A time for remembering

Being in Nantes with Maël has been incredible. From time spent listening to accordion late at night in the living room to eating kebobs under the castle bridge. Lots of cheek kisses and wine. It was awesome, but, in honor of how I know Maël, I am not going to blog about my time here in Nantes. No, instead I will go back two years ago exactly and tell of past adventures from my younger days.

I don't know where to begin. I can't tell it all because it's a long story. But I don't know if I tell about that time in Albania? Where we rented a car and drove all over to find the Blue Eye? Or Croatia, where I still claim the coolest spot I have EVER camped, right there outside the walls of the breathtaking Dubrovnik. Nah, I'll talk about the day we left Slovenia and hitched all the way to Carcassonne in France. (Let's be clear, this was a long time ago and fuzzy in my mind, but I will tell of it what I remember).

It was a race. A hitchhiking race. Me and Maël vs. Jake and Jess. The start? Slovenia, nearly on the Italian border. The finish line? Carcassonne France, where Jess' granddad has a farm in the countryside. It's not even light out and you can here the rustling of gear as everyone struggles to cope with the early morning grogginess. Sleeping bags are being stuffed into packs, phone chargers

found and put into ziplock baggies, teeth brushed. All four of us pile into the little car with Aya's mother and she drivesus  across the border into Italy where the sun is just starting to illuminate the overcast sky. And then we're off. 

Jake and Jess got a ride first, not surprising as they had Jess. We were soon to follow in some sort'o'vehicle I don't even remember. Soon they were out of sight and we were stuck on the roadside, thumbs out. Not long and a trucker comes to our aid taking us around Venice. It hurts to skip a place that fills my mind with a mysterious wonder such as Venice does, but there was a race to be won.Where are Jake and Jess? We don't know, we haven't seen them on the side of the road. Maybe they took a different route, maybe they're way ahead of us, maybe we already passed them. The cold air again, a fast car, we're at a petrol station. No, we're going to France. You're going to Spain? Can we go part of the way? No room for two, fuck. A van with a guy. Another rest stop and two familiar backpacks out front. Jake and Jess haven't been here long and we're soon doing fours. A van and we're all in it, to go to into Milan or south of it? We're all at another petrol. Excuse me sir, are you going to France per chance? Excuse me. Excu--- Maël motions me to a Range Rover. We get in, getting a jump on J&J. Where are you from? What do you do? Oh, I've been to New York too! Wait!? You're famous!? Giorgio Faletti? I'm sorry we've never heard of you. Makes sense if you're only famous in Italy. Fuck yeah we'll read your book, can we have a picture? Thanks for the ride!! Dust in the cold air. No one around, no, wait. One car with two women, not rare but not not often either. You're from Italy you say? Do you know who Giorgio Faletti is? He's that famous ey? Wow, we had no idea. Yeah, he just gave us a ride. A flurry of excited questions before a old broke down looking gas station. French plates! Maël is speaking in French to them! Good signs! Yes they're going to France! Long ride in a cramped car and it's one a.m. Where do we stay? The castle, it's looming over us as we drift off to sleep under the bridge....

A Day in Paris

Paris. Once upon a time I tended to dismiss Paris. I'd never thought anything about it except that I didn't want to go there. I never thought it'd be me to come and fall in love with a place so.. so... so idolized? That may not be the exact word I'm looking for, but you know what I mean. A city that people see as a fairytale ending. A city full of romance and love that little girls dream of running off to and getting lost in. And maybe that's why I never considered I would like it, because that was how I pictured Paris. 

When I hit Paris I was shocked. I had under (or over) estimated it to an embarrasing extent. Walking down the street there were beggars, homeless, and crazies everywhere you looked. The streets were dirty for the most part and there was graffiti thrown on nearly

