Ciao

Ciao da Roma!  We are currently updating from our hotel which is a gorgeous 20 minute walk from the Fontana di Trevi and Colosseo! Today we are touring the Vatican. Yesterday we started to walk to the fountain, and we ran into an English couple that was lost but also heading towards the fountain, so we all walked together and hung out for the rest of the day.  After enjoying the fountain, we got gelato (so freaking good), then we walked by the Piazza Mignanelli and saw the Spanish Steps! Then we began to wonder to this giant park.  On our way there, however, one of those annoying, persistent f***ers that tries to rip off tourists tried to hand me red roses, while yelling "you're so beautiful, you should have these","you are so beautiful" and repeated himself about 10 times. We continuously said "no", "no thank you" and so on.  Finally he backed off as we continued walking up the steps.  Then he popped up a minute later, handed me the damned roses and said, "you're so beautiful, have these." By that point, I assumed they were free.  Side note: We've been to Paris, I've encountered these little a**holes before, I knew to avoid them because they target/rip off tourists and make to feel like an idiot for falling for their tricky ways.  Back to the story.  So by this point, I had the roses and we continued to walk the steps, not being bothered by anyone.  I thought I had won, not been scammed, and scored some free roses in the mean time, what a fabulous way to start our Italian adventures, right?  WRONG. Little a**hole comes out of nowhere when we reach the top of the steps and says, "this place is so beautiful, let me take a picture", "picture, picture", "let me get a picture of the beautiful couple".  We were definitely apprehensive about handing this little a**hole our camera, we thought, "okay, well free roses probably equals a stolen camera."  So after much debate, all while being harassed by this annoying a**hole, we hand over our camera and he hands us the bouquet of roses and tells us to hold those for the picture too.  He takes a bunch of pictures, and we thought, "okay cool, cute couple pictures, awesome."  After, he hands us the camera and we hand him the roses and he, then, OF COURSE asks for money.  How could we be so stupid?! With much hesitation, Koby tries to hand him the change in his pocket and he says, "no, not enough". EXCUSE 

ME YOU LITTLE SH*THEAD?! So Koby, now this was not very smart on his part, pulls out his

wallet to look for a small bill, but the smallest bills here are 5 because the small coins are 1 and 2 euro.  So this guy tries to grab the 10, and Koby is like, "no, here's the 5", and they have a small argument and guy eventually accepts the 5 and we walk off with the damned roses feeling like complete idiots that fell for the typical tourist trap.  I began to resent the roses and eventually left them on a bench. It was frustrating, but definitely a good laugh and now a hilarious story, especially after you look at the brilliant photos the man took of us.  

After the scam, we walked with our new friends to this giant park, then went to a restaurant for pizza and drinks.  After that, we both went to our separate hotels to chill out for a minute because it is quite hot and quite humid here, and after all that walking, we needed a break.  Our hotel charges 5 euro a day for air conditioner, so we're trying to avoid that. We then met up again around 9 at the fountain and shared a bottle of wine, it was a little more peaceful, but I think we'll venture back there at about midnight to really enjoy the fountain, since it's such a tourist attraction.

All in all, we had such a fabulous first day in Roma.  All of the buildings, and even the alley ways, are so so beautiful!

Anyhow, we're off to our tour, ciao!

*Excuse the language, those words are just so fitting.

^^ the aforementioned photo..

(We haven't uploaded our pictures yet) 

It's been awhile..

Greetings! We are now in Belfast, Ireland, which has quickly become our favorite stop so far, along with Galway. The city is awesome and so much more diverse than anywhere else we've been so far, it seems that self expression is a lot more accepted and pushed for. Mohawks, tattoos, colored hair, etc etc. Since our last post we have met more friends and crossed Ireland more than once. West to East and South to North. We have spent time in Kilkenny which is a smaller more medieval town that had a lot to do and a thriving night life. After Kilkenny we hitchhiked to Tralee, where we couchsurfed for a couple  nights with an amazingly nice woman named Sona. Tralee was small and didn't have much to do, so we did a bus tour around the Ring Of Kerry, a beautiful beautiful beautiful trip and we also made our way to a tiny town called Dingle, right on the Dingle peninsula for the day. Our couchsurfing host offered us a ride up to Belfast, a 5 hour ride, so naturally, we took it, which brings us to now, sitting in a coffee shop, drinking "black coffee" as they call it, which is just an americano..  Also currently trying to figure out accommodations for Oktoberfest, which is quite pricey!

