The Journey Day 3

September 5th, 2016 Dublin Ireland

Christ Church and surrounding area

We were up and out in time to get breakfast at Third Space, one of the restaurants recommend to us by our host. It was the place that was closed the night before. I ate a mini Irish breakfast. It was similar to the one I had on the first day, but I thought the pudding was better at Third Space. This may have more to do with the fact that I had never ate Irish pudding before, now that I was familiar with it, I knew what to expect. However, I thought the pudding was spiced better. Also, the baked beans weren't quite as sweat, which I liked. Kelsi had granola and a muffin. She must have liked the granola because she talked about it a lot afterwards!

Christ Church

 After breakfast we went towards Trinity College, but we stopped at Christ Church instead. It was very beautiful architecture. The style seemed romantic to me, but it was too early for that to be the case. It was renovated with a romantic style. Inside, we also visited the crypts. It was kind of weird that the crypts were kind of like a museum. There is even a gift shop down there!

From church we went to college, but apparently we failed at our attempt. The line for the Kells book was so long!  Because of the length we decided to look at exhibits in the science and zoology buildings. The Zoology exhibit is only open in the summer, the science exhibit is not open Mondays! So we left. One thing of note, we talked to a college student at the information center near the Kells book. He was eating a Nature Valley bar and I told him they taste good heated a bit in the microwave. He told us about the exhibits in the other buildings, but he didn't say they weren't open! After my great tip and everything!

Park, and Clock Tower

We caught the bus from Trinity College to the street we were staying. That way we could navigate to Guiness Storehouse. We could spot Guiness above the buildings, so it wasn't hard to find. We ended up on the near side of the building which wasn't the entrance. So we had to walk around. From there we took tour, we learned the history of the beer, and history of the advertisements, we also learned how to pour the beer, we learned how to taste the beer and received complementary pint. After the tour we went up to the top of the building. You can see the most of the city from there. After we finished our pint we went to get lunch. It took forever because there were a few locations to eat. The first place we tried had a wait, so we went down to get hamburgers, but they only take cash! So we went back up to the first place. We both had burgers, but I didn't get the chutney on mine. The burgers were pretty good. We also had more beer! 

After that our plan for the day was kind of thrown off because we wanted to go to the Gaols, but it was booked. When I was planning the trip, everything recommended to wait to get to Dublin before booking any tours. Which probably is good advice, but once you arrive you should book your tours and not wait until the day of. Instead, we went to Phoenix Park which was beautiful, but we didn't end up spending a lot of time there. 

On our way back to our room, we took the bus, but we missed a stop or two...or several! So we had to back track! By the time we ended up at the room it was almost at the time for the pub crawl. We had to rush to the duke to make it there. Which would have been easier, if we didn't get lost on the first day. We did make it, but thanks to Kelsi. We were there right on time, and ushered in to the start of the show. We were supposed to arrive early to check in and pay, but at least we were there. At the Duke the guide performed a two person play Waiting for Godot. It was so funny, but the room was crowded and a bit hot! Also, because we were just barely on time, we didn't get a beer at the Duke!  Ah well, after the play we went down to the street to go to the next site. There we were able to pay up and so everything was all right. 

Guiness Storehouse, Waterfall

The tour was great! I highly recommend it. If you like literature then you will really like it, but if you don't it is still a good tour. The guides perform a few skits along the way. You get to visit historical sites and also historical bars. The tour group also do a Lit Walking tour if the pub crawl part of it doesn't appeal. There was also a quiz at the end, and Kelsi almost won the whiskey prize, but Jim Morrison got in the way!

When we finished the tour we stopped to get gelato, which was so delicious! However, when we left the gelato shop we weren't paying attention and we started walking the wrong way! We didn't exactly get lost, but we did have to turn around to get back to where we once belonged!

  

In conclusion the day was a bit of a scramble! We did somethings we didn't plan, and did other things we didn't plan! Oh well, the mixes ups were a bit entertaining. I also enjoyed the fact that we just laughed off mistakes, without getting upset. Tomorrow we will have to make up for the sites we missed and then we have to get to Belfast!

The Journey Day 2

September 4th, 2016 Dublin Ireland

The Cliffs of Moher

We woke up at 5:30 and were out the door by 6:00. We needed to grab coffee and a breakfast on our way to the meet up for our tour to the Cliffs of Moher. At 6 in the morning there aren't very many places that are open, but there was convenient store. We picked up coffee and pastries. The meet up point, had a statue in it, but I found out later that the statue is there temporarily because of road work.  We sometimes oriented our position when we came across the statue and spot in the following days.

We arrived about five minutes ahead of schedule. We followed the guide to the bus. We were split into at least two groups. I think there was another tour with the same company that also goes to the cliffs, but we didn't see them at every stop, so they must take a different route.

Cliffs of Moher

Aswe headed out of the city the tour guide gave us some information on places we passed in the city, and a bit in the country, though he tried to let people rest until the first stop. The first stop was more of a comfort stop. It was at The Barack Obama Plaza. The guide explained that the plaza was named for Barack Obama because his ancestors came from the area. He also visited the area before. While there we decided to pick up donuts. Which meant we had two breakfasts! A thing that I noticed with donuts and pastries in the UK and Ireland is that the majority of the time they are served cold. Which is a bit surprising, but they still taste fresh, so I can't complain. 

