Well it was decided that Plainger, Napper, Prawn and myself would meet in Dublin for Australia Day.
I decided that I would make my way to Cardiff then meet the others in Dublin. First stop was Bristol. Got out of bed pretty early and arrived in Bristol about 11am. Checked into the hostel but couldnt go to my room yet as it hadnt been cleaned. I decided to tour the city. The city is pretty small so the tour finished about 12:30pm and lucky for me I was staying on the waterfront next to about 6 pubs/clubs and a sports bar. I nestled into the sports bar for a few hours then checked into my room. There was a spanish guy(Francecso) in there and we went out for the night to the clubs along the waterfront. I dont have any photos of this night but lets just say we got drunk and met some of the locals. Next day I had planned to do a day trip to bath but ended up doing pretty much the same as Bristol wasnt big enough to bother doing anything else.
Then onto Cardiff where it was a slightly more cultural experience. I visted Cardiff castle which was pretty boring but then I went to Millenium stadium and had my own personal tour as no one else had booked onto the 1pm tour with me. It was cool to check out the change rooms and then walk out the tunnel to the fake crowd screaming. I had a few beers in the local pubs both nights but ended up being pretty quiet, which was good as dublin was next and I wasnt exactly sure what awaited me. Cardiff could definitely be a place to head for a weekend of drinking with the boys. More details can be found at http://journals.worldnomads.com/scottie/post/581.aspx
Now 6 days in a Dublin. 6 Days is a long time. The others werent turning up for 2 days so i thought i would do my cultural activities ealry. I managed to go through the guiness factory and have a guiness 7 stories up overlooking Dublin. It was pretty cool to walk through and check out how guiness is made. I spent the first 2 nights just wandering the streets and having a few beers in the temple bar area awaiting the arrival of the Australia Day party. Then the morning arrived, it was Australia Day and I didnt have anything planned. I managed to find a place called the Woolshed which was to be our place of festivities when Napper and Plainger arrived(Vince went soft and wasnt coming until the Saturday). We spent the day at the woolshed drinking fosters and wearing stupid straw hats. There was a wet t-shirt contest, but this wasnt really like the ones in the movies, but hey, it was better than nothing. We then headed out a local club and hanging with the local irish people. Cant remember much else. Next morning we had the full irsish breakfast with a glass of wine each, and it was game on from there. We walked through the whiskey factory and completed the tour with a tasting tray of 5 whiskeys, followed by a pub and a tasting tray of 9 beers. We never looked back that day and ended up becoming members of a casino and putting plenty of money into the irish economy. Then saturday morning came and it was more of the same however replace 3 glasses of wine for breakfast with 3 bottles of champagne. Prawn turned up and we went to the guiness factory so those who hadnt done it could go through. The line up was too long so we caught the dodgiest horse and cart back into town, where we egged by kids about 12 years old. The eggs would have missed but prawn managed to leap high into the air breaking the egg over all of us. The night turned out to more drinking and partying with several pubs and clubs involved. Poor old plainger got left behind on one of the moves so decided to head back to the hostel. Only problem being he had no idea where to go, so rang Vicotria(his girlfriend) back in london for directions. 1.5 hours later plainger made it home. Sunday and all the boys went home and I had one more night of drinking guiness with the locals before heading back to london on the monday.
Overall it was an awesome trip and dublin was one of the best trips away I have had. Dubliners were quite friendly and we all enjoyed the craic!
Next stop AA.
