6/2/2014 - Dublin to Holyhead to London

Currently sitting on the Ulysses - surprisingly opulent for a three hour plus journey! I tried to do the bus but got nervous and took a cab instead - forgot to make him turn on the meter, whoops, but he said the price to me before I got in and I was okay with it some I'm trying not to beat myself up. My ankle also still hurts - that's a problem. I'm resting it now. I just wish I knew what was wrong with it - is this the kind of thing an elastic thing would help with? I just literally NEVER hurt myself like this! Well, I can rest it for huge chunks of today, on the sail and rail portions, and I'll just have to favor it while I'm walking. Maybe I'll find Nando's tonight and just take it easy - the park is very close to this next hostel so maybe get dinner, go there, chill out. Take it easy. See some sights tomorrow and see PUNCHDRUNK! Wish I could do five pound Matilda. 

Waking up this morning wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. But at like 4am someone in our room woke up, rustled a little, then lefit screamed and started making tons of noise - did they experience my greatest fear, sleeping late and missing transit? Oy vey. Before I left the hostel I checked Viber and I had a text from Mom saying she needed  to know how I am. I'm not really sure how to answer that question. I'm not really sure how I feel. On the one hand, no uncontrollable crying jags, I've been talking to people, I've gone out and done things, seen sights, etc. I feel okay - but at least today I feel like I'm not better than okay. I'm not fantastic. I'm worried about the next step, about catching the train to London and the subway to the new hostel, about my RyanAir flight, about how much harder it's going to get when I leave Sweden. In Ireland at least the signs were mostly in English. What happens if I get as lost as I did yesterday and I can't read the signs that tell me how to find myself again? Just lots of worries, hopefully over nothing. Maybe this trip will help me be less of a worrywart. And the transit stuff will get easier once I have my pass - no more waking up insanely early/arriving insanely early because I'm worried about missing my boat. If I do, I'll just catch the next train. 

Okay, I'm ready to hit the seas - Holyhead is pronounced 'Holly-head', Ulysses 'You-lysses' instead of 'YOU-LY-Sees.' I think I just found the fre wifi, yes!

Okay, off we go - farewell, Dublin. Wonder what Gaelic is for goodbye? Welcome is Failte. OH GOSH, I keep forgetting - on the walking tour the first day we had stopped on O'Connell Bridge and the tour guide (Laurence, with the newsies cap and the hickeys) was talking about IRA blowing up Nelson's Column/the fight for Irish Independence/Northern Ireland and some guy going past heard and yelled 'tiocfaidh ar la! We'll get our freedom!' I almost wet myself with excistment. 

There are like eight sets of separate siblings/families where all the kids are dressed alike. Why?!

I'm on a train in Wales! Dwin hoffi a Cymry! It's interesting - the beginning was all farmland but not quite flat, all with little hilly rocky bits and tiny puddles of ponds. So many sheep! Sheep on a golf course, with golfers wandering through them! I have to change trains at Chester for the London Euston station train. The train's down along the coast now, I think - I tried to get some pictures of little towns but the train is too fast. I like the way the houses go, all rectangular and straight streets, little row houses. We went past a huge crumbling castle as well, killer. 

Made it to London and hostel, no trouble! I'm getting Nando's take out and am gonna go back to the hostel and ice/rest my ankle - we'll see how it feels tomorrow, there's a free walking tour but it's doing Big Ben and Westminster - stuff I've seen twice already and it's pretty timeless. Maybe I'll go to King's Cross tomorrow and take a pic of me at the platform and then just hung around. I could hit Brit Museum too, that's very close to King's Cross. But MOST IMPORTANT is to rest the ankle. I could go to Hyde Park if all else fails and read and write and that would not be a waste at all.