Monday, February 18, 2008

Well, here's what happened on Monday when I traveled from Dublin, Ireland to Glasgow, Scotland through Belfast, Northern Ireland (Part of the UK)

Monday, February 18, 2008

Today was an interesting day. I woke up early and was going by 9 am. I had needed to pick up a few more souvenirs for family at an Irish Souvenir chain and I did some walking around the city center a bit as well. I headed back to my hostel around 10 am to check out and head up the street to O’Connelly Rail Station. Once there, I picked up my ticket for my train from Dublin to Belfast. That left at 11 am and took a little over 2 hours because I arrived in Befast around 1:10. It was a very nice scenic trip and I tried to get some pictures but not sure how well they turned out. Again, I will upload the pictures as soon as I have time to do so.

Once I got to Belfast, I figured to go and check in at the ferry port to see if I could check in early. My ferry was with the Stena Line from Belfast, Northern Ireland to Stranraer, Scotland. Well, I kinda got lost getting over there as there was some construction along the river. It ended up being rather secluded from the city and a decently long walk. However, when I arrived there it was closed as the check-in for my ferry at 5:20 pm didn’t start till 3:30. Unfortunately it was already about 2:30 and there was nothing really close by to even go grab a bite to eat or do some sight-seeing in Belfast. I wish now that I had planned for at least the morning or half a day in Belfast because there were so many signs while walking around for Titanic Tours as Belfast is the harbor where the Titanic was built. I even got a few pictures of the Harland & Wolfe shipbuilding equipment from the distance.

Because I had to wait about an hour before I could check in at the port where they had comfy seats and a small café for food, as well as there was nothing within walking distance of the ferry port, I had to wait in the very basic waiting room for those arriving to Belfast. It was very dismal and only had vending machines which only took sterling. (Northern Ireland is part of the United Kingdom so they use sterling. The coins are the same but the notes are different because each “country” within the UK has different banks and each has its own different design for their notes.) Thankfully there was an elderly couple who had to wait there as well and I had asked if they had any change to exchange some of my Euro coins to sterling and she had a pound in sterling and just gave it to me which was incredibly nice of her. So I just got out my computer, plugged it in to charge the battery as well as my US cell phone, and watched a movie while starting to sort through all the photos I’ve taken so far.

When the time came, I gathered my things up and headed to the check-in point and ran into a slight problem… the online ticket voucher was for the wrong date! Not February 18 but for the 10^th… Thankfully they were able to work with me and easily went in and changed the date free of charge. I then checked my suitcase in and they scanned my carry on bags. I headed up to the lounge waiting area and got myself a cheap sandwich and a drink and sat down to continue charging my laptop battery and watched the rest of my movie. I also talked a bit with my mom who’d called me but then I had to go and board the ferry.

What a ferry! It felt like I was on a cruise ship! It was gorgeously decorated, there were a few coffee shops on board, two restaurants, a casino/gambling area, a bar, a gift shop, a video arcade, a kid’s area and a ton of seats. I took a seat by the port window and sat down to watch the disembarking. The sun was setting so it was rather gorgeous to see although it took forever to get out into the open water. By that point I had gotten up and walked around the ship more, and got a few pictures leaving Ireland off the stern as well as visited the gift shop and got some food. Then I just sat down and enjoyed the rest of the ferry though I couldn’t see much as it was already dark out and none of my pictures would’ve turned out.

When the ferry docked, I made sure I was at the front of the foot passengers as I had my train to Glasgow to catch. The ferry had left about 15 min late and it was a tight schedule between the ferry’s arrival and the train’s departure. Thankfully though the train was only across the road but there was no one in the ticket office. Thankfully I had purchased my ticket online so I had the receipt I printed out which the conductor accepted when he came around. There were others going to Glasgow as well so it wasn’t that empty. It was a very cheap train, only two cars and a bit out dated. So, I just got on my laptop again and then did some Soduko. It was a two hour ride with a couple stops on the way but I finally arrived in Glasgow Central Station, Glasgow Scotland. It was a huge station! But being it was late, most things were closed for the night and it was rather chilly as it was night out and the station was like a wind tunnel for the cold air. I found a map in the station because I was stupid and didn’t think to print one out before leaving. I found where the hostel I was going to was and headed off in that direction knowing kinda where I was going, but completely without a map. After a long while, I started to wonder if I was going the right way or if I had passed it, when I happened to see it just up ahead.

I got in and the owner, Collin, checked me in for the night. Then the maintenance guy/assistant gave me a tour of the hostel and showed me to my room at the same time. It’s called the Globetrotters and ideal for backpackers and the hostel is very different from Jacob’s Inn in Dublin. First off there is no key cards to the rooms. There is no elevator as well. The rooms are not numbered but have different names, some are countries and others like mine were funny. I was in the Death Star room which had 8 bunk beds and the baggage lockers were in the rooms and we needed our own locks – but they were smaller. There is a very comfy lounge area in the basement with a TV as well as an eating area and a separate kitchen. The kitchen was a dirty mess however. The odd thing about this hostel is that all the showers are downstairs, but the toilets are spread out all over both floors. It is very run down in looks and feels very cheap but I honestly love it because Collin, the owner, is friendly and outgoing and makes you feel welcome. There were a couple other French students here as well and they were with Collin and Marc (the Australian maintenance/assistant) in the main office watching TV and drinking whiskey and wine! So they invited me to join them and as it was late I figured why not. It was a good time and about 2 am I headed up to bed.