every building. To say the least, I was relieved. It was perfect. Every big city has the same sort of atmosphere, but Paris is different. It feels dirty in a classy way. It had perfected being dirty. Not that all of it is dirty, it still holds the magnificent gardens and such that're so well known. But I think it was how everyone interacted. They all went about their buisness like it was a well rehearsed play. Now I know this tells you nothing of how it was, but just watching them was exhilarating. How is this so great you ask? It was how I turned a corner to find a crazy old man performing a skit for a homeless girl and her parents. It was no fucks given attitude of the citizens. How they would flippantly jaywalk whenever they wanted regardless of cars. How the motorcycles and mopeds would weave in and out, up and over the sidewalk or crosswalk as they pleased. Lemme' just say I've never seen someone look cool on a moped until now. And all of this done with the complete knowledge of what they were doing and not giving a damn. Just walking through you get vibrant feeling. Frankfurt and Stuttgart were fun cities, but for the most part all cities are the same with nothing new to offer. They all have the same old decent looking cathedral or a capital building with a random gold statue on top. But Paris made me feel intrigued again, there was a sense of unknown. Of wonder. It has more to offer than a mere ordinary city. It has things to offer I've never done before, things to offer I've never considered doing before. I makes you feel like there is so much more to life than what you're doing. It's huge and massive and old, all on a grand (not the Irish sense of the word) scale. Most cities will have a few or two cool buildings spaced out around the city ye know? But not Paris, oh no. In Paris proper everything is on such an impressive scale. Every building fighting for your attention. Each begging to be explored and sought. I could spend a year here and still feel like I hadn't seen it all... 

So congratulations Paris! You have not only swayed my opinion of you but you have full on recruited me to your defense. I'll promise one day that I will be back to visit you again, and I sorely look forward to that day. 

Be happy!

Beacon 

Frankfurt to Stuttgart

Frankfurt was awesome. More specifically, hanging out with Mike and Jan again was awesome. I love their humor and they are just such fun people. I know it seems like I didn't do a lot in Frankfurt, but that's because I didn't haha. Me and Mike definitely spent a few days where we didn't really leave the house at all except to go to the bakery on the corner. And it was awesome. There are many things in this world that are extremely underrated, and doing nothing on vacation is one of them. A lot of people get all planny and try to map it all out before hand with bundles of activities and sights to see. While that can be nice, it's not often relaxing ye know? It's just more stress of I've got to get here for this and there for that. No fun. Vacation is for relaxing and then if you're feeling a little adventurous after some relaxation go for it. Go out there and adventure. But you gotta be careful or you'll come back from vacation more exhausted than when you left haha. In sum, my advice is to leave more things up in the air :)

Jan

So Jan has this pony farm. And it was awesome. Just the variety of horses/ponies he had was awesome.We Spent part of a night there and I got to meet his son, a super adorable kid. After the pony farm we went out to eat some typical German food and drink. After summoning our inner hiker hunger we were all so stuffed we could hardly move by the end of it. Bliss. 

I had a great time in Frankfurt and was sad to see it go, but time :(... Next off is Stuttgart! I found an €8 bus ticket and jumped on that since I've become lazy in my old age. Why off to Stuttgart? Well I was off to see an old high school teacher of mine. If I'm on this side of the world I may as well visit some people! I got to meet her husband and we had a great lunch at a thai food resturaunt. And, even though it was brief, it was so good to see you again!! 

I decided to stay the night in Stuttgart with a couchsurfer I'd found. He turned out to be super cool, as was his Chilean roommate and his other couchsurfer who is a girl from Russia! Of course I stayed up waaay to late to get out at a reasonable hour today, so it's some more chill time before I go off into the wild blue yonder tomorrow.

Be happy,

Beacon

Belfast to Frankfurt (trail is world wide)

When I first decided I was going to Europe Germany was no where near in the plan at all. But as it went, and as I got entrapped by Ireland and its magic, I didn't have enough time to go over to France/Spain to hike El Camino de Santiago. That's alright though, there's always next time. But let's see, how did it all play out? There was a point in Ireland where I decided it was time to (sadly) leave the country and I thought about the people I knew in Europe to go visit. Well you can put two and two together and I landed on Germany! So I spent my last couple dazs in Belfast chillen' with the amazing Claire and her boyfriend Filly. I was meaning to get up to the Giant's Causway but the rain and numerous reports of how underwhelming it was dissuaded (is that a word? German spellcheck says no, but I think yes) me from making that attempt. And since a plane was on the line I took a cheapish bus back down to Dublin from Belfast so I could fly off to Frankfurt :)

Next thing you know I'm on Aer Lingus flying to meet Mike and Jan. Mike and Jan are two German guys I met at the beginning of the Appalachian trail nearly two years ago now. Good ol' facebook has kept us in touch since then! Now I was supposed to meet Mike and Jan at a McDonalds at terminal two. But the McDonalds was closed for the first time in history apparently. Lucky enough while I was wandering and wondering about how to approach that they wandered up and found me! We took a nice stroll through the night to get back to Mike's place and promptly made some food 'cause we were all starving. 

