Dabblin' in Dublin

From Warsaw’s tiny Modlin airport I flew back to the UK, the first time back for about 9 weeks. I had mixed thoughts about coming back — I was keen to see my friends and family, not to mention eat a sausage roll from Greggs — but I also felt I was getting the hang of travelling. It was Christmas time too, so I had a brief pause imposed on me.

I spent a night in Leeds, where I used to work and had lunch with some friends before surprising a bunch of former colleagues and other friends at my old office.

It was very strange being back, but it was really great to see everyone again and I had some good conversations with some people I’ve missed a lot. It’s kind of strange to see how little had changed while my own life had changed completely. Cliché though it may be, but I certainly feel like a different person than the one who left.

That evening we tried to do a quiz but despite checking that it was on it turned out to be cancelled. I’ve been trying not to drink alcohol, and if I’d stayed to socialise I probably would have done which I think I would have regretted. Instead I popped over to York for an hour or so to see what it’s like, and the answer is pretty much exactly the same as the last five years.

Just spending that day in Leeds and York convinced me I’d done the right thing in leaving the area and travelling. I’ve never particularly liked Leeds as a place, so it’s been great to go back and prove that if I were still there today I’d be unhappy and bored and still want to leave.

That’s not to say anything against about the people I know there, who remain interesting and funny and good conversationalists and who gave me a really kind and warm welcome and said many nice things. I hope to see you all again at some point, it really was brilliant to see you all again.

After Leeds I hopped back to London for Christmas with my sister and parents which was great. I ate a lot and caught up on sleep and laundry, both of which were sorely needed (in Poland I had to buy new socks and underwear, it had become that serious).

I decided to go to Dublin between Christmas and until New Year. I’d never been to Ireland before and other travelers had mentioned it before and given how close it is I found it a bit embarrassing that I hadn’t seen it. Plus I got to go on a ferry which I always enjoy, even if on this occasion the sea was a bit choppy.

My first day in Dublin I did the usual walking tour. It was freezing and full of tales of how the English oppressed the Irish, which is a different kind of history to that you hear on continental Europe. There it’s either the Nazis or the Soviets oppressing people, and it was certainly an interesting change of pace. It is quite an interesting period of history, and one that I didn’t know much about previously. It certainly gave me good cause to practise my awkward staring at my shoes routine.

Naively, I had no idea that the official language of Ireland is Gaelic, my first indication of this being the traffic signs which are Gaelic first, English second. English is very widely spoken though; in my time in Dublin I didn’t encounter anyone who didn’t speak it. It did seem like there was much of Irish culture I had no idea about, which seems pretty poor considering how close the UK and Ireland are.

The best thing during my time in Dublin was my roommates. I got back one day and coming into the room found everyone gathered in what looked like a crisis meeting.

It transpired that one of my roommates had arranged to couch-surf in a different country at the house of a man who sounded increasingly like a murderer. She was instructed to not let his neighbours see her bag, and then as we were convincing her that this wasn’t particularly normal the guy called her. It was so funny hearing this strange guy asking her several times if “she was OK”, but funny in the “thank God it’s not happening to me” way.

I was a little concerned because she also didn’t have a passport, just a national ID card, which I thought would be problematic but apparently is OK. She didn’t know how or when she was getting to the airport the next morning either. I ended up being a bit worried — I thought I left things quite unprepared, but this was taking it to a whole new level.

She seemed like a lovely girl and I felt bad for finding it funny but it was just hilarious, you couldn’t make it up. I hope she’s OK and hasn’t been murdered yet!

Staying in Dublin, which is renowned for alcohol activities, on New Years Eve is possibly not the greatest of plans when you don’t want to drink. I decided it was wiser to have a quiet evening, and treated myself to a visit to the Cat Lounge where I could see some cats which I liked very much. There were 13 kittens who all seemed to want to sleep in one giant pile which was very cute.

One of my roommates had different plans, and got back in the early hours quite amusingly drunk despite having to catch a flight later that day. He’s quite a social guy and had some funny drunk conversations with the room, with my personal favourite quote being “it’s alright, I can see in the dark, I’m Batman”. All credit to him though, he made it up in time for his flight.

Dublin itself felt oddly lacking in charm to me. The university’s nice, and Phoenix Park is nice when you want to get away from it all, but in some places it looks like it’s still recovering from the economic problems from a few years ago, with closed shops and other derelict buildings. In some places it seems reminiscent of areas of Greater Manchester with its terraced houses, which I hadn’t expected at all. Apparently there’s quite a big problem with homelessness and I did see a small camp site outside a quite important looking building which was a bit sad.

The attractions in Dublin are quite good, with the national museums and the Chester Beatty library having free admission which is always welcome. The Dublin Writers Museum was pretty good too, although it seemed the audio guide kind of rushed you through. I had high hopes for Dublinia, which was a museum about the history of the Vikings in Dublin. It seemed quite child-orientated, and there were lots of children running around which was annoying. Having lived in York, which is very big on its Viking heritage, I was also a bit apathetic about Vikings too. (Of course I only realised that after I’d paid the entrance fee).

I certainly stayed too long. Six nights is more than enough for Dublin and I think in normal circumstances three would have done. I was a bit reluctant to not have somewhere booked for New Years though; some hostels have strange policies about booking just for New Years, and that’s without the headache of transport.

It was a decent way to get going again though. I’ve also learned a lesson in being more prepared, and I’ve actually got a vague plan of where I want to go in this leg of my trip. I’m hoping to be able to continue for a couple of months or so, but we’ll see how it goes! Written on January 1st , 2018 by David Seddon