Monthly Archives: September 2025

23/09/2025
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Europe, Europe, Ireland, Travel

A Tale of Two Countries: From Cornwall Days to Dublin Nights

After spending 10 days in the UK, it was time to say bye and continue our journey.

But not before we spent a little bit of time in Truro and Newquay.

We wandered around our accommodations, the Mannings Hotel, and took a bit more of the architecture and, of course, a pasty. After eating a Cornish pasty, a local delicacy, we walked the streets until we found the Truro Cathedral. We had hoped to go inside, but it was closed. Still, it is a beautiful building.

After being “cross-blocked” by the church, we headed toward the airport. I was told it was a tiny place, so there wouldn’t be any issues going through security. We ended up getting to the airport way too early. So, we drove to the town of Newquay and decided to find a post office where we could mail home some gifts we bought on our trip thus far.

It was either that, or buy another suitcase…and we were not going to do that.

After finagling the gifts into two boxes and taping them down, we realized how much space we had in our bags. Maybe space is not the right word. We reduced the weight of our suitcases by unloading the gifts. Thus, we made our bags near the weight limit. Or so we thought…I was over by a smidge. The employee checking bags was very kind and saw that I had at least made an effort to reduce the weight in my bag, and eventually let the bag go through.

But back to Newquay!

From the post office, we walked down to the beach. It was a gorgeous day, with quite a few people out and about. We saw numerous families and dogs taking full advantage of the weather. Neither of us had any desire to get sand anywhere in our shoes or on our person, so we opted to stay above and admire the view.

Somewhere across the water was our next destination, Ireland.

After killing enough time watching the waves and (mostly) dogs play in the water, it was time to head to the airport. We dropped off our rental, said “ta ta” to driving in Europe, and made our way to our plane. As I mentioned earlier, Newquay is a quaint airport. Yet, it ran like a well-oiled machine.

I did not study abroad in Europe like many of my classmates, so I was only privy to stories about Ryanair. It’s the budget airline for Europe. There are nickels and dimes to be made with every aspect of flying, and Ryanair has that down pat. Snacks? That’ll cost you. Drinks? You’re shelling out some more cash. Checking bags? Crack open that wallet. Toilets? Welp, that was a rumour, along with the idea of standing seats. But you get the idea.

It was an “arduous” 53-minute flight from Newquay Airport to Dublin. But we made it.

We said “ta ta” to driving in Europe back in Newquay because we knew that we would be taking the bus, Uber, bikes, scooters, rail, etc, once we landed in Dublin. We could not have been more pleased with our decision as we made our way to our accommodation. Coming from the generally quiet and serene corner of Cornwall, Dublin was an assault to the senses.

There was a lot of honking, erratic driving, and swathes of people driving to and from the city centre. We both looked at each other and confessed that we were equally glad not to be driving in all of this mess. We also didn’t have any plans to venture out beyond the city, so a car was pointless.

After arriving at our hotel, we wanted to venture out and see some of the Dublin nightlife. We had no plans to do anything, so my partner found a pub and off we went. Walking the streets, we saw the sheer volume of people commuting or just walking the city. We snaked around Trinity College, ambled through town, and carefully minded our wet steps on some of the cobblestone streets. This brought us to The Landmark.

Located in the pleasant Wexford Street community, The Landmark serves as a local and international destination. We were looking for a quintessential Irish spot to have a pint of Guinness. I know, I know, that is such a banal way of thinking and very cliché, but we had to do it. We had been avoiding Guinness the entire time in the UK because we wanted to have one from the source. We were not disappointed.

Yes, I am wearing a Welsh shirt in an Irish pub. Deal. With. It.

The food was exactly what we were looking for, hearty and flavourful. Pair that with a Guinness and a Kilkenny, and you have the makings of a great night. And it was! Walking the streets on our way back to our hotel showed us another side of the city. One that was a bit quieter and less busy, but you could see the remnants of the earlier chaos.

All this to say, it was an ideal way to spend our first night in the capital city. We walked, ate, drank, and walked some more. Up next, more walking! And rain, a lot of rain.

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09/09/2025
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England, Europe, Europe, Travel, United Kingdom

A Night at The Eden Project: Lights, Music, and Nature

Plants. We all need them. Photosynthesis happens, and plants create oxygen. It’s a pretty basic understanding of the importance of plant life on Earth, but an apt one.

