galway

Date traveled: October 31, 2017

As much as I think it was the right decision to see several places on the Ireland road trip, I think next time I’d do fewer & build in more breaks to soak it in. We only spent one night in Galway, but it felt like a misty place to feel time stop for a while. Nearby are the Aran islands that seemed like it’d be nice to trek around for a day or two, but alas there was no time. There is never enough time when travelling.

On our way in to the city, after so many narrow highways without scratching the car, I smacked a parked car on a side street, popping out the driver’s side mirror. Luckily we were able to pop it back in & never heard about it again, but at the time we felt pretty exasperated and were worried we’d have to fork out a bunch of money to the rental company. One of the things I learned when I was a teenager was how to pretend like I haven’t done anything wrong and put together temporary solutions long enough for me to disappear un-reprimanded, & this proved a time to re-channel this hazy skill.

Driving around a handful of blocks, all one-ways, all mauled with pedestrians, trying to find parking while it’s dark and I’m cranky from the long drive, was pretty stressful. It’s crazy how you can driving in rural areas for so long, and then you get to this super densely-concentrated small city where a giant party is just starting.

The downtown was extremely lively. I’ve actually never seen anything like it before – town of 60,000 or so, but thousands of people in this pedestrian-focused downtown area, car-free for much of it, were going in & out of bars with live music. It wasn’t just young people either. I’m not sure what it reminded me of: a university campus maybe? a giant disorganized pub crawl? & I’m not sure how much being there on Halloween had to do with it.

Later we learned that Galway was known as a university town – we met someone in Dublin who did their undergrad there – which made a lot of sense in retrospect.

It was a place to be social, & frankly I wasn’t feeling very social, which was too bad. It wasn’t a place, or at least a night, to keep to yourself & drink in the ambiance. It was a night for story-telling & loud music & dancing alongside strangers both tourist & local. Sometimes our moods don’t match up to the environments, which was frustrating. But it’s time & space, right, & the time wasn’t clicking with the space, as much as I could objectively appreciate the space & think that, at the right time, I’d be having a blast.

The town had a charm. If you’re on the west coast of Ireland, by all means it’s nice to see. Wandering around the streets with a pint glass, with every bar around full of a party, really is a great space to enjoy a holiday in. It’s pretty much exactly what I’d hope mid-sized Ireland would be, & something that isn’t equaled anywhere in Canada I’ve been, or really anywhere period.

Isn’t that what’s great about travelling, or places in general? They seem unique, or like they live up to some tv-or-internet-infused fantasy of a stereotype? One thing that doesn’t translate in the fantasy is me, & travelling had made me realize that place is only half the equation, if that.