The Wall

It’s been a mixed bag this week. We finished our tour of Ireland, moved on to England, and worked our way through a bit of a rough patch.

Our week started with leaving the Wild Atlantic Way on the west of Ireland and heading across County Cork. We stopped in the tiny port town of Kinsale. We visited here before, but it was still a charming stop. The buildings in the center of town are painted very bright colors and there are the typical hanging baskets of flowers and window boxes around town. Then we moved on to Cork. It’s a larger town with a university and more of a city vibe. We walked around there for a bit and enjoyed seeing the large murals painted on many of the buildings. 

From there we headed to the Rock of Cashel where we took a guided tour. This knob of land started out as a place of ancient Irish kings, then was passed to the church. Some of the buildings at the site are 900 years old and a couple of them are still in tact. It was a really cool place. Our last stop that day was Kilkenny, where we grabbed a bite and turned in.

The next day we drove to Waterford. We rented a couple of bikes and toured up and down the Waterford greenway along the River Suir. Then we took the guided tour of the Waterford Crystal factory. That was really cool and it gave us a greater appreciation for the craftsmanship of cut crystal objects. Those artists do everything by hand—it’s truly amazing! We ended the day back in Kilkenny where we walked around that beautiful town and enjoyed the sunset after a rainbow!

Our time in Ireland was coming to an end. We drove to Dublin to spend a couple of days before flying out. We went to a play at the famous Abbey Theater called “Static” about one guy in County Donegal with a ham radio who gets in contact with a guy on a commercial spacecraft in orbit. They both have issues of feeling alone, overwhelmed, and unable to communicate. It was a really interesting show written by an Irish playwright. The next day, we booked a really great walking tour with a local guide named Patrick. He was great at telling unusual and interesting stories about Dublin history and culture. We spent about four hours walking around with our group. That was a real highlight.

Our flight out the next day was delayed and then so slow to board. These budget airlines in Europe are sometimes the only way to fly to certain destinations, but they are definitely not top tier in the service department. We stood out on the tarmac at the bottom of the stairs in the rain and gusting wind while they finished cleaning the plane. It was nuts, especially since we were in the air for less than an hour as we flew to Manchester, England. We were bound for Sheffield and the Crossed Wires podcast festival. We saw three shows as part of the festival. The opening night we saw BBC Radio personality Greg James interview Sheffield native Micheal Palin—yes—Monty Python’s Michael Palin. It was great! Then we saw the very silly Phil Wang and his best friend Pierre Novellie record an episode of their show Bud Pod. Last, but not least, we saw a taping of one of our favorite podcasts, No Such Thing as a Fish. That one was a blast! We also saw an ok stand up show and had a couple of great meals. 

Other than the festival, we toured around Sheffield for an afternoon and also drove to the small town of Beverley to see their stunning minster and enjoy some small-town Englishness.

With all that being said, we did hit the wall this week. If you’ve been following along, you will have noticed that this has been a pretty relentlessly paced trip. At three months in, we have done a ton of traveling, usually only staying in one place for a couple of nights. We definitely both ran out of steam for touring and planning and just life in general this week. That, coupled with a week straight of rainy cold weather, made for unhappy campers. When people find out how we’re living right now, they often respond with some envy. But I’m here to tell you that traveling life is still life—you have good days and bad days just like you do at home. But we worked through it, and we are back on track with some more adventures in store. Have a good week!