the scene: it's our last day in ireland and other claire and i are doing a good job using up all our euros, because when we drive into northern ireland and then fly from belfast back to london we will be using pounds. turns out we did an awesome job using up all our euros - we spent the last of our cash (down to only change left over) buying gas for our rental car in ireland a couple miles before crossing the border. yes! we are excellent planners!
approximately one exit down the road we see signs for a toll booth.
in ireland. where they use euros.
not northern ireland. (not that we have any pounds either.)
frantic search of the car for euros. we come up with 1.40 in euros. much of it is in pennies.
the toll is 1.80.
this would only happen to us.
our plans foiled, we are forced to take out the minimum withdrawal (20 euros) at an ATM at the exit before the toll booth.
it wasn't funny at the time.
Showing posts with label ireland. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ireland. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
Sunday, July 3, 2011
ireland hearts obama.
i heart obama.
and this is the best shirt ever!!!
other claire and i were walking through the touristy area of galway a couple days ago and saw this shirt. obama was just in ireland a month ago, and the shirt was discounted because, i guess, his visit had already happened. irish is spoken a lot in galway - there were places where the signs were ONLY in irish, which was not the best situation for us - and other claire and i decided the shirt meant "obama is irish." so we go in the shop and ask the dude behind the counter, who wasn't exactly amused with us, and he said that "is feidir linn" is irish for "yes we can."
other claire and i promptly plopped down our 6 euros each and bought the last two smalls he had.
i am in love with this shirt.
you should also watch this video, because it is adorable (and proves that mr. t-shirt man's translation is correct).
i heart obama.
and this is the best shirt ever!!!
other claire and i were walking through the touristy area of galway a couple days ago and saw this shirt. obama was just in ireland a month ago, and the shirt was discounted because, i guess, his visit had already happened. irish is spoken a lot in galway - there were places where the signs were ONLY in irish, which was not the best situation for us - and other claire and i decided the shirt meant "obama is irish." so we go in the shop and ask the dude behind the counter, who wasn't exactly amused with us, and he said that "is feidir linn" is irish for "yes we can."
other claire and i promptly plopped down our 6 euros each and bought the last two smalls he had.
i am in love with this shirt.
you should also watch this video, because it is adorable (and proves that mr. t-shirt man's translation is correct).
Friday, July 1, 2011
google maps...and the cliffs of moher
let me just say something about google maps. in the US, when i google map something and it says it will take, let's say, 3 hours to get there, i think, "i could get there in 2.5, but with a stop that's probably right on." google maps is accurate to how i drive. THIS IS NOT THE CASE HERE. if google maps says it will take 3 hours, we have learned that there is no way in the universe it will take 3 hours. it will take 4 or 4.5 and that is just how it is. because you can't go the speed limit on these roads - we will LAUGH at the speed limit. "100 km/h on this road? if i wanted to die going around that corner, perhaps. i will go 60, and that is pushing it." when there is a stone wall 1 foot from the car to the left and a tour bus speeding by 1 inch from the car on the right, you don't exactly go the speed limit. so...google maps will get us there, but how long it will take is up for debate.
yesterday we drove from doolin to dingle, with a stop at the cliffs of moher on the way. THE CLIFFS OF MOHER ARE GORGEOUS.
in this picture it looks like we were the only people at the cliffs of moher. this is not true (according to the brochure, 1 million people visit a year, and a fair number of them were there yesterday), but i like looking at that picture - i like pretending we were there alone.
there was actually a relatively unobtrusive fence-thing keeping us back from the edge. good idea, i say.
and these are the cows grazing, um, right at the cliffs of moher. these cows have a rockin' view, and a million people a year to come and say hi to them. this is so funny to me - how close private land is to these national parks (or whatever they're called).
we got to dingle, you know, an hour after google maps said we would. then we did what i'm calling the "claire is your navigator" move, as this has happened in EVERY place we're staying (no exceptions): we drive through the town one time, totally lost, and then i actually get us to our hostel on the second attempt. go me!
