Wanderlust

By 4 o'clock on Friday afternoon, I was so bored at work that my head had gone numb and I was contemplating saying a number of very rude and expletive things to my boss. Just in time, my brother rang to tell me he'd made a snap decision to pack up the car and head to Dingle for the weekend. Was I up for it???

All that was left of me in the office car park at 5:30 were some big black skid-marks! :D

Got home, threw some essentials in my pack and we hit the road. The weather forecast for the wknd was promising blue skies and lots of sun, and it was certainly shaping up that way. Apart from a pitstop in Tralee for petrol and some Mars bars, we made Dingle in just over two hours. Even though we'd packed the tent and camping gear in the boot of the car, we rang ahead to the Rainbow Hostel and, as luck would have it, they had one twin room left! Rainbow Hostel is a great spot! A spotlessly clean hostel with good facilities and about 10 mins walk from Dingle. (meant to take a photo but forgot )

Headed straight into town to Conaire's pub to meet up with my brother's friends. One of them is jsut back from a few months in India, so I was happy to spend a few hours picking her brains and listening to all her travel stories. Conaire's was quite a lively spot - there was a trad band in the for the night and the walls of the pub were pratically heaving with ppl up dancing and singing. We fancied somewhere a bit more chilled out after a few hrs, so we decided to check out the wine bar up the street. This place was really nice - you would not expect to find it in Dingle. It serves quite late, and has some of the best pizza Ive ever tasted! Yum. After a few glasses of wine, we all meandered homewards emjoying the warmth of the night.

10:30 a.m. Saturday. Woken by LOUD knocking at our door telling us we had to get up. Groan. Pain in head. Meant to drink at least two glasses of water before bed last night....We had to get up and get dressed, get our thing together pretty quickly. Initially, we were told that Sat night was booked out at the hostel, but when we went downstairs to pay, the girl in charge told us she had just had a cancellation and asked if we'd liek to stay another night. We could have stayed in bed after all....LOL. Oh well, it was good to be up anyway. After dumping our gear back upstairs, getting on some new clothes and washing up, we decided breakfast sounded good. We walked into town to wake ourselves up. I love the smell of the sea air! And what an amazing morning - blue sky, sun sparking on the water and on the boats - it was good to be alive.

This is where we had breakast - Darcy's. I had scrambled eggs with smoked salmon, lots of fresh coffee, orange juice and toast. Pain in the head was gone within a few mins and I was right as rain.!

The day was stretching out ahead of us with lots of possibilities - we could go swimming, we could sit outside in the sun and read, we could explore the town....in the end we decided to go for a hike. At the mouth of the bay, there was a hill with a look-out tower at the top which looked interesting, so we piled into the car and drove out along the bay to the foot of this.

The heat was really starting to build up by now, and I wasnt relishing the thought of encasing my feet in my big hiking boots, so i opted to leave on my sandals. Mistake! Half-way up the hill we came upon what seemed like oceans of gorse!! I had to trudge through this for at least 15 mins. Ow! Ow! Ow!

But the pain was definitely worth it. The views of Dingle from the top were spectacular. YOu really wouldn't think you were in Ireland.It was more like Croatia or the South of France or something.

We spent a couple of hours lying in the sun and chatting, and soaking it all up. This is Ireland at its best. We dont often get weather like this.

Eventually, when we all started to feel hungry and thirsty, we made our way back down. We arranged to meet a friend out in Ballyferriter, so we took the Slea Head drive out past DunChaoin and the Blaskets. It was funny to see the confused tourists standing out with their English language maps looking at the Irish roadsigns. Lol!!

This is a beehive hut that we spotted at along the way.
We spent the rest of the day out in Ballyferriter drinking in the sun. When the sun eventually went down heaeded back into Dingle for something to eat. Spent the rest of the night crawling the pubs and listening to the Irish lads winding up the American tourists. It was hilarious!! LOL. Ended up back in the wine bar to finish off the night. Didnt crawl into bed until well after four.

Sunday More knocking at 10:30a.m. Up, shower, pack, back into Darcy's for brekkie. Everyone feeling very tired this morning. Decided on a short walk around the headland at the mouth of the bay to wake us up. Found a secluded little beach and spent the next few hours watching Fungi the Dolphin in the water. He followed some jet-skiers right up to where we were, and jumped out of the water metres away. I'm a big kid, so this was the highlight of my day! I got pretty sunburned even though the weather was cloudy in the morning, so eventually I had to reluctantly leave the beach and head back.

