Ireland --> Northern Ireland --> Scotland

The last couple days I had in Galway were fantastic! I made a whole bunch of new friends and saw some of the beautiful Irish coast when I went biking in the Aran Islands. I travelled up to Belfast in Northern Ireland after that. I booked a really crappy hostel though for my first night. The staff were really unprofessional and the place was kind of chaotic. The morning I woke up, everything was locked and there was nobody working there. Breakfast was supposed to start at 7:30 and people were trying to check out. The guy woke up at 9 o'clock. He seemed stoned out of his mind and didn't understand why people were upset.

Anyway, the night I got into Belfast was lots of fun! A couple German girls introduced themselves, they were visiting town from Dublin where they work with this group of 7 French people (5 guys and the 2 blond twins in the pic down below). I went out with them to the pubs and they invited me along with them the following day for a drive up the coast! They kind of adopted me for the day, it was pretty cool. All 10 of us drove up in two cars all along the coast to a rope bridge and then to famous Giant's Causeway. It was all a lot of fun and I got to brush up on my French quite a bit. They were heading all the way out west, so they dropped me off in Derry and I caught a bus back to Belfast.

Last night in Belfast was 100 times better than the first hostel. This place was modern and hotel-like. I went to my room and sat my pack down right next to this guy Dave who was in my room at my hostel in Dublin. It was really random, but pretty cool. We explored some of Belfast's pubs with a German guy who was really funny. One crazy thing in Belfast - there is a free food stand type thing on the sidewalk of one of the main roads with the pubs. At first I thought it was for homeless people, but I think it is just for all the drunk people leaving the pubs! I stopped by and got scones, croissants, chocolate bars, and a volunteer served tea and coffee. All completely free!!

This morning I hopped on the ferry over to Scotland. Sounds easy, but the ferry terminal took me over an hour and a half to walk to (I didn't want to pay ten pounds for a cab, no buses run there). But I finally made it and took a really nice ferry to the Scottish coast. A two hour bus ride later and here I am in a giant youth hostel in Glasgow. I am on the 7th floor, this place is really huge. Tomorrow I am thinking about getting up early and going on a bus tour of the Scottish Highlands, which includes some of the Lochs (maybe see Nessie), Stirling Castle, and some other places. If I don't get up early enough, I will do it the following day, before heading over to Edinburgh. I also need to fit laundry in one of these days, since I have already worn every piece of clothing at least twice (some many more, ew).

So far, I think I am under budget! Not including that Ryanair disaster, of course. I have been covering hostel, food, and beer for about 40-50 euros/pounds each day. One day, I think I spent 29 euros total, not bad! Transportation is generally the bigger cost, so far buses work pretty well. Things cost about what I expected, which means if I play my cards right, I won't have to cut my trip short! (or draw extra funds from my super secret back up account). Hope you all had a great 4th of July! I didn't even celebrate it, saw a couple pubs with American flags out but that was it. The Brits must still be bitter, I guess.