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Lounging in Dublin, Ireland

// April 30th, 2008 // 120No Comments »Lounging+in+Dublin%2C+Ireland2008-04-30+17%3A00%3A31Ryan // Ireland, Travel

Yesterday Richie and I headed into Dublin to walk around the city. It was a fairly nice day, warm in the sun but chilly in the shade. We took a stroll down O’Connell street and stopped to see a man that was doing a painting in the street. The detail in the painting was crazy! It’s hard to believe that a starving artist like this guy has no real means of using his talent as a way to live. But of course I wouldn’t know the whole story.

During the summer there are a wide variety of street performers in Dublin. When the summer comes and the sun breaks through the sky, the people of Dublin come out in crowds but this time without their raincoats. I’m looking forward to spending a few nice days in the city of Dublin later this summer.

Once I leave for my three week tour around Europe on May 11th I won’t be back in Dublin until June 1st. Once I arrive back in Dublin on the first of June I’ll only be here for a little over two and a half days before I’m off again to Sorrento, Italy on June 4th and won’t be back in Ireland again until June 25th! I have quite a bit of traveling ahead of me!

After strolling down O’Connell street we headed through the Temple Bar area and over to Stephen’s Green, a big, colorful, public garden and park where on a nice day you’ll find plenty of students, and professionals lying in the grass during the afternoon taking a break from the bustling city. It’s very much like the Boston Public Gardens.

I’ve been trying to catch a cheap flight from Dublin out to Spain for a few days but I’ve had no luck due to the bank holiday this coming weekend here in Ireland. The Irish tend to take off on vacation anytime they have a long weekend and of course this weekend is a long weekend for everyone. I’ve been searching online and I’ve even been into a few travel agents in Dublin but nobody seems to have any last minute trips for this weekend. It’s too bad, I would have liked to go catch a few rays on the coast of Spain. My search isn’t quite over yet, so we’ll see what happens!

Today I slept in a bit and headed off to the Omni shopping center down the street from my uncle’s house. I walked around in there, but there wasn’t much to it. I ended up just picking up a few groceries and bringing them back to the house. Not too much going on here now, the weather is a little too chilly to head into the city so I’m just lounging here today writing, doing some website maintenance, editing videos, and uploading a ton of content!

Til’ next time…

Catching up on the last two days

// April 27th, 2008 // 114No Comments »Catching+up+on+the+last+two+days2008-04-27+23%3A38%3A44Ryan // Ireland, Travel

Friday after visiting the Cliffs of Moher I left my aunts in Clare and headed back to Galway to spend my last two nights with my cousins before I headed off to Dublin today.

On Friday night I met up with my cousins Kevin, Johnny, and Olly out at Donoghues, a pub that is walking distance from my cousin Kev’s house. We met up there and it was cool to catch up with everyone again over endless rounds of pints. Every time I took a sip of a new pint, I had another full one in my other hand and one waiting on the bar. It was crazy. I’m not a big drinker back home and I don’t drink nearly as much in a year as they do in a weekend. Haha.

After we chatted over a few pints we headed across the street to grab some late night chow before heading back to Kev’s to crash. We grabbed a couple pizzas and headed back to his house and about 5 minutes after I downed the pizza, I was in bed.

Early the next morning my uncle swung by to pick me up and I headed back to his house for a shower and we had planned to visit some more relatives before heading into Galway to meet up with my cousin Michelle. We stopped in to some relatives for a few then we were off to grab lunch at Fat Freddie’s, a nice little pizza joint in the city. The food was great, and I had one last good chat with my aunt and uncle before heading off to meet my friend Colin.

Colin and I headed over to the Spanish Arch which is an area where most students and young adults tend to hang out when its sunny. It’s right on the edge of a river, I’m not sure what the river is called exactly but it’s a real cool spot when it’s nice out. Everyone goes down there, brings a few beers and socializes with friends. A few of Michelle’s roommates came down and hung out with us and we spent a couple of hours chit chatting and planning what we’d do later that night in Galway.

Later that night we hung out and had a few drinks at Michelle’s and then headed into the city around 11:30PM to Halo, a “winners” nightclub in Galway as Peter would say. When he says “winner”, he means people that are too cool, real preppy, stuck up, etc. Too funny! As we showed up at Halo, the line was probably 200 people deep, but it went surprisingly quick. We were in within 15 minutes maybe. The club itself was crazy. It had two floors, more than a few bars and a shockingly small dance floor, but I guess they’d rather have everyone drinking and socializing rather than dancing because you weren’t allowed to bring drinks on the floor. As usual the drinks were very expensive, nevermind a cover charge of 13 Euro ($20.29), and a round of drinks for 3 people was 17 Euro ($26.53). Put it this way, its 4.70 Euro ($7.34) for a Bud Bottle. Pretty damn expensive if you ask me!

