Sunday, October 6, 2013

My Irish Adventure

On September 25, I embarked on my very first solo trip.  And by "solo trip," I mean it was just me and my friend Ade.  No leader or adult to tell me where and when I needed to be somewhere.  So naturally......the trip started in chaos.

The night before we left, a bunch of us decided we would all take the same bus from Granada to Malaga together (we were all on the same flight).  Well a few people were running late...so we missed the bus.  Our only other option was to take a taxi.  So there went 50 euro down the drain.  During this whole ordeal of trying to get to the airport, my friend, Ade, who was going with me, forgot to set her alarm and was not answering her phone.  Not gonna lie, I was nervous thinking about what I would do if she didn't make the flight.  Luckily, she woke up in time to jump in a taxi of her own and got to the airport just in time. 

That day, the easiest thing was the airport.

The plane ride was good.

Got through customs easily.

Then...the bus happened.

In order to get from the airport to our hostel, Ade and I had to take a bus.  After walking around aimlessly for awhile, we finally found the bus.  We jumped on, took our backpacks off, and relaxed; happy we finally made it to Dublin! Finally, we reach our stop and get off.  As the bus is pulling away and we are walking away...Ade realizes she left her backpack on the bus.

.................

And things were going SO well.

Luckily, Ade had her money and passport with her.  But still, she lost all of her clothes.  We literally stood at the bus stop for about 5 minutes just staring after the bus.  Trying to figure out what the heck just happened and wondering how today could be such shambles.  We decide the best thing to do is to find our hostel.  So we walk around Dublin for about 30 minutes asking everybody we could find how to get to our hostel.  Eventually we find it, and ask the person at the desk if their is a number for the lost and found for the bus. 

They don't know.

So much help was given that day. (Note the hint of sarcasm in this statement.)

We throw our stuff in our room, which is shared with 6 other people, 3 of whom I never saw leave the room/hostel.  After we dropped off our stuff, we hit the streets of Dublin to find a place on Fleet Street that somebody recommended.  After the day we had, we were determined to find it!  We wandered for a bit, having no idea if we were even going in the right direction.  Eventually we found it!! And it was definitely delicious. 
First meal in Dublin!!
After dinner, we decided to just head back to our hostel.  Naturally we got lost.  BUT, we got back eventually in one piece! And that, my dear friends, was my first day in Dublin, Ireland.
 
Day two in Dublin went a lot better then day one!  Ade and I got up and went to the tourist office down the street to see if they knew anything about where to find her backpack.  They did, but the lost and found place didn't open until 1p.m.  So we decided to go to the Guinness factory.  When we got to the Guinness factory we were greeted by a wonderful gentleman who informed us that we just so happened to go to the Guinness factory on Arthur's Day, which is the day to celebrate Arthur Guinness!!!
This is the lease that Arthur Guinness signed.
They only take it out once a year. 
 
 I got to sign my own lease!



Top of the Guinness factory!


After the factory, we found the lost and found place...and Ade's bag!! It was a Christmas miracle in September!! Once Ade had her bag, we headed back to the hostel for siesta time.  Seriously though.  One month in Spain and siesta time has already become a habit. 
 
We heard that since it was Arthur's Day, everybody would be out tonight, and Ade and I wanted to see how the Irish lived. So we got dinner on Fleet Street, then hit the pubs.  I just have to thing to say: the Irish are fantastic!  It was so much fun to hang with them at the pubs and sing along to songs we don't really know, but pretend to know.  It was awesome, too, because all the pubs we went into had live bands.  And all the bands were really good!! The Irish we meet were shocked when we said that we napped before we went out.  Apparently you aren't supposed to do that.  Oops!
 
The next day was a rough day.  Why?  Because the night before Ade and I had a burger for dinner, and I haven't had red meat in a month.  Needless to say, I was sick almost all day.  But I suffered through it, because Dublin was calling my name!  So Ade and I hit the streets and did a little shopping.  Then we decided to go to the Leprechaun Museum.  It was so cute! Super cheesy, but we had a lot of fun!
Going under the Giants Causeway.
 
 We got shrunk and were in a giants room!!
We went through a rainbow...
 and found a pot of gold!

After the museum, we decided to go visit Trinity College.  On the way, I found a Starbucks.  Now as some of you may know, my love of coffee is strong, and I haven't really had coffee in a long time.  So of course I went in and got something!! It was happiness in a cup.  :)
Once I had my Starbucks, we found Trinity and walked around the campus for a bit.  Oh. My. Gosh.  The campus is beyond beautiful!


After walking around for a bit more, we went back to the hostel for a siesta before going out. We went to some pubs again, and had a blast!! One thing that shocked me was that every band I heard play, played the song "Country Roads," and everybody in the pubs would sing along.  They also played "Wagon Wheel" once or twice, and once again everybody knew the songs.  It was definitely fun, though, to go out with the Irish!
 
On our final day in Dublin, we really wanted to find St. Patrick's Cathedral.  Now during this entire trip, for some reason, I thought it would be a brilliant idea to wear my new high healed boots.  By this day, I was regretting my decision wholeheartedly.  Luckily, I had my backpack with me and changed into flip flops, which made walking 10 times easier!
After walking around for a bit, not really knowing where we were going, we ended up stumbling upon St. Patrick's Cathedral.  Once again, beautiful!



After the cathedral, it was time to head home.  It literally took us forever to find the right bus.  After thinking we found it, the driver told us it would take almost 2 hours to actually get there.  Yeahhhhhhhh.  We did not have that kind of time.  So we walked up and down the street until we finally found the right bus! We got on, got to the airport, got on the plane, landed, and realized we had no way to actually get to Granada.  So another taxi ride it was! When we got closer to Granada, our taxi driver asked us which way to go.  Ade and I looked at each other and told him that we had only lived here for 3 weeks, and literally had no clue.  After asking 5 or so people, we finally arrived home in Granada. 
 
This trip was definitely an experience.  I learned that I need to book tickets for the bus the night before, make sure I have a way home, and make sure I have my backpack before I get off the bus.  Overall, I loved Ireland and can't wait to go back!!