World Traveler Jamie

Surfin’ Safari - A Californian’s Adventure in El Salvador

2009-07-17T22:39:00.000-07:00

“Chaos” is the word I would describe work this particular day. It was fun though. An 11 hour shift was ahead of me, and I was half way through it, taking a break. You can call it lunch-time, an hour of re-cooperating yourself. I was sitting next to Nick Cahill, a fellow co-worker of mine. Before you know it, the subject of traveling came up.

Nick and I don’t work together much because our work schedules are different. I only see him on occasion. What I do know about him is what’s on his Facebook, he’s addicted to traveling, and he went on this fantastic surfing trip to El Salvador. Lucky for me, we had the same lunch break, and he granted me an interview!

How did picking your destination come about?

My brother. He asked me if I wanted to go on a surfing trip, and I never had surfed before, and I said, “Yes.”

Did you always want to go to El Salvador?

Never wanted to go there. Had no desire to go to El Salvador.

What cities did you visit?

San Salvador, Las Flores (Playa Las Flores), El Zonte, and a couple of other ones I can’t remember.

Did you have a favorite? Why?

Las Flores (Playa Las Flores) ‘cause the weaves were the best — and I had the best tacos in my entire life. I can show you the picture.

What sites do you recommend travelers seeing?

Depends what their interests are in. If you want to see art, you can go see the Mayan (Ruins) and stuff. Or go to the volcano in San Salvador. But if you’re into surfing, you should go see all the beaches — all the beach towns.

Besides surfing, any cool activities to do there?

Horseback riding. I think there was ATVing, but we didn’t find it. There was dirt biking for like 12 bucks (US Dollars) a day, but we didn’t go do that. We just surfed.

How did you get around?

Rented a car. We found a local guy there, and he found us a — his friend rented cars, and 60 bucks (US Dollars) a day. We had a van that sat 12 (people).

Do you have any funny or crazy stories to share about your trip?

I’d say a funny story was, we pulled up at Las Flores (Playa Las Flores). We passed by this place that said “Tacos and Burgers". There’s a dude that’s sitting outside smoking a cigarette, and we asked him — (well) the local guy who’s kind of chauffeuring us around — we asked him if we can eat there. And he asked (the smoking man) in Spanish (for us). He said, “No.” And (the local guy) said, “I have 5 hungry Americans in the car.” (The smoking man) opened up his whole shack to us, made tacos for us, (and) brought beer. He went to the grocery store, got beer to bring to us. Hella funny! 5 bucks (US Dollars) for 4 tacos and 2 beers.

Where did you stay at?

We stayed at various surf camps in various times. Las Flores Surf Camp, El Zonte surf camp (Horizonte Surf Resort, Esencia Nativa Hostel). There’s 2 in El Zonte (Horizonte Surf Resort, Esencia Nativa Hostel).

Would you recommend it? Why or why not?

It depends for what kind of person, you know? I wouldn’t recommend my girlfriend to stay at one of the places that I stayed at — for 9 bucks (US Dollars) a night, no. Hahaha! You got a bed and a door. There was walls — and a roof. The place in Las Flores I’d stay at. Definitely, yeah! It was nice. It was like 80 bucks (US Dollars) a night, but we were splitting it between 6 people. So it wasn’t bad.

But you were fine with (the 9 US Dollars a night room) yourself?

Yeah. I’d stay there for sure again.

What foods do you recommend travelers trying and why?

El Salvadorian Pilsner (Pilsener of El Salvador) is all I drink there. The shacks is where you want to eat. Go to the people who have a doorway, you walk in, and buy whatever they have. I always ask what they recommend the most, and I choose whatever that was if I liked it.

What’s the handiest thing you brought with you for your trip?

My diary — journal. I wrote in my journal everyday.

Did you bring a book or a novel to keep you company during your travels?

I did. It was called "Everest". It was about these teenage kids who climbed Mount Everest. It was very ironic because I was in this really hot place, sweating in the shade, reading this book about these 13 year olds who climbed Mount Everest. But I read it in the days when the surf was bad. Just sat down and read all day.

How did you handle traveling to a country where you did not speak the native language?

I know how to stay “no,” “no, thank you,” and the basic words. And I went with somebody who had gone 3 times, my brother had gone there twice, and my brother’s friend spoke Spanish. So I was just kind of tagging along the whole ride.

Why do you recommend traveling in general to people?

It’s an eye opening experience, and it’s fun.

