Photos are up!

Hey-o! I dunno if anyone is still checking this, but just wanted to let you know that my pictures are up at two places.

Here's the long version

http://www2.snapfish.com/home/t_=35810195;jsessionid=BBCFBEBB72DFF8476F0FA5A61E3DFFDD

It's on snapfish though, and I guess you have to sign up - just give a name and e-mail - to view the photos. The other option os the abridged version on Flickr

http://www.flickr.com/photos/7564688@N03/

But they are in reverse order, so it's a little weird.

Take your pick!

Enjoy!

Whinging and waxing

I *sob* don't *sob* wanna *sob* go hooooooooooome!

It's like the sun is finally breaking on the most lovely midsummer's night dream, and while I know that the danwing brings a gorgeous Seattle summer, it just breaks my heart to wake. I wouldn't trade these experiences and memories for anything.

From one of my favorite Gogol Bordello songs, titled Wanderlust King...

And presidents
And billionaires
And generals
They'll never know
They'll never know
What I have owned
What I have owned

I'll let y'all know when I've made it safey home, and as soon as I get my photos up on Snapfish I'll post the link here too. Thanks all for reading this, I honestly don't know how many of you there are/were, but I hope you enjoyed my adventure!

Cardiff

A soggy day in Cardiff. Drizzle drizzle, and the Monet painting that I was so eager to see at the National Gallery was not there as they are currently doing renevations. I wanted to find a curry house for my last lunch in the UK, but to no avail. Had an unfufilling bowl of pea soup with mint. Then the tea shop had just sold the last scone. Well didn't I just have the feeling that I should stay away from the big cities this trip? Ah well. Back to Seattle tomorrow.

Caerdydd

Ok, 16 people, one dorm room, not advisable. But another story for the archives, no? Light rail ride, ferry ride, long train ride and lo! I am in Caerdydd, or Cardiff to those few non-Welsh speakers who happen to glance at the blog from time to time. It's nice to be back in Wales - oh but my heart is torn now!!! Wales and Ireland go head to head vying for Allison's love. Who will win? We'll just have to tune in next year, to witness Allison's inevitable return. Yep, sorry Z, looks like Nepal may be off the table, I know where I'm needed. Or rather where I need.

Yikes it's gotten late as I've spewed out some e-mails. To bed I go, in my room all alone.

Ahhhhh, it's the hardships of life that make you really appriciate the goodstuffs.

Don't anger the French!

Ok so I was meant to stay with this french guy in Galway tonight, but due to timing and getting stuck in Carndonagh I had to bail on him. I was nice and apologetic about it, but he seemed a little annoyed with me, and though he "wasn't passing judgement", he mentioned this and that about karma. Well "bollocks!" Thought I.

Then, tonight, karma bit me in the ass.

The brother of my host in Carndonagh lives in Dublin and agreed to let me stay with him tonight in Dublin, but I wasn't able to reach him all day and ended up a little stranded in Dublin. Luckily after a mere 5-7 minutes of panic I discovered a nice little hostel down the road and that's where I am now. So no one worry! I didn't piss off the french enough to have something REALLY bad happen, just slightly annoyingly bad ;)

And now off I go to sleep with 15 other girls. Hot.

Finally leaving Carndonagh

Yeah, I got a little stuck in Carndonagh. Stuck in the best possible way. Sometimes the world decides for you, and suddenly you find yourself in a wonderful place with amazing people and you just have to stay for a while. I've felt so welcomed and relaxed here, I am rather loathe to leave. But off I must go.

Tonight, Dublin

Tomorrow, Cardiff

The day after, Seattle

How can a heart be so eager to be home again, and yet so broken to leave?

Finally a sunny day in Ireland!

Woo-hoo! We're going to the beach!

At the Donagh Cafe

Hello all! Yup, so I'm in Carndonagh, in Co. Donegal, which turns out is quite far away from the town of Donegal. I'm staying with Marty Kelly, a kind of local celebrity I guess. Either that or he's just a nice outgoing guy in a small town and so everyone knows and loves him. I think it's probably a bit of both. He's an artist, you can check out some of his work here...

http://www.blueleafgallery.com/

I arrived in town just in time to see the big Manchester United vs. Chelsea game, which was super huge and super fun. The local pub (well, one of them) was filled with people. I hunkered down with a pint of Guinness and watched the game up until the very last moment that Marty Kelly could stand it (what is with these European non-soccer fan?!) which was actually really rather close to the end, so it was kewl with me, espeically as at that point I was just finishing up the third pint of Guinness and really had almost forgot there was a game on ;p

So then we actually made our way to the Big Party that I had mentioned before, but the problem was that this Big Party had been scheduled on the same night as the Big Game, and not nearly as many people showed up as planned, as they were probably all go too dunk watching the Big Game. I was a little disappointed, it turns out there's a movie being filmed here, and Aiden Quinn had actually been at this Big Party only about a half and hour beforehand, I kid you not. I guess he's been all over town, I'm keeping my eyes peeled!

