(Em)Brace yourself, this is the final country blog post (for now). This is the the trip that finishes my life in Sweden and brings me back home. I'll start it at the Västerås Airport. This is the last time I fly RyanAir, and despite their sheisty, no frills behavior, I love them. I wish everything in life had a no-frills, cheap as dirt option.
I was very concerned about my trip with RyanAir because I was bringing everything with me. My carryon couldn't be more than 10 kg, and my checked bag couldn't be more than 15 kg. Lucky for me, I put all of my books, a blanket, my camera, and other various things in my nice jacket, which weighed at another 10 kg. Luckily they don't weigh jackets, and luckily I can fit more than one pair of pants on.
As the picture above presents, I was flying to London. The English speaking islands west of Europe had escaped my travels the entire time I was in Europe. I had made many different trip plans to go there that never worked out, and on one occasion I even had tickets, but a certain volcano felt I had better hold off.
The first thing I notice is that London is filled with elephants. There was some absurd amount of elephants about the streets that were designed, and could be sponsored with money to help save real life elephants elsewhere.
Goal 73: See Big Ben
Done.
My first day/night in London was an interesting one. I had not heard back from my couchsurfers before I left Sweden, so I was continuously stopping in at various McDonalds to check if they were sending me directions or anything. They hadn't. They didn't.
So imagine if you will, you are living and going to school somewhere, and you finish school and are moving home. Imagine that you don't have a moving truck or a chauffeur. Imagine you're carrying everything you've owned and used for six months on your back in the form of two backpacks, one strapped to the other. Imagine you're carrying these without anyplace to go, in a humid, hot city. I hope for your sake you don't have a very good imagination.
Sure, people backpack around Europe all the time carrying everything on their backs, big deal right? Wrong. I wasn't backpacking Europe, I was living and studying there. I didn't just have the stuff I needed to survive, I had the stuff I needed to thrive.
So I happened to know about a concert going on, and since I had no place to go, I hoped they had a coat check (this wouldn't be the first time I checked a ridiculous object...seen me antlers?), and headed to it.
I walk up to security, and they decide they are going to have to check out all of the compartments in my bag to make sure I wasn't about to bomb the place. I walk in and approach the coat check. They were a bit surprised when I piled on about 40 kg of two bags to the counter, but calmly handed me a ticket that cost me a measly £1.50. These other guys were surprised, and moderately pissed because the coat check people wouldn't even let them put a jacket in their bag for that cheap. I ended up talking to these guys whenever I took a break from the dance floor.
The concert was actually a big line up of DJs and MCs. A couple of notable names were Stereo MCs, DJ Yoda, and....
Dan Le Sac vs. Scroobius Pip!
These were the guys I came to see. They were good, but if I didn't already know the words to their songs, I wouldn't have understood a bit of their English accent.
At about 4 am, my day pass ran out, and I still didn't have anywhere to go for the night, so I thought back to earlier in the day when I passed a "Democracy Village," hippy congregation. There were a bunch of people camped out there, so I figured it was a great place to crash.
When I woke up, it was odd. There was a guy with a messed up eye walking his dog, which had a purple anarchist symbol painted on it. There were also people going to work, and other people waking up. I knew from the day before that no one really goes into the camp, so I took all of my valuables out of my big bag, and left it there for the day.
Then I hit the city.
It was awesome seeing all of the sites in London. London bridge, totally not falling down.
Then I watched this group called "The Pantaloons" perform Hamlet. It was well done, and surprisingly, done to script and still funny.
So Blah blah blah... I walked around more and found my name on a sign.
I went to church while I was looking to buy some gifts for my couchsurfers. I couldn't figure out what kind of church it was, but it was neat to be in.
After London, I boarded some trains and a ferry. Next stop: Dublin.
I went through Wales on the way. The countryside in the UK was beautiful, and I do plan on returning one day to explore more thoroughly.
In Dublin, they have this huge spike of a tower. Apparently when England was imposing their rule on Ireland, there used to be a statue that basically meant "We're watching you." So the Irish destroyed it and put in this humoungous spike tower.
Goal 80: Drink Irish Guinness
I went to the Guinness Storehouse, across the street from the James' Gate Brewery. It was a really excellent experience. Apparently the brewery is on a 9000 year lease, 250 years old, the pride of Ireland, and tons of other cool stuff. I took a bunch of toasted barely that they had out for trying, and there was this video of a guy tasting it and being really into it, so I tried to project how delicious the barely was to everyone around me. Eventually I became an apprentice to the Master Brewer, because I rock.
At the top you get a free Guinness, and yes, it really IS better. It has a fuller, smoother, creamier, more flavorful taste than Guinness has ever had. I enjoyed the drink, and began to pick up other people's left over drinks as they left the bar.
FUN FACT: The Irish say that it's all about how you pour the Guinness that makes it taste so good. Apparently, you're supposed to fill it until the head reaches the top, wait a few minutes, and then fill the rest.
I was hanging out with my couchsurfer and company. We also went to Irish music at an Irish pub.
The next day I went with my pseudo-couchsurfer (my couchsurfer's friend that wasn't working) went to a costal suburb called Howth. It was gorgeous, and Irish.
Appropriately, we got fish & chips.
Ireland was awesome. I thought it was beautiful and fun, and I wish I was there longer. I'll be back.
Here's another fun fact: My flight home was out of Ireland, but connected to London before going home. This was the cheapest flight out of Europe...even cheaper than just buying a ticket from London. So I was stuck in London overnight on the way home.
Luckily I met a bunch of people who were also stuck in the London airport overnight. I met a guy who goes to UMASS, and some girls from Ireland, headed to Hawaii for the summer.
TA DAH!!!!!!!(I think this picture is technically illegal, but not really.)
I did some stuff I hadn't done in WDC before, like go up to the top of the old post office.
...and get a zoom shot of the White House.
(Which I now consider as a palace, but unlike nearly every other palace I saw, you can't get close to the White House)
I skipped all of the Smithsonians, but did make it to the Holocaust museum.
It was an odd feeling to be back.
I saw Albuquerque come up on the monitor, and it started to set in that I was coming home...
