Lessons learned

For those of you who are unaware, I've spent the past 8 days in Ireland. It's been such an amazing experience, but along the way I've learned quite a few things about traveling. Now, I'm definitely not new to traveling as I've grown up a military child, but there are so many things I couldn't have anticipated.

1. Six girls and eleven bags attract a lot of attention. This especially goes if about half the group has luggage with wheels. Dragging those things through city crowds and in the wee hours of the morning through a sleeping Irish village feels like you're trying to wake the dead.

Lesson learned: Definitely pack light.

2. Sleep is overrated when traveling. There has been maybe one day out of eight that I have gotten a normal night's sleep. And you know, I'm okay with that. There is so much to do and see, sleep is one of the easiest things to sacrifice. Besides, I found riding the bus around Ireland has helped me at least try to put pennies into my sleep debt.

Lesson learned: Don't complain about lack of sleep. Drink some caffeine and get over it.

3. Some people embrace their birthday suits. Each place has different acceptable social norms. This week, we have definitely learned this the hard way. We've slept in hostels for the most part, and you definitely share the room with other travelers. About half of the roommates we've had have slept naked. Yeah. We've just had to deal with it. You can't control everything around you, and there's no use losing the little sleep you do get over it.

Lesson learned: Different place. Different customs.

4. Not everything goes according to plan. This one seems rather obvious, but you really don't expect something to go wrong until it actually does. Our week has gone quite smoothly (with the exception of our naked rooommates), but there was one particular incident that stressed me out the most. We were on our way to Galway from Knock, and we decided to take the bus to get there. We were all chipper and hopped on the bus, even if it was a bit early. After about ten minutes of sitting on the bus, our driver told us the express bus had just pulled up behind us. We all jumped off, and quickly tried to transfer buses. By the time I got on the bus (I was the last one in our group of seven), there were not enough seats. The driver told those of us standing we had to get back on the bus we had just gotten off. There was a man sitting with his bags in an empty seat. I repeatedly asked him if I could sit in the seat, but he kept mumbling and waving me off. I was so stressed. I just decided to hop off with another girl from my group. This would see us separated from everyone else, but it was better than having everyone in the bus staring at us. To try to keep it short, things didn't go exactly as we had planned. But that's okay! We ended up meeting up with our group at the hostel in Galway. We all made it in one piece.

Lesson learned: Be flexibile. (Though, I don't advocate separating your group. Try to do everything in your power to stay together.)

5. You don't need a Facebook worthy picture of every single thing. Having pictures to remember all that you did is nice, but you don't need you perfectly poised, hair coiffed by every statue, beach, meal you've ever had while on vacation. Enjoy the moment! Take in the sights! Take a picture every now and then, but don't be so busy looking at the camera screen that you're missing what is right in front of you.

Lesson learned: Don't just be in the moment, live in it.

If you've gotten this far into this cheesy post, I commend you. Haha. I really do mean all these little lessons, though. Traveling is such an opportunity for self growth. I highly recommend it! I yearly dose should do. Haha.

I also promise that a post about Ireland (+ pictures) is coming soon!

xx Adri