DUBLIN IRELAND
Day 125
Friday Dec4
0640
I’m on my way out of pariss on the bus to the airport. With out exaggerating I ran for just over an hour to get the bus. I was at a bar crawl last night I left the last place at 0500 trying to get a cab. None were around so by 0520 I started running. I ran past the Eiffel tower and I got back to Benoit’s at 0600. The plan was to leave at 0600. Luckily I’d packed already. So I grabbed my towel out of the bathroom. Slammed the few things I’d planned on wearing into the top of my pack and shouldered it.
I ran a good part of the way to the bus station, most of the time running 50 paces walking 50 paces. It was a bit of a slog but I got ther ein 15 minutes at 0620. The bus was leaving at 0625. So I jumped in the line ride grabbed my ticket and took my gear over to the bus. I threw my main back pack on board and then went to jump on. I was stopped by the bus driver. Apparently my day bag was too big too and it had to go underneath. What a load of crap.
Going with Ryan air means that I’ve got a 14 Euro, hour long bus ride to get to the station I’m flying out of. It was over an hour away from Paris and we got in at 0800. It was a hard hard hard bus ride. After I wrote in my diary I half slept for the last hour and when I got out at the airport after checking my bag in, which was slightly over, I went to the bathroom. I looked like very average. My eyes were so so red. Maybe coz I’d spent the majority of the last 8 hours in smoke filled bars and clubs and hadn’t slept for 24 hours.
Waiting in line to go through security I started talking to an american girl in front of me, called noel, very fitting considering the month we’re in. she was nice enough, but just had a mild awe of self importance hanging over her head, chatting to someone was good though and she was nice enough.
Getting through security was so funny. I got stopped and searched, the guy went through my front, scrunched down my clothes and made me take out my paw paw lip balm. I thought he was going to try and make me throw it away!!
The plane ride was rough. Luckily it was only an hour, I sat next to Noel and half talked to her half read for most the first part and tried to sleep for the rest. But it was too uncomfortable and sleep eluded me fully.
From Dublin airport I caught the bus in to town. There was a free tour in Dublin and I was hoping to catch it. It was at 11 and the bus dropped me off at 1050. It was close but after getting my bearings after getting off the bus I got my stuff together and headed to the tour.
I did the whole tour with my backpack on. I didn’t really care, but some people couldn’t believe it. I’ve been telling people I do a lot of ‘hiking’ back home and that usually accounts for how little I care about the weight of my back pack.
It came to the end of the tour when the guy asks for tips. I usually leave two Euros. There was 20 of us so 40 Euros for 3 hours work isn’t bad. But I had no coins. So I just did a bit of an AJ fade away and disappeared heading up to find the costas we’d walked past.
From there I met connor at his Uni. A funny guy, very kinda posche looking but a fun guy. Soon after starting to head home we ran into one of his school mates, a girl he used to study with but changed course. His former course was “Theoretical Physics” what the hell is that!!
We also bumped into one of housemates, his room mate to be precise. A half dutch half German guy called Kevin. He was very straight down the line, a trait that would become more apparent later. We walked home and arrived at the pad about 20 minutes later.
The whole house was there. Or ‘the family’ as connor referred to it. First I met a short guy with a massive afro called Yaan, he was the guy who I’d also requested to stay with definitely got caught out with the cut and pasting on this one. Next was a big fat fat guy called Ryan, then lastly of the 5 was a short nerdy looking red head whose name I cannot pronounce nor do I know how to spell. It’s something like Oeshire, I dunno.
We sat around talking for a while, it was the first time I’d been in an English speaking country since I was in London 3 months ago, even walking around town it feel strange for me every one speaking English. I cant help racking my brain every time I speak to someone trying to remember the local way to say Thank you. Which in Ireland is obviously no different.
And it was also the first English native speakers I’d stayed with since the bus trip. It was great they’re all so funny just sitting around slagging each other off, over and over and over. It was just like hanging out with the boys back home.
But I’m gonna come back to the fat guy, Ryan. He’s half Italian half Indian. The first thing he said to me after the introduction was. “I’m sorry Luckey I’ll get talk to you in a little while immediately after the newest episode of the Office has finished.” he put his head phones on and I didn’t hear from him for 15 minutes.
Admittedly first impression came across as him just being another annoying fat guy. But this did him no justice what so ever. He’s one of the funniest people on the planet. Filming his life would make a great TV show. Everything he does is funny, a point I’ll come back to time and time again in the course of the next two days diary entries.