In the afternoon, one of my brother's friends was having a barbeque to celebrate her birthday, so we picked up food, beer and a present. The bbq was great, and I ended up being head chef. Lol! I'm still waiting for the phone calls to say taht they are all dying with food-poisoning. We ate until we couldnt eat anymore, and then the weather turned and the mist started to move in from the sea. At about 8 o'clock we packed up the car, and headed back to Limerick, relaxed, full and very tired.

I fell in love with DIngle this weekend. Its a really vibrant town but its not overrun with tourists, and there's so much to see and do down there. I'll definitely be going back for a long weekend very very soon.

It's been raining here in the South-west of Ireland for days now. It's overcast and humid and very oppressive. There is NO WAY I can wait until next January for a holiday. So, I've decided to take a week to 10 days in Spain in September.

THanks to Ryanair, I have sourced some very cheap flights from Shannon! In total, with taxes, etc. a return flight will cost me €88. I live not too far from the airport which is great! No long-term parking, I can just get my brother to drop me off. PLus, the great thing about Shannon is that its relatively effortless to go through. No long waits or prolonged security checks.

So, this morning I e-mailed my boss to ask for the days I need off. His typical response was "I'll have to get back to you" Hmph! Bosses! *roll-eyes*. Why do they always act like they're doing you a favour by agreeing to give you your days off. He better hurry up. Grrr...If I lose my cheap flights......

The flights I'm thinking of booking are from Shannon to Barcelona (Girona). I would really like to see the south of Spain but flights to Seville or Malaga are quite significantly more expensive (and would mean flying from Dublin with Aer Lingus) so this time, for convenience sake, I think I will stick to the north of the country.

I'm getting excited already planning how I will spend my time there. If anyone who's reading this has any suggestions on where to stay/what to do, I'd love to hear them!! September is my favourite time of year to travel in Europe, and it's usually still quite hot.

I know I should be keeping the money for the Big Trip, but I NEED A BREAK!

As some of you know, I'm planning a round the world trip in the not too distant future. After much deliberation and driving shop assistants round the bend, I recently invested in a new backpack. I found it pretty mind-blowing looking at all the different packs that are on the market. It took some time to eventually find what I think is a good one. So here are a few points about the pack - they might help others who are looking for something similar.

It's the Berghaus Spirit 65+15. I'm extreeeeemly happy with it. It fits like a glove!

1) It has a Biofit backsystem which is really comfortable. It's designed so that the main body of the pack is away from your back. Allows a lot of air between you and the pack. The hip straps seem to take a lot of the weight as well(so far...admittedly, I'm basing this on walking around the sitting room with some stuff in it...but I suspect that I wont have any complaints)

2) It comes with its own waterproof cover. This attaches with a velcro strip and a zip and completely covers the pack.

3) It has a zip-over cover for the back straps for when you're not carrying it on your back.

4) It has a side handle and also a detachable shoulder strap

5)It has a 15L day pack which has two compartments and a side pocket for a water-bottle or whatever

6)It has a bottom compartment for shoes/smelly clothes/etc

7) It has zips which open down the sides for easy access to your clothes.

8) There is a medium-sized mesh compartment inside the pack and one or two small pockets as well.

9) It has a strap at the top of the pack which can hold a sleeping bag/mat/etc

10) It also has this i-trak thing (which it a total gimmick although might come in handy). Basically, you register your details and the pack number online and this will enable Berghaus to track your pack anywhere in the world if it gets lost.

It cost me €220 and I think its going to be worth every penny.

The best thing about the Berghaus Spirit: It's very very very comfortable.

E

Ps: Will upload a pic soon

One of the times I remember being most in awe of my surroundings while travelling was the following:

I was in Italy camping on the side of an olive grove high above a little Italian town. Looking out the door of my tent I could see the whole town twinkling below as dusk began to fall. This place was situated at the edge of a lake at the base of a mountain which loomed over everything - a really beautiful part of the world. It was August so there was THUNDER in the air - I remember sitting at the door of the tent smoking a j and soaking up the heat.

As night fell, thunder started to roll in the sky. It got closer and closer and suddenly there was this enormous crack and lightning lit up the whole place. The mountain, which had all but disappeared in the darkness, was completely illuminated - the best thunder and lightning storm EVER went on for the next half an hour. Fantastic flashes of light lit up the sky and I saw the place in a completely different light. It was like nature's very own fireworks display. It definitely surpassed any real fireworks show I've ever seen! Eventually the thunder began to roll off into the distance and everything quietened down again. I felt so "charged" or something by the electricity in the air - exhilirated.

And then the rain came...that very heavy, wet, wet rain that falls after thunder. It quenched the energy in the air and in me, and I fell asleep listening to the sound of it drumming against the tent.