Blogs from County Galway, Ireland, Europe - page 14

I had had about 5 hours of sleep the night before, and with a full day of talking and walking with Carla, Sandy, and Ellen around Adare and the Cliffs I was totally wiped out. It added insult to injury to then arrive in Galway in the rain; but I actually felt like a total badass, like I was really roughing it--hey, any story I can tell myself to keep a positive attitude, I will. Needless to say though, finally finding Kinlay hostel was a huge relief. I got inside and the receptionist remembered me because we'd had a crazy phone conversation when I'd booked the room. I'd tried to tell her my email address and had to spell it several times using animal names (eg: R as in rabbit). It was pretty funny, we'd had ... read more

August 18 – Saturday - For some inexplicable reason I woke up around 0600 this morning and could not back to sleep. So I finally got up around 7:30 and went downstairs and did a little homework on the train trip to Belfast from Ballinasloe. The ticket will be €80 and the trip will take about about 3 ½ hours. It goes to Heuston Station. Then you have to unload all your stuff and catch the LUAS tram to Connolly Station where you get the northbound train to Belfast. The West-East trains should logically go to Connolly Station to link up with the North-South train routes but they don’t. You have to make your own way to Connolly Station from Heuston Station in Dublin to catch the North-South trains. I’m sure it has something to do ... read more

Since my trip has been quickly coming to an end, I’ve been spending more time out in the city and less time on my computer. Hence, the double blog. I wish I could say I have some overly exciting story about something or another, but the trip has just been progressing as expected. We went to the Galway Museum on Wednesday to learn a bit more about the lovely city we’ve been staying in. The museum was very telling about what these people have gone through in history. The most interesting thing we discovered is that these people are not people of war. I found this interesting, considering the fact that we as a country tend to run into any war we can find. Later that afternoon, we piddled around Shop Street and did a bit ... read more

July 25 Wednesday Ballinasloe to Cork I caught the 0930 bus from Ballinasloe to Galway and made the connection on the X51 to Limerick because that was supposed to arrive in Limerick at 1220 which would line me up for the 1235 #50 bus to Cork. The stupid driver waited on someone who was late at Galway and that threw me late for arriving into Limerick for my connection which meant I had to wait an hour for the next #20 bus and got into Cork an hour later. When someone is traveling getting somewhere an hour earlier sometimes means the difference between getting a good room/bed and getting what no one else wants. When I found out I missed my bus in Limerick I went back to the bus I had arrived in and had ... read more

July 22-24 blog draft - I took some pictures of the curb on Jubilee Street in front of the house where my mother grew up in. My mother and her brother had written their names in some fresh concrete in 1936 and it is still there. M Ward and W Ward. Also I invested the 22 through the 24th doing homework on my trip to the Southwest part of Ireland. The plan is to head to Cork again and to have a good look around. I intend to invest 5 days there. Last time I went there I stayed at the Aaran House hostel. It is a good hostel and I have no complaints but decided this time to try out the Kinlay House Hostel in Cork since I had such a good experience with the ... read more