I left Cardiff today to make my second trip to Oxford to visit Dave. I had been here this past April for a couple days and did the bulk of my touring then so this was all about the company. When I arrived, we headed down to the Pie Minster in the central market to dine on their delicious meat pies. We got so deep into conversation (mostly reminiscing and bickering over business and finance) that we didn’t realize until halfway through that we had inadvertently swapped pies. After lunch, we went to the Said business school’s library so he could [View Full Entry]

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I awoke this morning to pouring rain outside. After about a half hour of waiting (and extra rack time) I set out for my run. I ran down to Cardiff Bay, a section of town about 1.5 miles south of city center, since it wasn’t covered in the general tour guides. When I got back, one of my roommates and his wife, a couple from the Netherlands, gave me a guide to Paris. Yesterday I mentioned to them that I was heading to Paris in a few days and they talked about how much they loved the city. Little did I [View Full Entry]

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I awoke this morning in a bit of a haze after last night’s undertakings. When I glanced down at the floor before hopping off the top bunk I noticed one of the lads had left the rest of us a gift on the floor in the center of the room. It appeared someone must have had a little too much Black Death. Once I got cleaned up, I departed Bath and headed for Cardiff, Wales. Cardiff is not quite the tourist hotspot but it is Wales’ capital city. When I planned my trip I wanted to go to Wales as I [View Full Entry]

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Throughout my travels, I’ve always had the urge to ascend to the highest geographical points in the areas I’ve visited. Since Bath’s city centre sits in the river valley of seven nearby hills this urge arose when I arrived. This morning I decided to climb one of these hills as part of one of my shorter training runs. I headed to the north end where there were many buildings on the hill, which would likely mean the running would be more suitable than some of the other hills. It took about a mile and a half to reach the top, with [View Full Entry]

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I left Belfast early this morning en route to Bath, England. After a flight to London Heathrow, a train to a station near Heathrow, another train to Twyford (or something similar to that), another one to Reading then a final one to Bath, I finally arrived this afternoon. Due to its hot springs, Bath is a renowned spa town which is located near Stonehenge (my real reason for coming here). The city is actually quite nice as it has catered to those on vacation (or “on holiday” as the Brits put it) for hundreds of years. Interestingly, the town has all [View Full Entry]

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Today, it was time for another long run in my marathon training schedule. I woke up around 7:30 and was planning on doing the first part of my run with a few chippies I met at the hostel who also were thinking of going for a run. I went; they bailed. In total I ran 16 miles and covered pretty much all parts of Belfast. I started out by going through the Botanic Gardens to the River Lagan, up along the river, across and back some bridges, through the city centre, down Falls Road (see below) and all the way off [View Full Entry]

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This morning I departed Dublin by bus and headed to Belfast. Belfast is about 2 ½ hours north of Dublin and it is the capital of Northern Ireland. Northern Ireland is located on the same island as the Republic of Ireland but is actually a part of the United Kingdom, whereas the Republic is a separate country. This distinction and that of the religious differences (the Republic is generally Catholic while Northern Ireland is generally Protestant) were the grounds for many years of violence; most notably from the Irish Republican Army (IRA). I arrived around 1:00 pm and rucked about a [View Full Entry]

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After a little rack time, this morning I continued my training with a 5 mile run up to and through Phoenix Park and back. The cool air was a nice relief to the hot and humid weather in which I had been running for the past few months. After a refreshing shower and some toast for breakfast, I set out to continue touring. I started with St Patrick’s Cathedral, a Catholic cathedral which is believed to have been built on the sight where St. Patrick was baptized. Next was a walk around the grounds at Dublin Castle. I started with the [View Full Entry]

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I arrived in Dublin today to kick off a 2+ month tour of Europe. The trip over was a bit of an adventure as I took the 7:00 am bus from Kutztown, PA up to the NY Port Authority, caught a bus to JFK, flew to Charlotte, flew to Philly then finally flew to Dublin, leaving after 9:00 pm EDT. The logical question is why not fly directly from Philly? Because for some silly reason one way tickets were $2,000 from Philly to Dublin, yet I was able to get a one way with the extra flights for under $400 and [View Full Entry]

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24 days. 5,175 miles. 18 states. 14 destinations. One helluva trip. Many people have asked me the natural question - what was your favorite spot? I’ve rode the fence on that one as it’s tough to pick one. Every place I went had its own unique characteristics. To compromise, I’ve thought about some of the “bests” and “mosts” in a number of categories: Best nighttime entertainment - New Orleans Best food (single meal) - St. Louis (Pappy’s Smokehouse) Best food (overall) - San Antonio Best drinks - New Orleans Best music - Nashville Best [View Full Entry]

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