The next day Mike took me on a tour of the city and we did all the touristy stuff. It was really quite fun and Frankfurt is a gorgeous city. I've really enjoyed the place ye know? 

Now that all the touring was done we could start to party haha. We went and met up with some of their friends that night, inculding a German girl who had just thru-hiked the Appalachain trail this past summer! There is just something about trail people that gets you all excited. And being around Mike, Jan, and now Sophie too?!?! It was just incredible and such a good time reminiscing about the good ol' days (the z and the y are swapped on this kezboard and it's throwing me off everztime). Mike showed me some typical German foods (lots of sausage) and it's amazing I must say. 

The next day I went with Mike and we helped his friend doing some remodeling work on his home. It was really fun actually, and other than that we've just been chillen' like it's our job. It's been so much fun to just hang out with trail people again. Mike and Jan are fantastic and I'm loving staying with them too, unfortunately that's really putting some perspective on how little time I have left here in Europe :(

But I'm enjoying the hell out of the time I do have here :)

Be happz,

Beacon 

Galway to Belfast

So I made it back to Galway. No surprise there I suppose. That place is like a giant magnet to travelers it seems. I've had a grand time there and it's sad to say that I've left it for the last time on this impromptu trip to Ireland. This Galway trip was spent quite similar to the last few. Spending time with Shauna and her family and friends. I feel like I've met her whole family now, like almost absolutely all of them. As well as her friends too haha. I must say they are all incredible. They are all so much fun and have been so hospitable to me it's ridiculous. So to any of ye Irish I've met out there, just know you're always welcome in Texas :)

I hung around Galway until the finale of Doctor Who was aired, then said my goodbyes, and caught a ride with Shauna's uncle Marc and his lovely wife to Dublin. I just gotta say that he has some of the COOLEST kids I have ever met in my entire life. It was great fun, and Marc and his wife are awesome too :)

Me being lazy nowadays (also with a flight looming over me in the near future) I decided to take a bus from Dublin to Newry instead of hitching (seeing as it was dark). I was going to stay with Paul, one of Shauna's friends I'd met a few times. And, funny enough, the bus I aas on picked Paul up too (Ireland is a small world). So we chatted all the way into Newry, got some incredible garlic cheese chips, and then went back to his to watch Archer in a new country, Northern Ireland!

Paul 

Had a great time with Paul, he's a laugh for sure. He sent me off after lunch the next day and I was thumbin' it to Belfast. It wasn't hard to get a life once I realized the motorway was actually just a dual carriage (can I spell?) way. Got a ride from Michael and talked politics of Northern Ireland the whole way. I was dropped right where I needed to be and wandered a bit before I got to meet the incredible Claire, one of Shauna's best friends. And it's not surprising in the least that they are best freinds, because they both live on a whole 'nother level of awesome. 

My first night in Belfast with Claire, Filly (her boyfriend), and all their friends was amazing in an incredibly nerdy way. We got Chinese take out, some beers, and then spent the whole night playing Settlers of Catan. I've loved this game ever since I first played it in Slovenia with Jake and Jess. And on top of all this, I'm in Europe! Which means I can get my favourite cider in the whole world...

I love it

Needless to say it was a fantastic first night! I spent the next day wandering around in the rain and going through the Titanic museum as Belfast is where it was made.

Titanic Mueseum

Good ol' Irish weather

That night I met up with the group again. We drank a few and then headed off to a pub quiz, something I've never done before. All I knew is we were supposed to answer questions. How it worked was there were 6 or so rounds. Each round had a theme and 8 questions. Every team would turn in their answers at the end of each round and they'd let us know the standings. We were actually doing pretty good as we started, steadily around 2nd or 3rd place. And we held that until about midway through the quiz. We'd been drinking steadily the whole time and then all of a sudden we were in the lead! Also, it made it funnier that our name was quite inappropriate and they would keep announcing it in the rankings over the loudspeaker. But we were winning! And we kept winning and eventually we won! This means we got a 24 pack of free beer (you could call it Budweiser, but free beer sounds much more appealing). And immediately, the 6 of us are off to drink our free beer at someones house :)

Free beer!