And, well, golly it's hard to believe that I'm now entering the home stretch - literally. I'm really torn between really loving my time here and really missing home. I honestly think it'll be quite difficult to travel anywhere else when my heart has been so won over!

Well my internet time is almost up here, smooches to you all!

Party with Marty Kelly!

Just got to Donegal! Big party tonight. Good times. Will keep you updated.

Drogheda. Yeah, not so much.

So, yeah. If y'all are planning a nice trip to Ireland, feel free to skip the excitement and really wild times that await in Drogheda. Before everyone goes running to fetch their maps, Drogheda is about 40 minutes north of Dublin. In spite of all my attempts, I wasn't able to find a single host or even a guide in Dublin, so I decided to skip it all together and go to a place where there was a host for me. Thusly I ended up in Drogheda. Well, ya know, I don't want to put it down too much. It's just a working class suburb of Dublin, with not a lot to distinguish it from all the other towns. And when you've just come from the stunning beauty of the Welsh countryside, this can be a bit, um, I think maybe the right word it "blech." Or perhaps the more ambiguous but nicer "meh."

So tomorrow I head to county Donegal, up in the northern part. Hopefully it'll be a little bit more to my liking. Ireland has a lot of catching up to do if it hopes to contend with Wales in the tender cockles of my heart, that's fer sure.

Hey, those who have an interest and very little else to do can check out

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crib_Goch

this is a link to the path we took up Snowden, the highest mountain in Wales. Poopsie, when you read about the people who plunged to their deaths remember that it's all over and I'm safe and sound. And I had the time of my life doing it!

Smooches!

Babble

OMG I know it's been a while, hosts with no internet connection and grand super times! Ummmm, found a lovely farmer's market in Machynlleth, got lost on the North Wales bus service, met a wonderful couchsurfing host and his faboo pooches Rowan and Squirrel, ate pot noodles and drank waaaaayyyyy too much red wine, ate cake by a lake (and drank tea too!), climbed the highest mountain in Wales, watched Cardiff City lose the FA cup - booo!, hung out in a very Welsh pub with blue-blood Welshies, went clubbing in a converted barn in the middle of Welsh farmland, visited Conwy Castle, ate some delish Indian food and a helluva lot of scones and now I'm in Ireland, kinda stuck but biding my time in an internet cafe. I think I may know where I'm going, it'll probably work out all right ;)

Phew, I'm tired.

Miss you all!

Feck the Welsh word of the day - I'm in Ireland now!

The Super Bowl of football

Hey check out what I just learned! So you know how crazy Europe is about its football (soccer to anyone who may not know) and the massive "big game," i.e. the "Super Bowl" is being played on Saturday, well for the first time since 1927, Cardiff City is in the finals! I'm thrilled that I'll still be in Wales then to watch it. Hopefully my host is in to football, but this is such a major thing, and my host is blue-blood Welsh, so if he's not planning on watching I'll be pretty shocked. Anyway, just wanted to share - Go Cardiff City!

Today's Word of Welsh -braf - (brav) - sunny!

Warning! Psycho terrier leg shot ahead!

It really doesn't look that bad in the photo. It was something to behold in person though. Anyway, the next, or really last few posts have obviously been some of my photos, just a little sampler to give y'all an idea of what I'm seeing here. Let's see, the one below with the river is from Llanidloes, and there's various shots of stuff, i dunno, some farming machinery, a sheep skull, me, some bluebells, some sheep. I'm just amazed that I actually succeeded in posting pictures! Rad.

Or more of a technology hedge-wizard I suppose

I AM the technology Queen!!!

Kicking back in Mach (pronounced "Mack")

Ahhh, this is the life. The weather is unreal, the people I'm staying with are just fabulous, the scenery is brilliant. I heart Wales.

So now I'm about to venture out into the heart of Machynlleth, which is about 4 blocks long, but it's got some nifty shops, (not that I can fit anything into my backpack but it'll be fun to poke around, maybe pick up something tiny) and a Owain Glyndwr Center, so I can learn about the guy my walk was named after. Tonight my host family is taking me to the beach and I'm having my first ever authenticly British fish n' chips. Last night we went for what I believe to be the most delightful drive I've ever had. The top down on a little zoomy car, racing through the hills on a warm sunny evening - brilliant! Then we hung out in their little back deck/alcove sitting next to a stove with a fire burning away drinking wine and chatting. Nuka I thought of you when my host was in the midsts of telling a story and, honest, he says with his British accent, "now, I'm not being funny, but..." I nearly choked on my wine. And for all those confused folks out there - go rent BBC Robin Hood! My hosts and I bonded over that too, they're huge fans and the guy told me how he was crying his eyes out the end of last season. Adorable!

