I raced downstairs to make sure that I had not missed check out - I still had 30 minutes. I then packed up all of my belongings once more (in the dark since all of my roommates were still asleep at 10 am) and headed out with a skip in my step because I was not weighed down by my enormous backpack.
It was a beautiful, sunny morning - perfect to stroll around and take pictures - so that is just what I did, as I sipped my coffee from the little shop right next to my hostel.
It was the perfect way to say goodbye to this city full of character. I took some great videos of myself reminiscing about my time in Dublin - those can be seen in my video journal of this trip - the release date for that is still TBA. I didn't have to use my map once because the city is so easy to navigate. As long as you stay near the river, you can figure out where you are based on which bridge you are near. Each bridge has a specific name and a story.
This bridge is a walking only bridge and people used to have to pay 2 pence (or something like that) to cross it. Now, of course, it is free! Many friendly homeless folks seem to have taken up residence on this bridge.
They decorated the bridge for Valentine's Day!
So beautiful, right?!
I lost track of time a bit - well not so much lost track of it as disregarded it. Right when I decided that I should probably head back to the hostel to get my bag, it started raining - a clear sign that it really was time to leave Ireland. I snagged a bus to the airport just in time, and I was off! Thankfully, I had just enough time to drink one more Guinness at the Dublin airport.
Beautiful - aye?
And then the most magical thing happened as I was looking out the window, sipping on my Guinness. The rain stopped...
And BOOM. Definitely a sign that I'll be back. Also, I bet I could sell this to Ryanair. Could make a great ad out of this picture!
Ryanair is very strict about luggage. If your bag is over a certain size, then you have to check it, and it costs an extra $15. If you try to bring a bag that's too big onto the plane, they can charge you $50 at the gate. So, I had gotten away with it once, so I figured I'd go for it. There were two people that were checking boarding passes - a man and a woman. Guess who I steered clear of? The woman. And good thing, she was yelling at the people next to me about the size of their bag as the nice gentleman flashed me a smile and let me right on the plane. Moral of the story? Women can just be plain mean sometimes - something to remember in such situations.
I sat next to a nice couple that had just been in Ireland for their honeymoon - they rented a car and drove all around Ireland - sucha great idea. But they did have to fly home early because of all of the snow that was bombarding the states - so annoying!
The flight to Manchester went smoothly, without a single glitch. The real trouble came when I tried to get to the University of Manchester to meet up with my friends. The bus was thirty minutes late and took about twice as long as it was supposed to. When I asked Christopher where I should get off - all he said was "the end of curry mile." As if I'm supposed to know what that is! I asked the bus driver to tell me where that was and he told me right where to get off - so I did!
Turns out he and Christopher of different perceptions of where "the end of curry mile" is. "What is this curry mile?" you may be wondering... well, let me tell you. It is a mile of Turkish restaurants, bars, hookah lounges - things like that. It was sooo sketchy. Well, the difference in opinion of where this "curry mile" ended resulted in me wandering up and down the street with my huge backpack - lost and forlorn, with no way of contacting Christopher. I went into a few places to ask if they had wifi - they did not.
Thankfully, I eventually walked by a barber shop that Christopher had stepped into while he was looking for me because his friends were getting haircuts. Who knows what would have happened to me if he hadn't found me then - my mace had been previously confiscated!
After freaking out for a little bit about how horrible he is with directions - we headed to a comedy show - which was AMAZING! There were six different comedians for two hours. I, being the only native English speaker among us, definitely understood the most. I love English accents, so not also did I understand more, I just thought that everything they said was 5X as funny because they were saying it in an English accent - so I may have been laughing a bit obnoxiously.
Harold, Christopher and I
After the show, we met up with Johannes (my other Norwegian friend - he goes to Durham, so he took a train to Manchester) and got some kebabs on curry mile! The evening started out a bit stressful, but ended up being absolutely wonderful!!
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