Day Two - Polish People Kick Ass

So day one was not so exciting. Day two on the other hand has been full of adventure. It started off with my decision to leave Dublin. I just got too lost there and I didn't know what was fun to do. I decided I would try my hand at hitchhiking to Galway, a small-ish town on the west coast of Ireland.

I figured if I'm going to hitchhike, I should buy a knife. Just in case, you know? I went to Tesco, the local grocery store, and grabbed myself a knife and an empty cardboard box from one of the employees. I made a sign stating my intended destination. While sitting on a bench in a mall constructing said sign, an old man named Gerry walked up to me and started chatting. I could tell he was a bit off but he invited me to get some tea so I felt it would be a good opportunity to chat with a local. This guy was a weirdo. He kept going on about nude beaches on the Catalina Islands. I heard stories about how he went to these beaches, took his clothes off, and how much he loved it. This guy would not shut up about these damn beaches. He then advised that I should take my clothes off if I find myself in such a situation. The whole time this bloke was chatting with me I kept getting the feeling he wished I would take my clothes off right then and there in the cafe. It was weird.

After drinking tea he guided me to the street I needed to walk down in order to catch a ride to Galway. Gerry felt inclined to give me his contact info so that I may send him correspondence while on my trip. I politely obliged but all the while in my head I was secretly thinking about my chances of outrunning him if I were to just bolt off. I'm pretty sure he wouldn't be able to catch me, even with my backpack on. At what appeared to be the end of our encounter I wished him well and mistakenly gave the man a hug. Gerry then almost kissed me. For some reason he thought a hug meant a make-out session. Awkwardly, I gently pushed him away and said my final goodbye and quickly walked in the opposite direction as him, even though he was going the way that I needed to be going. Before I left I wondered how long it would take to have my first truly bizarre experience. Two days is the answer to that one.

After bidding Gerry farewell, I headed down to the edge of town to catch a ride. I walked for maybe 20 minutes then decided to try my luck with my makeshift sign and raised thumb. It didn't take long for a taxi to stop next to me. I assumed the man was trying to get me into his car so that he could charge me a fare to take me where I wanted to go. I told the man that I wasn't looking to get a taxi and he responded that he was off duty and on his way home and he would be happy to take me to a better spot to get a ride. He had a petrol station in mind that was right at the edge of Dublin that he said would be perfect for hitching a ride. After getting dropped off there I thanked him very much and rejoiced in my first successful hitchhiking attempt.

The second try was a bit harder though. I waited about half an hour in snow and cold winds for a ride. Nobody wanted to pick me up even though there was a lot of traffic going past. Finally a woman in an SUV stopped and I ran to get into her car. It is unusual for a single woman to pick up a hitchhiker so I was very grateful that she would take a chance on me. We talked the entire way about how she was from Poland, how she moved to Ireland to work, US politics, Irish economy, all sorts of stuff. She couldn't take me all the way to Galway but the town she lives in is only 20 km from my destination. She dropped me off and I raised my sign and thumb once more. Within a few minutes another car stopped, this time a single man. He was polish too! What are the chances of that. Apparantly polish people are more apt to pick up hitchhikers because hitchhiking is more common in Poland than some other countries. Ireland also has a very large polish population, so I was in luck! Unfortunately this ride would only take me within 8 km of Galway, so I needed to get one more. Only a minute or so passed before my final driver showed up, a younger Irish lad. He took me right to the city center, gave me some advice on Galway, then we parted ways.

Galway is a cool little town. It has a population of about 70,000, largely made up of young people. I believe there is a college around here somewhere. I feel much more comfortable here then I did in Dublin, and I'm sure I'll have more fun too.

I'm very excited to have successfully hitchhiked the width of Ireland, even if it only takes two hours to drive it. I have pictures but I can't seem to figure out how to upload them to this internet cafe's computer and the time here is expensive so I'll upload them later. I'm having a blast so far. I feel like I'm starting to get into the routine of my nomadic lifestyle.