Well off I go!

Today's Word of Welsh - siop - the word for "shop," it's pronounced exactly the same!

Thighs of Iron!

So there it is. My walk is over and done with. It's a very curious feeling, a great relief that today I don't have to put on my soiled (literally!) clothes, blister protect my feet, and walk for hours on end. But at the same time there is this great sadness that it's al over, those breathtaking vistas, the cool refrehing wind at the top of a massive hill, so fresh and invigorating, surrounded by green green green rolling hills as far as the eye can see. Looking behind me and marvelling at how far I'd travelled, both horizontally and vertically. If I could garauntee the weather to be like it was for me these pat days, I would urge every single person I know who is capable to take this on, it is by far one of the most spectacular things I've ever experienced. All that in spite of the psycho terrier, the unclear directions, the hard to find waypoints, the blisters, the exhaustion, the sweat, the mud and the reeky socks. It's all a part of living it.

So now I'm in Machynlleth, in my first ever couchsurfing experience, and while I've only been here a few hours it's really going well. I feel so honored to be accepted into this home and be treated as a guest by these people who had never met me before. There's this sappy kind of glee in my heart. It's just so lovely when people are nice to each other.

So I may write more later, but I've just been catching up on e-mail and need to take a computer break!

Today's Word of Welsh
Diolch - pronounciation is a bit difficult, best I can write would be "dee-ohlck" - Thanks

Attack of the psycho terrier

Egads, I know it's been a while, but I gotta make this quick. I'm using the computer of my gracious hosts at the B&B I'm in, which I get the impression is not something they usually offer to guests, and I've been on far too long now getting my e-mail in order. Anyway, walking is tremendous, I promise later to expand on that. It's been a mind-blowing awesome experience, almost entirely positive, with the glaring exception of Psycho Terrier. So I'm walking along, minding my own beeswax, and sometimes the walk takes you up people's driveway and/or across their property. So I'm walking up a driveway, and this yappy little rug comes tearing out of the yard barking at me. So I think "meh, it's a terrier, what's it gonna do to me?" So I turn my back on it, at which point it strikes out with more force than I ever imagined possible from such a little dog, and swats my leg, drawing blood and giving me one of the biggest, fatest brusies I've ever had. I had to limp my way the last mile and a half to town, where the lovely lady at this establishment tended to me. Well, really just gave me ice and called the police. She also escorted me to the nearby clinic, where they declared it "really swollen and probably very sore." Yup. At least I didn't have to pay for the consult. So I had to cut walking a little short today, 9 miles instead of the 14.5 I was meant to walk. We'll see how tomorrow goes. Also, I had some very bland Indian food tonight. Indian food for the British palate I guess.

Cheese and rice it's late. I so wish to write more and tell you all about my adventures, but it'll just have to wait!

Big smooches to you all!

Today's word of Welsh -
I don't know how to say "satan's canine" in welsh - someone look it up for me!

In the mean time - Nos da - Good-night!

We're walking, we're walking, we're walking.....

Oh my gosh so much walking! No, seriously, SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO much walking!!! I knew going in to this that I had no way of even conceving what walking 15 miles would be like and it's absolutely true. You just can't know until you do it. And, O-M-G Wales is feckin' gorgeous! That's anothing thing you'll never know until you're here. The pictures can't begin to do it justice. And then to be pretty mcu stranded in the middle of it all - rolling hills in 360 and sheep sounding like drunken frats boys bleating all around you (and freaking you out if you've somewhat recently seen a crazy zombie-sheep movie) and fresh air and - holy shit - SUN! I'm sunburned - in WALES! It's like some magical weather sprite bestowed upon me the most mavelous day that could have ever been concieved of. How did this happen? How did I get the most beautiful day in the history of Welsh days to start my walk? I think I do believe in miracles. Or else I'm just delirious from 15 miles of walking and sun stroke, that's quite possible. So I left this lovely B&B in Knighton at around 9:15am, and just arrived here about 6:30pm. I stopped for perhaps 10 minutes to eat a little lunch, and there were numerous stops along the way to take in the scenery or a have a bit of a rest, maybe 3-5 minutes at a time, but all in all, that's pretty much 9 straight hours of walking. But also 9 straight hours of beauty and serenity and peacefullness. And stumbling and getting lost and exhaustion. And creepy sheep.

You guys - no words can come close... I feel I'm the luckiest person alive. And now the luckiest person alive is going to bed!

Smooches!

Techo, snoring and birds...

