Welcome to Dublin...

We had to wait an hour at the bus station for our bus, our luggage seems to be growing and growing each day!! Im pretty sure that we may need to send more home again before we get back. The buses around Ireland are a bit different. The drivers are pretty tough nuts. They dont take crap from anyone haha. Plus there are no little extras on the buses like wifi or reclining seats. They are very old school.

The bus got into Dublin and we had no idea where we were or where our hostel was. There was no wifi at the station so I had to use the compass on my phone and the basic map out of my Europe book to find our way. We were about 10 blocks away, but it was a nice walk along the river. We got to our hostel and the guy who checked us in was so helpful. He was asking us what we were planning on doing while in Dublin and where else in Ireland we were going to go. He showed us where everything was in the hostel an then he even carried Lauras suitcase up the 2 flights of stairs!!

When we got to the room we were the only ones there at first. There was one other bag in the room but the person wasnt there so we made the most of it while we could. Got ourselves all settled in and organised. Then we went downstairs to the common room to have a look around. The hostel was such a cute little place. It was an old recording studio and had murals on all the walls and it reminded me a bit of that bar in Belfast with all the posters everwhere.

There were a few people down there. As it was a saturday night people were dressed up and ready to go out having some pre drinks. We thought we might go for a walk and buy some drinks as one of the guys said its much better to do that, the bars in Dublin charge double what they do everywhere else. So we went for a walk and got some drinks. When we got back to the Hostel there werent many people left, so we though we might just have a few quiet drinks there and then have a big day the next.

When we got back to the room there were a fair few peoples bags there by then. It was going to be a full night. We got ourselves into bed ready for our first night in the dorm, but I dont think anything could have prepared us. It was worse than being in a hospital. Lights were coming on and off all through the night, people were talking, some people got home at 3am and continued the party in our room, then someones alarm was going off at 4.30am for them to go on a tour!! It was horrible and we woke up feeling worse than when we had gone to bed.

We decided to get out and do some sightseeing that day. We bought tickets for the hop on-hop off bus. We had done one in London and it was a great way to see all the main attractions, but it didnt take long for us to realise Dublin didnt really have quite as many sights. It was good, we saw Trinity College, Pheonix Park, The Guniness Factory, Kilmainham Gaol, Temple Bar and a few other things but it was a bit sleepy. We got back to the starting point of the tour and had a walk up the main street. We looked through a few shops and then decided to find a bar that would play the MotoGP that night for us. It was harder than we thought. There were loads of pubs, but every one of them have soccer on every screen!! And I was too terrified to ask any to turn that over, they take it very serious here.

In our travels we came across the leprechaun museum. We had seen it advertised so thought we would check it out. When we got in a guide gave us some history about leprechauns in literature etc and told us what was inside the museum. We were left to make our own way through most of the museum before meeting up with him towards the end. In the museum was a giants room where everything was oversized. We took photos of us with all the furniture and then met back up with the guide. He told us some folk tales and stories which was pretty good. I love all of the stories in Ireland. Its so good.

After we left the museum it was getting late and we still hadnt found anywhere to was the MotoGP. In the end we went back to the bar underneath our hostel and they said they would be happy to play it for us!! We were so excited, sitting in and Irish pub, drinking Irish beer with Irish music in the background.... watching MotoGP!!!! (We wont talk about the race itself though, that wasnt good).

After that we decided it was too expensive to stay at the bar so we went back to the hostel and had a few more quiet ones there. I was beginning to miss the party nights and social side of Contiki. Our second night in Dublin was a Sunday and most of the fun people had checked out. There was mainly older people left who were all playing computer games!!! We only stayed downstairs for a little while before going back up to our room. When we got back up we were the only ones there. It was good to have the room quiet again. There was still one bag there, but that was a french girl who was out on a tour until late.

After a little while a lady from Spain arrived. Her name was Violeta and she was on 2 weeks holidays. We told her that we were planning on going to Spain and we got talking for ages all about where she lived and what spain was like. Her english was a bit broken but ok to understand. She said that not a lot of people in Spain speak english well so now we are starting to worry about when we get there!!

We decided the next day that we would take her with us on the hop-on hop-off bus as you get a 48 hour ticket, then we could help show her where everything was.

The next day after breakfast we all got ready to go on the bus. We were going to try to do the other route from the one we did the day before but that one didnt run as often so we decided to do the same one again and then we could see anything that we had missed. We got off at St Stephens Park and had a walk around that area for a while. We walked from there down to Trinity College and walked through the grounds. To go and see the book of Kells was going to cost 10 euro so we decided not to go inside.

After we got back on the bus we basically stayed on it again until it finished the circuit. It was too expensive to get off and see the attractions as everything charged entry prices and little extra costs here and there. Also, it was freezing!! The wind was picking up and because me and Laura were still sick from Contiki we decided it would be best to go back and put some more layers on.

After rugging up we did a bit of souveneir shopping. One store looked more like a department store, but only for souveneirs!! It was huge!! Then me and laura went our own way for a while before heading back. Laura ensured that we stopped to try what was advertised as the 'worlds best hot chocolate'. We decided it was pretty damn close!!

That night Violeta decided to hire a car for a few days so she could see west and south Ireland and asked if we would like to go with her. We still had no plans after Dublin so we decided to go along. We stayed up late that night with a map deciding where we might go. Little did we know what adventure we were getting ourselves into!!