Any advice for first-time travelers?

Only bring what you can carry. Bring less than you think you need, ‘cause you’ll buy stuff. Buy t-shirts, buy things you need. I bought deodorant there, (and) I still use it at home.

Trip Recap

Country Visited: El Salvador

Cities Visited: San Salvador, Las Flores (Playa Las Flores), El Zonte

Sites to see: Mayan (Ruins), San Salvador Volcano, beaches

Activities to do: surfing, horseback riding, ATVing, dirt bike riding

Foods to eat: Pilsener of El Salvador, shack places

Accommodations: Esencia Nativa Hostel, Horizonte Surf Resort, Las Flores Surf Camp

Transportation: rented car

Book to Read: "Everest"

Hand Travel Items: journal

Photo gallery: Nick Cahill's El Salvador Trip

From Spain to Morocco - A Cautionary Tale of a Country Hopper

2009-06-16T04:07:00.000-07:00

The first two weeks of May was very much an extremely busy time for me. I had a dog sitting gig on top of my day job, I was helping a friend out with his final, and I was designing a logo for my website. To top it all off, Roberto, Berto for short, went to Spain and Morocco with his girlfriend. I extremely missed them both while they were on their trip. My apartment seemed quiet. My karaoke partners were away!

It’s funny where life takes you because I met Berto through his girlfriend, who use to be good friends with an ex of mine. Anyway, Berto earned his Bachelor’s Degree at a State University in California. He is one of the very few people that I know who predominantly uses the right side of their brain — in turn, he majored in Economics. Definitely my go-to guy when asking about money matters.

After two long weeks waiting on the other side of the world, Berto came back with amazing stories to tell and advice to give about traveling to Spain and Morocco.

How did picking your destination come about?

When we bought a timeshare, they gave us basically one week free internationally. It was either Spain or Portugal. After looking to go to either Spain or Portugal, we decided on Spain. So that’s why we went to Spain. Then we went to Morocco because (my girlfriend) wanted to go. It was a 3 hour bus ride and a 45 minute boat ride to get to Morocco (from Spain). That’s also why we went to Morocco.

What made you want to go there?

Well, timeshare for Spain, and Morocco, I guess to just go to another country. We’re gonna fly all the way out there to only go to one country was like a waste. So might as well go to another country, and that (Morocco) was the closest most interesting place to go.

What cities did you visit?

In Spain, we stayed and slept every night in Malaga, but we did some day trips through this daily tour company. So we went to Granada, Seville, and Cordoba — a day each for those, (which) lasted all day. And then in Morocco, we went to Tangier for a day, and then trained for 5, 6 hours to Fez — (stayed there) for a couple of days. Then (took) another train to Meknes, then another train to Casablanca, backtracked to Rabat, back to Casablanca, then to Marrakech. All by train. We covered about, I would estimate, 600 miles.

Do you have a favorite? Why?

My favorite was Granada because it was the most Western city that we saw. They’re businesses. We walked through the downtown bank sector. But it all kind of led to this palace — it’s called the Alhambra. It took us half an hour to walk to semi get to it, but it was still way up in the sky. We kind of thought, “Oh, we must be here,” and we were at the lowest point of it. We had to bus up to it.

What sites do you recommend travelers seeing?

Alhambra is definitely a site to see. The hybrid, for lack of a better term, cathedral/mosque (Mezquita de Cordoba). In Morocco, we visited an ancient Roman city (Volubilis), which was like 45 minutes away from Meknes. And the mosque (Hassan II) in Casablanca.

Any cool activities to do there?

I rode a camel in Tangier. That was cool. It felt weird. I thought I was going to die because it was not quite the most stable animal I’ve been on — actually the first animal I’ve ever been on. Yeah, so that was an activity.

I know you mentioned going around by train, but how else did you get around?

We took a few (tour) busses in Spain. That was our main mode of transportation there. They would pick us up (from the hotel), and it was really early in the morning because they are 2-3 hours away — the cities we were going. So pick-ups were either 6. I think one of them was at 7 in the morning. In Morocco, there were a lot of taxis. So after we got off of each train or even from our hotel to go to any place, you more or less had to take a taxi. That was an interesting experience because for 60 percent of them, you had to negotiate the price to get to go where you’re going. Some of them had meters — they’d just turn them off. You had to negotiate. Some just had no meters in general. So that was the mode of transportation.

Do you have any funny or crazy stories to share about your trip?

