The First of Many Goodbye's

Leaving Athlone was really sad. Considering it was only our first stop, I'm sensing it's a sign of things to come. On our final day we started slow, and didn't leave the house until late morning. We went to Suede Bar for a very Irish carvery lunch with Joanie, wandered down the The Strand along the river just long enough to settle our food and then started all over again, going into the Olive Grove for mid afternoon desserts and coffee overlooking the water. We went home only briefly before taking in a final pint at Seans Bar with Joanie and Bennie.


True to form, Courts was still drinking 15 minutes before a taxi was due at home to take us to the bus stop. Despite suggesting that I go home to pack and he would catch up (not a chance - I packed most of our stuff that morning but damned if I was finishing up while he was having fun) he drank it down and we were ready just in time for the taxi.


We were only in Athlone a week but I felt homesick for it the second we left. It's a long time since we've seen Jonaie and it will be a long time before we do again. Bennie and herself showed us so much kind Irish hospitality that we couldn't have possibly felt more welcome. Joanie had worried we would be bored watching DVDs and TV at night but truthfully we loved it. For myself, at home if DVDs or TV are on, I'm simultaneously blogging or doing nails or planning our trip or cooking dinner. It's a rare occasion that I watch the telly without a single other thing on my mind. Aside from that, after a long day exploring, a quiet opportunity to relax and snuggle into a blanket was very welcome. 


We were so successfully made to feel welcome that after we arrived in Dublin, set our things down at the hostel and found Eddie Rockets for the first of several awesome meals there, I was homesick for Athlone. The sweet smell that greeted us whenever we entered the house, the big black nose of Jimmy the dog peering over the staircase, leaving our backpack in our room and taking our blanket to the lounge, making a hot chocolate and settling on the couch for the night. Small actions that combined to make a routine, which in turn made Athlone home. 


Sitting in Eddie Rockets at 10pm eating garlic fries and burgers, our adventures of the day would have been made all the better if we could have returned home to Joanie and Bennie's house afterwards. Instead, we retreated to our single bed (we have bunks but chose to squish onto one) in a 16-bed hostel room. No pets or friends in sight. Ping pong balls fly past your head when you settle in to watch TV. 


So did Athlone meet our expectations? See what we thought we'd find here. It definitely is bigger than I first thought, but Old Athlone, where we were staying, still retains it's small-town charm. People at home complain of the recession - we honestly don't know how lucky we are. What I definitely didn't expect was to have the effects of the recession smack me in the face everywhere I turned - abandoned half-built houses, shops closed so quickly the chalk-written specials still decorate the wall, pubs closed so proudly they display 'Closed for Renovations' signs with no intentions of reopening. Locals in the street discuss their unemployment like it's the weather. Speaking of which, Athlone is cold. I knew their Summer wasn't as hot as ours, but I didn't realise it was genuinely cold there by our standards. The wind or at least a breeze blows constantly so warmth from the sun is filtered out. I feel the cold particularly easily, but still. 


I had it pretty right when I said it would be 'accommodating, polite, friendly, a little bit old fashioned, not shiny and new, more homely and comfortable' although I never anticipated just how old everything is. Courts said it better when he said he thought it would be 'really friendly, very green but with grey skies. Not terribly warm but filled with friendly beer drinking people'. That about hits it on the head.

www.flickr.com Penelope_nz's Athlone photoset

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Wild Wild West: Galway and the Cliffs of Moher

Joanie had to work the first couple of days we were in Athlone so we decided early on in our trip to go for an adventure as soon as she had free time. We had planned on staying around Athlone for the week, but Joanie mentioned wanting to show us Galway and the rest fell into place. For a last minute trip, it turned out awesome. 2 nights before we left, we booked seats on a bus for about 14 Euro each (return, for a two hour trip), a night in a hostel for 11 Euro each (Galway City Hostel, highly recommended for location as well as free breakfast and Wi-Fi) and a tour to the Cliffs of Moher for about 25 Euro each. Sorted.

Adventure day came and we boarded the bus. Even though Joanie has been to Galway plenty of times, she was excited to see it through our tourist eyes. Despite having no idea where Galway was or what was so great about it, we were excited to explore with Joanie along for the ride. We dumped our belongings at the hostel, which was 2 minutes from the bus station and 1 minute from the best parts of town, and went exploring.

