We wanted to meet Irish locals...of course, we met the rowdiest of the bunch

This was our first travel day while on the trip and it was definitely well-timed: we were hungover after last nights epicness, the weather was crap, and it was time to leave Dublin for Belfast to the North. Our initial plan was to hit the Jameson Distillery and the Chester Beaty library before departing but on this particular morning though either Whiskey or books made Ruth and I both shutter. So we trudged through the rain to the bus station, boarding the noon bus. The ride was uneventful as Ruth slept in typical "Mouth Open fashion" while I read about Belfast on my Kindle. The three hour ride passed quickly and before long we found ourselves in an equally rainy Belfast with no British pounds and no idea where our hostel might be. Of course, a friendly Irishman in the station coffee shop again came to our rescue when he drew us an excellent map of directions.

Upon arrival at the hostel (in a shady back alley off of a nice main street), we were greeted by Greg, a friendly South African who would end up coming to our rescue later on...

Feeling adventurous, we had elected for the 8 bed option after going with 4 bed at the last hostel. We figured we would just meet more awesome people like Sean and David at the last hostel...we were wrong. Let me preface this with two things:
1. Every Irish person we had met to this point was both kind and respectful.
2. Because of this, I had stated on the bus that I hoped we could really meet and befriend more Irish locals.

With these things fresh in our minds, Ruth and I arrived at our Linnen House Hostel room to find two Irish friends, Rebecca (21) and Carmichael (17), downing mixed drinks happily (which should have been an immediate red flag for me since the hostel had clearly posted signs stating how drinking in rooms would end in being expelled from the hostel). Anyways, they cheerily sparked conversation with us even though it was sometimes hard to hear with their thick Irish accents and vocabulary. Aside from finding out about how Irish despise American politics and gluttony, we discovered that the other people in the room that night were friends of theirs going to a Deathmau5 concert that night. RED FLAG: Ruth and I are dead tired and looking to rest up and plan travel to Scotland and these Irish kids are throwing a full on rager pregame (and likely postgame/drunkin' antics after the concert)! We knew this could be our first adversity on the trip. Pretty soon our worst fears were realized as 12 Irish teenagers of the worst kind ( spiked hair, tight jeans, lack of respect) showed up all at once and began smoking and drinking inside the room. I attempted to tune it out and book the hostel in Edinburgh on the iPad but before long I was ready to just peace out for a different hostel. Then came our man Greg from before walking in! My initial hope was that he would see the alcohol and kick all of the hooligans out leaving Ruth and I with a huge room to ourselves. However, we got the second best option of him moving us to a quieter room away from this craziness. We ended up being moved to a huge and cheaper 21 person room but it was just fine because we got our good, restful night sleep :)