Snapshots of Ireland, Part 2

by Alex in Ireland, In Transit
 
When we last spoke, our stalwart heroes were halfway through a massive undertaking: drive around the entire island of Ireland, trying to see as much as possible before Tash and I had to start our new job and Mum had to get back to Australia.

We had just left Galway, freshly clean clothes in our bags, and set our sights northwards. We passed through the (beautiful and picturesque) Connemara, stopping briefly to see what would soon be our new home and meet our new boss (albeit temporary), before climbing back into our rental car and setting off for part 2 of our epic, neatly-divided-into-two-convenient-halves road trip!

Nine Reasons To Be Happy This Christmas!

by Tasha in Epigrams and Interludes

So...as you long time followers may already know - I love Christmas!

No....I really really love Christmas.

I love the decorations, I love the songs, I love fairylights and candy canes and Christmas cookies and snow and wrapping presents and....I just love this season.

In fact a while ago I wrote an article on how awesome Christmas is.

But this year - for something a little different, I thought I'd start a list of everything that makes me so happy this Christmas.

and it's not just because I have Christmas Tardis wallpaper!

College Days: Getting our Geek on at Trinity College

by Alex and Tasha in Ireland

Whether you are passing through Dublin or using it as a jumping off point for the rest of Ireland - If you see nothing else in the city I would recommend you take a short stopover and check out one of my favourite areas in Dublin, and home to some of the most beautiful classic architecture surrounding the infamous - and the unironically awe-inspiring Trinity College.

photo by: wenzday01

Trinity College is perfectly surrounded by Dublin City - just on the south side of the River Liffey somewhat near the Temple Bar district. The College was originally founded by Elizabeth I in 1592 to help keep her loyal English subjects in Dublin from picking up any 'pesky' Catholic leanings from the Irish colleges, and it has been Ireland's most prestigious university ever since. Current students offer tours of campus every day, and by all accounts, they're well worth the money.

This, however, was not why we where there.

Snapshots of Ireland, Part 1

by Alex in Ireland, In Transit

When we first arrived in Ireland in February, we had our job in Killarney already lined up. After briefly (and I mean briefly) passing through Dublin and taking a week to chill out (read: barely leave the hostel) in Cork, we headed straight for the hostel that would be our job and our home for the next 6 months.

While it was great working in a lovely small town, we didn't really get the chance to go anywhere and see anything else of Ireland during that time. Fortunately for us, however, at the same time that we were finishing our work in Killarney, my mum came over from Australia to visit us.

Retake the City: Killarney

by Alex in Ireland, Retake the City

For our first 6 months in Ireland, we were living and working in Killarney, in County Kerry. Killarney is a small town but a major tourist hub for the south-west of Ireland, mostly because it's the start & end point for the Ring of Kerry.

We've already shared some of our more memorable experiences around town (including its deeply spooky side), but it would be remiss of us as travel bloggers to spend so much time in such a popular tourist town without giving you guys a bit more of a guide to the town and some of the surrounding area.

The Wild and Beautiful Connemara

by Tasha in Ireland

As anyone who follows us on Facebook will already know, we have moved around quite a bit recently. From Killarney, to a three week road-trip with family, to working in the Connemara, a quick stop in Galway and now settled and working in Dublin for our last few months in Ireland.

I could be completely diplomatic and say we have moved to Dublin for "unforseen circumstances" but frankly, as much as I love Dublin, I am still a little sad we had to move from the Connemara. We were settled in, with a good routine and good friends. Unfortunately the tiny fact of not getting paid for our work got in the way. It's one of those unfortunate possible downsides of travel, and one I am surprised we haven't run into before now. If you ever find yourself in a similar situation, know your rights, stand up for yourself and don't be afraid to walk away.

Regardless of how we left things - the Connemara remains one of my favourite natural treasures of Ireland and I would be remiss in my duties as a vicarious travel guide if I did not take you on a virtual tour.

Top Ten Photos of Our Next Five Months in Ireland

by Tasha in Photos, Ireland

Summer in Ireland. According to locals it has been the best weather in years. As always feel free to link to your own faves in the comments and/or on facebook :)

Are All Travellers Secretly "Ambassadors"?

by Tasha in Epigrams and Interludes

Is there a new form of Nationalism sweeping the world? And by sweeping I mean…has been here all along but is only now being noticed now that the older, more traditional view of Nationalism is dying out with the last generation that required it? (Wow that went to a morbid place)

With the rise of the internet age and the breaking of the longstanding cultural divides, Nationalism can no longer be personified by the perpetual reciting of the national anthem before a flag. Most nationalistic displays are now seen either on a Commemoration/Independence day, or during an international sporting event such as the recent Football World Cup.