Galway is a seaside town on the west coast of Ireland. Technically it’s a city but even by New Zealand standards it’s a small city. Our first stop was Super Macs, an Irish fast food chain. I’d been seeing them everywhere and wanted to try it out. Verdict – average. Glad I tried it though! We got a map from the tourist office but we barely used it. Joanie pointed us in the direction of the quirky main street but our noses led us from there.

Galway is awesome. It has the quaint, cutesy qualities of a small town with the conveniences and attractions of a city. We ended up covering a huge distance, winding through the quirky shopping streets (conveniently led by Shop Street), wandering along the river walk, checking out the gorgeous Cathedral and lying in Eyre Square - the main central park space - in the sun with coffee, then meandering along the waterfront until we reached the beach and I could dip my toes in the Atlantic Ocean – just to say I had. We made it all the way along to Salthill, a suburb of Galway that felt like the typical seaside town you see in movies and on TV. Starving and tired, we cheated by catching a taxi back to the city.

Back on Shop Street we chose Dail Bar for dinner and it was the best choice of the trip – or at least the best food of the trip. Cottage Pie and mushy peas followed by Bread and Butter Pudding. Courts and Joanie washed down their respective Steak and Mash and Fish and Chips with Guinness and I stuck with Budweiser – old faithful, having seen me through my American travels as well. Courts and Joanie finished the night in the pub below the hostel, while me and my dear friend jetlag checked out the sights behind my eyelids.

Day two of our adventure saw us join a tour bus to the Cliffs of Moher. Our tour guide was great – just the right amount of cheesy and knowledgeable. There were several stops to see baby horses, donkeys and rabbits, which he gushed over and referred to as if they were his own pets, having seen them every day along his travels. To balance out the cheese, he knew everything about every town, pub and ruin we passed. Between anecdotes and history lessons there was Irish music quietly playing but the music was the minority and I prefer it that way – I like to hear as much as possible about the places we’re visiting.

There were plenty of stops for photos of the countryside, and a visit to the Ailwee Caves. The caves were cool, buried deep in the limestone mountains and crafted over thousands of years by now-dry rivers. The visit added value to our tour but I don’t think I’d call it a must-see. At home we’re spoiled by caves filled with glow worms and we half thought we’d see bats, but there was nothing but rock and lime stone formations. A geologists dream and a cool little bonus but I don’t think I would pay the 12 Euro admission fee – we only had to pay 5 as the tours get a discount.

Late in the day, we reached the Cliffs of Moher – spectacular land dropping hundreds of metres into the Atlantic. Much of the coast is fenced off in case you get too close to the edge but more of it is not, and with winds as strong as they were it’s easy to see how so may have made it their final resting place – accidental and not. The views were spectacular and not at all dampened by the impending black clouds that haunted us throughout the day.

As we made our way back to Galway, we wound around the coastal roads. In place of sand, limestone flats stretched out into the wild waves, making for a wild and beaten landscape. That’s what struck me the most about the Irish landscape - or at least the Burren, the area through which we travelled – it’s so rough and beaten up. The trees grow in the direction of the wind, animals shelter behind rock walls from the harsh Atlantic winds, and rocks and thistle blemish the fields. It’s beautiful but not pretty. Joanie said they reminded her of New Zealand’s South Island which experiences much harsher weather conditions than the north, and which I haven’t seen much of. At least in the North Island, grass is almost cleaner – no rocks, not a lot of thistle, just grass. Trees, even on the coast, are somehow softer. More like what we experienced on the Viking Boat.

Overall our trip to Galway and the Burren was awesome. A perfectly unplanned adventure that let us see more of Joanie’s Ireland – just what we wanted. What’s the best place you’ve visited that you hadn’t heard of before you got there?

www.flickr.com Penelope_nz's Galway and the Cliffs of Moher photoset

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Penny and Courtney Present: The Novelties of Athlone

