Welcome to daily update #2. Let’s get right into it!
This morning, I was going to wake up around 8:30 and have a relaxed, calm morning. One of my roommates thought differently about that. Due to an alarm going off at 7:15, I woke up over an hour earlier than I had anticipated. I decided to put my being awake to good use and go take a shower.
For some reason, I expected to have one shower per room (6 people in my case). Just to clear things up, that’s what I expected when I was still in Belgium. When I arrived at the hostel, it quickly became clear that I wouldn’t have to work out a showering schedule with my roommates. I sighed with relief internally. The shower was great and really enjoyable. So when I got back to my room, I dressed and went down for breakfast.
You should know, when I booked my accommodation online, I also ordered a full Irish breakfast every morning. Looking back on it now, that probably wouldn’t have been necessary, but oh well. The deed is done, might as well get some good breakfast out of it, right? Breakfast was also a good time to start writing for my blog. I did have to finish it at night, though.
Right after breakfast, brushing my teeth and packing my bag, I was on my way to Trinity College. First, I had to go through some struggles trying to find the right bus to take, but I got there in the end. I must say, the views in and around Trinity College are quite impressive. I don’t know if it’s just me because I come from a not-so-impressive city or if the campus is actually that remarkable, but I was awed.
The inspiring front side and main entrance of Trinity College
Of course, the highlight of my visit to the famous Dublin campus was the Book of Kells exhibition and the visit to the Long Room. The exhibition itself was kind of eh, but the Long Room was definitely worth it. It’s just as beautiful in real life as it is on all the pictures.
A side view of what the Long Room looks like from inside (although I’m sure you already knew this as there are literally millions of pictures online)
A close-up picture of one specific section of the Long Room
For lunch, I bought a sandwich and a drink at some supermarket in the shopping streets and I went and ate it in St Stephen’s Green Park. It was a refreshing change of pace to eat surrounded by trees, birds, water and Chinese people.
I was originally planning on visiting the Oscar Wilde house, as it seemed like a fun and informative thing to do. I walked all the way there, only to find out that the exhibition and tour have been discontinued since 2007 and the building is now owned by American College Dublin. Fix your website guys 🙁
While the visit to Trinity College was the most informative thing I’ve done in Dublin so far, the most entertaining by far was my visit to the National Museum of Ireland (Natural History Department). I was originally planning on only going to the Archaeology Department, but I’m glad I decided not to skip this one. The stuffed animals lent themselves perfectly for funny pictures. I saw the opportunities and seized them.
Here are some of the less obscene examples.
After that, not much happened any more. I walked all the way to my hostel. That should have been a 20-minute walk, but it obviously took me over half an hour because I’m Slowpoke and I got lost. Anyway, I went and drank a chai tea at this little coffee shop I found yesterday and then dumped my stuff at my room in the hostel. Then I went out for dinner and came back, and now here I am, writing a blog post in the hostel lobby.
So, that was today. I’ve been working to get this daily update out on time – as opposed to the previous one – so that anyone that might be following me can actually follow and not lag behind. If you’ve made it this far, thanks for reading this update post!
-S
Disclaimer #1: I will try to make these update posts a daily thing. I’m sorry if I miss a day, it just means I was too busy, tired, cranky or I just could not be bothered.
Disclaimer #2: I didn’t take many pictures because I’m kind of focusing more on my GoPro. I’m shooting short 5-second clips which I’ll turn into a kick-ass travel video when I get back home. I’ll be sure to share it with you all 😉
Wow. What a refreshing, well-needed change of pace compared to a month and a half of sitting in my room, doing nothing but studying, eating and sleeping all day every day. Yesterday was one of the busiest days I’ve had in a long while. Let me tell you about it!
In order to catch my 9:55 am flight, I had to be at the airport at 7:55. This meant that I had to catch two early trains (because there was no direct connection from where I was to the airport). This, in turn, meant that I had to take a bus at 6:22 to get to the train station in time. In short, this obligated me to get up at 5:30, which was another thing I hadn’t done in a long time.
The night before, I thought to myself “I’ll go to sleep around 8 pm, that way I can still get eight hours of sleep”. Bad idea. Let me tell you something: if your body is used to going to sleep at 11:30, YOU WILL NOT actually fall asleep until around that time. I learnt this the hard way. I lay awake in my bed for about three hours until I finally fell asleep. It was awful.
