Post Race Analysis

• June
• 9

Posted By: Paul

Apologies to loyal readers for my delay in posting this one. After Dzido left for Dublin I got to spend another few days in Belfast visiting my family. It wasn’t much to blog about unless you all want to hear the grandparent stories repeated over and over, but it was great fun for me.

A few interesting things have come to light since the end of the trip. The most astonishing is that Dzido and I operated on a different time zone from the rest of Ireland for our entire trip. Dzido discovered this when he was returning the rental car and thought he was late, only to find out he was actually an hour early. We were on a time zone that operates through much of Europe…but not Ireland and the UK. How we didn’t realize this for an entire week is beyond me.

People have been asking whether or not the no guidebook approach was the best one. I have to say, we had nothing but fun on this trip and trying to navigate Ireland without a guidebook was a lot of fun. Just look at some of these pictures:

But it was made easier by the fact that I know a fair bit about the country to begin with and that the population was English speaking. If we were trying to Tajikistan it might have helped to do a bit more prep work. I would say our approach to travel remains unchanged: go with your gut, do something you never thought you’d do and most of all- keep an open mind.

Keep checking back on this site for random travel posts in the coming weeks and watch as we get ready for our next trip to a mystery location!

Busy streets of Dublin

• May
• 31

Spent the beautiful Dublin day (is this Irish weather?) walking around, having some drinks, and checking out the hostels. Obviously, as I mentioned, the long weekend here has caused the city to be booked up to the point of bursting. Paul and I checked some hostels on the days we were here so that I could book something for the weekend and they said I was out of luck.

Well, they were wrong! Crazy hostel owners. I managed to find a hostel with a cancellation in a, get this, 18 person dorm room. Classic!

It probably won’t be the best sleep ever, but it will be better than any airport of train station. It will be like the good old days of hostel hopping. Too bad I’ll have to wake everyone up at 6 with my alarm to catch my flight

Tomorrow I leave Ireland with an extended (6 hours?) layover in London. Might have to do some shopping, or maybe I’ll do a quick subway sprint into the city. It’d be awesome to have a drink by the Liffey tonight, Big Ben tomorrow and one by the CN Tower the next night!

Goodbye Dublin!

All good things - Dropping off the car

• May
• 31

Posted by: Dzido

It’s been a busy week, and I had the pleasure of capping it off with a lonely drive from Belfast to Dublin and then through the busy streets of long weekend traffic jams - aha! long weekend! That’s why I can’t get a place to sleep tonight!

Let me just say that my driving style in Europe thus far (on the other side of the road, standard, etc) can be described as ‘panicked’. Thing happen, I react, Paul yells something, my vision goes red…and suddenly we’re through the red light! It’s a different kind of system, but it works. Or at least it’s supposed to if you have a navigator.

My last drive today to drop off our car, Light Blue Lightning, was through the same windy roads of Dublin that had us panicked before, but now I was checking the street names as well and racing against the clock.

The added pressure was maybe a little too much for me…

JUST KIDDING! Whew, wasn’t that a close one. I did run some red lights and almost ruin the shiny paint job when a streetcar basically appeared in front of me like a ghost, but the car is back home, and I will be back home soon as well.

We spent a great time last night with Laura, Louise and Paul’s grandfather. He is a gentleman and a scholar and I can see where Paul gets his sense of humour from. Paul treated us all to dinner at the old Police Club?? on this hilltop in Belfast where we enjoyed good craic and Guinness. The restaurant was really cool since not that long ago it was a prime target for bombings so even now it has remnants of security. We drove in through a large gate and were checked by a pair of police officers to make sure that we were legit. Obviously, I stalled the car in front of them and made an ass of myself. But the dinner and company was great!

I’m heading out to hunt for hostels and will keep you all updated on my progress. For those playing the “Where does Dzido sleep” home game, the sun goes down in about 9 hours here for me

Mistakes, as usual

• May
• 30

Posted by: Dzido

I think I’ve started a post with this line a couple of times, but we really don’t learn our lessons.

We’ve been to places before where the hostels book up on the weekends, we’ve even been to Dublin on the weekend a few days ago where the hostels book up on the weekend. So why is it that I can’t book ahead when I know I’ll be staying in the city for Sat night?

I’ll be coming back to the city tomorrow to drop of our chariot of fire and will have about 20 hours before my flight sat morning. It’d be nice to have a bed to sleep in or even a car, but every single hostel is booked up for the night. Classic Dzido

We checked at hostels downtown and each one said that they were full-up. And it’s not even Bruce Springsteen’s fault this time!

I’ll come back Sat and see if I can find anything once I leave the car at the rental place, but rumour has it that the airport is open all night.

I leave you with this:

Double Header in Dublin

• May
• 30

Posted By: Paul

Yesterday Dzido and I showed our bravery and daring once again. It wasn’t running with the bulls or throwing the car around the sides of mountains at break-neck speeds- it was the fabled “Dublin Double Header.” While most mortals shy away from such a challenge, we could not help but give it a try. That’s right, we did the Guinness Brewery Tour and the Jameson Whisky Tour back-to-back.

Alright, before you label us as just another pair of rowdy backpackers, the fact is that you only get one free pint at the Guinness tour and one shot of Jameson at the Jameson Tour. But it was an alcohol filled day. The tours were pretty good…though not the best in my opinion. Both of us liked Locke’s Distillery better because it was much more authentic. Jameson no longer distills their whiskey in Dublin and Guinness just felt like a multimedia light show rather than brewery. It’s not that they weren’t intersting, I just prefer a more hands-on tour. The top of the Guinness Brewary is actually a large bar that has glass windows all around it giving you a 360 degree view of Dublin. That alone was worth the price.

After a hard day of exploring alcohol, we spent the rest of the day wandering around Dublin. Walking aimless through a city is one of my favourite things to do. We walked through Trinity College, Temple Bar and countless other areas. Dublin is such a walkable city that even a short stroll takes you past beautiful churches, buildings and parks at every turn. Last night we found a local bar and watched Ireland vs. Columbia in a friendly soccer match. The Irish actually win, breaking our streak of watching teams lose whenever we are in their country. That one goes all the way back to World Cup 2006!

Today we begin another navigation challenge- we are off to Belfast to see my grandparents. This means driving from Belfast to Dublin without maps…should be interesting! Check back to see if we make it!

Signs #2

• May
• 29

Posted By: Paul

Little mid-afternoon update for everyone. Here are two of my favourite signs…possibly ever.