we had reallllly good pizza for dinner and INCREDIBLE ice cream for dessert (thank you, lonely planet!) - i got sea salt and dark chocolate (one scoop of each) - other claire had honeycomb and dark chocolate. yum. the dude running our hostel recommended a pub to go to with a band (two women singers and a guitarist) he really likes - turned out to be an awesome recommendation. this is them - not from last night:
we wrote postcards and befriended the 60-something canadian couple next to us (they were really interesting) and listened to great music while having a drink. the band played joni mitchell's "carey" at one point, and you know i almost died. great night.
we're off to dublin today!
yesterday we drove from doolin to dingle, with a stop at the cliffs of moher on the way. THE CLIFFS OF MOHER ARE GORGEOUS.
in this picture it looks like we were the only people at the cliffs of moher. this is not true (according to the brochure, 1 million people visit a year, and a fair number of them were there yesterday), but i like looking at that picture - i like pretending we were there alone.
there was actually a relatively unobtrusive fence-thing keeping us back from the edge. good idea, i say.
and these are the cows grazing, um, right at the cliffs of moher. these cows have a rockin' view, and a million people a year to come and say hi to them. this is so funny to me - how close private land is to these national parks (or whatever they're called).
we got to dingle, you know, an hour after google maps said we would. then we did what i'm calling the "claire is your navigator" move, as this has happened in EVERY place we're staying (no exceptions): we drive through the town one time, totally lost, and then i actually get us to our hostel on the second attempt. go me!
we had reallllly good pizza for dinner and INCREDIBLE ice cream for dessert (thank you, lonely planet!) - i got sea salt and dark chocolate (one scoop of each) - other claire had honeycomb and dark chocolate. yum. the dude running our hostel recommended a pub to go to with a band (two women singers and a guitarist) he really likes - turned out to be an awesome recommendation. this is them - not from last night:
we wrote postcards and befriended the 60-something canadian couple next to us (they were really interesting) and listened to great music while having a drink. the band played joni mitchell's "carey" at one point, and you know i almost died. great night.
we're off to dublin today!
Thursday, June 30, 2011
doolin, population 250
yesterday we drove from galway to doolin, a teeny tiny town that is well known for traditional music, so hostels and bed and breakfasts have cropped up to serve the tourists who come to listen to the music in the pubs. the town (really just a collection of buildings along one main street) was adorable, right on the water (we're on the west coast of ireland, so this is the atlantic ocean), and we had a great pub dinner (i had a goat cheese tart with a big salad and a side of chips - must get potato products whenever possible) and then we hung out until music started in the pub around 9:30. honestly? the music was kind of disappointing. three musicians who sat in the middle of the pub - super cozy, really great atmosphere, but we'd just seen this amazing band the night before in galway, and these guys didn't seem INTO it - there wasn't the energy we'd seen the night before. also, EVERY PERSON IN THE PUB WAS A TOURIST. in retrospect, of course, right? it's a town of 250, so everyone who frequents the pub doesn't live there. but the music FELT touristy, with cameras going off every second and the musicians seeming lifeless - like they HAD to be there to get tourism to the town. i don't know if that makes sense...we had a great evening - delicious dinner, great pub, made some friends at the table next to us - but the music wasn't the highlight of the evening. i didn't get any pictures in the pub - i didn't want to be THAT tourist - but this is a picture i took from our hostel - the pasture literally across the street. super rural. smelled like freshly cut hay when we got back to the hostel at night. loved that. it was really homey.
to back up a bit...our drive from galway to doolin brought us into county clare! yay!!
and county clare is GORGEOUS. dry rock walls - no mortar - line the roads (sometimes a little TOO close to the road for my liking) and mark off the pastures. cows and sheep everywhere. again, we had great weather - some rain as we were leaving galway, but it stopped pretty quickly. every 10 minutes one of us would say to the other, "look how beautiful!" it felt like every corner we turned had something new and different to see. and new and different tour buses going 100 miles per hour to avoid. eek!
i took this picture to illustrate WHY there are so many rock walls. in the foreground you see green fields and walls; on the hillside, you see that purple stuff? rocks. everywhere. covering every surface. it was so incredible to see the contrast between the cleared fields and those that hadn't been cleared and were still rock-covered. it would have been a LOT of work to start farming this land.