All things considered, though, I did manage to fall asleep eventually and wake up in time. I got to the bus stop on time, caught my bus, caught my train, caught my connecting train, got through airport security and customs swiftly and I was at my gate an hour early. Oh well, it’s better like this than to have to rush in order to even make it.
So everything regarding my flight to Dublin went pretty smoothly. (This doesn’t mean nothing went wrong, but I’ll tell you more about that when I’m back in Belgium.) After getting my baggage back from the conveyor belt, I went to the big airport hall. There, I had to queue for about 10 minutes for a bus ticket. For the unaware, Dublin Airport (like most airports) is not exactly located in the city centre. In this case, there were about 15 kilometres between the airport and the city.
Obviously, I couldn’t walk that far with my big bag of stuff. So I searched for the bus stop and waited a little while. Luckily, the bus system in Dublin is pretty well organised, so I didn’t have to wait more than 5 minutes. What followed was a bus ride that didn’t seem to end. This might be because I am used to bus rides that take about 10 minutes in Belgium though. Half an hour later, I arrived at the bus stop that was closest to my hostel (according to Google Maps). I embarked on a 15-minute walk that probably could have been shorter if I had known my way around. In the end, I did arrive at my hostel though.
Time check: it’s 1:30 pm. I couldn’t get into my room until 2:30 because they were still cleaning it, so I decided to get lunch at the café because I was starving. All in all, it was pretty good and I managed to fill up enough time so that I was now able to access my room. I went there, unloaded my baggage and headed out.
By the time I decided to get out and explore the city, it was raining cats and dogs. According to the online weather forecast, it was going to stay like that until around 6 pm. So I said screw it and headed out anyway. In hindsight, this was a pretty good decision since it did in fact keep raining until the evening.
I walked around what I considered to be the city centre of Dublin. But, of course, what I thought was the centre was actually not. It turned out to be kind of a suburb of Temple Bar, if that makes any sense whatsoever. After realizing I was walking on a road I had walked on before, I made the decision to just stop walking and head into a pub. Being determined as I am, I walked into the first pub I came across and had myself my first pint in Ireland.
After this little endeavour, I headed back to the actual city centre because – well, obviously – I hadn’t been there yet. Temple Bar is a really nice place to just walk around with no real destination in mind. I just strolled through the streets and soaked up the atmosphere. I really liked how there was a mix of locals and tourists there.
Having seen both the urban hub of Dublin and its outskirts, I decided to go have dinner at the Hard Rock Café, which was conveniently located in said urban hub. First, I bought myself a T-shirt though. Yes, I know I’m basic, sue me. I was kind of stressed for this, as it was my first time eating alone abroad and even my first time eating alone in general. It turned out to be less awkward and lonely than I had anticipated. The waiting staff were really friendly and the weird looks from others that I had expected didn’t come.
Right at the end of my lovely dinner, I got a message back from someone I knew from school back home. I had seen him and his travel companion at the airport and I sent him a message about it. We decided to meet up for a pint at Temple Bar. It was a great, unexpected hour or so in a typically Irish pub.
By now, I had to start thinking about how I would get to my next destination. You see, I was planning on going to a bar that organized comedy nights. Friday night was “International Comedy Club”. So I got out my trusty Google Maps, and went through the struggle of trying to find my way without decent internet connection. Eventually, I did get there.
The comedy was great; there were four comedians coming in and two of them were absolutely hilarious. The other two were not bad, but they weren’t great either. The comedians even improvised jokes about the audience, which was very impressive to me. There was a lovely atmosphere of love for each other and solidarity between everyone there.
After the comedy club hilarity, I tried to find my way back home. I took about three wrong turns before finally managing to find the river, by which I orientated myself and found my hostel. After a 20-minute walk, I found my way back to my room, where I fell asleep almost instantaneously.
Well, this was the summary of my first day. More summaries are on the way, but they will likely be a little late because of who I am as a person and because I don’t have as much time as I had hoped and anticipated. Thanks for reading this daily update post!
-S
Hey guys!
