Okay, so I'm not Oprah. I can't give you all cars and trips to Australia but if I could, I would. What I can do is share some useful websites and apps that I use while I am traveling or while I'm planning a trip.
If only Oprah was still on T.V. :(
The things I'm going to share with you probably won't make your faces look like these....
Oprahh!!!
But I'm going to share with you anyways... I am really big on planning and I like to read into reviews before I book a trip to any place or any hostel. Actually, I obsess about it a little bit, especially when I am hosting someone. My list of hostels is rapidly increasing and some have been great, others....not so much. It is important to figure out what you want out of a hostel. Free breakfast, comfort, cleanliness, location, friendliness, etc. I use the following sites to read reviews and find the best ones. Hostelbookers
Trip Advisor: There are a lot of websites similar to this however, Trip Advisor leaves their symbol all over restaurants, hostels, hotels, bars, in major cities all around the world. They give out rewards for places with great reviews or for excellence. I trust their website and you can find info about tourist destinations; what to see, what to eat, where to stay, what to do if you only have 3 days or if you have 10 days. Bla Bla Car (RideShare): which is like organized car pooling with strangers. I've done this only once but it was a legit experience. My roommate and I contacted a young girl who was driving back through Seville to Badajoz. We paid 1/3 of the price of a bus ticket and got home an hour faster than usual, plus we were able to practice Spanish during the car ride.
Bla Bla Car- easy to navigate and a great way to carpool
Couch Surfing: I haven't personally done this yet but I know people who have and loved it. I still read profiles every now and again to get an idea of the kind of experiences people are having who choose to do it. Couch surfing is entirely free and was created for travellers to meet new people. If I did decide to couch surf, I would only do so with someone who had a lot of positive reviews. There are ways to verify the people who have space in their homes to host you
Couchsurfers can be very experienced. For example, this man has 850+ references and is verified as a reliable host in the city of Dublin, Ireland.
Songza. This is my new and favorite music app. I listen to Songza all day and all night. It has EVERYTHING you could want and it even helps you figure out what you want. It is pure genius and organized by genres, moods, singers, holidays, activities, etc. I am even listening to it this very moment while writing this post.
I love that it asks you what you are doing. If you don't want any of these options then you can go into explore or popular playlsits.
Songza is definitely with it...during Mardi Gras time I found this playlist and felt like I was literally in New Orleans.
Instagram: Another app that I use all the time is Instagram. It is an app where you upload photos that you take with your phone. It lets you edit your photos or add different types of shades and colors to make your pictures prettier. I usually upload my Instagram photos on to my Facebook anyways, for those of you who don't have it.
SpanishDict: If you are travelling in a Spanish speaking country, the Spanish Dictionary app will definitely come in handy. I use this all the time! It doesn't require wifi to use it and it is very quick and has a large bank of words.
I use this app a lot during my private lessons when I don't know how to translate something
Shutterfly: When I'm done travelling, I will turn to one of my favorite websites to make books, albums, or to print all of the 1,000,000 photos that I have taken. I have been using Shutterfly for years now and it always is offering specials and discounts for it's members. I have made calendars, cards, stationary, photo books, you name it. I plan to print out my blog and put it in a book using Shutterfly. If you haven't used it, try it out!
Since Dublin is pretty small, we agreed on taking a trip somewhere else for a day. A man at the tourist office convinced us to go on a tour to Galway. For 40 euros, we were taken on a charter bus from Dublin to Galway and along the western coast of Ireland. We departed Dublin around 7 a.m. and didn't arrive back until 9 p.m. Our bus driver (Damion), was not only hilarious, but very informative and gave us an amazing tour. I don't remember how many stops there were on the bus, but he let us get off to take pictures throughout the day. Most stops were only 15-20 minutes but we were able to see a lot in one day. The main destination of the tour was the Cliffs of Moher. A popular tourist attraction and known for appearing in one of the Harry Potter movies.
Dublin to the Cliffs of Moher
We stopped at this castle and so the photoshoot began :) The driver had to remind us to be careful crossing the road because the Irish drive on the RIGHT sides of their cars but on the LEFT side of the street!
An old house with a straw roof
Dunguaire Castle in the background
I love the landscape that we saw throughout our trip. Lots of water, green fields, limestones, stone walls, castles, colorful buildings, and farm animals.
These stone walls are everywhere! Each one is put together by hand and because of the fact there are holes, they don't blow over because the air goes through them. Our tour guide said that sometimes animals nest in between the stones.
This site was another one of our 15 minute stops. Poulnabrone is one of the oldest memorials in human history
Here it is!
A closer view. Some guard was standing here protecting it, I can think of better jobs :)
Before we stopped for lunch, Damion stopped the bus so we could take pictures of this bar. There is a huge match making festival in a town called Lisdoonvarna every year that attracts a lot of singles.
After our lunch break we were off to the Cliffs of Moher! We were so lucky that it didn't rain and we were able to get some beautiful photos. I'm not a Harry Potter fan but one of the scenes from The Half Blood Prince movie was filmed there. At their highest point they reach their maximum height of 214 metres (702 ft). The Cliffs are one of the most popular tourist destinations in Ireland and topped the list of attractions in 2006 by drawing almost one million visitors.