• The free phone number here is 08000, said Oh-Eight-Thousand. At home we call 0800, said Oh-Eight-Hundred. So it’s similar enough to home, but that’s what makes it stand out.
• At home we have boxes of miniature chocolate bars called Cadbury Favourites. Here, the same box is called Cadbury Heroes. That’s not the best bit – one of the choices inside is a tiny bar-shaped Cadbury Crème Egg. It’s so obviously the best idea Cadbury has ever had. Come on New Zealand, catch up!
• Streets Ice cream is called HB. It’s really weird to see the Streets logo, which is really recognizable and the second biggest Ice Cream brand at home, but with HB under it. HB stands for Hazelbrook Farms, which is cute, but wrong. It’s Streets, people!
• In the pub, they have glasses and a jug of water free for anyone to help themselves. This is normal. What’s not normal is the bottles of flavor next to them. It’s cordial, like Thrifty or Ribena at home, but it’s in Olive Oil bottles, you know with the thin spout? I should have figured it out for myself but I didn’t get what the flavours were and if you were supposed to add a splash or full flavour or what. I’ve just never seen it done before.
• Every call is a toll call. Same as when I lived in Australia, but I never thought about it here. At home, all local calls are included in your monthly fee for having a phone line. If you call out of your wider region, it costs extra. Here, all calls cost money no matter what. It seems backwards.
• Irish people call winter ‘summer’ – OK so that’s my attempt at a joke but seriously, this is not summer. At home we have fairly mild summers; it’s not as crazy as Australia or the US. A warm summer’s day might hit 27 degrees Celsius if you’re lucky. In Ireland, we were sitting around 11 max. All the rain makes for a beautiful countryside, but the cold was well outside my expectations.
• The tour guides mention hay making as if it’s a novelty. I don’t know who it’s aimed at, which country doesn’t make hay, but us Kiwis see hay bales and think ‘Oh look a hay bale’. Apparently not everyone does.
• Speaking of Tour Guides, they think Alpacas are some crazy exciting animal worthy of a zoo. Our Tour Guide in Galway stopped the bus to explain that we were about to come up to a field of an animal you would only see in Dublin Zoo, something bizarre looking, that you would never expect to see in a field. I’m thinking what the hell is it, are there Lions just sat there behind a fence? Nope, Alpacas. Very cute Alpacas, but just Alpacas.
• They have Wi-Fi on buses. Is this a worldwide thing? I know NZ is well behind the times in terms of technology, but for us, Wi-Fi on buses is exciting. Who would have thought, Wi-Fi on a bus?!
• Being told to “Mind yourself” is a good thing. If I told someone at home to mind themselves, they’d turn around and ask me what the hell for. It’s like our Mum’s telling us to mind our manners when we were young – if an adult told us that now we’d think they were out of line. We’re fully grown adults, we can figure these things out for ourselves thank you very much. Here, everyone says it. When you leave a shop, the friendly shopkeeper tells you to mind yourself. When you leave a taxi, you tell the driver to mind himself. It’s more like wishing someone safe journeys.
• Castles are as common as houses. I tripped out on all the old stuff in Ireland when we first arrived. After our tours throughout the week, I’m all castled out. Every few minutes there’s a ruin or a castle. I thought they were for Kings and Queens but no. Think you’re important? Build a castle.
• Irish people say ‘like’ in the wrong place in a sentence. The word ‘like’ is ridiculed as a sign of low intelligence sometimes. Reality TV stars use it every second word. I use it all the time myself, as do lots of people I know. It’s a buffer word, a nothing word that fills a gap in a sentence where an ‘um’ might usually go – “They were, like, getting ready to go out”. Here, it’s at the end – “They were getting ready to go out, like”.
• Chips (Fries) are a vehicle for flavour. In New Zealand, we have chips with tomato sauce. Maybe with salt and vinegar if we’re daring. Here, chips are like crackers or bread – something to put other, more exciting things on. Cheese, curry sauce, mince, garlic sauce, bacon, chilli – you name it, it can go on chips. Best idea ever.
• No one drinks at home. Irish people think house parties – where you invite your friends over to chat and drink and play music and drink and dance – are weird. At home, most drinking is done at home. If you’re going out, you have ‘pre-drinks’ where you get ready and chill out and get a few drinks in you because everyone knows once they’re out on the town the drinks will be that much more expensive. When you run out of money or time, you might even go back to a friend’s house for ‘after-drinks’. Often, there’s no need to go out at all, because the party’s at your place. Here, you meet at the pub, drink at the pub, and go home when you’re done. Apparently it’s a novelty that because of the recession, people are starting to buy wine at the supermarket and drink at home.
• There are hair straighteners in the toilets at pubs. Why you would need to straighten your hair when you’re already out I don’t know, but that’s just me, because I know a lot of girls who would love this idea.
• Laundries are in the kitchen. I don’t know if it’s just older houses, I think it is, but apparently it’s not as weird as I think it is to have the clothes Washing Machine next to the sink, under the bench. Right by the oven and the fridge. Laundry rooms are a new fandangled thing put in new fandangled houses.
• At home, Irish pubs use a particular font, an Irish looking font. Don’t ask me why it’s Irish looking; I think it’s supposed to look Celtic or something. But in Ireland, they use it too. For pubs, shops, whatever. When I pointed it out to Joanie, she had never noticed before.

