I've been back in my Ireland home of Galway for 2 weeks. After India I flew into London and headed straight to the Shropshire village of Prees to relax with my English friend Steph. Unfortunately on the way there on the train I encountered a not-so-nice train ticket inspector. Before boarding the train I purchased a ticket from the machine at Euston Station, so when the inspector was in my carriage doing the rounds I presented my valid ticket with confidence. But unfortunately what I presented the inspector with was the ticket receipt, not the actual ticket. When I purchased the ticket, the machine spat out a card, which had the destination and money paid printed on the card. I assumed this was the ticket, and ran to catch the train. The not-so-nice inspector told me I should have waited for the second card to be spat out of the machine, as this was the actual ticket. I pleaded my case in my assertive, but not aggresive way, but unfortunately the inspector just replied that if I wanted to continue on the train I'd have to fork out £30 for another ticket, and that he would give me a complaints form for my dissatisfaction! Grrrr, that and the -1 degree and heavy showers and extreme lack of sleep from the 11 hours sitting in a plastic seat on my stop over in Abu Dhabi did not make my first few hours in England entirely pleasant!
But when I arrived in Shrewsbury I was greeted by two huge friendly smiles waiting for me on the platform! Sam, (an Aussie traveler who I first met in Bulgaria at the same hostel as I met Steph and Sarah!) was also hitting up the bright lights of Shropshire for the weekend, so it was great to catch up with him and Steph again. During my 5 days in Prees I enjoyed home cooked meals, cups of tea, vegging on the couch and long hot non-bucket showers! The relaxation was fantastic to recharge after the month on the go in India. Steph and I managed to squeeze into our hectic schedule a day trip to the Victorian sea side town of Llandudno in Northern Wales. We enjoyed eating our picnic on the benches and chasing the ugly birds away from stealing our cheese.
No ugly birds here, just two girls and a self timer
No ugly birds here, just two girls and a self timerI then headed down to Bristol for a week, where I stayed with my Kiwi Teirney cousins Hira and Tui. Hira has been living in Bristol for the past 4 years and Tui has just come over a few months ago. It was fantastic catching up with them, as the last time I saw Hira was 10 years ago and Tui 2 years ago! We enjoyed lots of cousin catch-up time over endless episodes of Scrubs and multiple glasses of wine! (oh, and our road trips to Stonehenge, Bath and Thornbury!)
Cousins at Stonehenge...yes, it was FREEEEEEEZING!
Cousins at Stonehenge...yes, it was FREEEEEEEZING!Since being back in Galway I've started back at the university as a temp doing administration type work in the research department, so back to enjoying my morning coffee breaks! I've moved out of the Claddagh hostel and enjoy no longer living out of my pack! I'm living with 4 local guys/ girls who are in their mid-late 20s, they are a great craic and it feels very homely :)
Hostel Friends!!Although many people have moved on, it has been great coming back to some familiarity and friends here in Galway. I have enjoyed a few nights out at Massimo (my favourite Galway dance spot!) with Hostel friends. And last weekend went on a road trip to the Ring of Kerry and Dingle with friends Melanie and Tara, and Tara's two French housemates. On this trip I tried out couchsurfing for the first time, and they weren't weirdos, so a great success!
Ring of Kerry
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