Italy

(typed this up on my pocket PC and the conversion is a little weird... ignore weird characters)

March 22nd- I'm typing on my pocket pc at the moment. I spent last night hanging out with some Americans who are studying in Madrid and one of them let me use his adapter to charge stuff, yay. We had an indepth discussion over what you call people from Greenland, good times.
Just on the flight to Rome now, with a little time to kill. I'm definitely excited to be headed to Italy, it will b4 seriously awesome but while I was waiting to board my flight there was a flight leaving for Dublin and I had a moment of thinking about how much I am going to miss living there. It really is such a great place.The scenery, the culture... It is just fantastic. I really hope I can bring some of the people I care about over one day (although there is no question that I will be headed back to visit or what not... With or without em)
Anyways, three more weeks and I'll be back in Canada so I am going to get the most that I can out of every place I visit.
March 24th- On my way to Pisa now. Woot. Rome was as epic as I imagined. I got lost a lot though. Getting lost in a foreign city can be fun and adventurey but I kept doing it when I was hungry which just made me all grumpy. I saw a lot of the major Roman sites but due to time and money constraints I didn't go inside many. The colusseum was really packed and I just didn't want to wait in line for hours, especially because of all the time I'd lost getting, well, lost. Went inside the parthenon tho as that was one I was really interested in.
After all that, got back to the hostel for my second night in Rome (spent the first being talked at by a very chatty french canadian girl). I had to figure out a way to wake myself up the next morning without an alarm. My phone is in Ireland and they don™€t exactly do wake up calls in hostels. It all worked out tho a here I am. I'm only going to be in Pisa a couple of hours to see the tower, then off to Venice. Going to have to work out some train ticket issues between now and then but no worries.
Not sure what I'll get up to in Venice, it just sounds like such a cool place. Apperently it's easy to get lost so I'm a tiny bit worried but I'll make it work even if I have to grab a cab.
Heading out of Pisa now. On a train to Florence and from there I catch a train to Venice. Will have a couple hours to kill so I might poke around a bit but I'll be back in Florence in a couple days so I will have more time then. Pisa was cool to see but the stuff around the tower is definitely more impressive than the tower itself, and I expected it to lean more. I need to stop getting lost in Italy. It wasn't that fun to begin with and it gets less so each time.
In Florence now but between a late train and slow fast food, no time to explore. I know I'm kind of writing about mundane things at this point but there is always a lot of down time on travel days. At least today I got to explore Pisa, my next real travel day is Florence to Pisa airport, flying to Frankfurt then taking a train to Munich, oh boy. I think I'll have a bit of Frankfurt exploring time to break things up at least. Anyways, off to find my next train but I'll probably be writing again later.
March 25- Just after midnight now. Ended up sitting with a super wealthy couple from Montreal on the train. They were a little snooty but thought it was cool I was watching friends on my laptop, cause ya know, they sold on of their ranches to Matt LeBlanc. No big deal.
So, I got lost in Venice but it didn't last that long and was okay as this city is so cool. No cars! All boats! Seriously its awesome. This hostel on the other hand, worst I've ever stayed at. I™€m in a top bunk with no ladder to get in or out of bed, had to pay 5 euro for sheets, there is no wifi but the website said there was. Etc etc, the list goes on. Its bad enough that I am thinking of heading to Florence a day early. I made some fun friends tho, some of the girls in my room. We went out with some other girls and a couple guys who work at the hostel tonight. 2 euro cocktails, yay... So I'm just going to figure out what I'm doing once I wake up. G'nite.
Yay for Venice. I love this city. I went to Saint Marco's square and then spent the day wandering. I am so in love with venitian masks, they are just gorgeous. I wish I had more room in my bag so I could buy one. I haven't bought myself anything. No room in my bag and no money in my bank. I™€m going to stay put in this hostel for another night, just suck it up. Then Florence tomorrow for my last full day in italy, which is really growing on me.

March 26th- So, I showed up an hour and a half before my train leaves for Florence, woops. I am currently sitting beside a crazy old Itallian woman who is talking to herself quite angrily. Joy.
I'm going to miss Venice, great city. Went out for icecream last night with the same girls as the night before. Fun was had. I won™€t have long in Florence so I will need to check it out super speedy style. But I also need to spend a good chunk of time planning out the germany leg of my trip. I have this sheet of written directions that has pretty much been my bible. What I need to do, when and directions on how to get everywhere. I have them done up to arriving in Frankfurt but then need to get myself to the train station, then to Munich, then to my hostel. And that's just tomorrow. Plus, I really need to get on booking the rest of my accomidations and flights. Murr.

March 27- So totally didn't get to booking anything. Really going to regret that when I'm staying in some dive in london. My excuse, I love this hostel waaaay too much. It is seriously the best ever. For now tho I need to sleep. I have nothing but travel time tomorrow so I'm sure i'll get to it.
Now sitting in the Pisa airport just waiting for my flight to Frankfurt, seems like a good time to wrap up my italy blog. Hopefully I can post it tonight when I get to the hostel. Anyways, this country was a lot of fun. Surprisingly venice was my favourite, despite the lame hostel. Florence on the other hand, best hostel ever. Getting to go for a swim was exactly what I needed to unwind.
Now I'm on the plane after the worst wait ever. I had heard this airport sucks, turns out it's true. Now i've lost my train of thought on what I wanted to say about Italy. Its cool, you should go?
My parents are off to mexico today, which would be nice too. Had a really hot day in Venice, it was awesome. I hope the weather is nice when I get home. Can't imagine I will see great weather in Germany, England or Ireland over the next couple weeks.
Tomorrow marks half way through the Spain - England part of my trip which is planned to be 20 days. So far sooo good. I have had a few wicked moments that have reminded me why I love traveling. Walking barefoot on the beach in Barcelona, getting in to the vatican after wandering around the wall forever, seeing the grand canal in Venice. Can't wait to see what the second half brings.

