A Sense of Fulcomplishment

After catching a bus to the airport at 2:30 a.m. and four different trains, I'm in Oxford! But you'll have to wait until my next post for more on that. First, I need to wrap up my time in Ireland.

Though my weekend in Galway was absolutely amazing, I can't help but feel I failed to maximise my experience there. Sure, travelling is about appreciating stunning landscapes, revelling in structures hundreds or even thousands of years old, and acquiring as many followers on Instagram as you can (speaking of which, check out @circasolis and @karikoalatravels). And I succeeded in that, I think. But, more importantly, travelling is about broadening your horizons and stepping out of your comfort zone. Apart from capturing the broadest of horizons from the Cliffs of Moher....

I feel like that didn't happen. There were times during my stay in Galway that I felt uncomfortable, as my previous post mentions, but not because I was challenging myself purposefully; the discomfort in The Weight of it all was due to anxiety and a brief existential crisis concerning my plans for the future and the state of the world. But the feelings of anxiety passed and left me feeling excited for and entirely comfortable with my plans to tour The Burren and the Cliffs of Moher on Saturday (17/12/16).

Similar to my adventures in Iceland, I booked a seat on a large tour bus going round to most of the major attractions around Galway. You can't tell because this is written text, but there is some bitterness in my voice when I type "large tour bus." This inner voice thinks seeing the sights from a gas-guzzling machine born of capitalism and tourism goes against what it means to be a traveller -- forging your own path, embracing the unconventional and unique, learning as much about yourself and the world as you can. This part of me would have preferred to use local transportation to get from point-A to point-B, or, better yet, rent a car and drive myself to only and all the things I wanted to see. Renting a car would be far riskier, which is kind of the point. But considering I'd have to quickly adjust to driving on the left side of the road and learn to navigate unfamiliar roads on my own in the very short time I had in Galway, this idealistic approach to travel was completely impractical and in reality a lot more expensive than the £18 I paid for my tour ticket. Even using the local transportation would have ended up being more expensive and would have severely limited which landmarks I had access to. So, in retrospect, the tour bus wasn't so bad. I learned many interesting facts from the guide that I wouldn't have otherwise, and--ironically--a lot about myself and what it means to be a traveller through the learning and growth (and crashing and burning and dying) that didn't happen but would have had I rented a car: it doesn't much matter how you accomplish your (ethical and plausible) goals so much as simply accomplishing them and feeling a sense of fulcomplishment in doing so (not a typo, blend of fulfillment-accomplishment).

Dunguaitr Castle, Kinvara

Doorty Cross, Kilfenora

So, what is it I actually did to feel fulcomplished about? In addition to some pretty rad photography skills--highlighted here to summarise the most interesting landmarks--I learned a bit about Irish history, customs, and folklore. These are things that I feel I can incorporate into future writing projects, or at least they give me a higher appreciation for Irish works of fiction and non-fiction I've read. Also, after hiking around Dublin for three days and hardly leaving urbanised Edinburgh for the three months before that, it felt good to get out into nature--true nature--where there's nothing but rocks, cows, and your fellow bus-travellers for miles or where you not so much hear the constant roar of waves crashing against magnificently layered geological features, but feel each breaking wave's ceaseless, patient, battle against something immense but fragile, beautiful but deadly.

Cliffs of Moher

O'Brien's Tower

After a successful day of sight-seeing, though tired, I was feeling bold enough to go out for a drink, perhaps with a group of students staying at the hostel. Unable to work up the courage to join a group, but still determined to go out for a drink at an extremely Irish bar, I ended up going alone. Now that I'm a Guinness expert after visiting the Guinness Storehouse (see previous post), I did enjoy my beer. And the traditional Irish music was pretty good, too. But I was otherwise so extremely uncomfortable--jostled around in an extremely crowded bar, surrounded by other patrons smartly dressed in their best Christmas jumpers--that all I wanted to do was finish my beer as quickly as possible and get the heck out of there... which I did.

Though I'm not giving up all hope of achieving semi-functional social interaction with complete strangers, this experience reinforced that maybe bar-hopping solo just isn't for me. I would be much happier just sitting on a bench by the water staring up at the stars. Which brings me to the conclusion of this post: whatever you do, whatever goals you have, and however you go about fulcomplishing them, don't force or try to over complicate things. As clichéd as it sounds, just be true to who you are (or who you want to be) and, each and every moment, (try to) be happy as if you just watched the subtlest, most beautiful sunset of your life.

