As I lie here in the bottom bunk of a bed, in a six person mixed dorm, an earplug in my working ear to deaden the snoring in my room and drunk people outside, I have so many emotions running through me. Annoyance at myself for not being able to stay up all day and therefore sleeping tonight is going to be tough, DAMN YOU JETLAG!Pride in myself that I did this, all of this, by myself. It doesn’t sound like a big deal to many people I’m sure, people travel alone all the time, but for me it is. I’ve always depended on others when it came to stuff like this, and making not only the decision and travel plans to come here on my own, but actually physically doing it, figuring out how to get where I needed to go in a foreign city, for me that’s a huge accomplishment. And doing it all without having a meltdown or panicking or feeling the anxiety bubble all the way up in my stomach? Even better. I’m also feeling happy to be alone, but lonely at the same time. It’s been nice not having to entertain anybody and to be able to move at my own pace, but that leaves me with nobody to talk to (yet). It will be a constant stepping forward out of my comfort zone to do things and meet people, and my goal is to get comfortable with that uncomfortable feeling and to start to overcome it. I’m feeling happy and sad and excited and scared and annoyed with the shitty exchange rate because USD are worthless.
When I arrived in the Dublin airport and got through customs (they didn’t like me because I had such open-ended plans, they actually said “Well that’s not what I like to hear!”; maybe I need to learn how to lie better?) and exchanged some cash, I found directions to my hostel on hostelworld.com and took an express bus called the Airlink to get to it. My new BFF called Guy at the Front Desk because I forgot his name helped me out SO MUCH. He spent about 20 minutes talking to me, telling me places I want and don’t want to go in the city (he was very adamant about not going to Temple Bar because it’s super touristy and expensive), places to go outside the city (one of them being a day trip I’m taking tomorrow!), and then ended up planning essentially my entire stay in Ireland for me. IRISH PEOPLE ARE SO NICE. Like it’s weird. And then every time I would go back up to the desk to ask a question, he would chat with me for like another 20 minutes.
So my plan at this point is to spend one more night at this hostel in Dublin- which honestly I don’t love. It’s not bad or anything and I’ve already declared my love for Guy at the Front Desk, but it’s not set up super well to meet people. There is a common eating area and free breakfast, but there is no bar, which is obviously my number one favorite place to meet people. They do host a bar crawl which I may do tomorrow night. Guy at the Front Desk made me book my Friday and Saturday nights in Ireland because he said that they get super expensive and sell out really fast, and he was right. I’m actually going to Galway this weekend, partially because the prices were more reasonable than staying in Dublin! Dublin is cool and everything and I’m certainly excited to explore it more and check out some museums and theatres, but I’m looking forward to going to other areas. Galway is home to the Cliffs of Moher which look fucking GORGEOUS, as well as the Aran Islands. Not the Iron Islands. I would never mix those words up, what are you talking about? At Guy at the Front Desk’s suggestion, I’m going to do a day-trip tour that starts in Dublin to Galway, and then just stay there a couple days instead of riding back with my group.
The annoying thing about Ireland is that it’s not really simple to get from city to city- you pretty much have to go back through Dublin every time. But the places that Guy at the Front Desk said I need to hit are Kilkenny, Killarney, Galway, and Belfast (which I’m saving til the end because it’s actually in Northern Ireland and part of the UK). Also, according to him, “Cork is shit,” so I’m gonna look into it but I was never that set on going there anyway. Mostly I want to see beautiful Irish countryside and maybe make a few friends. And cows. I better seem some damn cows.
Also random guy in my room just gave me a brand new set of earplugs that he’s not using. Backpackers are the best.