Selfie from O'Brien's Tower, at the Cliffs

We arrived at the cliffs around 10. We walked up the path to the benches, the cliffs were so pretty. From the benches we walked to O'Brien tower. The view was even better from there! The Cliffs are such that there are hills and bumps. So we kept seeing areas of the cliff that we wanted to walk to. We would get to that area, and want to keep walking. Every spot had a great view and I could have walked them for much longer, but we eventually had to turn around. We even walked through the unofficial area. It wasn't completely barricaded so people were allowed to walk there, but there was no wall between you and the cliff face! It was also muddy in thar section, but the views were worth it. Beside the cliffs, there were cows and sheep in the field, which was interesting to see too. There are cows and sheep in Arizona, but these were Irish cows and Irish sheep and therefore special!

O'Brien,

After walking the cliffs we went to info Center which is build into the hill. There was interesting information about the cliffs there. How they formed, information on the caves that were near by, the animals that make a home of the cliffs, and families from the area. I saw a name that I recognized, so I took pictures of the shield. I don't knoe what county the O'Brien come from. I know Thomas Fitzpatrick and Bernard Fitzsimmons are supposed to have come from Clare County, but I didn't see shields for them at the center. A little more on family history we did drive through Port Laoise, Laois County, which isn't actually near the ocean at all, and is in fact one of the most landlocked counties in the country. This is because the counties that surround it do not board the ocean. I believe the tour guide said Port comes about because there are major rivers around it.

Stoney Outcrop

We lunched at in Doolin. There were a few choices, so we walked up the street to a little cafe. I had a delicious ham sandwich with sweet BBQ sauce, a brownie and a Galway beer. Kelsi had turkey and brie, sea salt and Irish vinegar crisps (chips) and a brownie. She also bought some popcorn that was marshmallow flavored. Which she saved for an afternoon snake. I think she liked her sandwich and the crisps, but she said the popcorn wasn't good. 

After lunch we drove to the Stoney Outcrop. This was created when the area was a seabed, it was revealed during the carnivorous period. Such an interesting features. It's very hard to describe, so I will just post some pictures!

Plaque

Then we drove to an old Abbey called St. Maria's. It houses the bones of residence in the area from the distant past until the present. Since I love family histories, I appreciate places like this. I took a picture of a plaque that said the Abbey was founded in 1182 CE. Ascribed to Donnel Mor O'Brien and that his grandson was one of the people buried there. As I don't know much about the O'Brien's in my family, especially outside of the United States. I'm just going cross my fingers and think that perhaps they came from Clare Co. I looked at so many headstones, but most of them were too new or too old to be ancestors of mine. 

Abbey!

Once the Abbey was finished we stopped in a small seaside town for a pint or shopping. I picked the pint, but only a little one. We sat at the window facing the ocean which was great view! It was also fun to watch the people inside the bar.

That was the last stop of the trip. The rest of the ride was through the beautiful landscape of Ireland back to Dublin. I tried to catch some zzz, but the view was too pretty. Kelsi may have managed some. The bus played a film on the way back. It was called The Field. It was about a dispute over an area of land, and ended with a scene at the Cliffs of Moher. It wasn't a bad film, but I'm not sure I understand all of it. 

Upon returning we stopped by the room for a little bit. Then we went to The Brazen Head the oldest bar in Dublin and had a pint. The bar was kind of interesting, it had a bunch of different rooms on different levels and it was very crowded! The table we sat at was reserved, but the staff said it was reserved for later. I think we sat there until after the reserved time, but the group had not shown up. Perhaps they never did. 

Jameson's

We left because we wanted to go to a to dinner, the restaurant was recommended by our host, but it was closed! The restaurant was near the Jameson's Distillery. We found out earlier that Jameson's was closed until 2017. They are doing updates to it. Since it was closed we were not planning to visit, but because we were close to it, I had to get a picture! 

Then, we different bar, called McGillan's. It was a lounge. Which meant that there wasn't food, only drinks. Of course we had one! It helped us forgot our hunger, at least for a little while. 

In the end we went back to a pizza place that we had past. It was nearly closing, but they allowed us to take away. We took the pizza away, and it was probably the best pizza. Although, we were very hungry. 

Saving Money for the Journey

Last post, I wrote about my experience booking international flights. I mentioned that I originally felt that 2017 was the time for The Journey, a trip to the United Kingdom and Ireland, but I ended up planning a trip for fall of 2016. The one reason I wanted to wait was to save more money for the trip. So, how was I able to pay for the trip? The trip cost less than I thought, I found savings, and I dusted off the budget that put me through college!