A shower was first on my list of priorities. I was still wearing the exact same clothes I’d been clubbing in, that I’d run home in, and spent the whole day around Dublin in, on, and they stunk. Really bad. The shower was pretty funny. It’s in a room of it’s own, nnot unusual but the room is the size of the shower and it’s more like a cubical.
After dinner myself and Yaan went to grab some drinks. We had a list of every ones drinks and we jumped on the bikes and headed to the store, loaded up our bags with about 100 Euros of alcohol and pedaled home.
Back at home Ryan was busily cleaning the kitchen. Under the watchful eye of Kevin, he’s a great guy don’t get me wrong I just never sore him show any expression ever. And had he been the type of guy who did show his emotions I’m sure he would have done nothing less then stand there with a whip while ordering Ryan how to clean the kitchen properly.
Kevin was cooking which was pretty handy, he whipped up a fantastic bolognaise and we got into that while having a few drinks. At one point after the food ryan disappeared. I couldn’t remember who came back but one of the boys in much disappointment asked, “Did Ryan take my computer? Oh man!!” Yaan went onto explaing that ryan cannot go anywhere with out taking a computer to watch something and was currently watching another episode of something in the toilet.
There was a bit of a lull in the battle here and it was quiet for a bit untill I heard some sort of commotion coming from the kitchen. Next thing I knew Kevin walked out and looked like he’d just slaughtered someone and was covered in what appeared to be blood.
Turned out that Ryan had decided to take a bath, and Kevin had walked in and thrown red food dye in it. In retaliation ryan threw the red food dye all over Kevin and all over the kitchen. It looked so funny.
Another guy came over, one of there mates called dean, he had a much thicker accent. The Dublin accent itself isn’t strong at all, it actually sounds just like new York, some of them I actually presumed had grown up in the states and had just shifted out here.

Day 126
Saturday Dec5
We eventually got up at about 1200. As Yann had entered the room. I realized that I didn’t know how to get in contact with the guys I was supposed to be staying with in Belfast so I shot them through an email. Hopefully he’ll get the email, and I’ll be able to check when I get into belfast.
Every one had started getting up but every one wanted to have a shower. This took for ever and we didn’t end up leaving till about 1400, and we even left Connor and Haily in the shower. I wasn’t sure what was going on, I’d thought I’d heard them fighting. I was pretty sure I’d heard connor tell her to ‘stop b****ing at me’ but he could have beenn joking, but after the night before I wasn’t sure.
When we left ryan wanted to put on some theme music, but he couldn’t log onto the network to connect his computer to the speakers. “whats the password” he was asking. Yann replied not long after. “It’s ‘I hate Kevin”, Kevin sat there emotionless on the couch. Ryan came back two seconds later going holy s*** it worked. I put my pack on and we left then I realized that the song Ryan had put on was all about Belfast, as that’s where I was going and the theme music seemed to fit.
He’s such a funny guy. I added him as a friend on Couch surfing. All though way over the top, this is the reference I left him
“If someone followed Ryan around recording his movements to make a TV show. The simpsons, family guy and south park would be cancelled, fox studios and every other TV show producer would go broke as would their criditors,the financial fall out would make the credit crisis and the dot com bubble burst look as pathetic as the zimbabwean economy, the people would laugh so hard that many would stop breathing, as a direct result would stop attending work. Nuclear power station safety officers would become TV addicts, these stations would consequently melt down and explode. The radio active fall out and electromagnetic dissipation would fry the worlds oceans. Fish would mutate to become bigger then the empire state and quite possibly argenitna would disconnect from South America and fall off the planet.Many countries would follow Argentinas lead and after a geographical stint similar to gondwanaland the world would float away from the sun and life would cease to exist. Thats how funny Ryan is”
Where we were going for breakfast was a French Creperie. It was pretty good. I went with a sweet one but when I saw the savory ones the others were getting I was instantly regretting it. There egg and blue cheese and all sorts of awesome stuff looked fantastic.
Connor and Hailey arrived 15 minutes after we got there, but by then I’d eaten and had to sleave to get the bus. I said my good bye’s got a big kiss from Ryan, and left. Emma knew the way so she walked me. And carried my small bag which was pretty convenient.
After a quick bum steer by ryan to a ‘cheaper bus’ which we couldn’t find and he subsequently admitted he might have made up we got to the main bus station with just enough time to grab my ticket