of great books, meet people from all over Europe that I've shared great experiences and do things I wouldn't do in a regular basis back home and I'm really grateful for that.  I've also come to realize how passionate I am about certain things back home and other things that I occupy myself with that really doesn't serve a purpose. 

Needless to say, I am learning a lot of things about myself here that I would never get the chance to learn back home and that alone brings personal affirmation to my decision to do this adventure.  More to come soon!

 

Lets start at the very beginning

    Boy has time gone by so fast! It honestly doesn't even feel like I've been here that long yet I feel like I know Dublin so well.  The past 3 days have been really jam packed full of stuff, so lets start from the very beginning. 
    The check in airport at YVR was really long, and by the time I had through security and everything I managed to make a friend, Gavin.  He seemed really cool, lived in Richmond (Granville street area) worked at Whitespot and was like me just going through London to get somewhere else.  If I thought the check in line was long, the flight was even longer!  I had to sit through watching Moneyball, Crazy Stupid Love and Marley and I while getting a few hours of sleep in between.  It really didn't help that I sat in the aisle seat because the 2 people beside me always had to get up.  Luckily there was enough leg room for me.  But once we arrived in London I had to wait for about 5 hours in the airport before boarding my next flight on Aer Lingus to Dublin.  I didn't realize how hard it was to kill time without spending money at an airport.  But honestly, that flight from London to Dublin was amazing!  The flight was only half sold so I had an entire row to myself! and after the long cramped flight from Vancouver, this flight seemed so easy.  Once arriving in Dublin, I somehow managed to find the right bus to take me directly across my hostel.  I got my key headed to my room, put my stuff away met my 2 roommates and crashed into a long sleep.
   The next day, I decided to take up the free walking tour my hostel had for me and it was definitely worth it.   Not only did I see a general outline of Dublin, I got my daily dose of exercise and met a couple of great friends studying in France from the States.  The tour lasted 3 hours then we headed for lunch, the Guiness store house (which was amazing) and lastly  to the Brazen Head (which is the oldest pub in Dublin).  All in all a very successful day.
  So my first day arriving in Dublin I booked a tour to see Wickow mountains, Glendalough and a couple of other things.  And yesterday was the day for the tour.  I got on the bus headed somewhere inlands and met a couple from San Diego who were travelling around Europe for 3 weeks.  They were really friendly and helpful, giving me suggestions of what to see in Europe.  What I didn't realize was that at the Glendalough monastary there is an optional hike up a mountain to see a waterfall.  Now this hike honestly reminded me of the Grouse Grind, just a lot shorted but just as steep.  Thank God I wore my boots to hike.  The tour also showed us the locations where they filmed Leap Year, Braveheart and PS I love you, and as an actor it was amazing to see these places and imagining a film crew being on it.  But once the tour was over, I had some free time to roam around the city trying to find a place to eat.  Then somehow I crashed into my bed really early and just slept the whole night away.  It probably was from the hike.
  So, that sort of sums up what I've done in Dublin so far, todays my last day here before heading to Cork tomorrow and today is all about culture.  Im planning on seeing a couple of museums, a couple of cathedrals and possibly either catch a theatre performance or do a pub crawl.  Either way, it's going to be another full day but this time it's going to be at my pace. 
   Now, a couple of first impressions; the people here are real grand, and they are always willing to help if asked a question.  I find that there are a lot of students here too, studying somewhere else in Europe and doing a weekend trip here.  It doesn't feel to different from Vancouver except for all the ancient buildings and the winding roads.  But yeah, thats it so far I'll try to keep updated as often as I can (which Im finding is easier than I expected because I always wake up around 6am and things don't usually open until 9) Cheers!
(Oh and the Guiness here is amazing, and thats coming from someone who doesn't like beer at all)