Well the crazy story for me that’s in my mind was, after a few days in being in Morocco, we noticed that there weren’t a lot of rules, especially driving or even just walking. There’s crosswalks but there’s not really — you can go, but you can’t go. It’s kind of like Frogger. It felt like Frogger. You go, you take a step back, you go side to side. You’re trying not to get squished is the game or die. That’s how it felt like walking in Morocco, basically. Long story short, we got into a car accident. We were never on a car, really, in Spain. We were in all these taxis. Nobody follows any of the lanes. There’s maybe two stoplights in the whole city. There’s no rhyme or reason behind how they drive. (My girlfriend) even asked, “Do people get into accidents?” to the same driver. He’s like, “No. No. Not really.” Sure enough, BOOM, we get rear ended by this SUV. I’m sitting in the back seat. My back is throbbing. It’s this tiny, little Fiat. I don’t know why you’d drive a God damn SUV in Casablanca anyways? And we’re just sitting in there. We’re on our way back to the train station. This is when we had to backtrack to go to a city that’s one hour away that we passed through to get to our hotel. And so we were just sitting there...waiting, waiting. The guy starts yelling (the driver). You hear all these swear words in Arabic, if you understand swear words in Arabic. Luckily, his buddy was driving by and told him to pull over and take this to the train station, and we had to pay him. Yeah, I say that’s a funny story.

Do you have any tips on negotiating (with taxi drivers)?

Yes! (If) you have to negotiate prices, they want to turn their meter on, (and) if they don’t accept your counter offer, just walk away. They’ll do one of two things. They’ll drive off or they’ll sit there. So if you either offer them what (the price) should be or lets say you’re willing to pay them a little bit more than what it should be because you need a taxi, they’ll take it. That’s the first tip — offer what you want to pay and walk away. The other (tip) is if they are the metered people, the people who are waiting and try to offer you the ride are not the people to go with. But the taxis driving by are the ones to get.

Was it really expensive taking taxis?

Not if you compare it to taking taxis here (California), not really. A lot of them was like a (US) dollar for a 15 minute drive to your hotel. Some people try to charge 2, 3, 4 (US) dollars. Now you would say, “OK. Well, that’s not that much compared to (California).” But compared to what it really should be, you know?

Where did you stay at?

In Spain, the timeshare part of the trip, we stayed at the Sunset Beach Hotel - Resort/Club. That was a nice room to ‘cause we were able to see the Mediterranean. In Morocco, we stayed in 5 different places. So in Tangier, we stayed at the Hotel Rif & Spa. Was a good location — nice room layout, nice Moroccan design. In Fez was the nicest place that we stayed at — a riad (Sheherazade). A riad is like an old palace that had been converted to a small hotel. 6 to 14, 15 rooms in them. That was a really beautiful, huge, “look like a Moroccan palace” rooms. That was really nice. We stayed there for 2 nights. Meknes, we stayed at an Ibis, which is basically like a Best Western. It’s part of the Accor Hotels. That was a cool place. It was next to a McDonalds and a Pizza Hut that served halal meat and a McArabia. (It’s like a) McGriddle. From there, we went to Casablanca. It was called Volubilis. That was a very rank hotel — so much so that we payed for 2 nights, and we checked out in the middle of the first night. It was not a cool place to be. It was really strange because it’s like 2 hotels with an adjoining restaurant, and (a) “discoteka.” Nobody knew where it was. I knew of the rankness of the hotel already because I had to (check in) our stuff in there. (My girlfriend) stayed downstairs because the guy had our passports. Every time you check into a hotel in Morocco, apparently you have to write down your name, your address, your passport number, your entry number into Casablanca. It’s like an immigration card. They give it to you every time you check in — for the government basically. We checked out of there and took a taxi to another Ibis, the one in Casablanca. Then we went to Marrakech and stayed 2 nights at another riad (Catalina) like the one described before. Not as nice — at least decorationally. And the room they gave us was the “Garden Room.” It was this big (showing with his fingers that it’s tiny), seriously! It was ridiculous! We talked to (the front desk), and they offered us a few choices. It ended up being a big, giant suite. The next night, we had to move to a different room.

Do you still recommend this hotel?

Well, the staff was really nice, (but no).

Just to back-track, how did you find out about how to pay for taxis?

