Off to Ireland!

No hitches with our first flight out of the US other than a final few manic minutes as Chad lost his wallet on the way out of the house. Thanks Grandma for pulling your couch out to look for it, luckily we somehow found it between a magazine rack and the counter.

We arrived in Dublin early in the AM Wednesday and caught the city bus to our hotel. Not too shabby but nothing fancy, I guess what you can expect for $50 USD in Dublin. We spent the next 2 days and nights exploring the city on foot. Many cold and wet miles were logged between the sites including Trinity University, the Guinness Brewery and Jamison Distillery. We trimmed ourselves short on the guided tours due to the high cost and some input we had received from others. We enjoyed the sites, architecture, music, churches and of course the classic Irish pubs. All in all it was a enjoyable couple days and a nice introduction to Ireland and our next year on the road!

We caught a Friday morning bus up to Belfast, leaving Dublin as we found it, cold and rainy. It is a quick 3 hour jaunt up to Belfast and the ride was pleasant as we got our first taste of the Irish country side. We pulled into the Belfast bus terminal to find Chad's friend Paul waiting for us. Chad and Paul met 5 years ago in a chance meeting in Kathmandu. Paul was with a good friend Bill (both from N. Ireland) on a year long RTW trip and Chad was traveling solo on his way to eventually meet up with Colleen who was working in Australia. Chad, Paul and Bill spent the next week traveling together in Nepal and eventually met up again later in Thailand. They have kept in touch over the past couple years, even meeting up a few times in the states. Paul was gracious enough to help us with purchasing our RTW ticket from the UK and also hosting us in his home. Unfortunately Bill was out of town for the weekend, hopefully we will see him next time around!

Paul has spoiled us over the past couple of days, taking us to a comedy show in Belfast, out to eat at a few pubs, driving us around the countryside and letting us stay at his home in Bangor, 30 minutes outside of Belfast. We are so grateful for his hospitality, we doubt we will be treated any better on this trip. It is amazing how friendships formed while traveling are accelerated. It seems as though a short time spent together traveling in foreign places leads to feeling as though you have known someone for years. It is no doubt this way with Paul and he will be a friend for life.

A few interesting notes from our days in Ireland:
-In our 6 days we have had 1 day of sunshine!
-We dove lightly into politics with Paul and friends in Belfast. Seems as though most young people today don't give heavy thought to the protestant vs catholic troubles. They say it was a small number who were the source of the violence and these days they are more concentrated on work, life and moving forward.
-Coors Light is HUGE in Ireland. Evidently this is only over the past couple years but I think we saw it on every pub tap line we visited.
-Colleen came down with a cold/cough the first day of the trip. Now on day 6 she is starting to feel better. Chad's throat is now a little scratchy...to be continued...
-Dublin in the south operates on the Euro vs the British pound in the north in Belfast. Dublin was crazy expensive ($6.50 USD pints) and we were relieved to see costs in the north were much cheaper.

We are currently in Belfast International Airport awaiting our flight to London where we will spend the next couple days before heading off to Jordan. We are very happy and excited to be traveling again together and anxious to see what the next year holds!