Yeahhhhh, remember how I said I was going to sleep a nice long time? Well Birmingham had other plans in store for me. Here's the thing all person staying at the Birmingham Central Backpackers Hostel should know - the hostel is located a mere half block away from a swinging techo nightclub. Brilliant planning if you're in need of getting a major groove on and walking a few feet to your bed, not so brilliant if you're a notoriously light sleeper. And then - AND THEN, if that weren't enough there were not one but TWO snorers in the room last night, and I swear they were working in tandem, one would just be finishing off a long solo serenade when the other would take over, sometimes even playing together in a maddening duet of apnea. On top of it all were the chirppy little birds that started up just about the time that the techo stopped.

My head hurts.

And I find myself eagerly awaiting my fabulous forays into the pampered life of the walker, who gets to stay at B&Bs in her very own room. Ahhhhhhh.

So much of today was spent navigating around the mega mall in search of a watch that had an alarm in it, as I forgot both my watch AND my alarm clock. No such luck. Had to resign myself to just the alarm clock. Sucessfully managed NOT to by any superflious clothing, though just by the skin of my teeth, had to force myself out of several stores, fighting with the inner 6 year-old screaming "but I want eeeeiiiiitttttt!" Clothes here really are quite fab.

So now I have to fight the urge for sleeeeeeep, because it's akward to be sleeping in a hostel this time of day, and if I do manage to sleep I'll wake up around 11pm.

Smooches to you all! If yer bored e-mail me, let me know how things are going without me (if it's too despressing (as it probably is) feel free to lie.) RatEmpress@comcast.net!!!!!!!

Word of Welsh
un - ee-in - one
The first rat in the cage (when we are counting rats)

Smooches!

Farquing Knackered!

Hello all! Well I've made it to Birmingham in one piece and after 26 hours of travel am ready to collapse. Which makes using this bloody keyboard all the more aggrivating. It's been well loved and needs to be destroyed.

Got a fabulous whirl-wind tour of London from a long-lost pal, and a much needed lunch, complete with some delicious tiramisu and a decent latte with a head of foam that makes Starbucks look good. But I got to see a heap of London landmarks and could re-live all the great MI-5 scenes that took place in front of them!

And now I think I may go sleep until it's time to leave for Knighton on Monday.

Today's Word of Welsh
gwely- bed - I know we already went over this one but it needs repeating!

Mae hi'n amser chwarae!

Is your Welsh for the day, it mean "It's time for play!"

So here's the eve of my departure, the good news is I found my bank card! Big fat Phew. And the other good news is that there's really no bad news. I even have a friend in London picking me up at the aeroport! Sometimes I'm almost overcome by the goodness of people. And I'm so pleased when the world can work in such harmony. I think one of my major goals for this trip is to explore human kindness, as cheesy as that may sound. But I'm really excited about getting to know people and, literally, depending on the kindness of strangers. For those of you who aren't aware of it, for this trip I signed up with a website called couchsurfing.com, which is this huge global community designed to give people a place to stay, or even just someone to meet, in cities all over the world. I've already contacted several people I'll be staying with in Wales, and it really means the world to me the these people are opening up thier homes and lives to a total stranger, all in an effort to strengthen global ties. I know there are those of you who think it may sound dangerous, but if you check out the site you'll see there are levels of secrurity and it's really very safe, so put your minds at ease. I also want to thank all of those people, friends and Lardo customers, who have reccomended places to see and especially people to meet with or look up in several of my destinations, it's flattering to no extent that you think that highly of me! And on that note - Hello to Gus! I saw your comment, hope you and Gretchen have a fab time in Dublin and yes yes yes I would love it if you could introduce me to a Dublin guide, I can't imagine having to experience Dublin on my own, it's probably the one place where I really really really would love a guide!

Well here it goes. Goning to have one last yougurt parfait and watch one more episode of MI:5 and try - *try* - to get to sleep. Although I did open today so maybe that won't be as difficult as it sounds.

So much love to you all, dunno if I'll have time tomorrow morning to post but know that you're all in my thoughts and I carry a little bit of every one of you with me on this journey. Thank you for the life you've given me, the joy and the heartbreak, the amazing moments and the just hangin' out times. Regardless how great or how small, I'm so very grateful for all the love.

Be excellent to each other, and party on dudes.

And love rats.

More missing stuff, but on the bright side - Pics!

One day to go, entering into the final stages of packing, much dismayed to find that I seem to have missplaced my bank card. Leave it to me, right? I swear I put it in my wallet, but now I worry that perhaps since I took out all the other cards there was too much room and the card ended up shimmying out of the wallet and is now who knows where. Or also likely is that it's under something behind something else. Or a rat ran off with it. It's just one of those lovely stresses I certainly could do without right now.

Ah well, I'll keep you all informed as the situation progresses. I think now it's time for a nice long walk on the treadmill to de-stress a little.

Here are a few pictures of last night's festivities! Mmmm, nachos and ancient wiring difficulties, what a night!