England, Ireland (scotland to follow)

ok, so pretty much the worst feeling ever is the feeling of blog entries for three weeks of fabulous travel hanging over you like wet laundry (which is actually now presently also physically hanging over me but quite captures the feeling, I think).

I have had the most fabulous adventures in the past three weeks. none of which can be done justice in one blog entry - but I am about to try.

I am presently holed up in phebe and jed's room in Clapham South, London. I sleep on a matress on their floor. Potentially i am like some kind of house pet curled up at the bottom of their bed. I have made it back after 2 weeks on the go in Northen England and Scotland- but before that I spent several days in the Emerald Isle (not to be confused with the Emerald Aisle which might occur in some kind of gem supermarket).

Ok. Let's start from the very begining... (an average place to start).

I got into london on a freshly freezing evening 3 weeks ago. Phebe and Jed kindly came and picked me up- even though Stanstead airport is actually in extreme woop woop for them. I was also kindly given a slightly terrifying "central london roads by nite" tour where I saw very little in the darkness but felt the nightmare that is london driving.

Next day, I ventured into central london with phebe- oyster card in hand. Phebe had to work - selling monster energy drink to the foul-mood-and foul mouthed convenience store owners of london. I was free to wander. and wander I did. I strolled all over covent garden, Leister square, and Soho taking in the sights. So many theatres. SO much history. SO much touristy crap. If I was a Londoner, I feel the I <3 London shirts/underpants/knife sets/pool tables would piss me off a fair bit.

I met phebe for lunch at Pret a Manger (cheep, cheerful and my new lunch de jour, however passe) (did you see me try to use french there? fail) and we returned to Clapham South/Balham (apparently closer to Clapham south). 10 people live in Phebe's house.. plus me makes 11. So I am extremely grateful for thier hospitality.

That evening, a posse consisting of Phebe, Jed, Laura (cool NZ CHick) and Myself decended on Gatwick Airport preparing for the battle of a lifetime - to get four seats together on the free-for-all which is a RyanAir Flight to Dublin. It was like a rolling maul once the gates were opened. A man shouted "there's a small child here" to which the crowd replied "who takes a child on ryanair" and trampled over said child. Packed into our tiny seats, we made the journey over sea to beautiful Ireland.

Phebe Johnson is one organised child, and apprently seems to spend her entire day organising various weekend jaunts to different countries. We had a very organised itinerary. First night we picked up our little rental car and drove to some extremely random house where we stayed. Next morning, early start and off to Glendalough, a beautiful lake with a small town attached. Small town consiting of .. not much. We went to the ancient cemetary, where we pretended to be ghosts for a time- then it was nature walk time along the lake, where jed got VERY "natural" and my retinas are forever burned. it was windy and slightly rainy but very pleasant. We had a massive breakfast at s Gleandalough hotel, laughed at the very "cute" (according to Laura) old people with gorgeous Irish accents, and I took some extra croissants for the way. THe breakfast was so filling, lunch was not needed.

We the did an extreme speed run of Kilkenny. We posed for photos at the glorious castle, Jed flashed his butt again for a photo opportunity on the street (?!?) and then drank Kilkenny in Killkenny in the space of less than an hour. But the real race had not yet begun. We were scheduled to hit blarney castle that afternoon to kiss the blarney stone, but as the sun decended our hopes faded as we raced towards our goal. We pushed our way through the gates with 15 minutes to spare and were the final people to kiss the blarney stone that day. Unfortunately for me, I apparently missed the said stone all togetehr and can now claim that I "kissed the stone ABOVE the blarney stone". I guess I missed out on gettting the power of the gift of the gab (which the stone is said to bestow). Somehow, I think I'll get along fine without it.