and this is our trusty car! some people (boys) had asked what kind of mercedes it is; it's an A160. (how is this an "intermediate" car?!?!)
we've now made our way to dingle for the night - another sea-side town a couple hours further south. the guidebook says there is an excellent ice cream place here, so that is one stop we've got planned for our evening - otherwise we'll just see where the night takes us! (i can't recommend the lonely planet series highly enough - great maps, interesting blurbs about the towns that i read aloud to other claire while we're driving into the town, good recommendations for food/drink/etc.)
to back up a bit...our drive from galway to doolin brought us into county clare! yay!!
and county clare is GORGEOUS. dry rock walls - no mortar - line the roads (sometimes a little TOO close to the road for my liking) and mark off the pastures. cows and sheep everywhere. again, we had great weather - some rain as we were leaving galway, but it stopped pretty quickly. every 10 minutes one of us would say to the other, "look how beautiful!" it felt like every corner we turned had something new and different to see. and new and different tour buses going 100 miles per hour to avoid. eek!
i took this picture to illustrate WHY there are so many rock walls. in the foreground you see green fields and walls; on the hillside, you see that purple stuff? rocks. everywhere. covering every surface. it was so incredible to see the contrast between the cleared fields and those that hadn't been cleared and were still rock-covered. it would have been a LOT of work to start farming this land.
and this is our trusty car! some people (boys) had asked what kind of mercedes it is; it's an A160. (how is this an "intermediate" car?!?!)
we've now made our way to dingle for the night - another sea-side town a couple hours further south. the guidebook says there is an excellent ice cream place here, so that is one stop we've got planned for our evening - otherwise we'll just see where the night takes us! (i can't recommend the lonely planet series highly enough - great maps, interesting blurbs about the towns that i read aloud to other claire while we're driving into the town, good recommendations for food/drink/etc.)
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
galway
yesterday we left enniskillen and drove to galway, and about 10 minutes into our drive our "sat nav" died. she had been telling us she had low battery, but was plugged into the car's plug that is made for such things and the light was on indicating it was trying and that was doing no good - we think the cord was bad. sooooo...me + printed out google maps directions = our new navigation system. eek. we got to galway and our hostel just fine, though, and on the way drove through some GORGEOUS land. we kept meaning to pull over and take pictures, but only did so once:
galway is (apparently) an area where a lot of people still speak the irish language, and walking through the town (and listening to the radio in the car on the way to galway) we definitely heard people speaking something that wasn't english...and wasn't any other language i could recognize.
in galway the weather was perfect - sun, blue skies. only i could get a little sunburn in ireland, but i did. be embarrassed about how white i am. claire and i wrote postcards and ate lunch in a little park, then walked along galway bay - and set up our cameras to take this picture.
we had some awesome italian food for dinner with banoffee pie for dessert - nick and jen in belfast had been telling us we needed to try it, and it was every bit as good as i imagined. as in: HEAVEN. we left the restaurant intending to wander around and find some live music, and right across the street from the restaurant we found (by using our ears) this band playing amazing traditional music.
it was clear that they were truly talented, and fun, and the place was packed. it immediately put me in a good mood. such a lucky find!
today we're headed south to doolin, a town of 250 that is a tourist stop because it's famous for its traditional music. we're hoping for another great night in a pub!
galway is (apparently) an area where a lot of people still speak the irish language, and walking through the town (and listening to the radio in the car on the way to galway) we definitely heard people speaking something that wasn't english...and wasn't any other language i could recognize.
in galway the weather was perfect - sun, blue skies. only i could get a little sunburn in ireland, but i did. be embarrassed about how white i am. claire and i wrote postcards and ate lunch in a little park, then walked along galway bay - and set up our cameras to take this picture.
we had some awesome italian food for dinner with banoffee pie for dessert - nick and jen in belfast had been telling us we needed to try it, and it was every bit as good as i imagined. as in: HEAVEN. we left the restaurant intending to wander around and find some live music, and right across the street from the restaurant we found (by using our ears) this band playing amazing traditional music.
it was clear that they were truly talented, and fun, and the place was packed. it immediately put me in a good mood. such a lucky find!
today we're headed south to doolin, a town of 250 that is a tourist stop because it's famous for its traditional music. we're hoping for another great night in a pub!
