After a 3 hour bus ride from Dublin to Cork all I wanted to do was get into the hostel and put down my heavy bags. But I guess fate had other plans, which involved me wandering around the city in the heat for about an hour. I had the map on my iPad but didn't want to be walking with that out for fear of being robbed so I would take it out for a minute then put it away and try to go off memory. I later realized the turn I had missed and remembered the situation exactly as I was paying too much attention to the person walking towards me on the sidewalk and eyeing up the potential that they would try to rob me (which admittedly I do with every single person that walks by me no matter how they look or act... Can't say I'm not being cautious!)

The first full day in Cork was a day trip to the Cliffs of Moher. It was quite a long day of driving on the bus but I did meet a great group of people to pass the day with at the various stops and lunch. Finally about halfway through the tour we reached the actual cliffs which were breathtaking. They were as high as 800ft and it was a pretty windy day but that didn't stop some people were going as far as sitting on the grass which was literally on the curve of the cliff... Did I mention there have already been multiple deaths of tourists this year alone!! They actually have a memorial erected for all the people that have died falling off the cliffs. How someone can be so careless is beyond me !

The next day was a trip out to blarney castle and the world famous Blarney Stone, which, I neglected to realize, is actually held at the very top of the castle, reachable only by a 1 foot wide staircase that winds in a circle to the top. As a person without claustrophobic tendencies I did feel my chest tightening as I wondered a) when these steps would finally end and b) whether this 800 year old castle was truly sturdy enough to hold all these hundreds of people day in and out. Finally I reached the top and realized how high it really was. And they expected us to lean backwards over a whole in the floor while someone held our hips to kiss a rock!? I have to admit I was debating it at first, after seeing how far down it really was, and the large amount of people who opted out after looking down, but I'm so glad I wasn't one of them! Don't know if I'm feeling any more eloquent today or that I have gained the "gift of the gab" but I'll see how it goes !

We headed to Cobh after, formerly known as Queenstown, the final port of the titanic. I did the titanic experience tour and was assigned the real life passenger of a Mary Canavan, a 22 year old girl who was travelling on the ship alone (how eerily appropriate is that)! It was a very interesting tour and amazing to hear all the stories of real life passengers and what really went on with the captain of the ship and the excessive speed it was travelling despite being warned by other ships of icebergs in the area. In the end I found out my fate, and I did not survive the journey to America.

The next day was a long bus ride into my first stop of the UK, Belfast. I explored a bit in the city when I arrived and ended up meeting a nice group of girls to go out with at night. And for those of you wondering whether or not chivalry is still alive in Ireland... I had someone offer to steal a car (of my choosing) in order to take me around and show me the city... I can hear you all swooning from here! Needless to say I took up the offer and we are now on the lam!

Met some more sane people the next night (probably because they were all Canadian) and had a great last night out in the city. They are all going to be in Edinburgh around the same time as me so we might end up getting together again!

Next up is a tour of the highlands, anyone for some Haggis?!

Love,
Sara