Monday, June 8, 2015

Bad Shakespeare Takes Ireland: The Irish Death Plague

You know what sucks about being away from home for a month? The chances of you getting sick rises astronomically. While in London, I managed to avoid the plague that was going around at least until I got home. Sadly, in Ireland, around dinnertime as we ate at a fantastic little hostel run by a man who was whistling to Opera in the back (I half expected to see birds and sheep helping him cook by the way he was whistling) I succumbed to the Irish Death Plague.

Ok, that’s a little overdramatic. But you know what sucks MORE than having a really bad cold border lining on the flu as you go through Ireland? Having to travel to your next destination while looking like some semblance of “normal” long enough to get to your next destination. I’m fairly certain I snapped at one of the kids, Christian, while I was here. If I did, dude, sorry about that, but I barely remember the trip.

Firstly, the hostel, so this isn’t a completely depressing post, was run by a man named Joelle, and he is a wonderful cook. He cooked up a meal just for us, served buffet style (which probably isn’t so great with me being sick… more on that in a little bit) but his food was amazing. Also, when I say “hostel” it conjures up certain images that aren’t quite accurate. In fact, this place was really nice, it was overlooking the Ocean, and everything was almost gourmet level quality. 

And yes, he was whistling the entire time we were there as he served up our food. It was nothing short of something out of a movie. Seriously, as I describe it, I can feel some of you going (is he really in Ireland?) And yes. Yes, I am. You’ll have to take my word for it, because I don’t lie to you often, do I? (Oh, wait… yes, I do…)

Anyway, we ate their twice… Tuesday night was this fantastic mix of ham, apples in some kind of sauce, potatoes so great you’d think they were from Ireland… it was nothing short of amazing. Friday was this pasta and sauce that was so beautiful, I almost didn’t want to eat it because then it would be gone. But, sadly, I had my first little cough, that would lead to full blown plague status by the end of the day. 

When I got up on Saturday, the day of our travel, I’m fairly certain that my roommate wanted to kill me but saw I was already slowly dying. I could barely lift my own head, not to mention my bag. I managed to drag myself downstairs, and then, out to our bus. I was happy that we had a bit of a bus ride before the ferry, because I could rest my eyes for a few minutes.

Then, disaster struck. Well, not really disaster so much as “a major setback struck.” But A major setback doesn’t sound as interesting as “disaster.” You see, the winds around the Aran Islands are pretty much “Oh dear merciful Poseidon, please stop now.” Curse you, merciful Poseidon. Just… Curse you. The winds were so strong that we would not be able to take the tiny Ferry directly to Doolin, then a bus to our cabin, but we had to backtrack a few hours until we were able to take the ferry and bus BACK to Galway. 

Needless today, my plague infested body was not keen on this plan.

We had an hour wait in between the first bus and the second bus… which meant we had some of the finest sandwiches the bus stop in Galway had to offer. Or some of the others did. I managed to get down some popcorn, because it was the only thing that was just regular salt on it instead of onion or cheese, and “Irish Bus Stop Sandwich” sounds about as appealing as “Irish Bus Stop Sandwich.” 

We got our second bus to Doolin, a nice two hour drive I’m certain was very beautiful, because most of the landscape in Ireland is pretty beautiful. I’m going to assume, anyway. I slept through most of it. 

We did eventually make it to our digs in Doolin, which is actually pretty nice. It’s back to Apartment Style, with most of us in the same apartment, which should make for an interesting week and a half. 

And, of course most of yesterday was spent sleeping, still. Best part was when I overheard two people talking about me being on the couch, and I said, “sorry, I just wanted to shut my eyes for five minutes, guys…” and then one of them showed me his phone and said, “That would be ok, but it’s been two hours.” That kinda day.


As I’m feeling more human instead of an extra on the Walking Dead, I’m looking forward to exploring Doolin more today.

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