Well, it's more than that I suppose. In some ways this is a story about Ireland and how amazing it is. But it's not just that. It's about traveling and it's about meeting people in grand ways that you'll never forget. It's about hitchhiking in a country you've never been to and never really given much thought to either. It's about drinking and friends and gorgeous Irish accents. And honestly, a lot of this post is about Shauna, the girl who has convinced me to consider Ireland amongst the most incredible of countries because of how incredible friendly she has been :)
My first real day in Ireland was spent sleeping in my tent. I got there in the morning, jetlagged to death, and decided on a nice nap in my tent. Turns out I spent the whole day sleeping. I had no game plan. I knew nothing of this country whatsoever. I didn't really know anyone here either. So my friend introduced me to someone here via Facebook and I got the solid advice to go to Galway (pronounced Gulway by the Irish who keep correcting me). I decided to not go into Dublin at all in that case. Which ended up being the best decision. Since it was already late from my full day sleeping I went and camped in a field on the outside of Dublin near where I'd need to hitch out in the morning. I tried desperately to sleep and managed a bit, but couldn't keep it going do to the jet lag and spent the night staring at the Irish stars wondering how no one back home'd come adventurin' with me. Then I wandered off to a McDonalds in the wee hours of the mornin' where I met an incredibly nice young lad named James. With his good wishes I was off around 5am to start hitchin' because I had nothing better to do yet. I didn't really expect to get a ride due to it being pitch black outside. But as my luck had it I got picked up by a Nigerian cab driver on his way home from work free of charge. Nice fellow as he was took me a good bit and dropped me off back into the dark. I didn't want to try my luck twice without the sun up so I pitched my tent on the side of the motorway there and passed out for a couple hours.
Got up to a nice chilly day with the sun poking through the clouds and got to thumbin' it. First ride came from Phillip and he was quite nice, not going far though. Dropped me at a fantastic spot where Andi collected me. Andi was so nice, works for Intel, but again, it wasn't a long ride. He dropped me at a slow exit, but I waited it out where Marius stopped for me in his lorry. Super nice guy as well and gave me some biscuits to eat. He dropped me at a nobody exit and I didn't hesitate to walk down to the motorway instead of staying on the onramp. Didn't take but 15 minutes before Oliver picked me up in another lorry. A true old Irish man with a accent so thick you could spread it on bread. Another short ride before Byron, the last ride of the day, picked me up. What an incredible fellow. A New Zealander who married an Irish gal and he wasn't shy in the least. We launched directly into talk of travel and all the places we've been. What a cool guy, loved meeting him and he was kind enough to take me a good many kilometers out of his way to drop me in downtown Galway, my destination.
Really it hadn't taken long to get over to Galway from Dublin. Maybe four or five hours, but the funny thing was, with Ireland being such a small country and all, everyone who picked me up thought I was going ridiculously far because it was clear across the country. And I guess I did go East to West coast in that hitching, but it was really no big deal at all. Same thing with Galway too, it is an incredibly small town so I feel like nearly everything is walking distance from me. I had no plans once I got to Galway either. All I'd heard was that it's a cool place and I decided to check it out. I wandered around a bit, decided to maybe stay in a hostel to meet some traveling folk ye know? As luck turns out all the hostels were full up so that plan went out the window pretty quick. Camping is always plan B, but I have some other creative ways to find places to stay. My new and favourite way to do this is Tinder. If ye don't know what Tinder is, well it's not quite supposed to be used how I use it. To be honest it's a hookup app. But I use it for hitching and finding stays nowadays. Anyways, I posted up at this one hostel and made good friends with Maeve while bumming some internet and hitting the Galway Tinder scene. I got a few matches, but nothing really seemed that promising. I was about to give up and go do some wanderin' before finding a place to camp when Shauna and I started talking. I could tell right off the bat she was sound. Incredibly sound. She was just super nice and a little motherly not wanting me to stay in my tent and all. We arranged to meet up for a pint where I had my first Guinness in Ireland (it was actually really good). She introduced me to some of her friends and then took me over to her brother's place where I got to meet the whole crew it seemed. Darragh, her brother, Marianna, Nigel, Mike, and Rob. And every single one of then was incredibly fun and welcoming as could be! So we all drank for most of the night before all of them went of to a gig. It was a great time and then they all came back and played guitar and sung songs until the waaaaay wee hours of the mornin' and it was incredible. Darragh let me stay at his for the night and we all slept in the next day, except for Shauna who had to go to college (sorry Shauna for all my distractedness).
The rest of us and I spent the morning sleeping and then made out way to McDonalds for hangover food. It was fantastic, before we all slowly drifted down to the cathedral to see the parade that was on!
More has happened as that was all three days ago and I'm still with Shauna now, but I don't have the effort required to type it out now. There was just something about the whole night that was incredibly free spirited ye know? I came to Ireland with no plans. Went to Galway on a whim. Managed to meet the incredible Shauna and have one of the better nights of my life. I was already convinced of how awesome Ireland was and I was stoked more than ever to be here. It was a great introduction to Irish partying, drinking, and culture I think haha. But more than all that it was just good fun. Shauna is such a chill and awesome girl. Glad I met her here in Ireland and she was kind enough to take me in so far. Anyways, I'll add pictures to this post later and I'll continue the rest of the story when I have some free time. All I can say is you should visit Ireland :)
Bí sásta,
Beacon Bell
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