Dublin Partytime = Weds thru Sat

The cars here are so different. You hardly ever see trucks or suv's. There are similar cars that are also found in the states, however there is one caveat; They are all hatchback versions of that car. It seems like all cars here are standard, manual drive. I have to say that I am pretty impressed by that fact that most people around here know how to drive stick. Whats even more amazing is that there is so little clearance between drivers, pedestrians, buses, alleyways, etc.

Today our host let us barrow his car. We (me, Nate, Gene, Patricio from Uruguay, and Luke from Calgary Canada) took a road trip to southern of Dublin. Patricio is like an Uruguayan version of Aaron Wang. As we drove around Dublin he was whistling and yelling at all the girls on streets. Pretty entertaining guy. As we got up the mountains and up to winding outskirts of town, we picked up a screw on the rear tire. We swapped out the spare and called Rory, our host. He told us since we were so far out already to go ahead and drive with it. We hit up a town called Glendaloch. We were trying to get to the national park, however we got sidetracked along the way and never made it. We did find a lot of picturesque scenery.

This afternoon two girls from North Carolina came into town. Being die hard Jayhawk fans, we obviously started talking shit on basketball. It's too bad that we are leaving tomorrow otherwise having some other people to watch the game with would have been fun.

We hit up the clubs the last night in Dublin. Luke, the canuck staying at the same place, came with us. The Dublin nightlife pick ups on Weds so it was pretty good. While walking around on the streets, there were a lot of college kids out dressed up, I guess it was a costume party somewhere. The funniest thing we saw was a group of people dressed up as Braveheart characters. A police officer took one of their beers and started to dump out the entire bottle right in front of the owner on the street. As the beer owner stood there in shock, the rest of his group walked by us and shouted "But they'll never take our FREEDOMMMM!"

We were originally going to a club called TwentyOne, but after talking to Batman, Robin, Batgirl and the Flash, we were told to go to club M or ViperRoom instead. We went to a pub for a few drinks before hitting up Club M. Inside Club M they played House mixed with HipHop. I thought I was dancing with Irish people, but it turned out there was a big group of college kids from UF (Florida Gators) and CU (Colorado) college kids.

Today in Dublin

Last night Nate and I went out to take some pictures after dark, it was pretty dead everywhere. I guess Tuesday night is not the best time to go out.

I also had some time to upload some pictures of Trinity College. It is very unique campus spread out and full of history.


Today I awoke with news that customs had called about Gene's entry. He arrived, but the airlines had lost his main bag. After we had breakfast at Spar which is like a small grocery store like a seven eleven, minus the gas. We visited the Ireland National Museum, Killmainham Goal prison, Ireland National Museum of Modern Art, and finished off the day with the Guinness Storehouse brewery tour.



Gillmainham Goal is a reform prison with a long history. Some interesting facts is that during the potato famine, people were committing crimes to get into prison because there was actually food. The prison was so crowded that up to 15 people were crammed in to a single cell. To combat this trend stricter rules were enforced to make prisons lesser hospitable, such as no talking and smaller rations.

The Guinness brewery tour was the highlight of the day. The tour starts at the bottom of a seven floor building. In the ground of the first level is the original 9,000 year lease for the factory. Arthur Guinness. As you walk up each level you learn more about each step of the process. The tour ends on the 7th floor which is circular in shape with glass windows along the edges and overlooks Dublin. In the middle of the room is a circular bar where they server pints of Guinness.

Finally Hit Me

My six hour international flight from Dulles to Dublin was official with cramped seating, crying baby, and cabin lights that don't turn off. Before we got on the flight, we were treated with Irish accents as we listened to conversations in the terminal. At that point it still felt like a domestic trip. The flight itself was long and uncomfortable ("thats what she said"). I watched some episodes of The Office and Into The Wild during the flight.

As we landed it finally hit me: how big of a change this is going to be. Cars drive on the left side of the road, drivers sit on the right side of the car, you need to look the opposite direction before crossing the road, car makes and models that I've never even heard of are all over the place, and measurements such as km, euro, and Celsius all become common place.

The first thing I noticed about Ireland is that it is very green. Anything that is not man-made is a shade of green, and the trees have yet to bud. The weather here is considered mild, from what we were told. Today it ranged from drizzles, cloudy, sunny, and windy. The weather changed often and quickly. Today we hung out around the Trinity College area.