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
car radio
yes, today we listened to a radio station called clare FM.
tomorrow the two claires will be in county clare!
there are so few radio stations while driving through rural ireland that our requirements for stopping on a station are: music? not classical? not britney spears or club music? well then we are listening to it.
tomorrow the two claires will be in county clare!
there are so few radio stations while driving through rural ireland that our requirements for stopping on a station are: music? not classical? not britney spears or club music? well then we are listening to it.
enniskillen
(i meant to post this yesterday evening, but the wireless internet at the hostel we're staying at does not work and by the time i realized that fact, all the cafes with internet access were closed. enniskillen kind of shuts down (other than the pubs) at about 5:30...i guess that's what you get in a small town...)
so this is from monday:
today we packed up from nick and jen's house in belfast - they were absolutely the best hosts ever - and took a cab to the rental car place, where we picked up our rental car and other claire drove the 90 miles to enniskillen, our next stop. now, that sounds easy. in fact, the company we'd made a rental car reservation through gave away our automatic car when we were 2 hours later than scheduled (we didn't really know what time nick and jen would need to leave for work, so we erred on the early side) and now they only had manual transmissions. apparently "reserving" a rental car is a loose term. sheesh. we paid a bit more for an automatic car at the next rental car counter over because the only automatic they had was in the "intermediate" class. aka a mercedes. you know, us teachers - we're high rollers. this is claire driving and the "sat nav" (satellite navigation - what they call GPS) helping. but only sort of helping. it didn't know this one road existed that we drove on for like 30 miles.
oops. thank goodness for road signs that said "enniskillen"...
and other claire is a rockstar driver. hooray!
we couldn't check into our room until 5pm, so we explored enniskillen until then. we bought and wrote postcards (and finally bought stamps), checked out the little shops, had a pub lunch (a veggie burger and chips for me - it was delish) at a pub called the linen hall, and during the pub lunch discovered a sign advertising a pub quiz (trivia night) THIS VERY NIGHT at THAT VERY PUB!! obviously we will be going. hooray again!
as part of our wasting time / exploring enniskillen, we went to enniskillen castle which was only barely worth the 4 pounds we paid to tour it. it was pretty small and this photo makes it look more glamorous than it actually is.
but, whatever - the sun came out and it was sort of interesting to look around. this is a view from the castle looking away from the town.
now, a little rest before dinner!
note from tuesday morning: turned out there WAS NO PUB QUIZ (boooooooo), but i had a really nice strawberry cider before we figured that out, and a 70 year old dude (who we initially thought was creepy) came up to talk to us - turns out he is just a lonely old local man and in fact very sweet. he became the second person since we got here to ask us if we are from the west coast of america once he learned we were american. thoughts on why this might be? we are confused. we're blonde? we don't have jersey shore accents? old guy liked to talk american politics; he told us all about how the economy of europe changed after "ronnie reagan" and the others ended the cold war, and he thinks obama is "very intelligent" and hopes he gets reelected. oh, old dude - you entertain us.
we're off to galway now!
so this is from monday:
today we packed up from nick and jen's house in belfast - they were absolutely the best hosts ever - and took a cab to the rental car place, where we picked up our rental car and other claire drove the 90 miles to enniskillen, our next stop. now, that sounds easy. in fact, the company we'd made a rental car reservation through gave away our automatic car when we were 2 hours later than scheduled (we didn't really know what time nick and jen would need to leave for work, so we erred on the early side) and now they only had manual transmissions. apparently "reserving" a rental car is a loose term. sheesh. we paid a bit more for an automatic car at the next rental car counter over because the only automatic they had was in the "intermediate" class. aka a mercedes. you know, us teachers - we're high rollers. this is claire driving and the "sat nav" (satellite navigation - what they call GPS) helping. but only sort of helping. it didn't know this one road existed that we drove on for like 30 miles.
