First Weekend Trip to Wicklow Town

As I think I have mentioned in my past blogs, all the Irish students go home on the weekends. Because of this, Carlow is fairly quiet.  Not wanting to waste any time, we planned a trip to the coast for the weekend. Our only criteria for where to go was that the town is on the sea, mountains are close by and that we could get there by bus. Wicklow Town seemed to be perfect, and it was! We used the (slow) internet to book our hostel, find bus times, and to research activities to do.  We all woke up Saturday morning to catch the bus feeling very excited and unprepared. Luckily though, we found the bus stop, rode to Dublin, survived changing buses and eventually arrived in Wicklow Town. After getting off the bus we basically wandered the town and asked locals for directions until we arrived at our Hostel.  It was a great location, just minutes from the beach.  The couple who owned the hostel was very accommodating and helpful.  In fact, Trish joked that they knew more about the town than the tourist office.   They themselves gave out tourist information to guests and even offered to give us lifts to spots around town.  After settling into our rooms of 6 or 4 beds (all bunked) we explored town to find a restaurant for lunch.  A few of us chose to eat at a nice little place called “Hannahs.”  We had wraps, salads, and chips (French fries!). It was delicious; in fact, all of the food I have had in Ireland so far has been fantastic. Although, I am pretty easy to please when it comes to food.  After lunch we wandered (we seem to do that a lot haha) down to the shore.  As my pictures on Facebook show, we came across the harbor, sailing club, beach, cliffs, mountains and Castle ruins that date all the way back to the Vikings.   I’ve decided that it’s the free thing like talking to the locals, people watching, or taking in the beautiful scenery, that I enjoy the most.  After a few hours we went back to the hostel to meet up with the rest of the group.  Trish (hostel owner) then gave us some exciting options to do for the rest of the evening and we chose to take a nature hike through the farmland and hills to the light houses. It was absolutely beautiful and was what I think most people picture Ireland looking like with the rolling green hills and sheep.  A few of us even decided we are going to build a hut out in the fields and just live off the land, hahaha. But really.  After the long hike we were starving and Trish recommended a pizza place with a buy-one-get-one deal so of course that’s what we did.  Between the 10 of us we ate 6 pizzas and countless bowls of ice cream and cans of pop. It was so delicious.  The rest of the evening we relaxed and socialized in the common areas of the hostel.  The next morning we pretty much woke up, had breakfast and caught the bus back to Carlow.  It was a spectacular, first, self-planned weekend trip! We gained lots of travel experience after missing a bus stop (or two) and survived our first hostel!  All in all a great weekend and I am looking forward to going to London in a few weeks!