Hi there. So I've thought about starting a blog before, but never really got around to it. And lately the thought of starting one to talk about my travels has occurred to me, but it wasn't until a friend asked me to start one that I took the thought seriously. So here we are. I'll start by telling you about my lates solo trip in this post and I might tell you about previous trips at a later date. I'll share my overall experiences and as many details as I possibly can about my stay and guided tours as well as some little restaurant and bar reviews and recommendations. I tend to not want to dish out too much on things like hotels, food and such so this blog will give tips on traveling on a budget without being too uncomfortable, at least that's my goal when booking.
So, I decided to head to the british islands alone again this spring, and landed on doing Liverpool, Belfast and Dublin. I know there are loads out there who prefer to just play it by ear as they go along, but I like to have a plan, so I plan my trips to the T, but with a little room for alterations and some time for exploring, or geocaching. So I arrived in Liverpool mid day, and went for a little walk and found a few geocaches before heading back to get ready for a night on the town. And as I am lucky to know people in Britain I wasn't alone for long. A friend of mine who lives in Manchester joined me shortly after my walk, and we went to the pub around the corner for some simple food, and it really was simple, but cheap too. We opted for a cheap night out, had some great cocktails in Revolution then headed to Popworld to dance the night away. I always end up having a blast in Popworld, they're cheap and can be a bit tacky, but I do not care! I love the music and always end up dancing my ass off.
On day two I got up fairly early and went for a walk. The walk was lovely, but a little chilly. I went along the river, did some geocaching and ended the walk with a bit of shopping before going back to the hostel. I only had a backpack with me, so I couldn't do much shopping but I would say Liverpool is great for shopping if you're like me and like New Look, Peacocks, Primark and the likes.
We started the second night out by eating at the Bellini, which was good, it wasn't fantastic, but the food was good and they have a nice cocktail menu.
Then we headed to the Cavern club. Now if you haven't heard about it, let me tell you. This is the place that boasts about The Beatles getting their start in their club, there's a statue of John Lennon outside and there are photos in the club. But they're not the only big act to play here, just about all the big bands and artists have played this club at some point, so the history is in the walls. There are live bands on every night and all day too on the weekends. And the Friday we went was no exception, the place was packed and there was a great band on playing a little bit of everything. So I would absolutely recommend a visit to this club if you're in Liverpool.
The next places we checked out however wasn't quite to our liking. I love the concept of a bar decorated with graffiti, but we quickly realised Graffiti Lounge and bar was not to our liking, the place is too tacky for me. We then went to Soho bar, which I think has great potential and there were loads of people, we just never really felt it was the right place for us. Our last stop for the night was McCooley's, which has a completely different vibe, a more open, friendly and casual one I'd say. We had a bit of fun dancing here and I'd recommend checking it out.
That concludes my stop in Liverpool as I got the morning boat to Belfast the next morning.
As I arrived in Belfast I got a taxi to my home for the next couple of nights and freshened up a little really quickly to get back out the door. I met up with a friend I hadn't seen for 11 years and went bar hoping with him. Had a great night, I can't tell you what bars I was in though. But to me they all seemed quite typically Irish, and I found some really interesting ciders I've never seen before (even though they're clearly Swedish).
My first full day in Northern Ireland was spent on a day trip to the north coast, although I did go for a morning walk for some geocaches first. The tour was operated by paddywagon tours and it was great! I was lucky enough to get a travel companion for this tour as we were 2 solo travelers on the bus, and I have to say that seeing things like this with someone is always nice. We stopped by the dark hedges, Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge, and the Giants Causeway. The rope bridge was pretty cool, unfortunately we didn't get to go to far onto the island though, I'd guess because of previous rain and some fog, making it slippery.
And the causeway was amazing, the photos really can't do it justice. The 2 hour walk we got to do was like medicine for the soul. You feel so incredibly tiny walking by the water looking up at what I believe is the crater remnants of a volcano. And we had just enough time, at least for mine and my new friends pace. We walked the whole round we wanted to walk and stopped for photos every few meters. And when we got back to the visitor center we had just enough time to stop by the gift shop.
On my last day in Belfast I decided to walk from the guest house I was staying at, the Pearl court, which was alright but nothing special. So I walked into town and had about 5 hours before I needed to check-in at the bus station. It was a lovely walk, I did 10 geocaches on my way, and most of them were fairly easy, so I like geocaching in Belfast. Unfortunately I don't think I'll go back to Belfast anytime soon, but it's a lovely city and I would definitely like to visit again.
I got the bus from Belfast to Dublin, and got into Dublin with just enough time to get ready for a bar crawl. Now, I've understood that not everyone (at least if they haven't been to the British Isles a lot) knows what this is. So, simply put; it's bar hopping. In a lot of cities around the world you can find guided bar/pub crawls and Dublin is no exception. (I believe there is one in Belfast too, I just didn't have time for it there.) I did the Backpackers pub crawl twice on this trip and it was good. As there are different people every time, every time will be a bit different, but as long as you're open to meeting new people and not too shy to just say hi to people you'll have a good time and you'll end the night with new friends. The two days after the first of my crawl nights I actually ended up having lunch with new friends.
My first full day in Dublin was mostly spent shopping, as I had some birthday shopping to get done, and I may have gotten a few things for myself too. The second day I decided to geocache my way to phoenix park, where I met some lovely deer.
My friend from the Paddywagon tour had tipped me about bringing carrots for the deer and this helped me get close to some of them. I stayed at a hostel in Dublin, Sky backpackers, I don't think you can get more central, with the shopping centers a few streets north and the temple bar area just across the river. The hostel is quite nice and they have social activities on every night, I didn't join any of these, but if I wasn't so good at getting out and meeting new people on my own I definitely would have taken advantage of this great offer.
Now before I finish of this post I want to mention a few of the bars I like in the area, I've been to Dublin once before, with my mum, and remembered that one of the bars on the crawl has a great drink the crawl guides didn't mention, so I will. In Bad bobs you can get frozen daiquiris in 3 different flavours and they're lovely; strawberry, raspberry or passion fruit. And for simple food and/or drink I'd recommend O'Connell's bar, they have a cool atmosphere and very helpful staff.
I hope you enjoyed this post. I know it's long, but that's how it goes when I travel, I cram in as much fun as I can and hardly really sleep. If you guys actually want to read more about my travels I have other trips to talk about and a few coming up in not too long. So let me know what you think. And feel free to ask if you have any questions about my travels and the places I've been.
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