oops. thank goodness for road signs that said "enniskillen"...
and other claire is a rockstar driver. hooray!
we couldn't check into our room until 5pm, so we explored enniskillen until then. we bought and wrote postcards (and finally bought stamps), checked out the little shops, had a pub lunch (a veggie burger and chips for me - it was delish) at a pub called the linen hall, and during the pub lunch discovered a sign advertising a pub quiz (trivia night) THIS VERY NIGHT at THAT VERY PUB!! obviously we will be going. hooray again!
as part of our wasting time / exploring enniskillen, we went to enniskillen castle which was only barely worth the 4 pounds we paid to tour it. it was pretty small and this photo makes it look more glamorous than it actually is.
but, whatever - the sun came out and it was sort of interesting to look around. this is a view from the castle looking away from the town.
now, a little rest before dinner!
note from tuesday morning: turned out there WAS NO PUB QUIZ (boooooooo), but i had a really nice strawberry cider before we figured that out, and a 70 year old dude (who we initially thought was creepy) came up to talk to us - turns out he is just a lonely old local man and in fact very sweet. he became the second person since we got here to ask us if we are from the west coast of america once he learned we were american. thoughts on why this might be? we are confused. we're blonde? we don't have jersey shore accents? old guy liked to talk american politics; he told us all about how the economy of europe changed after "ronnie reagan" and the others ended the cold war, and he thinks obama is "very intelligent" and hopes he gets reelected. oh, old dude - you entertain us.
we're off to galway now!
Sunday, June 26, 2011
giant's causeway
you've waited a while for photos - sorry! here are some to tide you over; i've got a couple more on facebook if you want to check those out, too.
last night we had dinner at belfast castle, which is owned by the city council and has a nice little restaurant inside. after dinner we walked around the grounds a bit and i took this picture from the garden looking out over the city and belfast lough (pronounced the same way as a scottish "loch," though this is the ocean, not a lake).
today we drove an hour to the north coast to a place called giant's causeway (learn about it here - thank you, wikipedia). it was a beautiful day (well, by standards over here - which i agree with) - in the 60s, cloudy, but no rain - and we spent an hour or two walking around and loving the rocks.
hooray - claire and i!
SUCH a cool place to go, and we had a great little walk out to the rocks and then around the area, with lots of breezes from the sea and great views.
we're back and nick and jen's house now, and nick's making dinner (curry - yum). in other news, i have successfully memorized the six counties in northern ireland (antrim, londonderry, down, armagh, fermanagh, and tyrone) and the four provinces on the island of ireland (leinster, ulster, munster and connacht), so nick says that i'm doing just as well as a 2nd grader. go me!
tomorrow morning claire and i are off to our next location: enniskillen, northern ireland. more from there!
last night we had dinner at belfast castle, which is owned by the city council and has a nice little restaurant inside. after dinner we walked around the grounds a bit and i took this picture from the garden looking out over the city and belfast lough (pronounced the same way as a scottish "loch," though this is the ocean, not a lake).
today we drove an hour to the north coast to a place called giant's causeway (learn about it here - thank you, wikipedia). it was a beautiful day (well, by standards over here - which i agree with) - in the 60s, cloudy, but no rain - and we spent an hour or two walking around and loving the rocks.
hooray - claire and i!
SUCH a cool place to go, and we had a great little walk out to the rocks and then around the area, with lots of breezes from the sea and great views.
we're back and nick and jen's house now, and nick's making dinner (curry - yum). in other news, i have successfully memorized the six counties in northern ireland (antrim, londonderry, down, armagh, fermanagh, and tyrone) and the four provinces on the island of ireland (leinster, ulster, munster and connacht), so nick says that i'm doing just as well as a 2nd grader. go me!
tomorrow morning claire and i are off to our next location: enniskillen, northern ireland. more from there!