The Journey cost less than anticipated:

First the cost of the Journey was less expensive than I originally thought. I know that going to Europe is expensive, but I sometimes think that milk is expensive. As in, I think it will be $4 or $5, but when I go to the store it is always around $2. Which, I think stems from a few times growing up, I would try to buy a candy or toy, and wouldn’t have enough money. Though, I don’t think anyone looked twice, it felt so mortifying, that I would rather have unrealistic ideas on the price of milk than to be out of money. So, when I thought about going to Europe I was of course thinking the price was two or three times the actual price! Since, the initial decision to plan the trip, I have worked and reworked a budget of expensive, I also add “crazy just-in case” scenarios into it. Guess what! It was at least half as much as I thought it would be.

Found ways to save:

Of course, the price is greatly affected by the time of year, room accommodations and meal plans. Which, I did my best to find deals. The main expense is the flights. If you take your time, however, you can find affordable flights. Sometimes the flights didn’t seem much more than flying to the East Coast. Keep in mind that booking international flights is done earlier than national flights. So that could account for the price comparison.

The second biggest expense could be the hotels, but we decided to look at alternatives like hostel international and airbnb. I originally planned the trip around hostels; mainly because hostel international has good tools and the hostels are centrally located. Also, European vacations often evoked the hostel image into the imagination. Overall the hostels probably were the most affordable, but we decided that an important part of the accommodations was the bathrooms. Since the airbnb rooms were still affordable and in our price range we determined to book rooms that way. In Cardiff, there weren’t very many airbnb rooms. So, we ended up finding a room at the Royal Hotel. I came across it when I was looking at for castles, and the hotel looks adorable. It was also in our price range. So that is the only place we are staying in a hotel.

The next biggest expense, will be food and alcohol. Although, the United Kingdom is no Italy or France when it comes to food, there are still many dishes that I would like to try. So, I don’t want to be too frugal when it comes to dining. However, there is still many ways to save on this expense too. First, some of our airbnb hosts provide breakfast, which if they do I will be eternally grateful for. Second, having a small lunch or snack will allow us to save on that meal. Now, for alcohol, I must admit I love beer. I hard alcohol and wine have a time and a place, but I like to drink beer as an experience in and of itself. I like both micro, and home brews and large brews as well. They each have their own feels and tastes. So I will be drinking on our trip, however, I have no plans to overindulge. I allocated a certain amount which I can spend every day and not spend more. The amount can be rolled into the next day however. I will see how this works. I have heard that in Europe beer is served warm, so perhaps I will save money because I wouldn't like it. I think I will be okay though. Having a beer served warm doesn’t sound as bad as having a beer go warm. I can't wait to find out!

We also have some tentative day trips, sights and tours that we planned. However, these aren’t nearly as expensive as I would have thought. Many of the museums are free to get into first of all. Many of the sights will have self guided tours, which can save some money. Like with food, I don't want to limit experiences because of money, so I have allocated a certain about for activities, but there wouldn't be any experiences that I will refuse because of money. Though if I am debating about whether to do something or not, then the cost might be the deciding factor.

Budgeting and saving for the Journey:

After realizing the true cost, and finding ways to save on the expenses, I had to set up a plan to save for the Journey. This wasn’t too difficult. It was only three years ago that I finished my bachelors. I was able to go to my first four years of school via my parents, however, I was woefully unprepared for college and after two years, I left it. I worked as a waitress for a while until a friend started going to school for an Associates in Paralegal Studies. I quickly followed, and that was the last of the four years.

Then, I started working and I went back to school for my bachelors. I had about $10,000 in savings at the time from a job I had in high school. So I used that to slowly work my way through school. I would pay for a semester and then try to replenish the savings during the semester and the summer. I did pretty well at this, but slowly it drained away and the last four semesters (I wasn’t going full time so I had many semesters) I would use a Visa card and pay that down as much as I could before the next payment. Perhaps, it would have saved me money if I got student loans, however, I didn’t know enough about student loans at the time so I didn’t feel comfortable with them. Also, having to pay 18% or more in interest is painful for me, so I knew that I would pay off my credit card as soon as possible. Anyway, the last payment of my last semester had me at $8,700 in debt which I paid off 13 months later. Because of this lifestyle of putting every extra dollar to pay for school I was able to reapply that to saving for my trip. Though perhaps, I am not as frugal as before.

The goal of saving for the Journey has made me tightened up some of the loose ends that I’ve developed. I use the 50/20/30 rule. That is 50% to needs, 20% to financial goals, and 30% for fun. Now that I am done paying for school my fun money has been used at coffee shops and shopping on Amazon. These are not bad things. However, I would much rather spend my money on experiences like trips or events than fancy coffees or graphic tees. So, cutting them out wasn’t too difficult. I use Mint.com to track spending and to remind me if I go off my budget, though I tend to use Excel to create the actual budget. I added the Journey in my goals last fall, and I love seeing the bar fill up. I really like the goals section of Mint. You can estimate trips this way. It will ask you how much for flights, hotels, cars, food and activities. When I paid for the flights I simply removed the flight from the estimate.

Even though I am saving money for the Journey, I am planning to use my credit cards to pay for the trip while I am there. This is mostly because of safety; I do not want to carry too much money in cash. I will pay off the balance after the trip. After paying for this trip, I have to start saving for a trip for fall of 2017. It will probably be about a week in Colorado. So I will probably continue to use these money habits for a while, though hopefully, I will not need to be as aggressive.