Trip journal, pt 1
Sep. 7th, 2010 09:41 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
the_andyFinally getting around to posting the journal I kept during our Ireland & England trip last October.
Journal Preface
For this trip I did something unusual: I kept a travel journal. Starting during our layover in O'Hare until just before boarding our flight out of Heathrow I would jot down impressions from the trip. The journaling was disorganized and incomplete, focusing on what was on my mind whenever I happened to have a free ten minutes at my disposal (often at breakfast and just before bed).
What follows is the twenty-eight pages of notes I took over the fourteen days we were in Ireland and England. I have tried not to alter anything, with but a few exceptions. Spelling and punctuation have been cleaned up and abbreviations replaced with proper words. I may excise superfluous or duplicate details, as I have a suspicion I mention several occurrences more than once as the days began to blur together. Finally, I may add notes to fill in gaps. Oh, and, I'll replace names with DW ids.
October 14,16:55, Chicago
The flight to Chicago was uneventful, except we sat next to an annoying, energetic hippy guy. We slept, or feigned sleep, most of the way out.
Four hours in O'Hare is boring. But, all things considered, the calm and inaction is a nice change from last night's non-stop packing, cleaning, and general freaking out.
I hope the gin forliseuse is still ok in my luggage.
October 15, 11something, Dublin
The flight to Dublin was uneventful, though the flight crew freaked out over the minorest turbulence.
It's hard to identify bus stops, what with no street signs to speak of, but my directions were good and we got to the hostel with no difficulties.
Having a room with four single bunk beds seems like overkill, but it's nice to have a private room after spending all day in planes and airports.
Afterwrdnrd finishes her nap it's out to find some food and perhaps some touristy fun.
19:30
Back from Guinness. I suspect with some careful planning one could make up for the entry cost in beer. It was a decent walk, not helped by the lack of street signs and changing street names.
Chris is suffering from a brutal headache. I'm waiting on a pizza delivery and hoping she's better after a full night's sleep. I did interrupt her determined napping this afternoon. I could use a good sleep myself. The room has poor circulation, so I worry I'll wake up hot.
October 16, 9:05
Pizzas and about twelve hours of sleep appears to have done the trick. today we'll check out the hostel breakfast offerings, then it's off to see the Book of Kells. After yesterday Chris will be taking over navigation duties. I hope Dublin will be easier for her than it is me.
20:20
Long and tiring day, but good. Walked down O'Connell street to Trinity college and was the Book of Kells. very nice exhibit leading up to it and we didn't find the book itself as anticlimactic as everyone warns (though perhaps that's because we were set for so little. Or perhaps we're realists when it comes to 1000+ year old books.)
Afterwards we marveled for a bit at the long room of the library, then left to fine a cafe for lunch. It was pushing 4 when we made it to the Chester Beatty Library (a stop by Christ Church and a sudden interest in photographing everything ate up time.)
An hour is hardly sufficient to examine their collection (even skipping the vast array of jade snuff bottles, always a favorite with Chris =). ) So we have tentative plans to swing by again tomorrow. Then there was a while in the garden of Dublin castle, trying to get a decent photo of the bricks making a celtic pattern in the lawn. Then it was back to the hostel, fighting through end of day traffic. We popped int o the corner store for essentials (chris – OJ, me – wine, both – bread & cheese). Then we immediately fell asleep for an hour and a half before dragging ourselves to a tasty supper of reheated pizza.
October 17, 8:48
Hostel Breakfast, standard option
1 glass OJ
1 cup coffee/tea - the tea is quite strong
1 bowl cereal (options are muslix, corn flakes, rice crackle)
2 slices of toast with butter and/or jam
[my pen feels very runny this morning]
...
The radio stations the hostel plays have a terribly eclectic mix, at least to american ears. Then again, The End in Seattle also mistakes the year for 1996 as well.
...
The beds here have small, hard mattresses. It's been hard on Chris's back. We're trying piling extra blankets between her and the mattress to see if that'll help. My only problem, aside from having to sleep in a separate bed (single mattresses on the bunk beds in our room) is that I get up too early. I think that's the fault of the mattress and time change (and, unlike WisCon, GenCon, ProTours, etc I'm not up to all hours with parties or games or whatnot.
...
Today's goal appears to be visit the gaol. [not trying to be cute there, really]
20:54
A very full day indeed. Let's see if I can get it all in.
We walked to the Quay to catch a 78A bus to visit the gaol. I would have had us get off at an earlier stop, but a nice woman advising another group of tourists insured we got off at the proper stop.
The gaol was a great tour and a great museum, though my knowledge of Irish independence and rebellion is lacking, so I didn't get the full impact of some of it (though I know much more now, thanks to the tour.)
Then we caught the bus back to the city center, got some fish & chips which we holed up at Dublin castle garden to eat. Glad we got one order, it was HUGE!
We visited Chester Beatty again to catch the floor we missed (religious items mostly, including the terribly old gospel fragments). Then the gift shop (of course), then back to trinity to get the DVD of the Book of Kells (awesome purchase, if you're into that, as we are) and some postcards of the library for me.