We figured it out. We payed a little bit more, I think, in the beginning for taxis because we kind of didn’t know. The “petite” taxis are the ones that have the meter. Whenever we took a “petite” taxi, and (the driver) turned it’s meter on, it was in the 7 to 15 (Moroccan Dirhams), depending on how far. We figured out that flagging them down were the better ones by trial and error. The other thing that helped too, I think a taxi driver told us this, was to catch a “petite” taxi on the side of the street in the direction you are trying to go to. We were in Rabat when we figured that out. I told (the driver) we were going somewhere. He told us to go across the street.

What’s the currency in Spain and Morocco?

In Spain, they’re on Euros, and in Morocco, they’re in the Moroccan Dirhams.

What food do you recommend travelers trying and why?

We had paella. If you’re going to Spain, you should have paella because it’s their main claim. In Morocco, couscous. Tagine is my favorite thing. I had many good meals with them. I recommend it. It’s this ceramic pot that has like a “cone” hat. Whatever you’re eating, they cook it in there — wether it’s meat, potatoes. (I had a) beef with a cracked egg in it, and they cooked it, like a sunny-side up egg in my meat. It was good. It’s like steak and eggs. Tagine is the contraption. Basically, the staple in Morocco is couscous. Every time you go to a formal Moroccan restaurant, they give you a Moroccan salad as a starter, which is a lot of little things. So there’s olives, lima beans. They always give you (a lot). And then a huge plate of food, and then maybe some dessert, some (Moroccan mint) tea.

What’s the handiest thing you brought with you for your trip?

My backpack, for me, because with all the trains, especially in Morocco. If we were only in Spain for a week, it wouldn’t have worked out. But because of trains, and moving all around, and walking and trying to get taxis, my backpack was probably the best thing that I brought. Gregory (backpack brand) is the way to go. REI (is where I bought it). Oh, and also our Morocco book. I had general maps, and what to see, and guides on taxis. It’s called Eye Witness Travel. It was mostly correct.

Did you bring a big book or a novel to keep you company while you were traveling?

No. I brought my MP3 player.

Any song or album that pumped you up for your trip?

Taylor Swift pumped me up. The Foo Fighters pumped me up. (Red Hot) Chili Peppers — that definitely helped me out. These 3, I’d say. The two disc Stadium Arcadium
.

Why do you recommend traveling in general to people?

This trip did two things for me. Particularly in Spain, it kind of slowed me down a little bit. It kind of just let you think about your life, what you have. The hustle and bustle and seeing the old version of a rat race in Morocco kind of made me a little bit more grateful for whatever it is that I reflected in. Realized (what) I’m doing or have to sort of think back on that — or I could be here (in Morocco) trying to live everyday, and trying to survive and not get hit by cars buzzing by. Just to see things from another perspective. Even the news at the end of the night. It was just to help give you perspective, whether it be on how other people are or how you are and not to trip on a stoplight being out. You know what I mean?

Any advice for first-time travelers?

If you don’t have “balls of steel” and/or speak French or Arabic, you have to be careful because you’ll get eaten alive. That’s no joke. Passiveness (will kill you).

Trip Recap

Countries Visited: Morocco, Spain

Cities Visited: Casablanca, Cordoba, Fez, Granada, Malaga, Marrakech, Meknes, Rabat, Seville, Tangier

Sites Seen: Alhambra, Hassan II, Mezquita de Cordoba, Volubilis

Activities: camel ride

Foods Eaten: paella, couscous, tagine cooked meals

Accommodations: Hotel Rif & Spa, Ibis Casablanca, Ibis Meknes, Riad Catalina, Riad Sheherazade, Sunset Beach Club Malaga, Volubilis Hotel Casablanca

Transportation: taxis, train, tour bus

Music Playlist: Foo Fighters, (Red Hot) Chili Peppers (Stadium Arcadium), Taylor Swift

Handy Travel Items: Gregory backpack, Eye Witness Travel: Morocco

Some Enchanted Island - A Girls Love Affair with Kauai

2009-04-30T17:33:00.000-07:00

It was a hot Spring day in Millbrae, California. I was working on some online errands at this local coffee shop when my friend, Angela Sanchez dropped by to hang out for a bit. Our plan that evening was to walk by the bay and watch planes take off and land at the San Francisco International Airport.

Angela and I met at work, and we eventually started to hang out on our days off. She earned her Bachelor's Degree at UC San Diego on International Studies. Naturally drawn to the warm weather, her and her family took a trip to Kauai, the fourth largest main island of Hawaii. To my surprise, I got awesome information about the island experience.