My partner loves plants. She cannot get enough of them. I am currently looking at a single bamboo shoot in a glass vase in front of me as I type. There are countless other plants around our place as well. I am indifferent to them, but she loves them, so we have them around. I believe my indifference stems from my childhood, particularly from being forced to help my parents garden on weekends. It became a chore, one I didn’t enjoy participating in.

Then, somehow, I worked at a nursery. Plants became my day-to-day. Did I retain anything I learned while there? Not really. I do appreciate plants, though! That appreciation extends to wanting to visit spots where plants and various forms of ecology are found.

Enter, The Eden Project in Cornwall.

Walking from the car park, I knew nothing about the place. We ventured downhill for what felt like forever because we decided to not take the pedestrian shuttle bus. It was a lovely night, with the weather being perfect, so we walked in. Once we passed through the turnstile, we made our way out to a balcony, and this was our view. I went in blind, and I was in awe at what I saw.

The entire place was lit up for the Christmas holidays. They were hosting a special nighttime light and music extravaganza, if you will. The geodesic domes were lit up, and the surrounding spots were also dotted with colourful lights. It was a truly inviting atmosphere for people of all ages. They even had an ice skating rink set up! We declined to skate but saw many people enjoying the rink.

There are numerous domes throughout the park. The domes represent different biomes. The largest dome simulates the rainforest, and the smaller one is more Mediterranean.

Walking around was quite the treat. Not only were the lights up and illuminating the plants in a variety of unexpected ways, but they also played bits from Hans Zimmer’s score from the movie Interstellar in the background. It created this ethereal and futuristic vibe for our walk among the plants. So cool!

If you ignore the music, lights, and the actual importance of The Eden Project, it reminded me a lot of the movie Biodome. Insofar as the biomes were in domes. That is the extent of my reference to that movie. Oh, and Kylie Minogue! Sadly, no Kylie there that night, but the experience of walking around was a treat in and of itself.

Those involved did an exceptional job creating a unique experience. There were disco balls in the rafters. Things that appeared to be jellyfish, or the woodsprites from Avatar, also looked to be floating above our heads at one point. Add in a waterfall or two, and the walk through the biomes was a pleasant and joyful way to spend the evening.

As we neared the end of the journey, we found ourselves face-to-face with home.

That’s right, we walked into a California-centric part of the biome! We love that we were both born and raised in California. It’s a special place. We have forests, deserts, beaches, and snowcapped mountains spread throughout our entire state. Sometimes those spaces can be mere hours from each other.

But with these wonderful spaces, we also realize how delicate our ecosystem is. Climate change is real (sorry, not sorry to the losers who think otherwise), and living in a state that recognizes that and is working toward solutions is vital to both of us. Seeing our home state represented so far from home was a nice cap to the evening. It reminded us of what we have back home, but also what we need to protect.

Numerous spots throughout the park take an environmental focus and look to educate the visitors. Beyond the typical Latin genus and where a plant can be found in the world, in some cases, a plaque will be displayed indicating what medicinal uses the plant can provide.

At the very end of our trip, we walked into the art exhibition portion of the park. This area is where local artists display their work, and it also houses hands-on exhibits for children. Given the late hour, there were no classes taking place for kids. There was, however, a giant egg-looking seed “planted” in the middle of the building.

It’s a 70-tonne carved piece of granite. It is massive. I had to completely zoom out my camera on my phone just to try and get most of the sculpture into the frame. It’s a stunning piece that cannot be missed.

With the walk over, we took one last look out at the domes. The sun had set entirely by the time we left, and the domes looked as if a party was taking place. I usually log these walks, so I wish I could tell you how many steps/miles we walked in the park. Alas, not this time. I will say that you won’t need your jackets while inside the biomes. We hastily removed ours once we got inside. You can really work up a sweat trudging through a faux rainforest!

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02/09/2025
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England, Europe, Europe, Travel, United Kingdom, Wales

Navigating the UK’s Narrow Roads: A Driver’s Tale

When I lived in Australia for a few months in 2007, it was the first time I had ever experienced driving on the left side of the road. It took some getting used to. I never drove a car while I was over there, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t an adjustment for someone accustomed to driving on the right side of the road.