Next we visited several gardens: marrion square park (mostly for the saucy Oscar Wilde statue) and then St. Stevens Green. Both were very nice parks indeed. After that we went to Bewley's cafe for tea, coffee, a delicious bread, spread, and olive plate, and a decadent brownie for Chris.
After all that we walked to the hostel, where I promptly fell asleep for about an hour before Chris convinced me to get up and look at the pictures we took and at her Book of Kells DVD.
Some wine and a quick shave later and I felt up for some journaling and checking e-mail.
one more full day in Dublin to catch anything we've missed, then early Monday we're off on the ferry to Wales, then England proper for the second leg of our trip. hope Liseuse enjoys the gift, assuming it makes it through customs again.
Looking back at the margins and printing size in the inaugural entries [of my notebook] is amusing me. I assume boredom in the Chicago airport was inspiring me to concentrate on how my words appeared on the page, whereas now I'm just attempting to get as much possible out of my head before it fades.
...
The best part of the CB library is definitely the early gospels. Many other pieces are fascinating from an artistic standpoint, but much of that is on display isn't terribly old (18th century seemed average). but fragments that old are fascinating from a historical perspective and have influenced revised translations. Maybe I just find textual drift fascinating.
...
How can these people in the dining area be Skyping to Spain? Our connection isn't good enough for that. I'd blame them for hogging the bandwidth, but our connection has been utter shit regardless of who else has been online the whole time we've been here.
Journal Preface
For this trip I did something unusual: I kept a travel journal. Starting during our layover in O'Hare until just before boarding our flight out of Heathrow I would jot down impressions from the trip. The journaling was disorganized and incomplete, focusing on what was on my mind whenever I happened to have a free ten minutes at my disposal (often at breakfast and just before bed).
What follows is the twenty-eight pages of notes I took over the fourteen days we were in Ireland and England. I have tried not to alter anything, with but a few exceptions. Spelling and punctuation have been cleaned up and abbreviations replaced with proper words. I may excise superfluous or duplicate details, as I have a suspicion I mention several occurrences more than once as the days began to blur together. Finally, I may add notes to fill in gaps. Oh, and, I'll replace names with DW ids.
October 14,16:55, Chicago
The flight to Chicago was uneventful, except we sat next to an annoying, energetic hippy guy. We slept, or feigned sleep, most of the way out.
Four hours in O'Hare is boring. But, all things considered, the calm and inaction is a nice change from last night's non-stop packing, cleaning, and general freaking out.
I hope the gin for
liseuse is still ok in my luggage.October 15, 11something, Dublin
The flight to Dublin was uneventful, though the flight crew freaked out over the minorest turbulence.
It's hard to identify bus stops, what with no street signs to speak of, but my directions were good and we got to the hostel with no difficulties.
Having a room with four single bunk beds seems like overkill, but it's nice to have a private room after spending all day in planes and airports.
After
wrdnrd finishes her nap it's out to find some food and perhaps some touristy fun.19:30
Back from Guinness. I suspect with some careful planning one could make up for the entry cost in beer. It was a decent walk, not helped by the lack of street signs and changing street names.
Chris is suffering from a brutal headache. I'm waiting on a pizza delivery and hoping she's better after a full night's sleep. I did interrupt her determined napping this afternoon. I could use a good sleep myself. The room has poor circulation, so I worry I'll wake up hot.
October 16, 9:05
Pizzas and about twelve hours of sleep appears to have done the trick. today we'll check out the hostel breakfast offerings, then it's off to see the Book of Kells. After yesterday Chris will be taking over navigation duties. I hope Dublin will be easier for her than it is me.
20:20
Long and tiring day, but good. Walked down O'Connell street to Trinity college and was the Book of Kells. very nice exhibit leading up to it and we didn't find the book itself as anticlimactic as everyone warns (though perhaps that's because we were set for so little. Or perhaps we're realists when it comes to 1000+ year old books.)
Afterwards we marveled for a bit at the long room of the library, then left to fine a cafe for lunch. It was pushing 4 when we made it to the Chester Beatty Library (a stop by Christ Church and a sudden interest in photographing everything ate up time.)
An hour is hardly sufficient to examine their collection (even skipping the vast array of jade snuff bottles, always a favorite with Chris =). ) So we have tentative plans to swing by again tomorrow. Then there was a while in the garden of Dublin castle, trying to get a decent photo of the bricks making a celtic pattern in the lawn. Then it was back to the hostel, fighting through end of day traffic. We popped int o the corner store for essentials (chris – OJ, me – wine, both – bread & cheese). Then we immediately fell asleep for an hour and a half before dragging ourselves to a tasty supper of reheated pizza.
October 17, 8:48
Hostel Breakfast, standard option
1 glass OJ
1 cup coffee/tea - the tea is quite strong
1 bowl cereal (options are muslix, corn flakes, rice crackle)
2 slices of toast with butter and/or jam
[my pen feels very runny this morning]
...