Doesn't get much better than that,

Be happy :)

Beacon 

 

Cork and back to Galway

Well, many a thing has gone down since the last post per usual. And I'll be doing my best to explain it all in a rational manner that y'all can understand despite how badly I always do at that. Hmmm, where to start? How about where I left Dingle without much of a plan.

I left my friends house in Dingle early in the morning (not really, it was like 10am) and started thumbing it towards Cork because I'd heard very pleasant things about the city. I was in the middle of nowhere it seemed, a very small town, but despite that a kind woman named Martha picked me up in about 5 minutes of me thumbin' it. She took me down a gorgeous coastal road to Inch where there was an incredible beach. I spent some time wandering it before I walked on out of the town with my thumb out. 

I was kind of worried I wouldn't get a ride on account of there being one car maybe every 5 minutes. This was a small town after all and I doubted anyone was heading far. I still got picked up by Anne and Leslie on their way to Dublin. This next little bit will explain to you how small a place I'm in. We were driving down the road and we see a young girl thumbin' it too. And she had some swagger with it ya' know? Well they pull over to get her and I'm thinking it's pretty cool I'm about to meet another hitcher, but turns out they just all know each other and she is a local headed over to her friends house. I found that oddly amusing and incredible. Seriously, I wish I lived in a world where everyone knew everyone and you could thumb it down a road knowing full well a friend'll come along to collect you! Then, while driving down the road with her, we see another guy walking down the road too. And they're all like 'there's Tom' and the debated whether to pick him up too or not. It was a small car though and already a little cramped so they just drove by laughing making comments like 'no worries, Tom's a walker' and somehow I found that just hilarious. I'm chuckling over it just writing this haha. The way they said it ya' know? So funny. They dropped me in a small town where I grabbed a breakfast role and a ride from Stewart who was an incredible guy. He took me through Killarney and showed me around a bit before driving me all the way into Cork where I would spend all day wandering and enjoying the life.

I arrived in Cork and was instantly struck by the beautiful parks they have uptown. It was awesome, in my travels I've really learned to appreciate a good park. I spent all day wandering around the town. I felt out some tinder girls and sent some couchsurfing request since I arrived early enough in the day for that. Nothing struck me as a hit so I didn't worry and expected to camp somewhere. I did town things all day and checked my wifi later that night to discover a couchsufer had accepted me!! This was quite exciting as I haven't couchsurfed since the last time I was in Europe two years ago. And Peter reminded me of why I used to love it so much. He was so nice to accept me on such short notice and he showed me a great time. It was fun to just chill with him and talk about traveling and all that. Because god do I love to talk about traveling with someone who is also passionate about it. It was a grand night altogether and the next morning I headed out of Cork. Don't get me wrong, it was an amazing cool city, but it wasn't speaking to me in terms of sticking around for a while.

I knew I needed to get back to Galway for a Marianna's birthday part so I decided to hitch in that direction for the day, that way I'd be closer for the morrow when I wanted to get in. But at a point someone took me so close to Galway it would've just been silly for me to not go in that night, plus I was kind of exhausted from the road. So I got a ride from two Polish guys all tatted up first, to get out of Cork, then Pat, Jon, Jarred, and another Polish guy. I spent a good two hours under a bridge singing to my Ipod when it was to wet out for me to bother hitching and it was good. I got into Galway quite early, ran into a girl I'd previously met and chatted before meeting two Americans and going out to dinner with them. Two fab girls, one from New York and one from New Jersey, both studying abroad in Galway and it was grand!

After that I met up with Shauna and had a nice night with her and her parents, though I was so exhausted and was no craic at all. I needed to save all my energy for the Birthday the next day anyways! So here's where the real story begins really. It's time for the birthday party! But to make it simple, because, per usual, I cannot relate to you the way this all went down, I will simply say it was a whirlwind of ecstatic fun bonding with family and friends in a whole knew cultural level and environment. Needless to say I loved it and Shauna's family is obviously incredibly sound. Seriously the best. I wish I could describe it better but have not the time. Maybe one day! Until then,

(not all of us) 

Be happy!

Beacon

Dingle

I woke in Limerick. I was in my tent in some not so stealthy spot, but all my time homeless must be making me complacent. I got a really early start, crawling out of my tent around 10am haha and walking towards out of town to a petrol station. 