In this post, I will be discussing my (solo) travel bucket list. I put solo between brackets because I don’t know yet if I want to travel solo as much, because I don’t have any experience being abroad on my own. For those of you who don’t know what a bucket list is:
a list of things that one has not done before but wants to do before dying
It apparently originated from the expression to kick the bucket (to die). So basically, a bucket list is a list of things you want to do before kicking the bucket. A travel bucket list specifically is a list of destinations you want to see or visit before dying, or in this case, in 2017.
Let’s kick it off! (pun intended)
I have a friend who recently moved from the UK to Australia and I would love to see her there. Moreover, Cairns is home to one of the most beautiful and largest coral reef systems: the Great Barrier Reef. I wouldn’t mind doing a bit of snorkeling and deep-sea diving here.
Aside from this obvious choice, there are a lot of places in the glorious US of A I want to visit. I’ve never been outside of Europe, but I intend to change that as soon as possible. I’ve heard a lot of crazy things about nature across the pond and I’d like to find out for myself. I feel like the Grand Canyon would be a great place to start. Not to mention, afterwards I could go chill out in California.
I NEED to see the Northern Lights in Finland, preferably sleeping in one of these glass domes. The thing is, these are rather expensive, so I’ll probably have to wait to do this with somebody else. Also, let’s be honest, this whole “sleeping in a glass igloo and falling asleep while looking at the stars” thing is way too romantic to do it by yourself.
I feel like this is something everyone needs to see at least once in life. Historic ruins like these should be on everyone’s travel bucket list. It seems like a beautiful historic place to spend a day and maybe explore the surrounding mountains. The Incas who inhabited this place centuries ago had a big impact on the world, so I think visiting this place could really help give us insights into why the world today is the way it is. This could fit in perfectly into a South America road trip or trekking route.
I included this place because it is just SO versatile. It literally has everything. Big city stuff in Bangkok, great food all over the country, breathtaking nature for backpacking or taking a scenic route, interesting culture in the temples and ruins and even cozy little shops and markets. I got urged to go here by a friend from high school, who has Thai roots. We were supposed to go there together with some other friends, but sadly that didn’t happen. That doesn’t mean it never will though.
I have to admit, I got the idea for Delphi from a YouTube video by Vsauce (He takes a selfie in Delphi here). Michael posts some amazing, mind-blowing stuff, so be sure to check him out. However, there’s just something about archaeological sites that fascinates me. When I was in Pompeii with my classmates in a last-year-of-high-school trip, I was baffled. I couldn’t believe I was walking on the same roads that people who died over two thousand years ago also walked on. That being said, I would love to feel that again, but in a different place. And that is why Delphi is on this list.
Disclaimer: I do realize there are tons of beautiful lakes in the world and by no means am I saying this one is the best of all.
I found this lake while I was browsing the online for travelling ideas (as I often do) and I was stunned. The sheer beauty of the surrounding mountains would make me want to buy a ticket to Canada and not even worry about the rest. Besides, after checking out the stunning nature in this park, I could go chill out in Calgary, Alberta and see some of that Canadian politeness all for myself.
Well, that was all of them. For now. If you guys have any thoughts on these, let me know. If you have any recommendations for me, let me know as well. I’ll be sure to check them out. Thanks for reading!
-S
Hey! As you might know, I’m going on my first solo trip ever in a couple of days. I’m going to Dublin for five days, all by myself. I honestly could not be more excited. It all started out around September, when I was beginning to plan what to do in my one week of not having classes. I wanted to go somewhere with friends, but it turned out most of my friends had already made plans. Or they were just too broke to be able to afford travelling. So I decided to embark on this journey by myself. And it might be the best decision I’ve made in a long time.
I decided to plan out just about everything about my trip: a place to sleep, restaurants, events and tours. I’ve read a lot of travel blogs and watched a lot of videos about first solo trips. The thing most people regret the most is planning too much. I realise I’m making the exact same mistake, but I figured it was better to have everything planned than to have a day in which I wouldn’t know what to do. At least for my first solo trip ever.
The first day of my trip, February 3rd, is without a doubt going to be the most stressful one. My plane gets in around 11 am. After finding my checked baggage and getting out of the airport, I need to find a way to get from there to my hostel. I’m sure there are plenty of bus, coach and taxi services, but this part kind of stresses me out.
