I’m in Ireland, by myself, and I want to see something new.  So I take a bus up to Galway, a city I’ve never seen before, and decide to stay in a hostel with five strangers.  A great way to make friends, right?

It ended up working out nicely.  I met two guys from Germany and two girls from Liverpool and we all went out for dinner and a few drinks.  We ended up going to three different pubs, all of which played traditional Irish music.   The last place we went to, the King’s Head, finished off the night with "All you need is love" by The Beatles and "Always look on the bright side of life", a Monty Python Song.

It was such a great night.  Everyone should visit Galway at least one day in their lives.  I’ll definately be going back.

Alright so soon after I landed Richie Hayes picked me up from Shannon airport.  After a quick chat he immediately drove me up to the top of this hill where I could see an unbelievable view of the Shannon region and Limerick.  He was able to point out three different counties to me.  Seriously, the view was unreal.  It was incredible.  There was a thick fog moving quickly up the hill so we didn’t have very long to take pictures.  One of them I posted the other day.  He told me how they used to hang people up on top of that hill back in the very early 1900’s…. pretty damn amazing.

From there we ventured up to Limerick University where I checked out some old abandoned mill and took a few pictures.  Richie had to head to work so Tom and i walked around Limerick for a bit before I jumped on a bus headed towards Galway.  It was just a 2 hour ride… but I knew I was going to fall alseep instantly, and I did.

The plane started to descend, the sun rose up, the clouds broke away, and then I saw the Irish coast approach from underneath me.  Next thing I knew it was snowing.  Yes… snow.  It was almost like a blizzard.  Thick, heavy flakes and I couldn’t even see the tips of the plane’s wings.  But as we got closer to the ground the snow turned to rain and as the sun began poking through the clouds forming a massive rainbow that I could see out my window.  It was such an unbelievable sight.. I could never even truly explain it.

Anyway, I’m here.  And we’re driving on the wrong side of the road.  More later.

I’ll be flying out to Ireland tonight.  This time I’m headed to Limerick – home of a few highly exceptional human beings that I’ve befriended over the course of the past 8 years.  This will be my third time visiting the country, and I’m just as excited as I was the first time I traveled there when I was 15.  I’ve taken a somewhat risky approach to this trip.  I spontaneously booked the flight back in May, not giving the how or the why too much thought.  I just made sure that I had a way to get there and decided that I’d figure out the rest of the planning later on.   I’m traveling solo this time around, but it shouldn’t be all that bad since I’ll be meeting up with several people once I’m out there.

Two weeks ago I realized I should probably come up with a plan, so I did a bit of research and booked myself a hotel at the George Boutique Hotel in downtown Limerick.  From what I can tell it seems like a pretty nice place.  Four stars, free wifi, my own private shower, and air conditioning.  Nice for Europe, right?

For the first night I’ve decided to scare myself a bit.  I made a reservation at a hostel in the city of Galway – Ireland’s "culture capital".  I’ll be sharing a room with 5 strangers.  It only cost me 20 euros for the night.  I could have afforded a real hotel but I thought staying there could be an interesting experience.  The plan is to wander the city Monday night and maybe stop in a pub or two for some traditional Irish music and a few drinks.   I’m looking forward to taking a lot of pictures while I’m there.  Check this link sometime Monday night and maybe you’ll catch a glimpse of me checking in.

Tuesday morning I meet up with my brother and the boy scouts from Troop 3 in Derby.  They’ll be coming into Galway from Dublin sometime in the afternoon.  I’m hoping to take a ride with them back to Limerick, but I’ll have to whether or not their driver will allow it.

That night I’ll be back in Limerick for a cookout with Troop 3 and a group of scouts from Limerick.  I’ll get to see a bunch of old friends that I met the first time I traveled to Ireland back in ’99.  Some of whom actually let me stay in their homes during the 3 weeks that I was out there and went out of their ways to show me the country.

The rest of the week is up in the air, but I know it’ll be a great experience.

I’ll be posting daily updates while I’m out there, along with pictures and videos.  I’ll also try to be on the webcam at night after 9PM eastern time, so if you’re interested in chatting with me go over to the "cam" section and click on the hourglass at the bottom of the screen.

That’s all for now.  Next update will be from Galway sometime Monday night.