I grabbed some coffee, asked the first girl I saw for a ride out of town and got my first ride of the day from  Brona (I won't even pretend I can spell Irish names). Who started my day out fantastically! So positive about everything and she took me on a small tour before dropping me off outside of town. William gave me the next ride and gave me a tour of his home town down the rode away where I got picked up by Brenden then Madigan. Next Anne collected me and gave me a tour of a ton of little towns as well as the ferry terminal and dropped me for Johnny. Soon some guy with a really Irish name got me, followed by Gerd, and finally Aye landing me in Dingle Ireland.

9 rides if I can count, a little less or more if I can't. I'd say the day was a success! I met up with a friend of a friend here in Dingle and if I could explain the connection we have together as people now it'd be grand, but I don't think I could. I'm staying at his tonight and it's been incredible this whole time. Seriously, if people only knew what this was like I think the world could change.

Now, I think, is the time to address this blog for the current adventure. If you haven't noticed my lackluster writing notice it now and take note! Take note that it is because I am living. I'm living my life, and I'm enjoying it greatly. Seriously though, I'm here to live my life, not to write it. Though I want to encourage people to pursue this lifestyle I don't want to drag on and on about myself amd writing seems to take away from the adventure to me. I'm not quite sure how to balance that out though... Maybe, in time, I'll write a book on it and this blog'll be an incredible reference. But until then its purpose is to motovate. It's purpose is to inspire. It's purpose is to be a beacon in the dark to those to wish for more ;).... And one day I'll care enough to write well about it all haha! 

Everyone be happy and come to Ireland,

Beacon Bell

Gorge

There is just too much to tell. Too much. I dunno how to do it. So much happens in such a short amount of time. I can't even begin to write it all and make it sound as good as it really is. But basically, Ireland is gorge. It's sound. It's incredible! I don't even really want to leave ye know? Okay. Where do I start. It seems like I blogged only a few days ago.... But maybe not? Lemme try to tell it to you all straight and rapid fire like with a lot'o'photos and exclamations. Will that work? I'm not sure, but I'm going to try :)

I hitched back to Galway from Bonduran and had a grand day chillen' about the town before I met up with Shauna and her friends. We were just going out for one drink really and then it turned into a giant ordeal of a party and I want to explain it all and where we went and what we did and how I don't even remember most of it, but it'd take ages so just know that it was amazing. 

One of the many photos that night

And the next day was spent sleeping in and doing nada to get ready for Halloween. That morning I got an email from Holland (Cato, the girl I met hitching) and it contained one of the sweetest messages I've ever read. She said: "Me and another guy from the hostel went up to the beach today with 3 surfboards and wetsuits to surprise you with a free surfing lesson... But we didn't see a tent" and that is like one of the cooler things anyone'd ever done for me but I'd left kind of early that morning :(... I wish so badly I could of caught some waves with you Cato!! Maybe in Spain ;)....

Anyways, this was Halloween. We were kind of skagged (is that how you use it?) and hung over from the night before so we didn't know what we'd do. Ended up I was Dorthy, Lorna was Mexican, Shauna was a pirate, and Chloe was a gypsy

Gorge

And we went out and had another night much like the night before. Met up with Darragh, Robin, and Mike in their castaway group costume and had a freakin' ball. Next day was spent much the same as the day before. Lying in bed watching the new season of Doctor Who, talk about dreams coming true!! It was incredible. Then another day later it was off to climb Croagh Patrick. A holy pilgrimage Saint Patrick did back in the day. We got rained and hailed on, but got a great view at the top regardless. 

Another incredible experience. Next day is today and I was off hitching, determined to make it to the cliffs. First ride was from a young and adorable 19. year old girl named Mason haha. She was a blast. Next up was Conner, then Dimphnah, and then Richy. Richy incredibly sound enough and took me by his house, fed me, made me tea, and we hung out and he offered to let me stay at his for a couple weeks and borrow his bike to ride around! Amazing guy, but I kept on for the day, maybe to return, and got a ride from McFlynn to the cliffs. Breathtaking is all I'll say.  

Then hitched with two other folk before Patrick and Melissa collected me and dropped me in Limerick where I'll most likely be tonight. Like I said, a lot is going down haha.

Be happy,

Beacon