The plan, Stan

Alright... so my mom keeps forgetting where I am going to be and when so Im going to post it up here just for kicks. I am currently in Spain, making my way through some of the must see spots in Europe. Anyways, here goes... from leaving Galway.

March 18th- Arrive in Barcelona
No set plan for Spain. Just kind of relaxing and seeing the sites. Checked out the aquarium, saw the magic fountain show and wandered around the city a bit. Plus, spent some time on the beach, barefoot. It was wonderful.
March 22nd- Arrive in Rome
Only two days in this epic city so I have a two day pass with the hop on/ hop off tour. Will probably just be checking out ruins and the like. The vatican would be interesting to see, but all the ancient stuff just interests me so much more and I have a limited amount of time.
March 24th- Pisa & Venice
From Rome I am making a quick stop in Pisa just so I can see the tower. Honestly, I will probably be there two hours. Which is still longer than I spent in Glasgow so, woo. After that, another train to Venice where I will spend two days. No specific plans there, will just be nice to see.
March 26th- Florence
My flight to Germany is out of Pisa airport which is easy to get to from Florence, so I am spending a night there. Should be gorgeous, I doubt I will have much time to explore though.
March 27th- Frankfurt & Munich
I am flying in to Frankfurt but not planning on spending much time there. Will poke around a bit then hop on a train to Munich. My main plan for Munich is a concentration camp tour, which will be intense but is something I have wanted to do for a long time now. It should be pretty eye opening.
March 29th- Berlin
Finally a city where I am spending more than two nights. I want some time to actually explore Germanys capital and I know I am going to spend an entire day at the zoo (biggest in the world, oh boy oh boy) so, three nights it is. Will be a lot of fun!
April 1st- London
Really excited for this one! So many museums! (yeah, im a nerd, deal with it). I am also going to do a tour which will cover Stonehenge, Windsor castle and something else. It is a bit pricey but will be soooo epic.
April 6th (ish)- Galway
Back to my home away from home for a few days of packing, organizing, shipping and goodbyes. Will be so sad to leave Ireland, but am already looking forward to getting home.
April 11th- Canada!

Anything after Munich isn't actually booked yet but that is the plan as of right now. Will probably go ahead and book most of that within the next day or so anyway. But I am trying to leave things open for a little bit of flexibility. Yay!

6 Months in Ireland!

Today marks 6 months since I moved to Ireland. Half a year here, wow. It has definitely been incredibe. I have met some amazing people, Canadians and Irish alike. I've seen some incredible things, (Blarney castle was awesome. I will try to remember to Blog about the rest of my Ireland week on a day that isn't my 6 month Irelandaversary) and overall just had an epic time. No regrets, loved it all.

So, after what happened in Mayo and the whole jobless/homeless thing I've got going on now, I've decided to go home. It's not so much that I don't think I could find a job, there actually seem to be quite a few more oppertunities coming up now. But really, I was only planning on staying until the end of June anyway. Finding a job within that time seems doable but kind of useless, and finding somewhere to rent for what... 3 months? seems pretty much impossible. I have too much stuff to live at a hostel with, so... home it is. The other reason behind this is that I came over here to travel and due to all my joblessness I haven't done nearly as much as I wanted. So, I'm going to do that all now before I head home. Not sure what the exact plan is yet, but I am planning on getting a railpass and seeing a bit more of the world before I need to go home and be a normal human being again.

Anyways, thats all for now folks. I'll keep ya posted.

Ireland Week

Well, in light of my recent lack of employment... I decided to take a week to clear my head and see a bit more of Ireland. I am in Sligo right now, which is really pretty. Strandhill beach= highly recommended. I am leaving here shortly to spend a couple days in Donegal, which is supposed to be beautiful. Then I'm going to head to Dublin for a day to see all the things I have yet to see there. Then Cork, for another few days to see The High Kings (really well done traditional irish music) and check out Blarney castle. If you ignore northern ireland, I'm pretty much hitting the north, south, east and west of Ireland in one week. Pretty epic I think.
I'm actually really looking forward to Cork. I think it will be a lot of fun, and seeing the High Kings, who I have liked for awhile will be epic and be a decent way to round off my week long tour of Ireland. After that, it's back to Galway for a few days until Saint Patricks day, then we shall see. Oh boy, oh boy. No, actually... I am really excited about all this. And it's nice to be excited about things again :)

Well, that sucks

So, no more job in Mayo. Patrick (the dad)'s sister got laid off from her job in Galway so guess what?! She get's my job. So, now I'm back to square one. More more square -3 because I'm also homeless. Liv and Sara have moved in somewhere new. I'm still in Mayo right now, going to leave tomorrow. Then I'll probably stay with Hannah for a couple days and then go ahead with my trip to Sligo to give myself some time to deal with things and come up with a new game plan. Such a pain. And sooo uncool of the family. They offered me a weeks pay for the inconvenience... have I mentioned I'm homeless.