So obviously this list is 100% tongue in cheek. It’s funny the things we find weird in a new country, things that are completely normal to its residents. What have you found novel or bizarre on your travels?

www.flickr.com Penelope_nz's Athlone photoset

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When Age is Beauty

Athlone is a very weird place to arrive after 36 hours of no days or nights. We left Christchurch at midnight one night, and 3 flights, 1 bus and 36 hours later we arrived in Athlone. There had been no sunrises, no sunsets, no breakfasts, lunches or dinners. At times, no indication of whether or not it was light or dark outside. Constant snacking and napping and stopping and starting left me feeling like I was in a time warp.

The reason I say Athlone is a weird place to step off the time warp is because it's so old. Having grown up in a country that itself is less than 200 years old, Athlone honestly feels like a movie set. Coming from Dublin 2 hours across to Athlone we passed tiny towns which literally didn't seem real. Athlone is slightly bigger than those - the biggest of the small towns, so to speak - but still, it's a surreal place to arrive in.

I've seen old before, but what I've seen that has been old, has been monumental buildings built in the last two hundred years - state libraries, town halls, memorials - not entire towns that have aged over hundreds of years. Driving through the small towns on our first night it felt like nothing had changed in all that time. I think of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, the original movie, where doors open straight onto the path as they do here, and store signs are handmade, as many are here. I half expect women with aprons, their hair in curlers, to chase cats out the doors and men in brown suits to carry their briefcases hurriedly down the road.

Athlone as a town is beautiful, if a little run down. Run down in a way that it is wise and full of character, but run down all the same, showing its age. Gates glow with rust and cling desperately to their hinges. Signs fade with age and walls grow with moss, becoming one with the surroundings. Signs of history and age, so not negatives at all. I've just never seen the effects of age on a town - metaphorical lined skin and stooped posture that I've never seen before in real life.

The thing which most makes Athlone seem this way is the number of shops that are empty, victims of the recession. It's incredibly sad, walking past shops with window dressings still hanging and signs still outside. It's easy, when faced with these indicators of what used to be, to imagine town folk chattering and moving about, breathing more life into this beautiful town. We experience the chatter and movement in every shop we enter, but it seems as though almost every second shop echoes with ghosts of better economical times.

The friends we are staying with live in an amazing 3 story house, above a store front that used to house the local sweets and ice cream shop. Although it closed many years before the recession, I've heard so many stories about it from our friends that it's even easier to imagine the life that flowed through it and even sadder to see it empty.

Today, the sun came out for us, to bathe Athlone in warmth and reflection. We photographed the icons of the town, the castle, churches and river and we joined a trip up the river in a Viking themed boat, a cheery Irishman commentating as we glided through the countryside. The viking boat has been my favourite part of the trip so far - it didn't hurt that the sun was out and we were warm and cosy on the boat!

The countryside and riverbanks were stunning but besides the fact that they were so beautiful, generally speaking countryside is countryside and so I was able to put the town into perspective. It no longer feels so much like a movie set, and now that we've walked around the nearest streets a few times and have our bearings, and our body clocks are starting to sort themselves out, I feel more settled. Our hosts are spoiling us rotten, I feel very much at home and the house itself feels so inviting. Tomorrow we start to explore the surrounding areas and I'm already looking forwarding to returning to our home away from home each day.

More photos here on Flickr!

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Loss and Gains - A Tale of Transit

24 hours is a very long time to be in an airplane, even if you get to walk around for an hour half way. I just checked the time and at 7.30pm Saturday night (NZ time) we still have six freaking hours to go before we even reach London.

We were incredibly spoiled by Gin and her family. After a very hectic few weeks packing and saying our goodbyes, Christchurch was just what the doctor ordered. I’ve spoken of the bed and our joy at sinking into the many blankets and the warm air of our guest room. The next morning was no less indulgent, being welcomed into their home by her parents, whom we’d never met, and spending the day lying in front of a wood fire, on thick carpet with views of their chilled and foggy country garden. Not a moment were we cold, despite the rapidly decreasing temperature, which started at 7 degrees Celsius. After weeks of panic, stress, lists, last minute purchases and teary departures, this was pure luxury.