So much in so little time

Greetings from Galway! We just finished cooking dinner, a vegetable and turkey breast filet stir fry, at our new hostel, Wood Quay.  Since our last post we stayed in the Lough Rynn Castle in Mohill, which was my graduation gift from Koby.  It was absolutely beautiful! We had "proper tea", strolled through their Walled Gardens, and roamed around the castle property quite a bit.  We also took advantage of the private bathroom to do a little laundry. Although, we didn't take into account that there isn't really a breeze here, nor is there much sun, so our clothes weren't even dry the day after we washed them, sooo we had to spend a few hours drying them individually with the hair dryer provided, which was quite comical! Staying in a castle was definitely one for the books.

<3
Kelli


I don't really have much to say, except that I am having a fantastic time! I really love Ireland, it's ridiculously beautiful and green, which is a lot different then everything I'm really used to. I also did not realize that Ireland is tiny, well not tiny, but small. Its super easy to get from one side to the other, nor does it take long. Kelli and I have spent time in Dublin at a busy hostel, Carrick-on-Shannon at a small, more homey hostel, Mohill in a huge Castle and now we are in Galway at a smaller hostel, which is also supposed to be "the place to go." We'll see how that holds up!

Here are some pictures to give you an idea.

 

The lake behind Lough Rynn Castle

The view from out River Boat trip in Carrick-on-Shannon!

Our travels so far

Lough Rynn Castle from the front

and behind

Drying my boxers with a hair dryer.. :(

Carrick-on-Shannon

Hello! Currently posting from Cafe Lounge in Carrick-on-Shannon.  Now we're in the countryside and it is beyond gorgeous.  It's what you imagine, but better.  The people are even more friendly and willing to help! The owner of our hostel, B-side Hostel, is so accommodating and is even driving us to our next destination tomorrow morning, which is Lough Rynn Castle in Mohill, where we'll be for about three days.  It's Carrick's 400th anniversary, so there is a lot of celebration going on! It's also a popular time for "stags" and "hens" parties, which are bachelor and bachelorette parties, except everyone here dresses up and it's pretty entertaining!
We've been cooking most of our meals lately(nothing fancy), at least one a day, which makes a HUGE difference.  We made dinner last night and breakfast this morning for less than 10 euro, which normally would've cost about 40-50 euro.  Which also means we have more money for alcohol and adventures=].
I really, really love Ireland, like maybe live here someday, love it.

Also, we've had so much support from both of our parents, siblings, extended family, and friends which made the biggest difference and really made this trip possible.  Although, most of the people we told have responded with, "That's so awesome, I'm so jealous" or something along those lines.  If Koby & I, two college students, working part/full time, living in one of the most expensive cities can make this work, what's stopping everyone else with similar circumstances?  If where you are now isn't where you want to be in the next couple years, what's stopping you?!  This is all out of love, I really just want everyone to be able to experience the fantastic adventure that we are.  We decided that we wanted to do it, bought our tickets at the end of April, and had no choice but to figure the rest of it out.  This is already so much more rewarding that whatever new shirt or pair of shoes I could have ever, ever purchased.  Happy (future) travels!

Much, much love,
Kelli

Day Two

Currently posting from Starbucks( :| ) because our hostel wifi is down.  Today we did a Guinness tour and became certified Guinness pourers!  They had a sky bar with a view of Dublin, so amazing! We also got coffee and walked around Stephen's Green, a beautiful park in central-ish Dublin.

Things we've noticed:

Guys wear sweatpants and pop their collars A LOT

Girls put on their make up at the cake store (Koby made a funny today..)

Apparently tights are pants here.. EXCEPT THEY AREN'T

No one wakes up before 8 AM

No one sleeps before 3 AM

The food is mostly carbs..

EVERYONE IS FRIENDLY AND IT'S REALLY REFRESHING

We are here! It feels like its taken a year to finally get here, but after waiting months for the day to come and then one dreadful five hour flight and one okay five hour flight we made it to Ireland. However, neither of us took in to account that it would be 5:15 am when we arrived. Once we got to Dublin all we wanted to do was eat, but apparently the Irish do not wake up until 8am, so we did a bit of walking. Breakfast was great and only the first of many. After that we went back to our hostel and took a 5 hour nap on the couch in the common room because we couldnt check in until 2. Its now 2:43pm, we are rested and happy, its time to adventure.

Cheers!

First post.

Hello! So obviously this will be our travel blog! Neither one of us ever blogs, so don't expect much more than poorly written posts with long, run-on sentences accompanied by blurry photos because we aren't photographers either. But, we'll attempt to update this daily. Anyway, we'll be in Ireland in less than 96 hours! Whoa.

:D