We then departed the castle and made our way to the nearby town of Kilarney (very Mcleods Daughters). We went out to check out the local night life.. but the non stop action of international flying and constant sightseeing was taking its toll on me. Jed and I called it an early night - but Phebe and Laura had a fabulous adventure involving a lovely Irish man who had moved to Kilarney for work and had no friends (people don't have jobs in ireland and some resent those who do) protecting them from a group of Irish Louts. the Craic was good!

Next day, I was at the wheel as we took on the dingle peninsula. We visited a 2500 year old fort (with cute sheep herding dog included), where Jed proceeded to pee on an ancient battlement. it wasn't in a BAD way. It was necessity (apparently). the wind was blowing and the rain was falling but the views were still breathtaking.. then.. the sun came out and.. DOUBLE RAINBOW OH MY GOD. no pot of gold though and a distinct lack of leprachauns. We then visited the town of Dingle where we had potentiaally the best fish and chips of the holiday and posed for photos with the statue of "Fungie the Dingle Dolphin- (since 1983)". Then we made our way to our little hostel in Doolin we went to a pub to witness a man sing a folk song about Australian BBQs and where their eftpos machine stopped working preventing binge drinking by all.

The next day was the best one. That evening, the owner of the hostel had drawn us out a mud map of how to get to the secret side of the CLiffs of Moher and walk the whole way along the cliff edge to the visitor centre. Mud map is a perfect description. the next morning we fould ourself tramping across paddocks of what appeared to be a mud farm. We were knee deep in mud. Jed and Laura had to durn back due to shoe disfuction but phebe and I continued, Me thanks to the wonder of my Doc Martens (which I seriously am in love with after saving me from this mud.. and also coming soon - snow!!). We climbed barbed wire fences and sheep and random american hikers, but it was all worth it for the view from the cliffs. It was the best walk of my life! Amazing! The cliffs are 240m high.. and we walked along the edge. After our walk of doom, we med Jed and Laura at the visitor centre, which has apparently been boycotted by the people of ireland for costing 20 million euros in a time of financial crisis.

THen we were in Galway. Galway was Awesome. We did a Galway Pub Crawl = 6 pubs in as many hours. We met a bunch of crazy Irish students- they were actually physically insane. A girl called Meg drew us an insanity map of places to go. Meg McNeil, Johnny McGee (Aka crazy hair) and Jack O'Carrol (aka crazy eyes) were the keepers of the crew. We hung out with them all evening and I swear I have never laughed so much in my entire life. especially as the guy who had obviously been watching border patrol kept saying "do you have any narcotics on your person" in an irish style Aussie Accent.

Our last day we zipped across to Dublin. In Irealnd everything is scenic.. there are emerald field after emerald field dotted with little black faced sheep - beautiful in clear skyes of grey. Just driving for several hours was fun with all the natural beauty. except in the dark.

Dublin was.. less nice. However the Guinness factory was 5 times of awesome. they have really put alot of work into the "storehouse" as it is known and it was a full afternoon of hopps-y goodness- topped off with a free pint in the bar on the top accompanied by panoramic views of Dublin.

Then back to London that evening in the same style we arrived - rugby scrum onboard RyanAIr. HOnestly RyanAir is SOOO dodgy. THe flight attendants look diseased and the plane has been detalied with yellow fading to white which looks like someone threw up. Thatbeingsaid - they are CHEAP.

The next day I had a London day - meeting up with Josh and Julianne in Soho. It was interesting to see them in a UK setting, where they do spend alot of their time. we strolled the streets and did an Oxford Street shopping spree where I discoverd the Glory of H&M and Primark- buying some non-homeless style winter clothes for cheap on the cash. We then went to their lovely home (very lovely open plan living) in North London for dinner and christmas carol sing-alongs. Then I came back to my cat-bed style abode in Clapham South - ready to begin my adventure in the north the very next day!

I however, have now lost the will to continue this blog entry and will have to write about my tour of the north tomorrow.. ugh I must stop putting it off.. perhaps I will do it in 1 hours time. we shall see. I'm here at phebe and jed's eating pizza and watching movies so I'm set for the time being!