Final Days -- all over the place, Ireland

A good traveler has no fixed plans and is not intent on arriving.

~Lao Tzu

There are orchids in the doorway. The petals are so transparent that you can see the white become grey where they overlap, creating little Venn diagrams of darkness on the milky white. Soft yellow shyly peeps out from the middle, like the sun on a soft Irish day.

A less romantic version could be a very unhealthy egg with a sickly pale yolk.

I'm starting this post from Kim's adorable home in Newport, Wales. The walls are off white and decorated with framed paintings of landscapes and animals, scented candles, and photos of friends. Lime green pillows and bright purple blankets cover the couches, a wooden giraffe stands at attention next to the wood stove, and the tile floor boasts a good many happy puppy pawprints. I can hear the stream trickling by, the birds chirping, and the occasional car whizzing past. 

The hostel did end up having an extra bed, so I packed my things and loaded up with Lochlann, Noemi, and Danbee and set off down the road for my final adventure in Ireland (this time around, anyway).

One of my favorite things about staying with Lochlann (there are many), is that he's always hosting other people. Noemi is from Spain and Danbee is from South Korea, so I was able to question Noemi about the Camino de Santiago and Danbee about what it would be like to teach English in South Korea. So Saturday was full of fun conversation, quick stops at quirky towns along the way --

Beautiful scenery --

a stroll through Glendalough --

Found my round tower!

So very round.

a screech to a halt to take pictures in front of the Hollywood sign --

 We arrived at our hostel in Kilkenny a bit after eight and Lochlann appeared to be dismayed when he realized management had erred and placed us in a twelve person room instead of a six.

"It's goin' to be quite loud," he fretted, "If they had told me it was goin' to be a twelve bed, I don't think I would've taken it."


"you're right," I looked around at the filled room, "It's going to be pretty rowdy. Especially on a Saturday night."

After eating dinner, we freshened up and went out to a pub with traditional music. I drank my last bulmers in Ireland and listened to my last session.

This time.

Kilkenny Castle

An interesting hands sculpture behind Kilkenny Castle

The Irish really do adore their pets

The pub we visited Saturday night was first owned by a woman tried and convicted of witchcraft.

 Lochlann was overwhelmingly considerate and detoured to Enniscorthy on the way back to Dublin, as taking the bus from there to Rosslare was significantly easier than from Kilkenny. Public transportation in Ireland is remarkably friendly and inefficient.

What happens when Ireland gets sunny...

After lounging about the town for a couple of hours, Lochlann dropped me off at my stop. I changed over at Wexford and boarded my ferry in Rosslare, proud of myself for navigating Ireland's bus system and making it to my ferry in grand time. 

I found a seat on one of the middle decks and had grandiose plans to write the entire trip. 

But I ended up reading Game of Thrones and napping my way to Wales. 

I arrived at the port around 1:00 in the morning. Heaving on my backpack, I hurried into one of the coaches that dropped foot passengers off at the terminal. When we arrived, I scanned the station. Where was Kim? Had she forgotten about me? That didn't seem like her at all. A few minutes passed and I began to feel like something was wrong. 

"Excuse me," I interrupted a cute, waifish, curly haired English girl reading in the corner. "Have you got a phone I could borrow?"

"Yeah, sure," she handed me her iPhone. 

"Thanks so much," I said as I dialed Kim's number. 

"Hello?"

"Kim! I'm here!"

"Aimee, did you get any of my messages?"

"No... why?"

"You got the wrong ferry. You were supposed to come to Fishguard. We're on our way to pick you up now, but it'll take us about 45 minutes." 

"Whaaaa--?" 

"You're in the Pembroke station, right?"

"Yeah."

"Fishguard's the one that's close to my house."

"Oh my goodness, I am SO sorry, Kim. And you have to work tomorrow... and --"

"Don't worry about it," her friendly but tired voice interjected. "These things happen. I'll be there soon." 

I would usually spend the three quarters of an hour contemplating my stupidity and beating myself up for somehow catching the wrong ferry, but this time I just sat.

Wow. Wonder how that happened. I should probably find a way to not make that happen again. 

I saw Kim's fiery red hair out the window and rushed to give her a hug.

"Thanks for picking me up," I gushed. "I don't know how I caught the wrong ferry..."

"You're here!" she smiled. "You're finally here." 

God, what a lovely person. I thought. I'm so stinkin' lucky. 

It was four in the morning before we got to bed. I was introduced to her wriggly chocolate lab who sounds like a duck when excited, offered a pint of Welsh cider (which was remarkably good), and given a tour of the house.

Dreams come softly, I crawled into bed and turned off the light. 

Preconceptions: 

none today

Challenges: 

ROUND TOWER! Yay!

General Observations:

A very common way to start a sentence is "yeah, no." 

All manner of behavior is excused when the sun is shining. 

People will sneak in through hostel windows at 6:00 in the morning if they've lost their key. 

All the clocks in the buses are incorrect. 

Irish people get hot very easily. What I call pleasant, they call stifling. 

When someone rips you off, they say, "you've been fleeced!"