Ireland

So we made it to our first stop: Dublin, Ireland. We were obviously pretty jet lagged for the first couple days but still managed to get a hostel booked and figure out what we wanted to do while we were staying there. We were in Dublin for 3 days and we had a great start to our trip. Dublin is a great city, mostly because of how compact it is for being such a big city at the same time. You can easily walk to most places within the city, which made things really convenient for getting around.

We'd spend most of the day adjusting to our new surroundings and exploring some of the closer sites to get a feel for things. We got some groceries, utilized the fully stocked kitchen that our hostel had, and began to settle in. After some amazing bangers and mash (and Guinness, of course) we decided to come up with a game plan.

We knew we wanted to visit either the Jameson Distillery or the Guinness Brewery, and after seeing how close we were to the Jameson Distillery we decided to check it out.

It ended up turning out to be a great tour and we learned all about the Whiskey making process and got a free glass of Jameson along with some other whiskey tasting as well. 

After visiting the Jameson Distillery we decided to check out one of the pub crawls that night to see what the night life had to offer. Most large European cities offer various pub crawls that you can do nearly every night to get a good feel for the night life. These are awesome things to check out and I highly recommend them, especially on a weekend. We did this on our second day which ended up being a Friday night, so the turnout was great and we had a big group of really fun people with us. We all went out to Temple Bar, the area in the city known for its nightlife, packed with pubs and clubs, and it was an amazing time. We had a ton of fun on the crawl and met some awesome people which was a great start to the trip.

After that night we still felt like we needed to see more of the city, and we had decided to go to Galway and the cliffs of Moher on the west coast of Ireland the next day, so we saw a poster for a free walking tour of the city (also common in many big European cities) and we decided to check it out. It ended up being just Alex and I on the walking tour so we had our own personal tour of the northern end of the city. It was a great tour and Peter (our tour guide) really knew what he was talking about. We felt much more accomplished with how much we had seen of Dublin and spent the remainder of that day walking around a bit more, checking out Trinity College (the local University, which we fell in love with) and then calling it a night.

The next day we woke up early to catch a tour bus to the cliffs of Moher and Galway, where it would drop us off. It was a completely guided tour which was really cool, since the guide had a ton of good information to share. About halfway through the 3 hour bus ride to the cliffs of Moher we stopped in Moneygall, which is apparently where Barack Obama's ancestors were originally from.

It was one of the most random things ever and in this super small town off the highway there was Barack Obama Plaza, which was basically a really nice gas station. I thought it was hilarious and I'm glad we stopped there randomly. 

After some more driving we got to the cliffs of Moher. These cliffs are absolutely amazing. I couldn't believe how large they were, and there was a long hiking trail you can take right along the cliffs with some sections that didn't even have any handrails! It was terrifying but we survived. We walked around the cliffs for a bit and then hopped back on the bus and headed to Galway. 

Galway is a cool little town. What's really cool about it is the young student population that exists there. I heard something around 40% of the population being people under 25! So there were a lot of students walking around. We did a little walking tour of the city when our bus dropped us off and then we checked in the hostel, stalked up on groceries, and figured out what we wanted to do. Galway was a nice place to relax, and because it's of course smaller than Dublin there wasn't as much to see there outside of the main road in the city, which is full of really cool little pubs and shops leading from the main square to a river.

Cliffs of Moher

We checked out some of the pubs, saw a really nice cathedral, and walked around one of the universities there. We spent a lot of time hanging out at the hostel playing Gin Rummy, which we are now obsessed with and use it as our main source to kill time. We also like to play this game in pubs over a Guinness or Irish Coffee, which has become our new favorite activity. 

Apart from some quick walks around town the only big thing we did there was check out an absolutely amazing show called Trad on the Prom, which was an Irish music and dancing show featuring some of the top Irish musicians and dancers in the world. It gave us the best taste of Irish culture we could have had, and it was one of the best shows I think I've been to. Overall, we did like Dublin better but the atmosphere in Galway was really nice and I definitely enjoyed my time there.

This was definitely a good first trip for us and a great start to our adventure. I really picked up on a lot of travel related stuff that I remember knowing back when I was studying abroad, so a lot of it really came back to me. This trip definitely gave me the confidence I needed to continue to travel as much as I can, and knowing I can still be around Alex all the time is pretty refreshing too!