We talked to some Trinity College students when we found out that the Trinity tour was not going on today. A Trinity college student said "I'm so f*ckng sick of this, this Museum costs 8 Euros for non-students and I just think its ridiculous and a ripoff" so he took us in and was able to put as down as guests to let us into the museum in for free. Props to that guy! They were displaying the Book of Kells which was really interesting. There was no photography allowed so we were unable to get some pictures.


We walked around for what seemed like an eternity. This is the most walking I've done in a while. All the sidewalks are more detailed. They were either cobble stone or tiles and it is always uneven. There's no such thing as flat boring poured concrete. Another thing I noticed is that the cross walk areas have sound triggers for when it is safe to cross. There a continuous beep beep beep that I can only describe as a metal detector beep for when you shouldn't cross. Then there's a laser sound it is safe to cross. Almost sounds like a video game at every intersection.

Our host took us in, we talked and ate lunch there. After a short nap we went out for our first Guiness. I am exhausted, but it was a good day. Tomorrow we will wait for Gene to come in.

Gear

Below depicts all the gear that I will have on me for my year long trip. Click on the image to see what each item is. At this point I feel like I am still carrying too much. This list is still a rough estimate, I'll do another post when I am for sure.

Kelty Coyote 4900

• Kelty Rain Cover: for when it rains
• Kelty Pack Duffel: for checking the main pack into the airport
• Pacsafe 85L Webbing Lock: locks my main pack when I'm out and about
• Combo Lock: for locking my pack up when hostels have lockers
• Adidas Packsack
• Eagle Creek Toiletry Bag: Holds all my bathroom stuff
• Universal Sink Stopper: for washing laundry in the sink
• Rick Steve's Clothesline: for drying laundry
• Assorted Compressed Drybags
• Jagbag: these things are made of 100% silk which makes them super durable, stink proof, and comfortable.
• REI 15degree Down Mummy Sleeping Bag
• Outdoor Research Bivy Sack
• Thermarest Prolite 3 Sleep Pad
• Inflatable Neck Pillow
• Passport Holder
• Enough clothes for a week
• Marmot Precip Rain Jacket
• Born Shoes: Walking shoes and doubles as going out shoes
• Flip Flops: for showers
• Chaco Sandals: Hiking sandals recommended by everyone I've talked to.

North Face Recon

• Rain cover
• Dell XPS1330 Laptop 2.0GHZ, 320GB HD, 2.5GB RAM, GeForce 8500M + power adapter = 4lbs can't beat that.
• 160+120 GB Harddrive
• 2x2GB, 1x4GB, 1x512MB CF Cards
• 2x2GB SD Cards
• 6xMiniDV Tapes

• Lens Kit Cleaner
• Extra Batteries
• Travel Power Strips
• Universal power adapter

• Canon 350D + Tamron 17-50 f2.8 Lens Attached
• Canon 50mm f1.8
• Sigma 10-20mm f4-5.6 HSM
• Canon 70-300mm f3.5-5.6 USM IS
• Canon 430EX Speedlite
• Canon SD800IS
• Canon HV20
• Slik Sprint Pro

Step 5: Quit Job

I put in my 2 weeks at my job this past week. I will soon be unemployed on the 25th of March. Now I have to get all my 401k, ASPP, and benefits in order before I leave. I also have to do my taxes which I've been putting off every weekend. T minus a little over 2 weeks and counting.

Step 4: Backpack

Whats backpacking around the world without a backpack? I decided that it only made sense that I had a post talking about the packs I plan on taking. My main pack will be a Kelty Coyote 4900. I think it’s made for camping and hiking, but it was one of the most comfortable packs I tried on. It has plenty of room and is able to compress to a pretty small profile when needed.

My daypack will be will be a North Face Recon which fits all my electronics so I can take it with me in places where I cannot lock it up. It too compresses to a small size. It has water bladder compartment which also fits my laptop pretty well. It wasn’t very comfortable when I first got it, but it has since then been broken in and fits me quite well.

Feeling Invincible

Finally got my last round of vaccinations today. Along with my antibiotics and malaria medicine, I'm invincible and ready to take on the world!