O' Brian's Tower. Built in 1835 by Sir Cornelius O'Brien to impress female visitors. From the cliffs and from atop the watchtower, you can see the Aran Islands in Galway Bay, the Maumturks and Twelve Pins mountain ranges to the north in County Galway, and Loop Head to the south. (2 euro entry fee)
It was a little VERY, VERY windy!
Trying different methods to keep my hair out of my face
After about 30 minutes we couldn't take the cold and wind so we went inside to the exhibits. When we got back on the bus, someone asked "how many times do people jump off those cliffs"? Our sarcastic Irish guide replied, "Well only once, you wouldn't make it for a second time". Here is Kate next to one of the signs.
Needless to say we had a great day trip full of amazing views of the west coast. On our way back, we stopped for an hour in Galway. Although we didn't have much time to explore, we did stop to find some hot drinks and we were on our way back to Dublin.
Kate posing alongside the ocean, with rain off in the distance.
Those were some serious waves
Now for an Irish lesson :) I absolutely love their accents. Craic- Pronounced "crack" "How's the craic"? = What's good? What's up? "The craic was 90" = Something was really, really awesome "It was good craic" = It was a great time, it was really fun
See how an American could assume a different meaning? How's or where's the crack doesn't sound right in the states. Sláinte (SLAHN-cha) is a word literally translating as "health" but is used as "CHEERS!" Bollocks (n): anyone you think is stupid Bolloxed (a): very drunk Now that I've left you with gorgeous pictures from Ireland, I'll leave you with two really nice Irish proverbs/blessings to go by :)
May the sun shine, all day long, everything go right, and nothing
wrong. May those you love bring love back to you, and may all the wishes
you wish come true!
May you have the hindsight to know where you've been the foresight to know
where you're going and the insight to know when you're going too far.
Yes, you better believe it...Spain went on vacation! Instead of staying in Badajoz, which ranks third of the carnivals in Spain, I decided to take advantage of my break and travel. Kate and I flew out of Madrid and headed to Dublin! This was the perfect get-a-way from Spain. Ireland was sooo refreshing, colorful, entertaining, beautiful, etc. I don't think I stopped giggling at the Irish accents from the second I boarded the airplane. Kate and I only had a few days to spend in Ireland and I think we took advantage of every second. We arrived Friday night and went to check in at our hostel. Our hostel couldn't have been located any better, right in the heart of the city center. We had a view of the Liffey River from our room.
Colorful buildings along the Liffey River
Kate and I on the Liffey
We were pretty hungry after a day of travelling (3 hours to Madrid then the flight to Dublin) and decided to head out for dinner around 10 p.m. Now you know you have been living in Spain for 4 months when this is your normal dinner time. As we walked around, we noticed restaurants flipping their chairs preparing for closing time. We thought this was strange...until we realized we were back to a culture that recognizes lunch time at noon and dinner around five or six. Guess what time the pub crawl started in Dublin? 7:30! In Spain, a pub crawl wouldn't dare get rolling until midnight. The culture shock was coming at us from all angles; 1. No siesta hours 2. ENGLISH!! 3. ENGLISH..scratch that, IRISH! My favorite comparison of the accents would have to be this... Americans = "Thirty three and a third" vs Irish = "Tirdy Tree and a Tird" 4. Stores open and people partying on a Sunday 5. International food options 6. Awesome live music Behind our hostel was the famous area called Temple Bar. Full of Irish pubs, restaurants, stores, you name it.
Delicious tea and even better ambiance
The most famous pub in Temple Bar
On Saturday we walked around Temple Bar and wandered into a gift shop. I accidentally went overboard buying souvenirs but hey...I was excited to be in Ireland. We joined in on a free walking tour of the city and had a great tour guide named Rob. I video recorded parts of his tour so I could listen to his accent later on when I look through my Ireland album. He taught us so much about Irish culture and history; all about the wars, the battles with the British, leprechauns, fairy trees, etc.
All of the signs are in Gaelic (Irish) and English
Dublin Castle during our walking tour
Christ Church and the Irish protesting around it
We stopped for a break during our tour to get food at the Temple Bar food market...and never returned to the tour. The food was so good we decided to stay behind and keep eating it!
I wish I could eat here every Saturday
It was delicious..see pic below
The inside of the duck pie
Duck Confit Pie
Irish stew with veggies and lamb
Veggie quiche with goat cheese
Baileys + Coffee = Happy Samantha in Ireland
This is Rob, listen to that accent!
Later that night we went to an Irish Pub called The Porter House. We sampled some Irish beers and scored a front row seat for the live band. Kate and I had to remind each other that we were in Dublin, listening to Irish music, drinking with locals...something that we've both been excited about for a long time. We called it an early night because we had to wake up at 6 a.m. the next morning for our bus tour to Galway (see my next post).
I never have listened to Irish music before but I really enjoyed it, I wish I would have bought their CD!
The Porter House
I definitely would love to return to Ireland one day in the future. There are many other things that we didn't have time to see; the Guinness and Jameson factories, the famous cemetery, Trinity College, etc. Not to mention there are other cool cities like Cork, Killarney, or Limerick. One of my purchases in the airport was this Starbucks mug. Now I will think of this lovely country every time I have my morning coffee :)