We were spoilt for company, sitting around the big dining table swapping stories and catching up. Gin and I only lived together for 6 months when she gave big city living a try 5 years ago, but we are family, and her parents welcomed Courtney and me as such. It was heartbreaking to hear the real stories of the Christchurch earthquakes. The news doesn’t tell you the horror of a ground-level kindergarten crushed by the stories above it, with no one walking – or toddling, or crawling – out alive.

You don’t stop to consider what happens in the central city aquarium when the many blocks surrounding it are cordoned off for safety. Sharks, an octopus, hundreds of fish - and, from memory, lizards and other native animals – perished when power no longer kept their water pumps going and keepers no longer fed them. Without permissions to go into the central city ‘red zone’, keepers had no choice but to let their beloved marine life die a slow death by starvation, drowning or illness.

To hear the stories that only locals know, and to see the look on Gin’s face as she recounted her own experiences, with sculptures falling around her from the ceiling of Canterbury University, the whole ordeal hit home in a really different way. As much as we sat glued to the TV for days afterwards, aching for the people of Christchurch, it gave us no real indication of what was really happening.

Despite the eye opening conversations of the morning, we were soon back laughing and recounting stories of our time together in Auckland. Courtney and I were incredibly spoiled. Despite not even knowing us until they awoke to find us in their house that morning, Gin’s parents took us out to dinner at an amazing Italian restaurant, refusing to let us pay, and following it with hot chocolates and coffees at their favourite coffee house. We both felt incredibly grateful and spoiled and welcome and it was the perfect start to our holiday.

I could have happily stayed longer, longing for the comfort of that amazing bed, but after all this waiting; our adventures were now waiting for us. Gin and her Dad drove us out to the airport after her Mum hugged us goodbye and invited us to stay for a couple of days on our return trip in September. We were stoked to find that my retentive planning and resultant web-check ins meant we could join a baggage-drop queue of 3 instead of a check-in queue of hundreds, that hadn’t moved by the time we moved on. At least I earned brownie points from Courtney for that one. We waved goodbye to Gin and her Dad and looked at each other, a little incredulous that this was actually it now.

Nineteen and a half hours later, and with another sixteen to go before we actually reach our destination of Athlone, Ireland, we have slept in the most awkward of positions after my plans to stay awake until Irish night time fell apart a few hours in (PS Air Asia seats are made for Asian people, i.e. People that aren’t just shy of 6 foot such as myself), read countless magazines (thanks Nana, love you!) and eaten way too many lollies. We’ve spent a fortune on Air Asia-branded bottled water and smelt the humidity of Malaysian air after gazing down on miles and miles of identical plantation rows. We’ve eaten real Malaysian curry puffs, found Bickfords Creaming Soda (made us think of you Steve!), struggled with Kuala Lumpur’s airport Wi-Fi and failed to find a cheap PSP for a bored Courtney (Malaysia is not cheaper!). 

Courtney managed to leave things on the first two planes and is now very paranoid. The first flight he lost his gloves, which isn't such a big deal. The second flight - his cellphone.

Kuala Lumpur airport did not live up to its reputation as a ‘shopping mall with a few planes on the side’ although we were ushered through an empty and dimly lit ‘holding cell’ of sorts for transit passengers, so I don’t think we saw the best it had to offer, just the departure lounge shops. The highlight was an airport staff member who greeted us with a big ‘Kia Ora’ and then ‘Ka Kite’ (Maori words from back home) accompanied by a proud smile. I’ve read Kendra Wilkinson’s autobiography front to back and Courtney has played more Bubble Blast and Angry Birds than my now-flat phone cares to remember. We have no window on this second flight but according to the Captain we’ve flown over India, Afghanistan, Russia and Eastern Europe and will cross over Holland’s airspace before entering the United Kingdom. We caught glimpses of desert through someone else's window, and only a few hours later, glimpses of snow capped mountains.

We’re looking forward to stretching our legs for our 5 hour stopover in London, hopefully finding a power point somewhere and maybe a café that sells better coffee than Air Asia. We need to find new Sim cards for our phones, and then it’s one more flight to Dublin and a bus to Athlone, our new home away from home for the next 6 days.

As I sit back in my seat with now five and a half hours to go, I’m very thankful this flight is empty and we have 3 seats between the 2 of us. I’d be lying though, if I said I didn’t dream of that beautiful luxurious bed back in Christchurch whenever I closed my eyes.

