It’s been a while since I’ve blogged, on this blog or my personal blog, and a lot has happened. My good friend William and Kate got married, Aunt Elizabeth visited Dublin, and Uncle Barack and Aunt Michelle visited both Dublin and London. Fancy that!
Tag Archives: Non-Wedding
Plenty of Fish in the Sea
Its been months since the last update! Since then, well, Allan’s found his (our) apartment in London, I’m moving out of my Dublin apartment to a shared one still in Dublin. We’re trying this based-in-different-countries again and see where this will take us. The main thing though, is that we will be working on the same project, so we’re together most of the week still.
But lets forget all these complicated matters for now. We finally got off our behinds long enough to explore a little bit of Dublin. We consulted the magic Trekkin in Dublin guide and figured we’d give Howth a try. Its about half an hour away from the City Center by train, and promises great views and even greater seafood. We were craving for the now more frequent sunshine and fish other than salmon (we love salmon, but we need variety) so we decided, Howth it is!
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other Howth tourists enjoying the view |
The trail started out as walking right beside the main road. With a backpack and hiking boots and a variety of wet/cold weather gear, we felt a little odd. Especially since most of those walking were in sneakers, leather shoes, boots and dresses even. Eventually we found the path that went up the cliffs and snaked around to give us great coastal views. It even became a little more “forest”-y at one point, with trees and shrubs all around. We wandered off the path at one point to find a spot beachfront and break for lunch, before we found the trail and followed it until it crossed a golf course and back into civilization i.e. roads again.
It took us about 5 hours, with breaks included. At the end we ended up in a pub having Fish and Chips and some Seafood chowder for our efforts. Needless to say, it was a tiring day but well worth it. We enjoyed Howth so much, we returned the weekend after with some friends. The second time around we didn’t follow the trail and just went Fishmonger hopping and sun soaking.
More photos from both trips are in my flickr account.
I think I married the wrong man…
So, I “officially” changed my name to Vistan a few months back when I got my new passport. On my trip back to Dublin, the lady at passport control informed me that there were three female Vistans who were on their wanted list:
- a “Vistan, Maria”
- a Vistan, (I forget, but let’s pretend its “Concepcion”.. any similarities to anyone’s name is purely coincidental)
- and a “Vistan, Socorro” (wanted on three counts)
Maybe I should’ve just kept my maiden name…or maybe I should’ve married someone else? (Yes I know you’re reading this *hug* :p )
I foresee problems getting NBI Clearance in the future…
First Anniversary
Over the weekend, Socs and I celebrated our first year anniversary as husband and wife. We wanted to do something special other than a “regular” dinner out or weekend trip. Socs was able to find a great place on the other side of Ireland that would suit both the occasion and our personalities. Enter Delphi Mountain Resort.
Paddy’s Day (in the US!)
Before I post any wedding updates, I’m taking a detour so I can post more of “Allan and Socs” as opposed to just “Allan and Socs’ Wedding”.
A few weeks ago I escaped from Dublin for a few days so I could spend time with my other half. Being married and living in different countries may be difficult, but it certainly gives me a good excuse to take off from work and travel a little bit.
So, I flew out of Ireland and into Chicago, just in time for the day when the city celebrates St. Patrick’s Day. I may have left the country temporarily, but Ireland seems intent to not let me stray too far away.
Allan was to spend the weekend with friends and we made the decision for me to fly in just weeks before. I had three weeks left on my visa and I could take time off from work — so why not?
I was more than ready for a mini break and was looking forward to spending time with Allan. The sights, people and even the Manny Pacquiao bout were all welcome extras. There may have been a little too much more alcohol than I should have taken given the travel in such a limited amount of time, but even that went down better than expected.
Overall, it was well worth the expense and effort.