Departure

It's crazy to think that the time has finally come. The time in your life when you actually go out and do something crazy that actually justifies the fact that you're "living life to the fullest." The time in your life when you're doing something meaningful every day, trying to get as much out of your life as you can. For me, living a meaningful life has always meant traveling to as many places as I possibly can, seeing as much of this world as I possibly can, and meeting as many different people from as many different cultures as I possibly can. This is the time that I try to make this a reality. The time in my life where I initiate the real 'life' that I've wanted to have. It's definitely surreal and hasn't hit me at all yet really.

For the most part, I've just been going with the flow and scrambling to prepare as much as possible. I know that I won't be fully prepared, but I'll at least be ready enough to take on the adventure. The fact that I'm traveling with my best friend Alex also helps out quite a bit, and I'll be able to share at least some of these experiences with him. It'll also make the traveling a bit more enjoyable, and it'll be easier to meet more people with both of us traveling together.

I think I always knew that I would eventually do something like this; quitting a good job and setting out to do what I really want to do, regardless of how good my situation was back home. It's hard to believe that more people don't actually take that leap of faith and go do what they really want. It is pretty scary at the same time, but when I remind myself that this is what I want to be doing and realize that's it's actually becoming a reality, I can't help but get excited and just stoked that I'm actually doing it.

My new home. All packed into one carry-on size bag!

One thing that is pretty scary is how little I'm taking with me. One carry-on size bag full of the bare necessities. I've never packed this light for most of my trips in general, let alone the biggest, longest trip of my life. I'm definitely taking the minimalist approach to this but that's part of the challenge. I wanna see if I can do it, and I really believe that I can.

There is a lot of uncertainty with this whole trip, but I know that if I can keep the mindset that everything will work out then I know for a fact that things will work out and I will be able to accomplish what I've set out to do.

I've told most people that I want to travel around for a bit then find a job in Europe somewhere and work/live abroad for awhile, at least for one year. I don't know what the job situation will be yet, but again, keeping that positive mindset has helped ease any worries and I know I'll be able to figure something out.

Although, now that I'm actually doing this, it's hard not to entertain some other ambitious ideas. I've had some other things bounce around in my mind and have thought 'what if' and have left those open as possible situations. For one, provided the financial situation stays okay, I can't help but think to just keep going, keep traveling. Why stop? If I can still support myself on the road long enough, why should I settle down? I might as well keep going, beyond Europe, and explore the rest of the world. I'm going to eventually anyways, so why not now? Especially now that I'm at the young and ambitious stage of my life.

Alex and I all ready to go!

Also, my passion for snowboarding hasn't even come close to diminishing and it's one of the things I'm going to miss the most while I'm gone. But just because I'm traveling in Europe doesn't mean I have to give up snowboarding. In fact, it means I can do it more while still exploring and meeting new people. Thus, the idea of working at a ski resort out here is another ambitious idea I've had as well, and I wouldn't rule that out either.

It's funny how much my mind has been running since this whole trip has become a reality. It's a good thing though because I have a ton of ideas and backup plans for what I'll be doing. With each new idea and plan I become more confident in myself and what I am capable of, which only helps me and motivates me more to do what I want to do.

Anyways, I think that's enough for my first blog post of this crazy adventure, and with that I am off on the journey and couldn't be happier. I'm currently finishing off the first city of our visit, with a blog post coming up for that as well.
So far so good!

P.S. Here is a list of the items that I'm taking with me (pictured below):

Two soap pouches

Notebook

Adapter

Tide stain remover

Headphones

Earplugs

Carabiners

Chapstick

Bag lock

Belt

Toiletries (shaving cream, toothbrush, hair product, floss, toothpaste, deodorant, cologne, Neosporin, sunscreen, travel razor, shampoo)

Quaff

Umbrella

Water bottle

Travel Towel

Laptop cable

Laptop

iphone charger

Ray-Ban's

Gloves

Beanie

One pair of shorts

One pair of chinos

One long sleeve shirt

One undershirt

Two tee shirts

One polo

One button up

Three pairs of regular socks

Two pairs of long socks

One pair of jeans

Five pairs of underwear

Sink stopper

Laundry detergent

Backup hardrive

First aid kit

Pen

Wallet

Passport

Money belt

Jacket

Wrinkle remover

Lens cleaner

Clothesline

Eurail pass

Thermals

The bare necessities!