PS If anyone at home wants to borrow Kendra’s book let me know and I’ll post it at some point so I don’t have to carry it round! xx

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Great Expectations - Athlone, Ireland

Not long now until we go! I've been working really hard putting all our research on the site for you and got me to thinking about how I imagine our trip to be. Having travelled a fair bit already, I'm well accustomed to the fact that nowhere ever looks or feels like you imagined it to. You just can't judge from books and TV what a 360 degree, 4 dimensional place will really be like. 


Years after visiting America, I remember everything being different to what I imagined but I don't recall the way I envisioned it before I went there. All I see now are the memories. So I thought it would be cool to share with you not only the plans we have for each town but the expectations I have. I can't wait to look back and see how wrong I was. That's the beauty of travel, you can sit at home in your lounge and discuss the pros and cons of towns and judge their people and decisions until the cows come home but so often you find when you get to a place that you were wrong the whole time. That's what they mean when they say travel is eye-opening, and that's one of the most exciting parts. 


Our first stop is Athlone, my bosses home town.


Where we will sleep

Athlone

No accommodation plans here, we will be staying with my bosses brother and sister in their family home for the 6 nights we are in Athlone. I've met her brother when he visited, and her sister worked with us for a year and became good friends with both Courtney and I. In fact, it's Joanie's fault we are off on this adventure! 


What we want to see


While in Athlone, we are at our dear friend's mercy. She knows her country far better than we ever could through research and so we trust her to show us a good time! Athlone is smack bang in the middle of Ireland, almost literally centred, so it's a good place to explore the country from. We've Googled a few places but if we didn't make it to a single one we wouldn't mind - we're there for the people! 


A few places we're interested in -

• Kilkenny Castle - Courtney is obsessed with castles, I have a feeling we will be seeing quite a few! This is as good as any to start with, it looks beautiful. Kilkenny is 2 hours away from Athlone which is no    problem by car but I don't think we will have one, and the train is 3 hours/€50 so this may end up being a no-go.

       €6 admission 

       Open 9am-5.30pm 7 days. Tour compulsory, lasts 1 hour.       

• Kells Priory - One of the largest medieval monuments in Ireland, Kells Priory is 15km south of Kilkenny so if we do go, it will probably suit to do both on the same day if possible. Only thing is, it's not accessible by public transport. We'll see how it goes.

       €0 admission

       No set opening hours

• Blarney Castle - Location of the famous stone, which legend says will give you the gift of the gab if kissed. 3 hours away from Athlone by car. Would be cool to see but I don't think Courts or I are fussed if we miss it.

       €10 admission

       Open 9am-7pm Mon-Sat and 9am-5.30pm Sun. Can book online for ease but this has no price benefits.

• Ring of Kerry - A region of intense natural beauty with many walking trails which is a popular day trip for tourists. 3 hours 15 minutes away from Athlone by car.

       €0

       No set opening hours

• Cliffs of Moher - Huge sheer cliffs offering amazing views and scenery. 2 hours from Athlone by car.

       €0

       No set opening hours

• Donegal Castle - 2 hours 40 minutes north of Athlone.

       €4 admission, 30 minute tour included

       Open 10am-6pm 7 days

K) is Athlone, B) is Kilkenny and Kells Priory,
D) is Blarney Castle, F) is Ring of Kerry,
H) is Cliffs of Moher and  J) is Donegal Castle

What we are expecting


I used to imagine Athlone as a tiny little village. Our friends family owned the local sweet shop and helped out with sweets and ice creams for the neighbourhood children when they were younger. Pictures tell me it's much bigger than I first thought, but I still imagine it to be more quaint than any of the bigger towns. I know there's a pub down the road and a chip shop a few houses down that has a huge array of different sauces for your chips. I know the locals are incredibly friendly and will love it when we tell them we both have Irish blood. I am very concious of the fact that we don't have transport so I expect most of our days will be spent in Athlone itself, which I am  perfectly happy with. 

Cliffs of Moher

I've been told our lovely hosts have been fretting about readying the house for visitors, which I think sums up how I anticipate Athlone - accommodating, polite, friendly, a little bit old fashioned, not shiny and new, more homely and comfortable. Warm in a way that excludes literal temperature. A little bit Kiwi, judging by the pics of the surrounding areas. And a lot-a-bit small town Irish, with lots of beer and lots of cheer.