Still proud of the Socceroos, they played some damn good games! photo by: gi.te63

However it is the more subtle and lesser acknowledged form that I am referring to, the form of Nationalism dominated by global friendships, through travel and by my best friend...the internet. This is the simplest form of nationalism. The one where by declaring the simple fact 'I am Australian' you suddenly become an ambassador for that country to everyone you meet, everywhere you go.

7 Travel Tips From a Year Around the World

by Alex in In Transit, New Zealand, South East Asia, Europe, United Kingdom

So, this week marks one year since we left Australia. Woop woop woop!

It feels like only yesterday! Also, check out my sad little proto-beard!

While we've been travelling, we've learned a lot of things along the way, and in honour of our travel anniversary (traversary?), I'd like to share with you my top lesson we've learned from each country we've visited. I know most of these are really obvious, and any travel blogger worth their salt won't even bother writing most of these down because they're plastered all over the internet like a bad wallpapering job. But you know what? This is my list, so I can do what I want. Ner ner.

Retake the City: London

by Alex in United Kingdom, Retake the City

Tower Bridge. The London Eye. Big Ben. London is littered with famous and instantly recognisable landmarks, making it one of the most iconic city skylines in the world.

But, who cares about them? They're boring!

Nothing to see here! photo by:@Doug88888

That was pretty well my first thought when we stepped off the train from Gatwick Airport, after our (very) early morning flight from Copenhagen. (Okay, I tell a lie - that was my second thought. My first thought was probably more along the lines of, "Buuuuuuuuh?? Find... find hostel... sleeeeep..." But that's not nearly as poetic, is it?)

New Zealand Snapshots - The South Island

by Alex in New Zealand, In Transit

So, you may remember that we posted snapshots from the first half of our time in New Zealand a while ago. Like... almost exactly a year ago. But I know, dear reader, that you've been holding out for our snapshots from the South Island since then, and all I can do is give it to you now, on (basically) the anniversary of our first post. As for why it's so late, well, I can apologise and take responsibility for my procrastination or blame the constant technical issues we've been having for the last few months... (seriously this post is haunted!) Or maybe I'll stick to... 

It's not my fault! My... dog ate my computer?

A Haunting in Killarney....Wait What?!?

by Tasha in Ireland

Creepy is not usually a word associated with Killarney. "Quaint", "sweet, charming and historic sure, but never spooky. Sure the locals are all friendly and folksy but not in a Stepford kind of way - more in a Hobbiton kind of way (Or maybe I have just been watching too much Tolkien).

Generally if someone is looking for the spooky supernatural in Killarney they jump on the town's Ghost Bus. Which, while they are yet to produce any ghost, does take you through some of the local ruins at night (which is pretty darn cool!).

photo by: ornickarr greenbarrow

No, the spooky side of Killarney I'm talking about you won't see until it's too late. Which we, and our friends Darcie and Olivia, learned the hard way.

Ain't no Carnival like an Irish Carnival

by Tasha in Ireland

Here in Killarney, in the weeks leading up to Puck Fair (which may be the craziest festival in Ireland - where a nearby town shuts down for 3 days to celebrate crowning a goat as king...which is brilliant!) the circus and fun fair rock into town before hitting Killorglin to crown King Puck.

Oh yes, that's a crown! photo by: irishfireside

Summer in Ireland

by Tasha in Ireland

I've never really thought of Ireland as a summer destination.

True, I've spent many a day daydreaming about wandering around the plethora of small towns, little villages and rolling hills. But in every dream (daydream or wistful), Ireland was always cold. Or raining. Or windy. Or cold, raining and windy. But - and this may sound practically un-Australian at this point - Ireland can actually get pretty hot. Before anyone jumps in and points it out - yeah, at its hottest, we are still only talking about 25-28 degrees Celcius. Compared to back home, this is a nice cool summer day. Practically beach weather.

But that's the point - it's beach weather! And people are going to the beach! In Ireland!

And they are pretty sexy beaches too!

Top Ten Photos of Our First Three Months in Ireland

by Tasha in Ireland, Photos

Killarney has officially hit high tourist season. To make up for our current radio silence - here is a snapshot of our first couple of months in town. As always feel free to link to your own faves in the comments and/or on facebook :)

Retake the TARDIS! - The Doctor Who Experience, Cardiff

by Alex in United Kingdom, Retake the City, Nerd

Here's something you probably knew about Tash and I - we're massive nerds. But did you know that, in
particular, we're huge fans of Doctor Who?

...oh, you did? Well...

Would you have guessed that while we were in Wales, we'd go out of our way to visit the freaking Doctor Who museum in Cardiff?

...yes?

