Last day in Dublin

Well we're about to jet off to London so we don't really have time to do a huge update. But here's a fun video of us at the Guinnesss Storehouse. Enjoy!

Dublin Day 2

Today we took a trip to the Irish countryside to see the Newgrange tomb. We went in search of the hotel that the shuttle would pick us up in front of, but couldn't find it. After a frustrating search we realized the hotel was under construction when the shuttle all of the sudden appeared in front of it, Knight bus-style, almost running us over as it parked on the sidewalk. After our narrow miss we enjoyed a nice ride out to the countryside. It was beautiful. We walked through the museum at Bru na Bonne and then took a shuttle to New Grange- a five thousand year old mound tomb that was constructed so that the sun would directly enter the doorway on the winter solstice and light up the interior. It is amazing the ingenuity that these Neolithic people had. It was incredible to be standing in the same place that people stood 5,000 years ago. The tour was really neat, and it didn't hurt that our tour guide was a cute, funny Irish boy.



Claire decided that Newgrange was the perfect place to begin her search for a Leprechaun...

We took another trip down Grafton street to experience it while more awake than yesterday. We stopped and watched some street performers- a really awesome group of Irish guys. After listening for awhile we continued down Grafton street and happened upon St. Stephen's Green, which is a really beautiful park with tons of brightly colored tulips.

For dinner we headed to the Temple Bar area. We decided on Gallagher's Boxty House for some traditional Irish fare: the boxty- a potato pancake with meat fillings. I got corned beef and cabbage in mine and Claire got chicken. She says it tasted just like a chicken pot pie. They were delicious. And we had yummy Bailey's cheesecake for dessert. After a quick turn around the rest of Temple Bar and a brief run-in with a nice, crazy old Irish guy we headed back to our hostel to call it a night.

Arriving in Dublin

After 14 hours of travel we finally arrived in Dublin a bit before 9am. We got some euros and got on a bus and head to our hostel. The people here are really nice and helpful. We would have been so lost if it wasn't for someone helping us out!

Since we arrived at our hostel too early for check-in, we stored our luggage and walked around O'Connell street which once was the widest street in Europe. We ate a salami sandwich and headed back to our hostel for check-in. We have the only private room in the entire hostel. It's small but comfortable.

After we got settled, we walked to Trinity College where we saw the Book of Kells. It was cool to see something so old. The text and the art were beautiful. After we looked at the Book of Kells we went into the Long Room, which is a library that houses many old books. It looked like it came out of Hogwarts from Harry Potter!! The exhibit they were showing was called "The Body in the Library" and featured many first editions of detective writings, including Charles Dickens and the House of Bleak, Sherlock Holmes, Agatha Christie, and Raymond Chandler.

After Trinity College we went to the National Gallery. We visited the free exhibition for a few minutes that featured an Irish painter and his landscapes. We then walked down Grafton Street. There were TONS of people and really talented street performers. By then jet lag was getting the better of us, and so we headed back to the hostel for a 2-hour nap.

For dinner we ate at Kingfisher Restaurant. We had the best salmon ever! It was buttery, light, and flaky. Absolutely delicious! Our fish was accompanied by the requisite chips.

Now we're back in our hostel, about to take a shower, and call it a night!

At Last

Our suitcases are stuffed to the brim, and we managed to shove all our liquids into a quart-sized bag.
We've also been frantically texting each other back and forth as we pack:

Brittany: Oh man. My liquids bag is so stuffed! haha

Claire: I know. I just remembered that I didn't put any tooth paste or sunscreen in it! Yikes! Omg I got it all to fit.

Brittany: Haha. I got toothpaste but I'm not bringing sunscreen.

Claire: Yeah now I realized I forgot my acne medicine. So there goes the sunscreen.

and that's how it was all night as we packed our bags.

Tomorrow we're going to put all our planning to the test as we jet off to Dublin. For people who are unaware of our itinerary, here it is:

Dublin-3 nights

London-4 nights

Edinburgh- 2 nights

Paris- 6 nights

Nice- 2 nights

Milan- 1 night

Venice- 2 nights

Florence- 2 nights

Rome- 2 nights

Athens-2 nights

Santorini- 3 nights

Athens (again)-1 night

So it's time to say goodbye to sunny San Diego and say hello to cold and cloudy Ireland! From here on out, we'll be writing our blog from across the pond.

Planning 103: Hostels

It's good to book your hostels before you leave. You can read reviews of hostels, figure out what they offer, get a feel for where they are in the city...basically you get an idea of what you're getting yourself into!

Helpful links that I used religiously:

HostelWorld: Tons of information about hostels, including detailed reviews from people who have stayed there. However, I wouldn't recommend booking here because they charge you extra fees.

HostelBookers: We used this site to book pretty much all of our hostels. Their prices were always cheaper then anywhere else on the web, including booking directly with the hostels. However, make sure you double check because we got a crazy good deal once for booking directly with one of our hostels!

And don't forget to send a quick email to each hostel confirming your reservation.

Planning 102: Getting to Europe

Now the fun part...once you figure out when you’ll depart for Europe you can start booking your flights!

If you’re going all over Europe, I suggest flying open-jaw. Meaning fly into the country you’re starting in, and then fly out of the country you’re ending in. This is simply more convenient. Flying into Ireland, the UK, and often times the Netherlands, tends to be the cheapest way to get to Europe and leave Europe.

Wait a bit before you book your flight home. This helps for you to adjust your itinerary a bit if needed. I can’t stress enough how important it is to do your research. We’re flying home on May 18th, instead of the 17th like originally planned because we realize through a little research that it would save us hundreds of dollars and won’t have to spend the night in the Boston airport.

Helpful links:

http://www.kayak.com/ was a lifesaver. It searches tons of airlines and travel sites for the best deal. It never failed us.

Planning 101: The Itinerary

I’ll just come out and say it: Brittany and I aren’t the sporadic, let’s-jump-on-a-train-and-see-where-it-takes-us kind of girls. We like plans. We like structure. Don’t get me wrong, we love adventure, we just like to have some sort of an idea of what to expect. This is why we started planning our trip in August… 8 months before our departure date. Since we know first-hand how planning a trip overseas can be a grueling task, we decided to give you guys some pointers.

First things first: The Itinerary! This is where it all starts. You must figure out which days you want to be in which countries, and for how long.

Some things to keep in mind when you first sit down to start planning your itinerary:

• National holidays and weekend dates. For example: a lot of museums are closed Sunday and Monday in Florence and May 1 is Labor day for the majority of the countries in the European Union, so pretty much everything will be closed.
  
• Don’t jump from city to city too much. Spend at least 2 nights in each place you visit so you don’t get overwhelmed and have a place that feels more like “home”.
  
• We decided to start with the English-speaking countries first so it’s more comfortable, and then slowly transition into the countries that don’t speak our language. Plus, if you start out in Greece where things are totally out of your comfort zone, things like high tea at Harrods in London just won’t seem as neat if you end your trip with it.
  
• Make sure you also have a few days in the middle of your trip as “rest days”. It gives you time to catch your breath and just relax so you don’t get sick on your trip. We’re spending two days on the French riveria as our “rest days”. We have no plans except lying on the beach and sailing on the Mediterranean (oh and of course probably some shopping knowing us!)