My general plan for this trip was to kind of try and do things that I wouldn’t normally do on a holiday with my family. That being said, I’d like to get some culture in my first solo trip. Art gallery, museum, cathedral or library; you name it, it’s probably in there.
As I said before, there are a lot of things I want to cram into these five days. Therefore, I felt it was necessary to plan it all out on a pretty tight schedule. There are a lot of different types of things I want to do. Here they are! (in no particular order)
This seems like a lovely, quirky, authentic place. I really enjoy hanging out at any type of market, really. Moreover, I might get some really good deals on cool books or something or other here. Also, it’s an indoor market, so this plan won’t get watered down (pun intended) if it starts raining, which is always a good thing.
2. Temple Bar Book Market
I actually have a little bit of a collection going at home: I collect old-looking books, preferably in English or Dutch. I feel like markets like these are an ideal place to find such books for decent prices. I’m really looking forward to this one, because the atmosphere of an outdoor market always reminds me of our yearly flee market at home.
As you can probably guess from the name, this one is right near the Temple Bar Book Market. This means that I’ll take a look at these two on the same day, for efficiency’s sake. In my opinion, food markets and food truck festivals offer the most authentic range of food from another country. I’ve vowed to myself to try new things on my first solo trip, so maybe eating street food will be one of those things.
One of the things I wanted to do during my time abroad was immerse myself in foreign culture. To my mind, a national museum is a great way to do this. I can’t remember the last time I went to a museum with my family, so I think they’re not as interested in this as I am. Also, it’s free.
Oscar Wilde was one of the most influential authors in the Anglo-Saxon world, so I think a quick visit to his house would be in place. Our high school English teachers also kind of obsessed over Wilde, which meant a lot of interaction with his works in class. The Selfish Giant, The Importance of Being Earnest and The Picture of Dorian Gray spring to mind.
Another classic example of “something I want to do when I’m on a holiday but my family doesn’t so I don’t make a big deal out of it”. Well, now that I’m in Dublin by myself, I can do whatever I want. And this is one of those things. Oh, and it’s also free.
Apparently, if you’re going to Dublin and you don’t visit Trinity College, you haven’t really been to Dublin. Again, as I’m really interested in old books, I feel like this is something I’ll enjoy a lot. It’ll be cool to walk on a campus and compare it to my own university experience as well.
Another thing I’m very fascinated by is the whole prison experience and culture. Therefore, I feel like a bus ride from Dublin city centre to this place will be totally worth it. It seems to be an inspiring and overwhelming tour, and I can’t wait to see what the tour will consist of.
Once more, a more or less essential part of any visit to Dublin. After all, what’s Dublin without a pint of Guinness? To see where and how they make this beer and what kind of craftsmanship comes into play will most likely be something very exciting and special to experience. Also, it seems like the 360° view on the seventh floor is really worth it and will provide me with loads of beautiful pictures for Instagram.
(4. Viking Splash Tour)
I was originally going to take a Viking Splash Tour around the city as well, but after days of planning and scheduling, I found out that I just didn’t have the time to do this. After all, I don’t want to have to rush all over the city just to be able to do everything I planned. This tour might be something to check out if I ever come back to Dublin.
Once more, my love for books is shining through. After comparing a fair number of libraries, I decided this was the one I wanted to visit. It had that look of a Hogwarts library I really wanted and it just seemed like an authentic little place that not many typical tourists have visited. Then again, I might be completely wrong about that and the library might be filled to the brim with typical tourists.
I figured I was in a very cultural city, so it would be a pity if I didn’t even get to visit some church or cathedral. That’s why I decided to have a look at St. Patrick’s Cathedral. Also, it’s right next to Marsh’s Library, so that turned out to be a nice little coincidence.
A nice little park is a must when visiting any major city. You don’t go to NYC without strolling through Central Park. I guess St. Stephen’s Green could be considered as Dublin’s own Central Park. Kind of. I plan on getting some sandwiches or pastries and eating them here, while sitting on a peaceful bench and admiring my surroundings. I think this park will be a nice oasis of quiet in the loud city centre.
And there you have it. That’s my plan for this first solo trip ever. I’m very excited and I can’t wait to find out what it’s like to be abroad alone. I’ll be sure to keep you posted when I’m there. Anyway, thanks for reading!
-S
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