Ireland shenanigans

I began my tour on the 1st of November, so it has officially been 6 days as of today. My journey began in the southern part of Ireland in a city called Dublin. As we walked around town I found that the personalities of the locals are much like those from the U.K. All very friendly and open. At about 10 am on our first day we did a walk through of the Guinness brewery. We learned how to pour a pint properly and even got to drink it ... Even though it was only 10am..condoning of alcoholism? I don't know haha. Since then we have been slowly working our way north and are currently on our last loop to reach the top. To be honest I haven't exactly been paying attention to the names of all the cities and towns we have gone to. This is mainly because of the fact that I have a guide and a driver, which means all I have to worry about is my car sickness... Which has been quite strong because of all the twists and turns within the roads. The crazy thing with all these winds in the road is that the speed limit is insane. Where I'm from if there is even the slightest curve in the road, the speed limit is dropped to about 40km/h... Here it starts at 80 and goes all the way up to 100!!!! So you can understand why my stomach is doing flip flops all day. 

Despite all the crazy driving, we have had a great time wandering around Ireland. The views are always gorgeous with loads of green land and mountains. The weather is that of typical Ireland, and thank god I went to Scotland first.. it definitely made me become a little more accustomed to the weather. For those who haven't been out this way, essentially the way the day starts out is bright and sunny without a cloud to be seen in the air, and will all of a sudden take a turn for the worst. The biggest set of dark dark clouds will come rolling in at ultimate speeds and just take over the whole sky in a matter of minutes, and then that's it. No more sun for the rest of the day. Grey sky's with on and off rain for the rest of the evening. 

One of my favourite places we have been to so far is the cliffs of moher. When driving in you can barely tell that you are anywhere special. It seems as though you are just on flat ground with a bunch of tourists around. However, one you walk a little further out of the parking lot, you begin to see that the once flat ground begins to take a severe drop off to a 300m drop. For those who believed the world was a flat surface it is this area that will make this myth seem almost true. You literally walk straight to, what feels like the edge of the earth (take a peek below at pictures). In order to get the most amazing pictures possible, we walked down narrow paths that literally drop off to your death at one end, and are perfectly flat grassland on the other. It was such an adrenaline rush to be walking so close to the edge, and to be able to get the pictures we took made the evening that much more spectacular. 

I also have finally been able to get my Irish ring called the claddah. This ring used to be worn as a wedding ring, but is still commonly used as an engagement ring. The way the ring looks is a simple round silver band with a heart in the middle, a hand on each side of the heart and a crown ontop of the heart. Each of which represents a form of affection. The crown ontop of the heart represents loyalty, the heart is shown for love, and finally the hands which hold the heart symbolize friendship. If you are in a relationship, the base of the heart is meant to face in to show that you are taken, whereas if you are single and looking for love the base of the heart is pointed out, symbolizing that your heart is available for taking. I don't know about you, but unless I am engaged I don't exactly like to have something on me that basically screams "IM TAKEN" or "IM SINGLE" but the symbolism behind the ring was too cute to give up. 

That's all for now. I'm going to attempt to go back to sleep because just writing this post is making me feel woozy. Darn bus. 

Keep an eye out for more posts to come. 

Xoxox 

Ireland shenanigans

I began my tour on the 1st of November, so it has officially been 6 days as of today. My journey began in the southern part of Ireland in a city called Dublin. As we walked around town I found that the personalities of the locals are much like those from the U.K. All very friendly and open. At about 10 am on our first day we did a walk through of the Guinness brewery. We learned how to pour a pint properly and even got to drink it ... Even though it was only 10am..condoning of alcoholism? I don't know haha. Since then we have been slowly working our way north and are currently on our last loop to reach the top. To be honest I haven't exactly been paying attention to the names of all the cities and towns we have gone to. This is mainly because of the fact that I have a guide and a driver, which means all I have to worry about is my car sickness... Which has been quite strong because of all the twists and turns within the roads. The crazy thing with all these winds in the road is that the speed limit is insane. Where I'm from if there is even the slightest curve in the road, the speed limit is dropped to about 40km/h... Here it starts at 80 and goes all the way up to 100!!!! So you can understand why my stomach is doing flip flops all day. 

Despite all the crazy driving, we have had a great time wandering around Ireland. The views are always gorgeous with loads of green land and mountains. The weather is that of typical Ireland, and thank god I went to Scotland first.. it definitely made me become a little more accustomed to the weather. For those who haven't been out this way, essentially the way the day starts out is bright and sunny without a cloud to be seen in the air, and will all of a sudden take a turn for the worst. The biggest set of dark dark clouds will come rolling in at ultimate speeds and just take over the whole sky in a matter of minutes, and then that's it. No more sun for the rest of the day. Grey sky's with on and off rain for the rest of the evening. 

One of my favourite places we have been to so far is the cliffs of moher. When driving in you can barely tell that you are anywhere special. It seems as though you are just on flat ground with a bunch of tourists around. However, one you walk a little further out of the parking lot, you begin to see that the once flat ground begins to take a severe drop off to a 300m drop. For those who believed the world was a flat surface it is this area that will make this myth seem almost true. You literally walk straight to, what feels like the edge of the earth (take a peek below at pictures). In order to get the most amazing pictures possible, we walked down narrow paths that literally drop off to your death at one end, and are perfectly flat grassland on the other. It was such an adrenaline rush to be walking so close to the edge, and to be able to get the pictures we took made the evening that much more spectacular. 