Crossing the street meant, and means (present tense still applies because they still do it weirdly), that you look right first and then left. It also means that you have to prepare yourself to be on the correct side of the street while waiting for the bus, or else your bus will pass by you and you will be left standing on the wrong side of the street. Who can honestly say if that happened or not?

I feel like I adjusted well during my time Down Under. Even now, 18 years later, I still find myself occasionally looking to my right first before crossing a street. I sometimes justify it as “Well, the car that I need to really be aware of is the one on the far side of the street because that’s the one that can’t fully see me/that’s the one that could hit me. I can dodge the first one/they are aware of me, but the second car is the dangerous one!” Does it make any sense whatsoever? Not at all. However, not much in my mind makes sense.

After my first left-side driving experience in New Zealand in 2023, I was a bit more confident in my ability this time around. I got pretty comfortable driving and navigating. I was told that the UK was a completely different animal. Yes, the roads wind and rise like they do in New Zealand, but they also become so narrow that barely one and a half cars can fit down the road. It’s almost as if the streets were built before there were cars on the road! Gasp!

After the occasional bridge and overpass, also known as major motorways, the roads transform into something else. I hesitate to say that the streets ramble on and go all willy-nilly to take you where you need to go because at the time of their creation, I bet that those were the only safe options to take. There was no straight line option to get to someone’s home. The path had to wind around water or someone’s farmland. Needless to say, I was a bit out of my depth the first time around when I came to a spot in the road where it narrowed so much that I had to crank the wheel to one side so that the other car could pass, since they had the right of way. After I saw it in practice, I began to get the hang of the rules of the British road.

Now, not every single road was super narrow. Some, like the one pictured above, were decently proportioned to allow two cars to drive on the road, albeit very closely. The road pictured below is a different story. Aside from the weirdly named shop, FATFACE, you can see that the street is extremely narrow. Barely one car can fit down the lane. You can even see one parked in the distance to give you some perspective.

And yet, cars are still allowed there. I thought we were not allowed to drive there, given the volume of pedestrians in the street, but that was not the case. The cars drove very slowly and turned at the speed of a glacier.

I was pretty nervous driving on such narrow roads. I won’t lie. I was overly conscious of the people walking about, of the other cars on the road, and of the dogs.

The part that really tested me was when we drove on backroads. I am referring to the streets with no posted speed limit, or whether they were even real roads. JK, they were real roads. Our Welsh hosts said, or one of them said, that he drives close to 90 on some of those roads. His wife disagreed with him and shot him down. I believe he was exaggerating because the way some of those roads are, there is no safe way to drive that fast.

Here in the States, we have a few narrow roads and pinch points. Most of the time, they are bridges or private roads. There, you would give the right of way to whoever arrived at that point in the road first, and then you would follow. It’s simple. Try doing that when you’re reasonably sure the speed limit is 40 and there are 10-foot-tall hedges lining the road on either side, creating a maze-like experience. Then, you approach a narrow turn or lane and see another car. BRAKE! You wave the other auto on through, and they wave back because you did the polite and correct thing.

It’s a good feeling. Getting that acknowledgment wave. It boosts your driving serotonin, if that’s even a thing, and makes you crave that feeling. Basically, doing good does good.

After being a tad overly cautious at the start, I started to get my left-side driving legs and began to feel comfortable. It truly is an odd sensation with the steering wheel on the other side of the car. You get so used to driving a certain way for decades, and then, wham, here you are in another country driving differently, yet it is still the same. I know, it’s a bit “Is this guy high right now?” with his platitudes he’s spouting now, but it was only a brief moment! It was a fleeting shower thought.

There is something to be said about the difference in turning and changing lanes on the left side of the road. As a right-side driver, I am so used to and conditioned to having a car drive by me on my left side. It was a jarring sensation having them go by me on my right, next to my passenger. Anyway, I think I’ve written enough about driving in the UK for a total lifetime.

I will end this journey with a follow-up from my last post. It turns out I hadn’t told my now fiancée that I had thought about asking her to marry me while we were in St. Agnes. She texted me “wtf john” and “I wanted you to propose to me there!” Alas, I proposed at another place and time. More on that, much later.

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