Fine, I'll just shut up and move on then.

18 Things I've Learned From Living in Ireland

by Tasha in Ireland

1. It is much smaller than you think. 
Seriously, the country only spans around 200km from side to side!

2. But it will take you a ridiculous amount of time to get around. 
You would be amazed how many people I get driving in from Dublin (a 3 hour trip) who arrive a good 8 hours later, lost, confused and exhausted. I always feel the need to hug these haggard souls, make them a nice cup of tea and draw them a nice hot bath (although we don't actually have a bath - but drawing a shower sounds wrong - and somewhat invasive)

Things that Matter: Can You Save the World?

by Tasha in Epigrams and Interludes

DISCLAIMER:

Before you start this article - stop.

Seriously stop reading right now!

First  - Click here and read about the myths that we as a population believe about foreign aid and exactly why they are full of crap. I could rewrite it in my own words however it was written with input from people way smarter than me and you should give it a good look before you keep reading.

For you little rebels who didn't click the link, there is a nice sum up in two clips below by two awesome smart people - John Green and Bill Nye the Science Guy:

18 Things To Do While You (Patiently) Wait For Guests To Arrive

byTasha in Epigrams and Interludes, Nerd

Bit of a silly post this week. You have been warned.

The Chronicles of Stonehenge: The Long Road Home

by Alex in United Kingdom, In Transit

Previously, on The Chronicles of Stonehenge: Our intrepid heroes walked to Stonehenge - and it was kind of underwhelming. They crossed over the motorway, stopped to take some completely free photos, and went on their merry way.

And now, the thrilling* conclusion...
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Pop quiz: How long do you think 14 miles is? You're wrong. It's longer. (Unless your answer was "14 miles" or "22.5 kilometers", in which case you are technically correct, smartass.) It's also the distance from Stonehenge to Salisbury Cathedral, which we were in Salisbury specifically for the purposes of walking.

The Chronicles of Stonehenge: The Barrow, the Bitch and the Motorway.

by Alex in United Kingdom, In Transit

Ever since I was a kid, there's been this thing I wanted to do. I've always wanted to walk from Stonehenge, across the Salisbury Plain, and to Salisbury Cathedral. I loved the idea of walking between these two major stone centres of worship, both monumentally impressive in their own ways, from pre-Roman pagan to medieval Christian. Yes, this was when I was a kid. No, I didn't get beaten up much, thanks for asking.

When we got off the bus at Salisbury at 8pm, it was raining. I mean Raining, with a capital R. Possibly even a capital A, I and N as well. The floodgates of heaven had been opened, dowsing us mortals on the ground with a deluge of heavenly stormwater. (See what I did there?) We walked into town, weighed down in equal measure by our bags, the weather and our (apparently!) not-so-waterproof jackets. Finally we arrived at the inn where we spending our nights, and with a few brief words from the barmaid, my hopes of completing the walk while we were here began to waver.

"Oh yeah, the rain's been like this for weeks. Not sure when it'll stop."

Top Ten Photos of the United Kingdom

by Tasha in United Kingdom, Photos

Now that we are settled for a little while in Ireland, I finally have caught up with the backlog of UK photos. So here we go - two months in England, Scotland and Wales. As always feel free to link to your own faves in the comments and/or on facebook :)

A Question of Moral Ambiguity

by Tasha in Epigrams and Interludes

DISCLAIMER: 

This post asks questions.

This post does not give answers definite or otherwise.

This post does not state that any given belief is fundamentally right or fundamentally wrong.

This post does however ask  - where do you draw the line?

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Wisdom before Beauty: Dangerous Beliefs

by Tasha in Wisdom before Beauty, Nerd

What a treacherous thing it is to believe that a person is more than a person

                                                                                     - John Green

How We Spent Our Money: Six Months Later

by Tasha in Red Tape, Budget

photo by: 401(K) 2013

Six months ago I wrote our final Budget post before we left on our trip. The closest approximation to how much we had actually saved. Why 'approximation' you ask? Because unfortunately unlike our old piggy banks we had as children, bank accounts, and therefore balances, are in a constant state of flux.

You can tally all the incoming payments and all the outgoing payments and it will still not seem to equal the amount actually in the account. "But that's not not how banking works!" (You know I can hear you guys snickering in the back row!) I know, I know, and if you leave your account alone long enough you are right.

With time - the balance will generally reflect the correct credit/debit. However we very rarely give our accounts enough time. Which is generally why at the end of the week it always seems that we spent more than we realised. It also sucks big time for trying to keep organised records, and make broad overview statements like this one - as well as being very confronting for my tidily organised mind. (Okay, now I KNOW I can hear you guys laughing at me!)

