Today I returned to Ireland. I rarely fly when traveling between London and Ireland. I'm sure there are very cheap flights when you book in advance. But I rarely have a planned schedule which allows me to book far in advance. And I personally find train and ferry travel much more enjoyable, dignified and less stressing that budget airlines and busy airports. It's also handy if you have a lot of luggage as there are no restrictions like airlines have.
There is a "Rail and Sail" ticket which I usually get from Euston Station, London up to Hollyhead (a port town in Wales) and then the ferry crossing to Dublin. It costs less than £40, but is a full days travel. I don't mind the full days travel as it's nice time for thinking, reading and writing. Though more often than not, there are very interesting people sat next to me and I don't get any of those things done.
On this trip, I was especially lucky with seat-mates. On the long train journey to Wales I was next to a South African man in his sixties. I say South African, but really he fits into that hippy category "Citizen of the World". He was such a fascinating guy. He grew up in Africa, has traveled all over the world, lives in Goa, India, has a girlfriend in London, and was on his way to an Irish farm to spend the winter helping out for free board and food. Some of the stories I coaxed out of him were side-splittingly funny. When telling me about his travels in Eritrea, northeast Africa, he recalled that the local alcohol was so good that his girlfriend vomited and he wet the bed.
Initially he seemed standoffish, perhaps because I had been sitting in his seat (accidentally of course). But when he realised we share a passion for travel, he opened up, I mean, he really opened up. During the hours we spent on the tracks I heard about his travels throughout the world, about his business in Goa (selling T-shirts), about his twenty-one year old daughter dying suddenly of cervical cancer, and of his own battle with Parkinson's disease.
I had noticed a slight twitch when he boarded the train. And a couple of hours later, he was really shaking. I didn't want to ask about his condition, but was really glad when he brought it up because I was curious. Man, he made so many jokes about his Parkinson's. He told me he gets so many compliments on the dance floor from girls back in India. "But", he said, "I can't help it. It's the Parkinson's making me shake like that. They think I'm pole dancing, but I'm holding the pole so I don't fall over." Haha, what a legend. And on the laptop he had with him, he told me he had tons of unwanted files from accidentally clicking downloads all the time. I really love a person who can make jokes about themselves. And I have a lot of respect for him going to Ireland to do physical work over the cold, wet months despite his condition. He was diagnosed with the illness in 1989, but has only recently starting taking medication. Before that, he just maintained a positive attitude and tried to manage without meds. Though he did admit to having tried some alternative medicines such as blood draining.
We chatted about all sorts of other things too including Atheism which we seemed to be on the same page about. He said "my god is spelled with two Os", which I thought was brilliant, and made many other witty comments like "I'm not saying I don't believe in an invisible world".
We parted ways in Hollyhead to take different ferries as both Stena Line and Irish Ferries operate there. Boarding the boat I got talking to a Portuguese girl who was on her way to visit friends in Dublin. She was fun and interesting and we sat together on the boat and enjoyed a little packed lunch picnic, coffee and plenty of joking around. She, Mariana, coincidentally is living in Hackney, quite close to Karol. She is doing a PhD in Archaeology which sounds both fascinating and fun. I had never thought of archaeology as a fun field before speaking to her, but actually it does sound quite appealing. When a team is doing a dig they can be somewhere way out in the wild, sleeping in tents and living quite rough. That sounds adventurous as well as the bond and comradery one must experience working like that. And of course, there is discovery; one of the reasons people travel so much - to discover, to learn, to find something new. Maybe I'll start digging holes.
In Dublin Ma and Da picked me up and drove me north for some good, home-cooked food and a good nights sleep.
There is a "Rail and Sail" ticket which I usually get from Euston Station, London up to Hollyhead (a port town in Wales) and then the ferry crossing to Dublin. It costs less than £40, but is a full days travel. I don't mind the full days travel as it's nice time for thinking, reading and writing. Though more often than not, there are very interesting people sat next to me and I don't get any of those things done.
On this trip, I was especially lucky with seat-mates. On the long train journey to Wales I was next to a South African man in his sixties. I say South African, but really he fits into that hippy category "Citizen of the World". He was such a fascinating guy. He grew up in Africa, has traveled all over the world, lives in Goa, India, has a girlfriend in London, and was on his way to an Irish farm to spend the winter helping out for free board and food. Some of the stories I coaxed out of him were side-splittingly funny. When telling me about his travels in Eritrea, northeast Africa, he recalled that the local alcohol was so good that his girlfriend vomited and he wet the bed.
Initially he seemed standoffish, perhaps because I had been sitting in his seat (accidentally of course). But when he realised we share a passion for travel, he opened up, I mean, he really opened up. During the hours we spent on the tracks I heard about his travels throughout the world, about his business in Goa (selling T-shirts), about his twenty-one year old daughter dying suddenly of cervical cancer, and of his own battle with Parkinson's disease.
I had noticed a slight twitch when he boarded the train. And a couple of hours later, he was really shaking. I didn't want to ask about his condition, but was really glad when he brought it up because I was curious. Man, he made so many jokes about his Parkinson's. He told me he gets so many compliments on the dance floor from girls back in India. "But", he said, "I can't help it. It's the Parkinson's making me shake like that. They think I'm pole dancing, but I'm holding the pole so I don't fall over." Haha, what a legend. And on the laptop he had with him, he told me he had tons of unwanted files from accidentally clicking downloads all the time. I really love a person who can make jokes about themselves. And I have a lot of respect for him going to Ireland to do physical work over the cold, wet months despite his condition. He was diagnosed with the illness in 1989, but has only recently starting taking medication. Before that, he just maintained a positive attitude and tried to manage without meds. Though he did admit to having tried some alternative medicines such as blood draining.
We chatted about all sorts of other things too including Atheism which we seemed to be on the same page about. He said "my god is spelled with two Os", which I thought was brilliant, and made many other witty comments like "I'm not saying I don't believe in an invisible world".
We parted ways in Hollyhead to take different ferries as both Stena Line and Irish Ferries operate there. Boarding the boat I got talking to a Portuguese girl who was on her way to visit friends in Dublin. She was fun and interesting and we sat together on the boat and enjoyed a little packed lunch picnic, coffee and plenty of joking around. She, Mariana, coincidentally is living in Hackney, quite close to Karol. She is doing a PhD in Archaeology which sounds both fascinating and fun. I had never thought of archaeology as a fun field before speaking to her, but actually it does sound quite appealing. When a team is doing a dig they can be somewhere way out in the wild, sleeping in tents and living quite rough. That sounds adventurous as well as the bond and comradery one must experience working like that. And of course, there is discovery; one of the reasons people travel so much - to discover, to learn, to find something new. Maybe I'll start digging holes.
In Dublin Ma and Da picked me up and drove me north for some good, home-cooked food and a good nights sleep.
Making new friends right up until the end.