Peter, Colin and I ended up dancing up a storm on the dance floor until the night came to an end. It was a great time. Colin wouldn’t stop buying me rounds of whiskey. Another first for me. Never had whiskey in my life until last night. Yuck! I had planned on staying somewhat sober because my aunt and uncle were coming up from Dublin to pick me up this morning and it was a three hour drive back so I wanted to make sure I was in good shape. Shockingly enough, I was fine this morning.

And finally I’m back in Dublin! A three hour car ride later and I’m back here hanging at my uncle and aunts place just outside the city. Tomorrow we’re going to head into the city, I haven’t been in there in about a year and a half now. I can’t wait. I love DUBLIN!

Until next time…

Visit to mighty Cliffs of Moher!

// April 25th, 2008 // 110No Comments »Visit+to+mighty+Cliffs+of+Moher%212008-04-25+19%3A44%3A29Ryan // Ireland, Travel

I awoke this morning to the aroma of an Irish breakfast being cooked by my aunt Angela. You don’t know how good a breakfast really is until you have an Irish breakfast. There’s really nothing much to it that differs from back home besides the fact that the Rashers (Irish term for Bacon), and the bread that they toast is just flat out unbelievable compared to back home. The thing I always loved about being in Ireland was the breakfasts in the morning. In Ireland, a proper breakfast is required! After our breakfast and two cups of tea we got our things together and headed down to the Ennis Bus station so that we could catch a bus to the Cliffs of Moher today. The sky was charcoal grey, and looked like it was about to pour but once again it held off! We hopped on the bus and it was about 45 mins to an hour before we arrived at the Cliffs. Suprisingly the bus ticket cost 12.50 euro for a round trip ticket to the Cliffs of Moher. I thought that was a really good deal! Once off the bus, you see the Cliffs of Moher information center, and a few little restaurants actually built into the side of the hill in front of you. To the left you see a small view of the infamous cliffs of Ireland. Cliffs of Moher is one of Ireland’s top visitor attractions and I now realize why. (more…)

Traveling to Co. Clare

// April 24th, 2008 // 107No Comments »Traveling+to+Co.+Clare2008-04-24+18%3A11%3A15Ryan // Ireland, Travel

I woke up this morning after getting just about the average amount of sleep that I’ve been getting since I’ve arrived in Ireland, which is about 6 hours or so. Although I was tired, I was excited about heading down to my aunts house in O’Callaghan Mills, Co. Clare.

I headed downtown to Galway to catch the bus to Ennis at about 8:30, the bus was scheduled to leave at 9:05. I made sure that I gave myself enough time to stop at the convenience store to grab a drink for the journey. Walking into town from my cousins apartment in Salt Hill is only about a fifteen minute walk so it’s not too bad at all. To be honest it’s faster to walk than to drive into town due to the crazy rush hour traffic at that time of the morning in Galway.

I was one of the first people to get on the bus, I headed straight to the back so that I could take up a few seats and relax on this hour and fifteen minute bus ride. There were only a handful of people on the bus, so it was nice and quiet. I ended up meeting a young woman named Sarah on the bus ride down to Ennis. She lives and works in Galway but her family lives in Clare so she was making the two hour trip out to Clare to see her family for the weekend. Oh, and we won’t tell her boss that she called in sick today to extend her weekend in Clare!

After arriving at the Ennis bus station, I waited for my aunt to pick me up. She was under the assumption that I would be taking a later bus, so I stood around at the bus station for a bit before she arrived. It was fine though because the weather was fairly nice.

When she finally arrived we headed over to the mart. The mart is a place where all of the farmers hang out. It’s a cattle mart, a cattle auction actually. It was quite interesting. You’d have to see the video to understand how hard it actually is to hear what the “ringer” or auctioneer is yelling out for prices. It’s just a bunch of garble really. Since I’m Italian and I talk with my hands, I think I might have put in a bid once or twice while watching the auction. Oops!

The Cattle Mart!

After walking on the cat walk over the thousands of cows and cattle, we headed down to the restaurant that is connected to the cattle mart and had a nice breakfast. Once we finished eating my aunt and I headed off spend the day at Craggaunowen, and Bunratty Castle.

PTM Travel Photography //
Donkey & Cart – Galway, Ireland

// April 23rd, 2008 // 1061 Comment »2008-04-23+23%3A11%3A28Ryan // Ireland, Photography, Travel

Donkey & Cart - Galway, Ireland

PTM Travel Tips //
Minimizing International Fees while Abroad…

// April 23rd, 2008 // 665 Comments »2008-04-23+16%3A57%3A36Ryan // Travel, Travel Tips

When planning an international trip, everyone knows that things add up pretty quickly. With the economy in near recession at the moment the Dollar as a currency has never been worse. Knowing this, I’ve done a lot of research on this topic and I figured I’d share a few tips with you on how you can actually save money while you’re overseas.

The fees that I’m talking about are Banking Fees such as ATM Fees, Fees on International Purchases, Currency Conversion Fees and more. After you add all these fees up, depending on how long you’re planning on traveling, or how lavish you decide to live on your trip they can add up to hundreds, maybe even thousands of dollars (if you’re living like a king). Wouldn’t you rather take that money and use it to pay for a few extra nights stay at a nice hotel at the end of your trip, an unforgettable paragliding experience in Austria, or maybe you could use that extra money you saved to pay for a few souvenirs and gifts to bring back to the folks back home.

