last trip photos posted on flickr
I put up my last batch of photos from the trip on flickr. There are a few more from Denmark, a bunch from the Western Way, and a few miscellaneous ones. If you are around me and my computer, feel free to ask me for a slideshow of all 446 (includes double takes, fuzzy and tilted versions, and children).
If you want to look at groups of my photos over the whole summer, check these out:
By the way, I’m home in Maine. The flight was long and full of noisiy, worrying Americans, the jetlag minimal and easily confused with tiredness from hot weather and keeping up with my mother. It’s really, really good to be seeing family (friends you are next watch out you will get seen you cannot escape).
I have been really happy with and impressed by the response to this blog. I’ve enjoyed being able to show everyone where I am and what I’m thinking. I loved getting email and comments from people who I don’t usually have casual correspondance with. I absolutely hate shopping for souvenirs, and never write as many post cards as I mean to; being able to write to you all this way has made me feel like I don’t need to stress out about bringing things back. Maybe I’m overrating myself, but writing and posting pictures for you has felt much more worthwhile than bringing home handfuls of Irish flag stickers and tiny bottles of Guiness. Anyway, it’s been much more rewarding for me.
p.s. I’m not going anywhere. Or at least, nowhere where you won’t find me on this web site.
Hello from Scotland, last month
When I was hiking under the Cullins, I was thinking about the people who I hadn’t seen for a month and a half. In a rare bout of egotism, I thought you might like to see my face and hear my voice. So I made this video of me hiking and singing. I skip a verse, and I wag my head a lot, and those of you who have heard me sing will know to mute your computer before watching, but caveats aside: here it is.
My other thought while making this video was: “Wow, I am a such a content producer! I produce content like I breathe!” (internet joke, mom)
last day
I’m wringing the last bit of internet from last week’s euro before heading off to the airport. I’m grinning like a fool about coming home. On Tuesday I left Galway to hike the Western Way between Oughterard and Leenane, fifty kilometers (about 30 miles) along two valleys. As I was about to leave the road for the first part of the trail, I stopped to ask three women if they had a map (I had two, but one corner of the trail wasn’t covered). On hearing I was planning to spend the night out, one of them muttered, “but the Fairies…” Having read plenty about Irish Fairies I didn’t sleep well the next two nights out. Last night, however, I was in a hostel, and slept like a rock.
Now I’m heading off towards the airport (I’m that close to home!). Actually, first I will go to the SuperValu (plane food) and then to a bank (€30 in coins to get my things out of a locker in the bus station) and then to the airport via the bus station.
Galway, take two
Galway has been great but now I am homesick. Or not homesick, exactly, but missing being comfortable with people. I’ve heard some really fun music in the past few days, and saw a great parade. The streets are full of performers. I want to kick people in the shins sometimes, because I forget that I’m not used to socializing this way and am not terribly enthusiastic about it. It’s all text messages and being somewhere to do something. And knowing people, saying ‘hello mate how are you,’ and maybe chatting for a while but none of the kind of patient investment that I am uncomfortable without. And who am I to ask for ‘patient investment’ when I will only be around for two days, and meanwhile have nothing terribly gripping to engage people with? Obviously I’m not really part of anything here so I don’t have places to go or things to do, and my only necessary engagement is be near Colm or Famous Seamus around 3 am when they head back towards the apartment.
Anyways hopefully there will be good music again tonight etc. I was going to leave today but got intimidated by the rain in the morning. It will probably rain tomorrow morning again, but I will leave anyway. I will be home so soon. Lalala… it’s nine, have to wait until at least eleven before anything starts happening.
On the move again
I made it safely back to Ireland. The most difficult part of the trip was getting from Copenhagen to Malmo, because the bus didn’t work how I expected, and after a hot crowded trip to the tourist office I got back on a train. Then bus from Malmo central to Malmo airport. Malmo-Sturup airport was like air travel ten years ago; the lines were short, the airport was small and under construction, and security took about ten seconds: I didn’t have to take off my hiking boots and they must have seen my boarding pass in my hand but they certainly didn’t examine it. Also, there was no assigned seating in the aircraft, it was first come, first serve. I already felt back in Ireland as soon as they said, “you’re very welcome aboard this Ryanair flight.” In Dublin I caught the right bus south and then walked three miles to an empty hostel, where I met a nice girl who gave me cherry tomatoes. We went walking the next morning in the Devil’s Glen, where you could smell the wild garlic. I stayed two nights, and now I’m going to Galway to hear some sea shanties.
updates
I’ve added a whole bunch of photos from the Isle of Skye in Scotland to my flickr. I’ve also added some of them to my post on hiking in the Cullins, a new post on getting my tent, and am still planning to write about the Trotternish Ridge. I’m going back to Ireland this Thursday (the 20th) and will be back in Maine before I know it.
Along with everything sensible that homeward bound people look forward to, I’m excited to finally have a place to leave some of too many things I brought; they weigh on my mind like they weigh on my back.
bits and pieces
It’s funny how I start to leave my marks on a computer… webcomics I read in the history, my email in the drop-down boxes. PDFs I print in the recycle bin. And how it leaves its marks on me: I can type the greater than and less than signs, locate the double quotes. When I arrived in Denmark I noticed mostly the new rack of candy bars at the store and the new keyboard layout at the computer.
There are two things I keep forgetting to mention here. The first is a change of plans. I missed the boat on getting in touch with a farm in France, so I’m not going to France. Also, I ran low (overdraft-fee-low) on funds, so I’m not going back to Scotland, which was what I was thinking when I was in Scotland. I’ll probably stay here in Denmark with my aunts and uncle and cousin, and the strawberries, until next Tuesday or so. Then I’ll head back to Ireland and see if I can leave some stuff somewhere, and walk somewhere for a while. Ireland is great, so I’m pretty excited to go back as long as I can finagle places to camp.
The other news is bigger: I’m moving to Sacramento in September for a VISTA job. I’m really, really excited about it, because I’ll get to use old skills and build new ones, and meet and work with new people and learn a new city. Ted and Dan from the hostel in Belfast said that the only good thing about Sacramento is the orange tree on the lawn of the capital building, but I’m absolutely positive they’re wrong.
Also I’d like to throw out a quick thank you to my feet, who’ve been through everything with me. From sweaty boots, blisters, boggy boots, smelly boots, and chafing flip-flops to no shoes at all, feet: Thank you so much!
Denmark
I’ve made it safely to Denmark. I flew in to Copenhagen on the fifth, just in time for the hottest day in twelve years (the sixth). After the sweater-and-windbreaker weather of Scotland, the heat here shocked me into buying a bathing suit and going to the beach. Not that the beach is terribly out of reach here—it’s a six minute walk away (two minutes on the road, four minutes on the stairs. I will count them for you next time, but I’m sure there are at least forty thousand.) As wonderful as Denmark is, though, I seem to have skipped an entire chapter: hiking in Scotland! I think I will spread it over several posts, which I will back-date (meaning they will appear below here).
my £1 half-hour is up, but.
Internet is sparse in Scotland. Thyme is everywhere. I’ve spent two nights out in the mountains. I hear that Martha has high-speed internet, so you’ll definitely hear from me after July 5. My email box has been full of wonderful things.
note: this is the only post that was actually made from Scotland.