How did picking your destination come about?

Oh, well I went with my family. My parents love Kauai! It’s a really relaxing sort of island. It’s the least touristy of all the islands.

What’s it called again?

Kauai. It’s (also) called the "Garden Isle." There’s just so much greenery. It’s really great to go relax. They have lots of secret beaches. They even have a part of the island called Na Pali Coast. Nobody lives there. There’s no dwellings. They haven’t built up anything. It’s just pure nature. You can either take an 11 mile hike out there or take a helicopter or a boat there. It’s really crazy!

What made your parents want to go there?

Just (for) relaxation. They just love it there. We (rent) a condo when we go. So you have a little kitchen and everything in there. They really like it, and they’re like, “Maybe we should retire here ‘cause then we can just buy the condo and stay here.”

What sites do you recommend travelers seeing?

Lets see...there’s a place called Fern Grotto where you get to go in one of those boats, and then you go into this cave. There’s all of these ferns growing everywhere, like out, inside the cave, and everything like that. There’s another place called Bali Hai (Mount Makana). It’s crazy! We were on this drive, and then we ended up on top, and there’s a valley down below where there’s a whole bunch of farmland. There’s a lot of volcanos that use to be on the island, and part of those volcanos in the mountains have these little tiny streams of waterfalls coming down all over the place. It looks so cool! It’s like paradise! It’s really beautiful just driving down there. We found a few secret beaches. So that’s a really cool thing to do — to find your own private secret beach. I mean it’s kind of like out in the boonies. So you have to drive maybe on dirt roads, and then walk for a little while. I mean you can literally find your own beach. There’s nobody there which is really really cool! There’s also a guava plantation on the island where the Kauai Kookie Factory is. If you ever go to L&L (Barbeque), they sell the Kauai Kookies from the Kauai Kookie Factory. Their cookies are shipped all over the world, but this is the factory where everything is baked. So they have these famous guava - macadamia nut cookies that are just amazing! Pink cookies with macadamia nuts in it. It’s really cool. So you get to tour the factory, and they have a plantation where you sample fresh guava juice, guava cake, guava ice cream, anything you can think of guava! I wish I can just go there all the time and just eat guavas! Oh, there’s another thing too...the Waimea Canyon. It’s like a mini Grand Canyon.

Any cool activities to do there?

Any type of water sports: snorkeling, scuba diving, windsurfing. Whatever you want. There’s helicopter tours on the island too. You know there’s so many things you can do. Typical adventure stuff. Lots of hiking.

So you recommend travelers renting a condo?

Yeah. I guess if you’re going to stay for awhile. If you’re only going to stay for a few days, you can get a hotel. We went as a family. So (we) had enough space for everybody. In the morning at breakfast, you have the kitchenette there, buy stuff in the store, and make whatever you want. Pretty cool!

Besides guava and Kauai Kookies, is there anything you recommend travelers eating and why?

We had the traditional Hawaii food like poi. It’s a paste. And we had the kalua pork. That’s really good too.

What’s the handiest thing you brought with you for your trip?

Sunblock. Just the typical stuff...towel.

Why do you recommend traveling in general to people?

It gets you out of your day to day routine and environment. You get to interact with so many different types of cultures and people. You learn a lot from a lot of different people. You might learn a different perspective on something just based on where somebody lives and their experience that they’ve gone through, and then you can share your own. It helps open up people’s minds to the world, different ways of living, different ways of seeing things. I highly recommend it to everybody. Everybody should definitely travel at some point in their life. It’s just a great experience that you can learn a lot from, have a lot of fun with, and just learn something new.

Any advice for first-time travelers?

Definitely have an open mind when you go out there for the first time. You should probably do a little research before you go so you know a little about what you’re getting into. Learn a few “survival expressions” if you’re going to a country that does not speak (any language that you know).

Trip Recap

Country Visited: United States of America

Place Visited: Kauai Island

Sites Seen: Bali Hai (Mount Makana), Fern Grotto, Kauai Kookie Factory, secret beaches, Waimea Canyon

Activities: hiking, helicopter tours, scuba diving, snorkeling, windsurfing

Foods Eaten: guava, kalua pork, Kauai Kookies, poi

Accommodations: rented condominium

Transportation: rented car

Handy Travel Items: sunblock, towel

The Portrait of a Young Lady as a Traveler - A First Timer's Trip to Ireland

2009-04-20T18:20:00.000-07:00

Mary Ellen and I are lounging in our livingroom in San Bruno, California after eating dinner at Outback Steakhouse in Daly City, the bordering city south of San Francisco. We had just finally rested from our long day at work.

