The road trip begins...

The next morning after we all checked out we had to get to the airport to collect the car. It was a bit of a mission, we had to catch a public bus which normally isnt a problem, the problem was that we had enormous amounts of luggage between us trying to squish into seats. We were worn out by the time we got to the airport!! Violeta collected her car and then we set off. We had decided to try to get to Galway first for a night. It seemed a straight forward drive, however Violeta didnt want to go through toll booths. Therefore we had to keep getting off the motorway driving miles out of the way just to skip the tolls. (In turn probably costing her double the petrol in the long run). It was a bit frustrating, but it was her car and we were only along for the ride so I kept quiet. I was navigating her using her GPS, which spoke to me in Spanish, then when I would try to tell her where to go she wouldnt understand. This resulted in a few very close calls at roundabouts and intersections. It was around this point that we realised maybe it wasnt such a good idea to hitch a ride with a stranger that wasnt used to driving on the other side of the road...

We went through a few nice smaller towns and saw a lot of the countryside. We eventually made it to Galway. We stopped at a few little milk bars on the drive and everyone in the country towns were so welcoming and friendly. It was really nice!!

Once we got to Galway it got stressful again. Driving through cities with lots of one way streets and intersections felt like roulette. It was only a matter of time before we had an accident. I started to just close my eyes... haha. We found a parking area and walked up to the information centre which conveniently had closed only 5 minutes earlier. We could see a hostel just up the street so we walked up and asked if they had cheap rooms. The guy responded with a laugh and said, "No, not cheap" then went on to tell us it was nearly 25 euro per person for a shared room. We decided we could probably find better so went to find an internet cafe.

We looked up hostel world and found a few cheaper hostels so walked to the closest one which had a 8 person mixed dorm available. It was getting late so we took it and then had to go and find the car and move it closer. We walked down a street towards the car park and realised we were in the middle of a funeral procession. I started to freak out and didnt know where to go or what to do, and just as I started to panic, the pallbearers walked out with the coffin right in front of me. I was surrounded by people crying and the coffin!!! I quickly turned around and ran away. I couldnt believe they were just in the middle of a random street full of shops!! Was quite awkard!!

Once we got the car parked close and all our bags out we got to go and freshen up a bit. When we got back to the room 3 other people had arrived and they started talking when I realised they were Autralian! They were the first aussies I had come across for a while so we got talking for a while. They were all really nice and gave us a few travelling tips. Then we decided to head into town and see what Galway had to offer. At first it looked like everything was closed and quiet. But as we walked further we could hear music and see lights. We got to the main street and it was this awesome bustling little street with fairy lights over the shop fronts, bands on in all the bars, buskers on the footpath and cobblestone paths. It was so pretty!! We wandered around there for a little while down to the water and then stopped in a pub on our way back. They had a band that was playing a mix of irish and spanish music. It was good because Violeta knew the spanish music and she was entertained too so we could get a beer!! (But just one to share, were on a budget!!)

After that we were pretty tired. It had been a really big day and it was really taking it out of us! We headed back to the hostel and had an early night. We didnt know what the next day would bring so wanted to be alert!! haha. Two more people turned up in our room at 2am and turned the lights on, had a chat and settled in. It was another really restless sleep.