Saturday, June 25, 2011
belfast
cast of characters necessary to understand this post:
me (duh)
other claire (duh)
nick (a teacher at the program i worked at in oxford last summer; one of my best friends from the program)
jen (his wife, who i met briefly last summer when she came to visit nick)
facts to know:
nick and jen live in belfast.
claire and i have come to visit them for the weekend to start our ireland travels.
they are doing an AWESOME job being our hosts and showing us around and answering all my questions about ireland/northern ireland, the history of sectarian tension here, etc.
they are just awesome in general - good friends to have - and it's easy to be around them. i love that.
and...begin scene!
before arriving in belfast this morning, nick emailed me this:
if you hear of any rioting in Belfast try not to worry its just a few idiots. And i live nowhere near that (deliberately!!)
i was like, um, i definitely haven't been watching the news...the BBC gave me this article (no mom, you aren't allowed to worry). and now we're here. and you guys, i am FASCINATED by belfast. the four of us took a bus tour of the city today, which nick and jen were kind enough to (a) want to do, and (b) genuinely enjoy. i learned some history and have come to sort of understand what has caused people to riot this week. and then we drove on the bus tour through the loyalist neighborhood with their british flags everywhere and huge murals marking the deaths at the hands of nationalists...and then we drove through these huge metal gates with barbed wire on top (open today - "a good sign," said the tour guide - the police close them if the tension gets too high) and then a mile long tall fence between the two neighborhoods - literally, i have never seen anything like it - and we were in the nationalist neighborhood with anti-loyalist murals and a empty lot with a pile ten feet high of old tires to burn when they riot and probably (i'm not kidding) 40 policemen lining the route of a planned march later in the day. (info about the march here, and you should click on the link if only because the still image to start the video is of the huge gates that divide the tense parts of the city from one another.) it never felt dangerous at all, but you wouldn't catch us in these neighborhoods at night...
i don't know if i'm describing this well, but it was incredible to see a city so divided...while life goes on like normal for young people like nick and jen who live in the suburbs.
i'm tired now and going to bed...but i have a lot more to share about belfast and our time here, so stay tuned for more tomorrow!
me (duh)
other claire (duh)
nick (a teacher at the program i worked at in oxford last summer; one of my best friends from the program)
jen (his wife, who i met briefly last summer when she came to visit nick)
facts to know:
nick and jen live in belfast.
claire and i have come to visit them for the weekend to start our ireland travels.
they are doing an AWESOME job being our hosts and showing us around and answering all my questions about ireland/northern ireland, the history of sectarian tension here, etc.
they are just awesome in general - good friends to have - and it's easy to be around them. i love that.
and...begin scene!
before arriving in belfast this morning, nick emailed me this:
if you hear of any rioting in Belfast try not to worry its just a few idiots. And i live nowhere near that (deliberately!!)
i was like, um, i definitely haven't been watching the news...the BBC gave me this article (no mom, you aren't allowed to worry). and now we're here. and you guys, i am FASCINATED by belfast. the four of us took a bus tour of the city today, which nick and jen were kind enough to (a) want to do, and (b) genuinely enjoy. i learned some history and have come to sort of understand what has caused people to riot this week. and then we drove on the bus tour through the loyalist neighborhood with their british flags everywhere and huge murals marking the deaths at the hands of nationalists...and then we drove through these huge metal gates with barbed wire on top (open today - "a good sign," said the tour guide - the police close them if the tension gets too high) and then a mile long tall fence between the two neighborhoods - literally, i have never seen anything like it - and we were in the nationalist neighborhood with anti-loyalist murals and a empty lot with a pile ten feet high of old tires to burn when they riot and probably (i'm not kidding) 40 policemen lining the route of a planned march later in the day. (info about the march here, and you should click on the link if only because the still image to start the video is of the huge gates that divide the tense parts of the city from one another.) it never felt dangerous at all, but you wouldn't catch us in these neighborhoods at night...
i don't know if i'm describing this well, but it was incredible to see a city so divided...while life goes on like normal for young people like nick and jen who live in the suburbs.
i'm tired now and going to bed...but i have a lot more to share about belfast and our time here, so stay tuned for more tomorrow!