I also have finally been able to get my Irish ring called the claddah. This ring used to be worn as a wedding ring, but is still commonly used as an engagement ring. The way the ring looks is a simple round silver band with a heart in the middle, a hand on each side of the heart and a crown ontop of the heart. Each of which represents a form of affection. The crown ontop of the heart represents loyalty, the heart is shown for love, and finally the hands which hold the heart symbolize friendship. If you are in a relationship, the base of the heart is meant to face in to show that you are taken, whereas if you are single and looking for love the base of the heart is pointed out, symbolizing that your heart is available for taking. I don't know about you, but unless I am engaged I don't exactly like to have something on me that basically screams "IM TAKEN" or "IM SINGLE" but the symbolism behind the ring was too cute to give up. 

That's all for now. I'm going to attempt to go back to sleep because just writing this post is making me feel woozy. Darn bus. 

Keep an eye out for more posts to come. 

Xoxox 

The land of the scots!

Following Paris, my plan was to get to Edinburgh, Scotland around 7pm have a nice shower at the hostel I had booked for the evening and be ready for my tour around Scotland by 9am. Obviously, with all the luck I have, this didn't happen... In fact, what did happen, was far far far off from the original plan. So this is how the disaster began. I get to the train station a few hours ahead ready to make a reservation for my train, after waiting in line for about an hour I get to the front and am told that my train is fully reserved, I can't get any discounts and if I want to buy a ticket it'll cost me 245€... So to that I obviously said fuck you and left. I then checked flights, since most within europe slash the uk are quite cheap... I was wrong. These flights were about the same price and did not include luggage. So back into the line I go. This time I get a very weak English speaker and it almost turns into a match. Basically she just kept telling me to go upstairs and I had no clue as to why or what I was supposed to do up there. I go up anyways and finally find someone who not only understands English but also realizes that a 245€ train ticket is ridiculous for a student... So he finds me one for 109€. Still fucking expensive, but it was my only option to get me to edinburgh in time to meet my travel group. So off I go to find my train from no other place but Disneyland Paris! In all honesty I wanted to say fuck this and just go hang out with Mickey Mouse for a while haha. 

Onto the train I go and of course I have the cutest little blonde girl in front of me named Imogene, and to top it off she had an English accent. Of course, I then loved this train getting my spirits picked up by this little girl telling me everything about her life and how awesome Disneyland was. This train was a few hours, drawn out longer by stops due to maintenance. I of course start to freak out that I'm not going to make my connection and as a result will miss meeting my tour. Round turns Imogene's parents who seem to be more concerned than I am about myself missing this connection. They immediately start looking up train schedules for me! At this point all I can think of is how amazing the U.K is. These people have no clue who I am besides the fact that I've been chatting with their 3 year old all day, and yet they are trying their hardest to make sure I get to where I need to be. After talking with the train master and figuring out my plans, this family then reapproaches me to make sure all is well. After reassuring them that I am fine and thanking them excessively for all their help, they then tell me that if worst had come to worst they were going to bring me with them to their house (since it was halfway between London and Edinburgh) let me stay there and catch me a train in the morning. I could not believe that a perfect stranger was about to let me stay with them.... There is no way in hell this would ever happen in Canada. People sit with headphones in and try their hardest to ignore all that is happening around them. If anyone is frantic at all we just assume that they're crazy or they'll figure out their problems on their own. At this point I realize, if all else fails ... I'm moving to the u.k! 

Anyways, I make my connection train and am over joyed... I then run into another amazing older gentleman who informs me that I don't have to transfer and that our train makes an unofficial stop off in edinburgh where I can get off. I immediately go crazy and explain to him how much I love the u.k. And how everyone is so friendly. Of course, this man was right.. So off I get at edinburgh station.... At 4am. I walk to the hostel that I'm supposed to meet my group (not the one I was supposed to stay in that night...that got canceled and still charged on my card... My life right?). I am so happy that I've made it and get to take a shower and just relax until my group comes. 

So the tour begins and it is a 5 day Skye and highlands tour with a company called Macbackpackers! Anyone hoping to travel please please go on this trip. There are so many beautiful places to be seen and gorgeous mountains all over. To top it all off we had an unbelievable tour guide who told stories like nobodies business! He was so great at his job, knew exactly where to go, all the great spots and was so knowledgable about everything in Scotland. This mans name was Richard. So if you go on this trip I suggest you ask for him, you won't regret it for a single second. 

You didn't think that was it did you!? It's me were talking about, and that means there has to be disaster lurking somewhere close by. So... Our bus broke down twice and we were getting the end effects of a hurricane that had just happened right before we left, meaning everyday was excessive wind and rain. Bonus is, this didn't stop us from doing anything! We went on hikes, saw waterfalls, claimed mountains and everything. It was absolutely gorgeous. Yes, we got completely soaked and loads of wind burn, but it was totally worth every second of it. 

Following the tour I stayed in edinburgh for a few extra days. This was my way of saving money by not going to London, as well as a nice way to relax after a long eventful 5 days. 

Guess what?!?! 

Were finally caught up! Now don't let me get behind... Message me everyday to remind me that I need to write. 

I just wrote this on my train to London, so keep an eye out for more stories about what I am about to experience while in the lovely, friendly, stunning, but expensive London, England! 

Xoxox 

The highland cows (or as they call them coos)