Dublin Dublin was great. There’s not much that was bad about Dublin, despite the river levels being low, making the Liffey a bit whiffy. I stayed in the International Youth hostel and given a choice I wouldn’t stay there again. Not because it was unpleasant, it was just a bit of hike into town and the neighbourhood wasn’t overly savoury after dark. Still, it was fine. The highlights of Dublin were: *Trinity College and the Book of Kells *The museums, where I finally saw the real items (in all the other towns and cities it’s usually just replicas that are d [View Full Entry]

---

---

Drogheda I caught the train from Belfast, having sworn off buses for the remainder of my time in Ireland. One day they’ll invent inner ear transplants and I’ll never have to feel vomitorious in a car/bus/plane/boat/kayak again. Thank god for train travel in the meantime. Drogheda was a great town. I found the Green Door hostel really easily and it was very comfortable, as hostels go. The town was fairly typical of eastern Irish towns. Pretty buildings in a mixture of stone, slate and thatch. Some nice cathedrals and some older buildings crumbling at the edges. There was [View Full Entry]

---

---

Sweden and Norway: (very sorry, still no photos. will get them scanned and digitalised at some point, I promise!) For my birthday, my lovely mother gave me a week in a timeshare in Sweden. Very exciting. We picked it because it was easy to get to without a car, being within walking distance of a train line. I flew into Trondheim, in northern Norway, from London where I’d spent a week catching up with friends. Trondheim at a glance was very pretty, but I had to catch my train to Storlien, where I’d be staying. Storlien is a tiny town perched [View Full Entry]

---

---

Northern Ireland… Dear, Dirty Derry: I know that is supposed to refer to Dublin, but up to this point in the trip, Derry was by far the pick of the bunch. In a way, it’s funny, because I hadn’t really expected to like Northern Ireland as much as the Republic, just because of the history and political nonsense. But Derry surprised me. It was dirty, littered and a bit smelly around downtown, but somehow it has the most amazing atmosphere. Apparently it’s on a druidic power base, so perhaps that’s why it’s retained such a good vibe throughout all the [View Full Entry]

---

---

Connemara I had originally planned to join Dirty Boots Treks for a three day hike in Connemara National Park but it was sadly cancelled due to lack of numbers. I didn’t want to miss out on the whole area though, so I headed to Clifden from Galway to spend a few days in the Connemara countryside. I didn’t do any wild hiking but it was still beautiful. On the bus from Galway I met a French girl called Benedicte who was planning to stay at the same hostel. When we got to Clifden we left our packs at the hostel and [View Full Entry]

---

---

Clare After Kerry I went up to County Clare, where my base was the town of Doolin. Clare is home to two things I’d really wanted to see in Ireland; the Cliffs of Moher and the Burren. On the bus up to Doolin we stopped for 15 minutes at the centre for the Cliffs of Moher. I couldn’t resist popping up to the cliffs for a quick preview, even though I was planning to spend a day there later. It was evening, so the light was fairly low and it was overcast, too, but the cliffs were quite stunning. I just [View Full Entry]

---

---

Cork To start my trip in Ireland I flew to Cork, there to stay with relatives (two of whom I’d met when they came on a trip to New Zealand). They lived in a big old house a few minutes walk from the city and it made a great base for my exploration of the area. Cork was a nice little city with lots of bridges and big wide roads due to the fact that it was built over a whole lot of islands separated by river channels. Many of the doors in the city are raised off street level and [View Full Entry]

---

---

We flew to France via England, spending a week in Nailsworth with Griff’s daughter and her family. It was a pleasant enough weekend, with more than a little awkwardness thrown in, but I don’t feel like it’s my story to tell, so I’ll say no more about it. FLOCELLIERE The main motivation behind our trip to Europe in ’05 was to attend the wedding of one of Griff’s best friends to his lovely lady of the French persuasion. The wedding of Phil and Soizick was going to be a grand affair. We were invited to stay in a chateau in [View Full Entry]

---

---

Grundlsee, Austria Our first night in Austria was spent in Salzburg, jetlagged and after an unpleasant two hour flight from London following an ill advised trip to the pub with Griff's friends. Red wine should not be taken within hours of a 24 hour flight. Ever. Consequently, my first night in Salzburg is a bit of a blur. In the morning we left for Grundlsee, this time by train (my favourite form of transport, about the only type that doesn't leave me a nauseated wreck). My strongest memory of this is the colour green. It was quite a wet summer [View Full Entry]

---

---

More and more I find myself with itchy feet. I have so many plans to see the world, too many for one lifetime. I want to share my travels - past, present and future - with the people I care about, so I am starting this journal, albeit a little bit early. I like the fact that reading my posts will be up to you. I also like that I can share my photos with you, too. To start with I will be adding a couple of recent, back-dated trips, just to get into the swing of things. From there my [View Full Entry]

---

---