As I mentioned in my previous post, I went to my friend Clare’s grandmas house this weekend to celebrate her birthday with all of her family. We took a bus early Friday morning from Dublin all the way to Letter-Kenny – a steady 5 hour drive. We arrived around noon and her aunt picked us up at the bus station and made it towards where we were staying. We settled in and met everyone and then we were taken to Derry – a city in Northern Ireland which is also referred to as London Derry by some because they are part of the United Kingdom unlike the Republic of Ireland. Derry is literally an 8 minute drive from granny’s house (remember this because it will be relevant later on). Once we get to Derry we walk around and see all that the city has to offer such as museums, the Peace Bridge, we walked the wall (which used to be a military base and the gate to the city), went into a church, and even went shopping. Afterwards we went to a pub to get food and a couple drinks before we were picked up to go get ready to go out that night to celebrate Clare’s birthday.
We were originally going to go to a club called Sandinos but our taxi driver recommended that we go to another one called Granny Annies instead. We took his advice and went in. The first floor was pretty empty as it was still early but there was a live band playing so we listened to them for a while. We went to get some drinks and there was a guy who was drinking a dark colored mixed drink that looked just like what me and my roommate Kate were dying to learn the name of because we had one once but couldn’t remember what it was called. So we casually asked him what it was and alas it was what we were looking for, and now we’d also made a friend. He was with a big group of people so we were all introduced and then proceeded to go upstairs to the more nightclub section. We were dancing and having a great time and some of the people we were with wanted to go back to the downstairs area so I went with them. We ended up leaving that club and made our way to a different one. One thing lead to the other and we were all out walking around the streets when I realized that Kate and Clare weren’t with us and then I remembered that they didn’t even leave Granny Annies with us. So obviously I was like we need to go back, my friends are probably still there wondering where I am. We were so far away at this point that one of the guys said we’d be better off getting in a taxi and going there so that we’d get there before it closes as it was already 2am. By the time we found one and got to the bar it was indeed closed and I couldn’t see either of them around the area.
The struggle of being abroad and not having an international plan on your phone means that unless theres wifi where you’re at, you can’t contact anyone. This means I couldn’t text them asking if they had gone back to the house or even what the address was because I didn’t know it. I tried to get the taxi driver to figure out where I was trying to go but my directions were too vague for him to figure it out and he told me that there was a shuttle that was going back to Ireland and it was right across the street. Of course I think thats a miracle and see a bunch of the people I was hanging out with earlier getting in who I knew were also from Ireland and not Derry so I assumed I was in the right place. I get in the shuttle and we start driving off and I see one of the friends I had made sitting next to me. Immediately he goes ‘what are you doing here you’re going completely the wrong way’. Apparently this shuttle was going to Greencastle which is about an hour drive west of where I was supposed to be. Thankfully one of the girls on the bus lent me her phone to contact my friends and let them know where I was headed. Unfortunately the taxi system in this side of the world closes after 2:30am and doesn’t start up until 8 or 9am so I had no other option but to stay with this girl I had just met at her boyfriends house until morning. They were super nice and drove me back in the morning so that I wouldn’t have to spend an outrageous amount of money on a taxi. I finally made it back to where I was supposed to be, and my friends had nothing short of a crazy night just as me so we exchanged stories and took naps before the next days adventures.
Clare’s family had planned to do whats know as the Inishowen 100. Its a drive that goes around the Inishowen peninsula and it stops at some landmarks but its mostly a pub crawl. They rented out a little bus to drive us around and it started at 2pm and we didnt get back until 10. It was incredibly beautiful some of the places we were at such as Malin Head and Clonmay where there were beautiful views of the mountains and ocean and then all of the pubs we went to were fun too. When we finished we went back to grannys house where a bunch of delicious food was awaiting us and of course a birthday cake to celebrate the occasion.
It was definitely an eventful weekend and I had so much fun. Now its off to Barcelona tomorrow. Lets see what happens next.