A 9 to 5 job isn't Mary Ellen's typical workday. She works for the local humane society. She helps rescue domestic and wild animals. A pretty grueling career, but she has confessed many times that what she does is pretty rewarding.

I met Mary Ellen through a mutual friend about two years ago on my 22nd birthday party at Serra Bowl in Daly City. We have now been roommates for a little over a year. This last February, we both took a trip to Ireland for her 27th birthday. Pretty scary and daring considering that many rockstars have died when they turned that magical age.

How did picking your destination come about?

My mom sent me an e-mail about some airfares to Hawaii because I was gonna go visit her, and she was complaining because she just paid like $800 for a plane ticket. And then she found some that were a lot cheaper on this Hotwire e-mail. I was looking at the e-mail, and there were a bunch of other airfares. I saw one that was like $500 for Dublin. I was like, "Holy crap, we should go to Dublin!" So we did.

What made you want to go there? And I know it's the money, but...

It was just hell of cheap, and I've never really been out of the country except for Canada before. So I was like, "Okay. Let's go!" Why not?

What cities did you visit?

I visited Dublin, Cork, Blarney, Killarney, Galway, and back to Dublin...in that order.

Did you have a favorite?

No.

Really?

Yeah.

Why not?

It's all good. Killarney was really cute. I liked Blarney too 'cause the castle was awesome.

What sites do you recommend travelers seeing?

Blarney Castle, definitely. That's probably the main one. I recommend traveling by train 'cause it's fun and easy. Guinness Storehouse in Dublin was awesome.

Where did you stay at?

We stayed at several different hostels. A different one every night.

Do you remember the names of it?

Yeah. We stayed at Barnacles in Temple Bar, Dublin. And then we stayed at The Brú Bar Hostel in Cork, The Railway Hostel in Killarney, Kinlay House in Galway, and The Bunkhouse in Dublin on the last night.

Do you recommend any of it?

All of them were really good. I think probably my favorite was The Railway Hostel in Killarney. It was really cute and charming. We all had good accommodations. That one just had the best energy.

Do you have any funny or crazy stories to share about your trip?

Well yes! (She starts laughing) In the morning that we were set to leave Killarney, I had written down the bus schedule from Killarney to Galway. Unfortunately, I didn't plan for the fact that we were going to be there on Sunday morning, and the bus schedule's completely different. I was expecting to catch a bus at six something in the morning, and it ended up being that the earliest one was nine something in the morning. We had already checked out of the hostel, and nothing was open except for mass. Thought about going to mass, but decided to get let in to the hostel again and play on the Internet for awhile. That was awesome. (We start laughing) It was cold, dark, and scary.

What foods do you suggest travelers trying and why?

I definitely recommend the lamb stew with Guinness 'cause it's delicious!

Where did you get that at?

I had that in Killarney at a pub, and I can't remember what name, but they have it at every pub. So just get it. I'm sure it's good everywhere. And the full Irish breakfast! I didn't have that, but that's what everybody recommends you get. I had a smoke mackerel breakfast. It was delicious.

What was the handiest thing you brought with you for your trip?

The thing that came in most handy was printing out maps because...well I'm used to using my iPhone Google Maps in the Unites States. That obviously was not going to be working unless I had Wi-Fi available to me in Ireland. So I made sure I had a map printed out for every hostel we were staying at so that I would know how to get there from the bus or train station. Also an umbrella.

Why do you recommend traveling in general to people?

It’s a way to expand your horizons, and learn about new cultures, and just become more worldly, and have fun.

Any advice for people who are traveling for the first time?

Do your research online. Do all the research, and see what other people recommend, and check out WorldTravelerJamie.com so that you can get all your travel information ‘cause it’s the best travel blog out there. (We both start laughing.)

Trip Recap

Country Visited: Ireland

Cities Visited: Blarney, Cork, Dublin, Galway, Killarney

Sites Seen: Blarney Castle, Guinness Storehouse

Foods Eaten: Lamb Stew with Guinness, Full Irish Breakfast

Accommodations: Barnacles, The Brú Bar Hostel, The Bunkhouse, Kinlay House, The Railway Hostel

Transportation: Bus Éireann, Dublin Bus, Irish Rail

Handy Travel Items: printed maps, umbrella