The past couple of weeks I headed east over to Europe, more
specifically Ireland and Scotland. I always say, “Europe” though because it
sounds much cooler. The trip was great. I went by myself. Now, generally
speaking, everyone was pretty shocked that I pursued solitude in this way. They
didn’t necessarily come out and say it straightforward, then again who does,
but their looks spoke loud enough, “I feel sorry for you” “Oh, you’re one of
those…” “Well that’s different.” Some girl actually asked me if I was going to
go just to find myself. Real quick, as good as “finding yourself” sounds, it
really needs to be reworded. Perhaps, “learning about yourself” is a better
choice, but that’s not the point. I went because I happen to have a voucher to
Delta Airlines and a couple of connections in Scotland. Also, I did need some
solitude, which we all do sometimes, so I thought, “Why not? You’re young.” So
I boarded a flight with a backpack, suitcase, and guitar.
Before I went over there, a couple of my friends told me not
to take cash over there, but to just get money from the ATM instead. So, I did
right when I got to the Dublin Airport because I needed 15 euros to grab a bus
from Dublin to Belfast. I got 20 euros from the ATM and was on my way to
Belfast. I get to Downtown Belfast and needed 10 pounds to get from there to my
hotel which was about 20 miles away. I go to put my card in the ATM at the rail
station and the ATM machine was making some odd noises. After 5 minutes of
waiting to see what this devil of an ATM machine was doing to my card, a
message popped up, “We are unable to give you your card back! Sorry!” This ATM
machine said that it accepted VISA but my VISA happens to say “Bank of AMERICA” on it. Side note, I may or may
not have chosen Bank of America as my bank because Jack Bauer is the voice for
their commercials. So, I started asking myself the obvious question, “What
would Jack Bauer do?” So,
I started yelling unreasonably loud at the Europeans to give me back my card. JK.
LOL. Anything Jack Bauer would do would end up in an immediate arrest for me,
so I turned to my conscience. I could only think of two logical ways to get to
my hotel. I had to either sell my guitar or my body. I was leaning more towards
the “body” deal, but I was very jet lagged. I soon found out that was still
illegal in that part of Europe, and would end up in an immediate arrest for me
as well. Looks like Jack Bauer and I aren’t so different after all. Anyways, I
finally came to my senses and started going around the city with all of my
luggage trying to figure out what I needed to do to get to my hotel. I didn't know a soul in this city and had no cell phone service or wifi. I went to
the bank that was responsible for that terrible ATM machine and they gave me no
hope. Honestly, nobody there gave me hope because I only had a credit card, and
they only take a “chip and pin” credit card. I finally talked to a guy named
Jim who called a cab that would use my credit card. This all took a solid 3
hours. Once I finally got to my hotel, they took good care of me. They gave me
money for my bus to the airport, cup of tea, and a phone charger. Shout out to Holiday
Inn Express. From there on out, the rest of the trip was very smooth.
That was really the only “out of the ordinary” story that
happened to me this week. I went to a bunch of cathedrals, castles, lakes, and
to the Guinness factory. By the way, the Guinness factory is everything it’s
cracked up to be. If you go, pay the extra $20 for the connoisseur package. I
posted a lot of pictures on Facebook if you would like to see. Now I know this is
my first post in a while, but I’ve been trying to avoid the confrontation. So,
have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Josh
