Cork

I flew into Kerry, Ireland from Frankfurt, Germany on the 11th of August. Can’t say I really saw Frankfurt, I mostly used it as a spot to wash clothes and get some rest. I got sick my last day in Venice and continued t be sick for the rest of my trip but the toughest days were in Frankfurt, so I just laid in bed and drank tea and soup. I wasn’t too sick outside of these two days…in fact I recovered mostly within a week. While I was in Istria, Croatia Ivana had been in the Holland and our plans were to meet in Cork, Ireland the night of the 11th. We flew into different airports so we didn’t meet until 6 pm that night. When I flew into Kerry I was shocked to find all the Swine Flew posters at the entrance telling us to go home if we had any symptoms…I tried my best to act healthy as to avoid being sent home.

I caught the bus to Killarney and waited for the bus to Cork. While waiting I saw a outdoors shop, popped in and bought a tent. Ivana and I had planned on hitchhiking and camping as to reduce our costs. Ireland is one of the most expensive places in the EU. They had an economic boom and prices and salaries went up through the roof. Prices are about 1/3 more than they are in the rest of the EU…and with the shape of the dollar and the kuna (Croatian currency) we really had to watch it.

Our first night was in a hostel. I called Ivana the night before and gave her all the information she needed to get from Shannon Airport to Cork and then how to get to the hostel…but it slipped my mind to do it for myself, so when I arrived the first thing I had to do was find and ask information how to get to the hostel. After settling in a bit we went and walked around town. Cork seemed to be mostly full of young drunk people…. Ivana and I popped into a convenient store and got a can of cider and went to drink it as we walked. The cider was awful and some kid ran up and asked if he could have it, without thinking I gave it to him.

Cork has some really nice churches and a few medieval looking buildings but mostly didn’t resonate for Ivana and me. The streets seemed to have a dangerous feeling about them...which made it hard to relax and enjoy. But it could have just been the day or the time or the neighborhood. Either way we both decided we wouldn’t stay the next night.

We had enough days planned out to feel safe and know where we were going but left some open for improvising. The next night was one to improvise with and when we woke up we asked the receptionist at the hostel where he recommended for camping. “Ballycotton has a beautiful coastline and tons of people camp out there on the sea cliffs,” he said. We decided we’d hitch there after we got food and medicine. Ivana had been sick too, sharing a bedroom with 30 people led to very intimate rooming conditions…and eventually some one got a cold and it spread. We went to a pharmacy and told the clerk what our problems were and she gave us a 4 day regimen of cold and flu meds. One pill in the morning, midday, afternoon, and a special big blue one for the nights…guaranteed 10 hours of sleep minimum! We got some groceries for our trip, water, a blanket and took off for the outskirts of Cork.

The road signs in Ireland are not very good. They are confusing and frequently give conflicting information or none at all, but eventually we got on the right track and started walking out of town. Once on the highway we made a sign for Midleton and for the first time ever Ivana and I tried hitchhiking..

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Part of trip: Europe Trip 2

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