Yesterday was a transit day - I don't know why I always book bus travel on my birthday... you think I'd learn. It was a very chatty day. Sat with a family of Germans for breakfast - the dad was horrified that I travel around Europe by myself lol. The kids thought it was cool. Turns out they have relatives in Winnipeg - always a small world. At the station, I had two workers stop to chat with me. One about the weather (shocker) and the other about where I was from. He asked if I was from the French part in Quebec... uhm... no... but I am French? Which of course led to how I must visit France to see where I come from. Yes, like... 400 years ago lol. Anyway, also chatted with a ... read more

Another beautiful day in the nature of Ireland. Sadly, because I'm remote to the max at this hostel, no pictures as the wifi is spotty. I did the same idea today - did half a tour, got dropped off at my hostel, and I'll rejoin the tour tomorrow. When I gave in my ticket the guy joked I better make sure they know what day I want pick-up because it's in the middle of nowhere. (He wasn't kidding. It's the most remote place I've ever stayed. It's a 20min walk from the main road..!) Once again the driver was hilarious - the funniest one yet. He had a comment about absolutely everything. I wrote down a bunch - I'll put them at the end. We stopped at Inagh Valley for some photos as we started the ... read more

(Rural Ireland = crap wifi once more. I gave up after three photos... sorry.) Yesterday I headed to Galway. Fun times looking for the bus stop since of course Citylink doesn't stop at the bus station... that would be too easy ;) Giving my name to the driver was fun. More accurately, hearing him try to pronounce my name was fun. The drive was uneventful. Passed a few fun things, such as "The Shire" pub which had a giant sign that said: "let's get Legolas" which is just brilliant ok hahaha. (Forgot to mention the other day, one of theoubtain ranges heading oit to Dingle is also called the Misty Mountains since the tops are always in the fog/clouds. LotR is alive and well in Ireland.) I also saw a lot of businesses with "Moriarty" as ... read more

There. Was. SUN! Today I headed out to the National Park to hike the Gap of Dunloe. Oh boy, was it the perfect day for it - the colours were pristine with the sunlight. For some reason I got stuck doing the tour backwards - not the end of the world, but a pain time wise because we were late leaving, and I was on the last boat out, and it's supposed to take 2.5hrs to hike the Gap and so I basically had 2.75hrs to make it back for the bus. Considering how many pictures I take... I was concerned about the time lol. Anyway, the bus/boat driver was a hoot. He looked a lot like Hugh Bonneville so that's pretty much all I could think of during the time with him. The tour started ... read more

(I should have proper wifi tomorrow so pictures will go up on the later blogs... it drives me insane when I can't add them because it would take 30min to do one photo.) I'm writing half of this entry sitting in a stable at Blarney Castle. I don't mind mist, I don't mind rain, but I do mind downpours and what they do to my camera. Anyway, just getting to Blarney was amusing. I had purchased my bus ticket online and the machine on the bus was having nothing of it. It took the bus driver, a bus director and some head honcho guy from inside the bus station to get it to work. Ahhhhh, even funnier when you realize by booking online I saved maybe 50 cents. I laugh at my frugality. Blarney Castle is ... read more