Dublin to Belfast

So after our second day in Dublin, our adventures ended right next to the bus station, just in time to catch a bus out of Dublin back to Belfast. Seriously, we walked into the station as the bus was beginning to let people on. Unlike the bus to Dublin, this was a double decker, and so there was plenty of room for me and Bethy to spread out. It wasn't long on the road before we both had our cameras out, trying to catch pictures out of the bus windows.

After which I promptly fell asleep. I didn't wake up until we were pulling into the last stop outside of Belfast, and by the time I was actually alert, we were pulling into the Belfast Europa Bus Station. Bethany and I gathered our things and went in search of a map to find our way to the hostel. Unlike the Dublin station, there was a hand map posted right as we walked in, and soon we were on our way to the hostel.

Overall, Belfast isn't a huge city, so we weren't walking long before we were getting close. There was just one snafu. The hostel was on a road just off of University Street. But there were no street signs. So when we saw University Road, we assumed we remembered wrong and turned. This just got us terribly lost for about 20 minutes until a nice hotel hostess told us that we had already been on University Street, which apparently University Road is also off of. In the end, we had only been a block from the hostel.

The street sign for the hostel's street. Unfortunately, only visible from the
opposite direction we were walking.

We arrived just before check-in closed. They had almost cancelled us out, because we had originally planned on getting in several hours before. Thankfully, they still had our spaces, and check-in was a breeze. Especially accompanied by the pot of tea they brought out for us.

Arnie's, the hostel we stayed at.

For 10 pounds, the hostel was surprisingly clean and well kept. All of the staff and other guests were really friendly, and it was all amazingly laid back. I'd highly recommend the hostel to anyone, and it'll be the first place I look up when I go back to Northern Ireland.

We spent the rest of the night pretty quietly, just running out to the store for some dinner then staying in and watching the tele with the other guests. It was nice to watch and understand TV again, something I haven't done since I left the U.S. I never realized how much I miss commercials as a view of things happening in the world. After the TV movie, we all headed upstairs for bed, and Beth and I were planning a big tour day of the city for the next day.