If you are currently a Bank of America customer and you’re planning on using your ATM/Debit card abroad, STOP! Have you weighed out your options yet? It’s something you should really think about. Did you know that you could be charged 3% on transactions? Yep, a 2% Foreign Currency Transaction fee and and since Bank of America is VISA, (Visa & Mastercard charge a mandatory 1% Foreign Currency Conversion charge). So that’s three percent each and every time you use your card! (more…)

Finally caught up on some sleep

// April 22nd, 2008 // 102No Comments »Finally+caught+up+on+some+sleep2008-04-22+18%3A09%3A42Ryan // Ireland, Travel

I awoke this morning after finally getting a good night sleep. I feel like I haven’t slept in days. I’m still trying to adjust to the 5 hour time difference here. I was up until 2:00AM this morning talking to family and friends back home on Skype. I’ve been using Skype for a few years now, but I still find it absolutely amazing that I can be 3,000 miles away and I can talk to my family and friends via my computer and the fact that we can see each other on live video as we’re chatting is just so cool. Thank god for technology!

Today I woke up and had a small Irish breakfast, and some tea of course. Now you might find this hard to believe but I have never drank tea in my entire life up until yesterday. While I was visiting some relatives yesterday I was offered tea or coffee, and I don’t drink either so I politely declined. Well all of a sudden the tea comes out and I felt sort of obligated to drink it as there was a cup poured for me. Needless to say, I’ve had about 5 teas at this point and my aunt is actually making me a cup as we speak. (more…)

Traveling to Ireland

// April 21st, 2008 // 97No Comments »Traveling+to+Ireland2008-04-21+09%3A28%3A14Ryan // Ireland, Travel

*The Times listed below are in the following format [Home/Ireland].

[4:45pm/9:45pm] We arrived at the airport and got in line to check my bags. I’ve been stressing out like crazy this morning thinking that the two bags that I was going to be checking in were going to weigh a few pounds over the allowed baggage weight on my flight. Come to find out, I get in line to check the bags, and the Aer Lingus Representative just threw my bags on the conveyor belt and didn’t even think to check the weight on them. I couldn’t believe it, because I had taken out about half of the clothes that I had originally packed to try to make the weight requirement. ARGHH!

[5:00pm/10:00pm] After checking my bags we headed over to the cafe right before the security check. We had some pizza and a couple beers and it seemed within about 45 minutes it was over and it was time to get in line to go through security.

[5:45pm/10:45pm] I stood in a line at the security checkpoint that once was occupied by 10 or 12 people while we were eating dinner, but it was now pretty much filled back to the front doors of the airport. The line went real quick though, so that worked out. I ended up using like 5 plastic bins for all of my stuff. Plus, when you’re traveling with two laptops, each one has to be out of its case and in its own bin. Everything rolled through and I was good. I sat down in front of Sbarro Pizza to take a photo of my plane on the tarmac and took out my laptop to see if I could pick up a wireless signal in the airport and I did! Although it was LoganWifi and they wanted to charge $8 for 24 hours. Yeah… OKAY.

(more…)

PTM Travel Photography //
Old Wooden Boat – Cohasset, MA…

// April 17th, 2008 // 56No Comments »2008-04-17+18%3A18%3A16Ryan // Photography, Travel

Pause The Moment - Old Wooden Boat - Cohasset, Massachusetts

PTM Travel Photography //
Sunset – Lake Nippenicket…

// April 9th, 2008 // 50No Comments »2008-04-09+18%3A01%3A51Ryan // Photography, Travel

Pause The Moment - Lake Nippenicket - Bridgewater, Massachusetts

Contiki European Vista Trip

// April 3rd, 2008 // 801 Comment »Contiki+European+Vista+Trip2008-04-03+22%3A47%3A40Ryan // Austria, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Switzerland, Travel

As most of you know that after I booked my plane ticket to Ireland back in September of 2007, I wasn’t exactly planning on turning this “vacation” into a full fledged trip of a lifetime. Once I realized that my dreams of traveling Europe were actually viable, I started to do some research on a few different companies that offer tours throughout Europe. Not just day tours, not through one country, but I was looking for more of an extended tour through multiple countries.

After researching for a few weeks I came across a company that really interested me. This company is called Contiki. They were the only tour company that I found to offer specialized tours designed strictly for 18-35 year olds. I found this to be great considering I will be traveling on my own and would prefer if possible to hang out with a few people my age. I had been reading some travel forums about a few other tour companies and many people said that the tours were filled with tourists from the age of 3 to 60, senior citizens, the whole lot. Not that I have anything against children or the elderly in any way, but if I’m going to drop a couple thousand dollars on a tour through Europe, I would simply rather travel with people my age. Pretty understandable, right? (more…)