I returned to Dublin on yesterday morning and spent most of the afternoon preparing for my early early flight this morning. Now, after catching a bus to the airport at 2:30 a.m. and four different trains, I'm in Oxford! But you'll have to wait until my next post for more on that.  Because after three days, two nights, and a total of just over seven hours of sleep, I'm going to bed. But I wouldn't take back those lost hours of sleep for anything because they were spent traveling... Around the Sun.

Stay informed. -NLD

The Weight of it all

Tuesday morning I woke up bright and early to catch a bus to the airport. Security was a breeze, my bag fit in the overhead bin, and I even managed a short nap on the plane to Dublin. But smooth sailing isn't exciting. So how 'bout I unpack a few weighty issues? The first weighs in at only a minor inconvenience--a bulky backpack and laptop case stuffed to seams' limit aren't much fun to carry around. But that didn't stop me from walking 10km, visiting landmarks like Trinity College, Oscar Wilde's birth place and childhood home, the National Gallery of Ireland, and several cafés. I stuck mostly to big chain coffeehouses (including, I'm ashamed to say, a Starbucks) because I would have felt awkward bringing aforementioned bulky bags into small local cafés. 

Ha'penny Bridge (16-12-16)

Samuel Beckett Bridge (13-12-16)

Upon exiting a coffeehouse on Grafton Street (one of two main shopping streets in Dublin), a second far weightier issue greeted me--a thin young woman wearing a bright orange shirt. (No, it's not what you think.) Though I do not hesitate to compliment her on her looks, she was very clearly attempting to elicit donations from passersby and I initially made to walk past without acknowledging her. But hearing her say, "It's okay. I'd walk right by, too,"--not resentfully, but honestly and understandingly--made me stop. Here she was, spending her evening standing out in the cold being given a cold-shoulder by countless tourists. She at least deserved to be heard out. Plus, I didn't have much else to do until my friend I was staying with got off work in an hour. So I stopped to talk to her. Twenty minutes of chatting about where we're from, what we're doing in Dublin, how we came to be there, and recommendations of things to do went by before she even mentioned the organisation name on her bright orange shirt: World Vision. I'll let you do your own research into who they are and what they do, but after hearing what she had to say, instead of donating, I promised I would mention them in my blog. So there it is. And there I was. And here I am, enjoying a month of traveling around Europe, visiting friends and family, occasionally being stopped by young idealistic employees with kindness in their hearts and a desire to do good in the world. But here's the weighty bit: The world is burning. The humanitarian crisis in Syria. Donald Trump's Cabinet of billionaires, bigots, and climate-change-deniers. It makes my own current social anxiety--sitting (alone) on a comfortable hostel-lounge couch, surrounded by other young travellers (judging me for sitting solemnly staring at my laptop) having a wonderful time drinking (and me thinking they think I'm annoyed at them [when, really, I'm not]) and laughing (at me) with their friends--seem so insignificant. But, still, the thoughts of my close acquaintance Anxiety, given in parentheses above, weigh me down.

And when something weighs you down, dragging you below the water's surface, you throw it off--if only temporarily, as easy as that is to write and as hard as it is to actually do--until you're back safe on land and can unpack its contents piece by piece. Now, not to brush off the current state of the world and the seriousness of anxiety, but how about I drag this blog post out of the murky depths and back onto the sturdy ground of pleasant description?

Dublin Castle, Record Tower and Chapel Royal

Christ Church Cathedral

St. Patrick's Cathedral

On Wednesday I went to the Chester Beatty Library, Dublin Castle, and Dublin Writer's Museum. The first two were grand but the last I could have skipped. I also walked along O'Connell Street, enjoyed the day's last rays striking St. Patrick's and Christ Church Cathedrals, and had a pint at Ireland's oldest pub, The Brazen Head, est. 1198. I felt very touristy, but, remember, I'm a traveller. That night, not satisfied being able to see Rogue One: A Star Wars Story a day before everyone back home, I had to see it before the majority of people in the UK, too; so I went to the midnight premier. I'm not going to give a full review, but I will say that I really liked it.

St. Audoen's Church, en-route to Guinness

Thursday was devoted to sleeping in and walking to and exploring the Guinness Storehouse. Holy hops and barley that place is massive! The €20 ticket, which included a complimentary drink, was well worth the price. I'd say it's a must for any 18+'s visit to Dublin.

Today I made the bus ride from Dublin to Galway and spent most of the day wandering around along the quays, searching frantically for a toilet, then returning to the quays to enjoy the sunset over a rising tide. After checking in at my hostel, then a quick pass through Galway's Christmas Market (yes, another Christmas Market!) and Galway's Latin Quarter, I returned to the hostel to write this post. Now it's much later than I anticipated and I should think about getting to sleep so I'm rested for exploring the Cliffs of Moher tomorrow.

Stay informed. -NLD