Wisdom before Beauty: An Awful Lot of Running

by Tasha in Wisdom before Beauty, Nerd

This is one corner
Of one country
In one continent
On one planet that’s a corner of a galaxy that’s a corner of a universe
That is forever growing and shrinking and creating and destroying
And never remaining the same for a single millisecond
And there is so much to see!
I’m not running away from things
I am running to them
Before they flare and fade forever
                                                                                     - Doctor Who

Snapshots of Denmark

by Tasha in Europe, Denmark, In Transit, Couch Surfing

1.
14 hours after takeoff in Cambodia, we arrive in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, our last stop over before Copenhagen. Our stopover is only for around an hour and the airport is very big, so we are meant to be moving pretty quickly. Nevertheless, when I see the giant christmas displays in the main area of the Airport I immediately stop and pull out my phone for a picture. Without stopping Lex loops his hand around my arm and starts dragging me towards the next gate (which ironically ends up being the wrong gate and we end up sprinting all the way back where we came from and down the opposite direction).

When we finally reach the right section we spy the ticket collection which has recently been updated to mostly automated machines - unfortunately as our flight had so many connections ours needed the personal touch. We jump in the line (I use the word line loosely as it consisted of two other travellers) as an attendant is quick to apologise for the delay. After two minutes, we reach the ticket collection whose attendant apologises again for the delay of two minutes, and hopes it will not inconvenience us. Alex and I look at each other incredulously. I suddenly feel so sorry for the Dutch backpackers travelling through Sydney International.

Veni, Vidi, Visa!

by Alex in United Kingdom, Red Tape, In Transit

After Denmark, we booked our tickets to the UK, and for one very straightforward reason: Money. We've done remarkably well budgeting and tracking our spending while we've been travelling, but tragically, neither Tash nor I had the foresight to be born spoiled trust-fund babies to millionaire parents. Stupid decision, really. What that means instead is that we have to work for our money, and what's the best place in Europe for two young Australians to get a job? The UK! Where's the hardest place for us to get a working visa for? The UK! The easiest place for us to get a visa? Ireland! The easiest place to get an Irish visa? The UK!

Fun fact: You are at least 31% more British after looking at this picture.

Top Ten Photos of Denmark

by Tasha in Europe, Denmark, Photos

Christmas in Copenhagen. As always feel free to link to your own faves in the comments and/or on facebook :)

Retake the City: Copenhagen

by Alex in Retake the City, Europe, Denmark

We decided to spend Christmas 2013 in Copenhagen pretty much out of the blue. A white Copenhagen Christmas has always been a dream of mine, and even though it didn't snow, we still had an awesome 2.5 weeks in Copenhagen - also the longest we've spent in any one city since leaving Kaikoura in October! Copenhagen - CPH to its friends - is a beautiful city, absolutely worth visiting, but is somewhat on the more expensive side of "Holy crap, how much did that cost???" But if you keep your eyes open and take advantage of some fairly simple tips, you can cut down on your costs while still enjoying everything the captial of Denmark has to offer.

Haggling 101: The Science of Bartering

by Alex in South East Asia


As backpackers in South East Asia, one of the first and most important skills we had to learn was how to haggle. Since we're travelling long-term, it's important to us that we're able to stretch our money as thin as possible, so it can carry us as far as it can before we have to stop and (ugh) work again. That's not to say we're haggling pros - on our first day in Bangkok, I agreed to pay 800 Baht for a taxi ride that was only worth 100 at the most. But after 2 months in Asia, visiting markets and buying most of our food from street vendors, I feel like we're able to negotiate a fair price, and it all comes down to a few simple steps.

Top Ten Photos of Lao-bodi-nam

by Tasha in South East Asia, Photos

Less time in Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia yielded many less photos than Thailand. As such I decided to combine the three in a Lao-bodi-nam Bonanza. As always feel free to link to your own faves in the comments and/or on facebook :)

Costermongering in South East Asia

by Alexin South East Asia

If the sounds of the streets were music - if the roaring of traffic, the chatter of crowds and the beeping of horns were a melody - then in South East Asia, the chorus would be the cry of the street hawker. You can find these people up and down the streets of major cities and small towns alike, behind food stalls, in front of guesthouses and travel agents, walking the streets with their wares on their shoulders, or driving around looking for business in pedicabs and tuk tuks.

I completely get it. In a part of the world with little to no welfare or social security, people's livelihoods depend on the money they can get from tourists. I'm not condemning the practice of street spruiking - or (my new favourite word) 'costermongering' - but what do you do if you're not interested? If you're travelling on a budget, and are not interested a brand new tailored silk suit? Here's what I've found to be the best strategies for getting away from spruikers, country by country.