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Published: April 13th 2008
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Although our plan is to go on one massive trip after a year of hard work- we decided that a short trip was needed. This was mainly fuelled by the UK winter- day after day of freezing cold weather, drizzling rain, contant cloud cover and very short hours of sunlight. I am never going to complain about winter at home again!!!
We decided that a short trip to Ireland then over to Italy to visit Tom (Petes mate from school) was just what was needed to take away some of our winter blues.
As we only had around 3 days in Ireland we decided only to visit 2 places- that been Galway and Dublin. Galway was a very pretty place and the people were very friendly, however as we were there in the middle of winter it was also freezing cold and rained a lot. We decided to take it as an opportunity to not do very much. We went for long walks and hung out in nice pubs. We met one bar tender who tried to convince us that Cardiff was shit and we should stay in Galway for the next 2 weeks and get drunk with them
on Australia day. Although tempting- we unfortunately had to work Australia day (as we work in an Australian themed pub!).
Next we went to Dublin- which of course meant Guinness. Triona was in Guinness heaven when we went to the Guinness factory, Peter wasnt so fond of his Guinness but managed to finish it.
We also went to Kilmorgan gaol and Dublin castle. All in all, Dublin was a nice place but we probably would have appreciated it a lot more if it had not been the middle of winter- hence raining and cold all the time. On the up side because it was off peak season and Triona loves to bargain hunt- we did manage to stay in a family size 4 star hotel for cheaper than a dorm bed was in most hostels. It always pays to research all options- hostels are not always the cheapest option.
After Ireland we went to Italy to visit Tom who is playing rugby in a small town called Laquila, around 3 hours from Rome. The first thing that we noticed when we got to Italy was sunlight. It hurt our eyes but we could not get enough of it.
We estimated that it was at least 5 weeks since we had been exposed to sunlight as Cardiff seems to be constantly covered in a thick layer of cloud over winter. We went straight to Laquila where Tom lives, and he took us out to his favourite place the infamous cavour.
It has become some what of a folk story about Toms visitors falling victim to Laquila. Rumour has it that many a visitor has disgraced themself on a night out in Laquila. Although Pete was able to handle the jandle, Triona was not so graceful and ended the night with the new nick name of "vomitron".
For the next two days we went to the snow fields near Laquila where Pete had his first glimpse at snow and we had a go at snow boarding. We were not very good and spent more time lying on the ground then any boarding.
After two days of relaxation, snow and eating we said our farewells to Tom and headed to Rome. Unfortunately we only had one day to see Rome before our flight. Rome was not built in a day and it certainly cannot be seen in a day. We managed
Dublin in a Guinness
The view from the top floor of the Guinness factory to see some of the sights such as the Colosseum and Trevi fountain. But we missed out on visitng the Vatican city. However we are planning on re-visitng Rome when we have our long trip around Europe- so all is not lost.
In the short time that we spent in Rome we fell in love with this amazing city. I can hardly wait until we come back and visit the city properly.
Ultimately our holiday had to end at some time and after a very confusing day trying to get home with long waits due to our own dis-organisation and flight delays- we made it back to Cardiff and its bad weather.
We are due to leave Cardiff on the 13th of April to start a 5 month adventure. We will be spending our first week in Scotland and then head to Turkey for Anzac day. From there we are going on a 35 day tour from Istanbul, Turkey to Cairo, Egypt via Syria and Jordan. After the tour we plan on travelling through eastern and some of western europe for around the next 4 months. At the end of this we will be heading to Canada to
work and save money for our next trip through Asia.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who made our time in Cardiff awesome. We met a lot of great people and we hope to stay in contact with many of you. Thanks for everything.
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