In Couchsurfing Heaven -- Galway

I’m starting this post from what was introduced to me as the “knickknack room” of another Galway couchsurfing host. There are two electric guitars on the wall, a yoga mat in the corner, an electric heater turned ON, and a cozy bed in which I’ve now spent two warm, comfortable nights. Matthew is out running errands and Lorena is working at her hotel job, so I have the apartment to myself for a couple of hours. I would go wander about Salthill (a suburb of Galway), but it’s pouring rain outside and I have plenty of work to keep me busy inside the snug apartment  -- which makes me feel a bit less guilty about wiling away a day indoors whilst visiting the beautiful city of Galway.

The last two days have been relaxing and I am thoroughly enjoying the company of the couple hosting me. Matthew is a reflexologist and Reiki practitioner who works at one of Galway’s nicer hotels part-time. He has such a genuine, caring, optimistic personality that even a few moments of conversation with him leaves me feeling refreshed and encouraged. Lorena (his fiancé) works as a manager at Galway’s finest hotel (the G), and has a cheery, quirky personality that reminds me so much of a good friend from college that I actually feel as if we’ve already met. Which must be an odd dynamic for Lorena.

I met Matt and Lorena in front of Jury’s Inn at the bottom of Quay Street on Saturday afternoon at three o’clock. Christmas was in the air and all over the street (in the form of incredibly fast-moving, somewhat irritable pedestrians with terrible tunnel vision), so even though it was only a couple km away, I gave myself a good forty minutes to walk to our meeting spot. Lugging my huge bag behind me didn’t do much to help with Christmas crowd navigation. I did manage to finally make it to Jury’s Inn, though, and plopped myself down smack dab in front of the hotel to wait for Matt and Lorena. Spotting someone whom you’ve never met out of a thronging crowd of Irish is a somewhat daunting task – especially when you’ve only seen a few of their pictures on CouchSurfing (people never end up looking like their profile pictures). I tried putting on the look of frantic desperation, but that just seemed to make me blend in with the rest of the Christmas shoppers. So I decided to make a moment of eye contact with every stranger whose eyes I could catch. It’s terribly awkward – that moment of waiting to see if either of you recognizes the other. Fortunately for me though, this awkwardness only lasted a few minutes. A little green car zoomed past, and a very cute brunette in a very red coat leaned out her window and waved frenetically at me. I gave a mildly confused wave in return. Then she leaned further out and shouted, “Are you Aimee?” Confusion immediately turning into relief, I shouted back, “Yes, yes that’s me!” picked up my bag, and ran full-speed towards the illegally stopped car.

We spent the next hour or so joining the mayhem down Shop Street (they’re very creative with names here) and Christmas shopping. Lorena’s managerial and organizational skills became very apparent as we checked off gifts from her list in astronomical speed. Matthew bought me a cappuccino and we had a pleasant conversation as we waited for Lorena to purchase her mom’s present for her dad and her dad’s present for her mom.

Upon returning to the house, I happily settled into the knickknack room and Matthew and Lorena made dinner. Then we all sat around their living room, drinking wine and watching “The Gard.” It was a grand movie to watch in Galway because almost all the scenes were filmed here. As longterm residents of Galway, Lorena and Matt were constantly making comments like, “That scene was shot just behind the house over there,” and “I was working at the G the day the film crew was setting up for this shot.”

I love couchsurfing so much. My goodness.

Matthew and I got a late start the next day, leaving the apartment at about 2:00. It’s absolutely frigid in Galway this time of year, so I certainly didn’t mind staying indoors. We walked through Shop Street, tried to find a few art galleries, and stopped for a hot port at Matthew’s favorite pub.

Lorena picked us up a couple of hours later, and we went back to the apartment to get ready for a tasting to which they’d been invited. Matthew and Lorena both work at very nice hotels, and it seems as if the neighboring hotels have tastings every so often – to generate interest in their new menus.  These tastings involve free wine, cheeses, cocktails, and various starter dishes. As a couchsurfing guest, I was able to join them at this tasting. I remember sitting down at the candlelit table and thinking, “How in the world did I end up here? I started off this trip with maybe three thousand dollars worth of spending money, have been traveling for six months, and am able to enjoy myself so immensely regardless? What?”

After the tasting, we dropped by Matthew’s mother’s house to pick her up for some Christmas caroling. However, Jesus charges 12 euros for his carols in Galway, so we decided to go back to the apartment, drink hot port and play scrabble instead.  It was another remarkably good time.

Reasons why everyone should try couchsurfing.

A few more pictures from Galway:

A rather creepy doll at the Galway Museum