Courts wasn't a huge help, saying he expects it to be 'quite Irish'. Erm, yes. When pushed he said he expects it to be really friendly, very green but with grey skies. He expects it to be not terribly warm but to be filled with friendly beer drinking people - which he is quite looking forward to.

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The Adventure Begins... Love, Bikes, History, Music... and Bliss.

Courtney and I have a friend named Joanie. A beautiful, charismatic, red headed Irish woman. Joanie is my boss's sister, and we all worked together at one point, my boss AnnMarie, her sister Joanie, Courts and I. One afternoon Joanie, AnnMarie and I were sitting near each other and the topic of travel came up. 

I have been dreaming of my Great European Adventure since I was fourteen, and when I mentioned it Joanie was instantly excited, telling tales of her travels throughout Eastern Europe with her partner at the time, and the great adventures they had. Staying with and being fed by random strangers, meeting crazy people and seeing amazing new sights. And, she mentioned, all for the equivalent of $8000 New Zealand dollars.  

And there the dream began. 

You will find, quite quickly, that I take organisation to a whole new, obsessive level. And so it is that I very quickly worked out that yes, Courtney and I could afford $8000 plus flights, and that we could do it before the summer of 2011. Oh how I wish dreams were free. Especially since, in the three months since that day in October 2010, the budget has expanded to over $NZ25,000 plus flights. But this isn’t a story of budgeting woes and organisation (OK, a little about organisation). This is grabbing a dream by the horns, and making it happen – any which way we can. 

Courts has been riding a motorbike for as long as I have been dreaming of it and he started teaching me to ride as well. It was only natural that we do Europe the hard way – on a bike.  

It has been said many a time that Europe and Bike tours go together hand in hand. I’m sure they do, but as we have learned, it takes a lot of planning and a lot of money to do it. Weigh that against the freedom to go anywhere at anytime, to stop anytime on any journey, and to feel the rush that only a motorcyclist knows as we fly down Germany’s autobahn, Tuscany’s hills or the coast of the south of France, and I know it will be worth it.  

Heading to Europe in the summer means a lot of things to a lot of people – sunsets, warm air, heat, sand, water parks, cycling trips, and walking tours. To me it also means heat waves bouncing from ancient ruins and thirsty queues for galleries and museums. I studied Classical Studies and Art History throughout school and have read volumes on the topics purely because I love learning about them. One day I plan on continuing my studies and gaining a degree, but for now I want to soak it in first hand. 

To Courtney and me as a couple, summer in Europe also means the season of music festivals, celebrating our passions for music with like minded individuals from around the world. I love rock, especially old school 80’s rock like Guns n Roses and Motley Crue. But I also love pop and R&B right through to heavy metal. I just love music. Courtney is just as passionate, but far from eclectic with his taste. He loves metal, especially power metal, and almost exclusively only metal. Courts is also a very talented singer and guitarist and doesn’t do enough with his talent. For both of us, music is life blood, and the opportunity to experience the European music scene will not go wasted. We have tickets to three festivals - FiberFIB in Benicassim, Spain, which is dance, rock and alternative music; Wacken Open Air in Germany which is one of the most well known metal festivals in the world; and Party San, another metal festival in Germany.  

It was only 10 days after my fateful conversation with Joanie that we had our tickets to FiberFIB and to Wacken. I guess you could say that when I get an idea, I’m one to make it happen.  

Until this point, Courtney hadn’t been excited about the trip at all. He said he wanted to go, but he wasn’t invested in the trip, and my excitement was being dragged down by his boyish lack of jumps and squeals. This all changed when we purchased our tickets to Wacken. I was at work and he was at home and I called him. “I’m about to hit submit on our Wacken tickets so this is your last chance to change your mind!”. He hardly thought I was serious, in fact I’m pretty sure that until I actually hit submit he thought Europe was a cool idea, but one I'd forget about sooner or later. Oh how much he had to learn about me and my ideas. As soon as the tickets were purchased, he was excited about the trip. He had a reason to go, this was actually happening – he was fulfilling a long time dream of going to Wacken.  

For anyone who doesn’t like metal, the idea of Wacken might not resonate much. I guess the equivalent might be Glastonbury to other music lovers. Essentially, Wacken is a pilgrimage. Every year, thousands of people from all over the world descend on this tiny village. It’s a right of passage for metal heads everywhere, and one Courts was finally getting to partake in.

And so it is that we find ourselves preparing for the trip of a lifetime – a trip of love, bikes, history, music... and Bliss.