The radio stations the hostel plays have a terribly eclectic mix, at least to american ears. Then again, The End in Seattle also mistakes the year for 1996 as well.
...
The beds here have small, hard mattresses. It's been hard on Chris's back. We're trying piling extra blankets between her and the mattress to see if that'll help. My only problem, aside from having to sleep in a separate bed (single mattresses on the bunk beds in our room) is that I get up too early. I think that's the fault of the mattress and time change (and, unlike WisCon, GenCon, ProTours, etc I'm not up to all hours with parties or games or whatnot.
...
Today's goal appears to be visit the gaol. [not trying to be cute there, really]
20:54
A very full day indeed. Let's see if I can get it all in.
We walked to the Quay to catch a 78A bus to visit the gaol. I would have had us get off at an earlier stop, but a nice woman advising another group of tourists insured we got off at the proper stop.
The gaol was a great tour and a great museum, though my knowledge of Irish independence and rebellion is lacking, so I didn't get the full impact of some of it (though I know much more now, thanks to the tour.)
Then we caught the bus back to the city center, got some fish & chips which we holed up at Dublin castle garden to eat. Glad we got one order, it was HUGE!
We visited Chester Beatty again to catch the floor we missed (religious items mostly, including the terribly old gospel fragments). Then the gift shop (of course), then back to trinity to get the DVD of the Book of Kells (awesome purchase, if you're into that, as we are) and some postcards of the library for me.
Next we visited several gardens: marrion square park (mostly for the saucy Oscar Wilde statue) and then St. Stevens Green. Both were very nice parks indeed. After that we went to Bewley's cafe for tea, coffee, a delicious bread, spread, and olive plate, and a decadent brownie for Chris.
After all that we walked to the hostel, where I promptly fell asleep for about an hour before Chris convinced me to get up and look at the pictures we took and at her Book of Kells DVD.
Some wine and a quick shave later and I felt up for some journaling and checking e-mail.
one more full day in Dublin to catch anything we've missed, then early Monday we're off on the ferry to Wales, then England proper for the second leg of our trip. hope Liseuse enjoys the gift, assuming it makes it through customs again.
Looking back at the margins and printing size in the inaugural entries [of my notebook] is amusing me. I assume boredom in the Chicago airport was inspiring me to concentrate on how my words appeared on the page, whereas now I'm just attempting to get as much possible out of my head before it fades.
...
The best part of the CB library is definitely the early gospels. Many other pieces are fascinating from an artistic standpoint, but much of that is on display isn't terribly old (18th century seemed average). but fragments that old are fascinating from a historical perspective and have influenced revised translations. Maybe I just find textual drift fascinating.
...
How can these people in the dining area be Skyping to Spain? Our connection isn't good enough for that. I'd blame them for hogging the bandwidth, but our connection has been utter shit regardless of who else has been online the whole time we've been here.
no subject
Date: 2010-09-08 05:29 am (UTC)We get settled on our plane in Seattle quite early in the morning. I sit up from tucking my luggage under the seat in front of me, and this guy turns to me and says, "So where are you going, Christine?" Me, thinking, "What the everloving FUCK?!" I ask, in my deadly calm voice, "HOW do you know my name?" Him, chipper, like this is not the freakiest thing he could say: "Oh, i read it off your luggage tag!!" Me, pointedly: "I. AM. GOING. TO. SLEEP." And i turn my back on him, curl up against Andy, and zonk out (because we'd been up all night, plus i took a Benadryl because the best way for me to deal with air travel is to sleep).
LATER, annoying, energetic hippy guy needs to get out of our row. Andy and i are in various stages of sleeping. Guy decides that rather than check with either of us to see if we could let him out, he's just going to jump straight over us. I happen to wake up just as he's doing this, and narrowly avoid getting my head taken off buy his feet flying over my head.
WHAT! THE! FUCK?!?!
In conclusion, i have been right all along to try to keep my luggage tags hidden from my fellow travelers as best i can, because they can and will look at them and use that information against you later.
In conclusion:
o_O
no subject
Date: 2010-09-08 04:38 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-09-08 04:55 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-09-08 08:14 pm (UTC)I can't believe Hannah doesn't use luggage tags! ^^;;; I could see that maybe if you do the thing where you put a piece of paper inside your luggage (on top--or whatever will be seen first if the bag is open) w/your contact info on it... I always do that cuz if your luggage tag gets torn off or something your address is still in there!
no subject
Date: 2010-09-09 05:44 am (UTC)You can buy ones that have a little cover that flip over the address so you can only see the name
Oh, i know, but i bought a ton of luggage tags when i worked at Penney's, and i'm not going to go wasting money buying more right now. (Srsly, i have tags for every bag, and a few to spare.) If i happen to come across a few for free or at a second-hand store, i might pick up some of the more private tags, but for now i'll just keep my tags turned into my bags and tucked into pockets where necessary.
no subject
Date: 2010-09-21 09:26 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-09-21 09:26 pm (UTC)