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
claire and claire's ireland adventure!
oh, get excited about what i have made for you:
(yes, i know it is a little too large for this window, but you wanted to be able to see it all in detail, right?)
i've explained to so many people where i'm going this summer and when i'll be there and i know it's all very confusing - and i'm a really visual person, so this map pleases me. if you're interested, here is our itinerary:
june 21 - depart atlanta for an overnight flight to london
june 22-24 - london (blue pinpoint on the right)
june 25-26 - belfast (A and G on the map)
june 27 - enniskillen (B), still in northern ireland
june 28 - galway (C) - we'll cross the border into the republic of ireland
(brief interlude to sing this song.)
(claire and i often go out to a irish pub in atlanta called limerick junction that has live irish music / covers of whatever you want him to sing, and our favorite musician plays this song. I THOUGHT THIS SONG WAS OLD AND TRADITIONAL AND SUCH BUT SOME INTERNET RESEARCH HAS REVEALED THAT IT WAS WRITTEN IN 2000 BY AN AMERICAN. wowsers. internet, thank you for teaching me that. i still love this song. okay, time to get back on track.)
june 29 - doolin (D)
june 30 - dingle (E)
july 1 - dublin (F)
july 2 - drive back to belfast to fly back to london.
(google maps tells me that our week-long road trip in ireland will require us to drive 683 miles. in terms that i can understand...683 miles is roughly the distance of a one-way trip from atlanta to washington DC. or atlanta to miami. or just a little bit longer than a round trip home to see my parents. there. i've put it in perspective for myself. now back to our regularly scheduled programming.)
july 3 - i travel to oxford (the blue pinpoint to the west of london), where i'll be working and hanging out (at this job they are sometimes the same thing) until august 8
august 9 - travel to london; fly back to atlanta
(august 10 - start work at my real job. eek. let's not think about that right now.)
i'm off to the airport now, dear friends. as i've said before: when i'm far from home and can't talk to friends and family in person or over the phone, i have LOVED having this blog and sharing my adventures that way. for those of you who read regularly, please know how much that connection means to me. and please share your adventures, too! and comment. i love comments. happy summer, all.
my next post will be from the uk!
(yes, i know it is a little too large for this window, but you wanted to be able to see it all in detail, right?)
i've explained to so many people where i'm going this summer and when i'll be there and i know it's all very confusing - and i'm a really visual person, so this map pleases me. if you're interested, here is our itinerary:
june 21 - depart atlanta for an overnight flight to london
june 22-24 - london (blue pinpoint on the right)
june 25-26 - belfast (A and G on the map)
june 27 - enniskillen (B), still in northern ireland
june 28 - galway (C) - we'll cross the border into the republic of ireland
(brief interlude to sing this song.)
(claire and i often go out to a irish pub in atlanta called limerick junction that has live irish music / covers of whatever you want him to sing, and our favorite musician plays this song. I THOUGHT THIS SONG WAS OLD AND TRADITIONAL AND SUCH BUT SOME INTERNET RESEARCH HAS REVEALED THAT IT WAS WRITTEN IN 2000 BY AN AMERICAN. wowsers. internet, thank you for teaching me that. i still love this song. okay, time to get back on track.)
june 29 - doolin (D)
june 30 - dingle (E)
july 1 - dublin (F)
july 2 - drive back to belfast to fly back to london.
(google maps tells me that our week-long road trip in ireland will require us to drive 683 miles. in terms that i can understand...683 miles is roughly the distance of a one-way trip from atlanta to washington DC. or atlanta to miami. or just a little bit longer than a round trip home to see my parents. there. i've put it in perspective for myself. now back to our regularly scheduled programming.)
july 3 - i travel to oxford (the blue pinpoint to the west of london), where i'll be working and hanging out (at this job they are sometimes the same thing) until august 8
august 9 - travel to london; fly back to atlanta
(august 10 - start work at my real job. eek. let's not think about that right now.)
i'm off to the airport now, dear friends. as i've said before: when i'm far from home and can't talk to friends and family in person or over the phone, i have LOVED having this blog and sharing my adventures that way. for those of you who read regularly, please know how much that connection means to me. and please share your adventures, too! and comment. i love comments. happy summer, all.
my next post will be from the uk!
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