Often you try to make nice with the people in your room, give them a greeting and maybe say which beds are taken. But as previously mentioned many times on this blog, most people give a head nod and simply pass you by. This place however took me completely by surprise. Check in https://www.hostelworld.com/hosteldetails.php/Abrahams-Hostel/Dublin/109 bag down, blah, blah, blah, up to my room. Four beds taken, three vacant, one reserved for me. You can usually tell girls stuff apart from guys by what they’ve laid out; boots, pink towels, purses or handbags, etc. It’s nice rooming with ladies, so when I saw her stuff on the floor I was pretty…

The bus took me through emerald fields and down the coast where the city waited for me. A light drizzle of rain claimed the sky, as it would through most of my time in Northern Ireland. The hostel wasn’t too far away; down the main street, a left, a right, then a left again. My backpack felt as if it had grown heavier, not due to packing any more, but rather a lack of carrying it over the last month. Checking into Lagan Backpackers hostel https://www.hostelworld.com/hosteldetails.php/Lagan-Backpackers/Belfast/35530 was quick and easy, the usual passport and credit card check, then into my room. I was surprisingly looking forward to meeting new people again, but…

For five long weeks I stayed hunkered down in Britain. For the whole of December, the holidays and into the New Year, I was put up by my loving, distant family, whose relationship is too complicated and personal to post on an internet blog. Nonetheless, I am eternally grateful and thankful to both of them. A lot of my winter was spent, thankfully, indoors. I only managed to get through two chapters over the month but hey, it was somewhere to relax and rest up over the holidays; everyone needs a break. Their air mattress was surprisingly comfortable and the meals we had were warm and rich. Gone were the…