A slideshow of Tarynne’s photos from the first year of our trip around the world.
Jan. 17, 2013 to Jan. 17, 2014.
Seattle, USA to Goa, India.
It took 365 days to create this video.
Over 2,730 photos attempt to illustrate what travel means to me. To forget familiarity, reassurance and dive into adventure. To be thrown into a million or more scenarios that remind you how small you are in this universe, but somehow with tough love remind you its okay to do big things, to dream big. That you are capable of exactly all that your mind is capable of.
Travel is the voyage of discovery. Discover what?
Whatever it is you are looking for. To realize what makes you you, and equally as interesting, what makes others other. To be in someone else’s home and resist the urge to rearrange the furniture and just to let their home be exactly that, theirs.
To learn to be comfortable being uncomfortable. To entertain yourself watching how you grow, adapt, change. To watch your own opinions change, preferences shift, tendencies, values, goals and ambitions more appropriately align with what it is you genuinely want from your life. You’ve removed anything and everything that has ever made you you. Your home, social support, career, clothes, things, car, and any residue and reputation of yesterday. You have no history. Tomorrow is a blank slate. All of these ‘permanent’ qualities that make you you are all changing.
Incredible. It’s an opportunity for anything and everything. To look at every place, person and situation for the very first time.
To travel is to play with your imagination. You dream of what a place and people should be, may be. Travel accurately throws it back at you and tells you straight up how it is. Travel gives you the opportunity to see it how it really is.
I am grateful for my camera as it has helped me to capture what my own eyes see as what is. The moments of humility, gratitude, frustration, abundance, joy, expansion, resistance and growth have been frozen for a fraction of a second and I am so excited to share it with you!
We spent the entire weekend doing absolutely nothing and it was absolutely perfect. We needed to be planted on our feet, to be safe, and reintroduced once again to the comforts of home. So we setup camp in Neptunes Hostel and made dinner, read books, and streamed the Cougs and Hawks at awkward hours in the early morning. It was a perfect couple of days.
Saturday, September 7, 2013
Due to a marathon, The Ring of Kerry and Dingle roads were closed. So instead we ended up walking to the impressively preserved 15th century Ross Castle.
We then went to a chic cafe to get some coffee to fuel up for the long night ahead.
We retreated to our spot on the couch at Neptunes and proceeded to have a mellow evening, until about 3 a.m. when we were up watching James’ cougs kick butt.
Sunday, September 8, 2013
Despite that the weather was crap, we weren’t sure when our last day in Killarney would be before moving on, so we went ahead and jumped on a bus tour to Dingle.
We stopped first at Inch Beach. Once again we were impressed at how the rolling green hills spill right into the turquoise waters.
The early afternoon was spent stopping along some pretty cool viewpoints during the ride around the peninsula.
One of our favorites was Dunmore Head.
We also stopped at a visitor center and museum before arriving into the town of Dingle.
Although incredibly touristy, we liked the small fishing town (less than 2,000 people actually live there). We spent a good hour wandering through the streets and docks.
Unfortunately, Fungie the dolphin wasn’t out in the harbor during our brief visit.
We were back to the hostel around 5 p.m. and lounged around until it was time to watch the hawks beat the Panthers at 6 p.m.
Yep. Things were really starting to feel like home again and we were really starting to annoy the security guard on nightshift.
Monday, September 9, 2013
We spent the entire day hanging out by the fireplace and walking around Killarney.
It was a perfect, nonproductive day. According to this blog, I seem to be excelling at those lately.
Tuesday, September 10, 2013
We took the bus from Killarney to Cork. After a good five hour journey we checked into Bru Bar and Hostel. We walked around and explored Cork. Cork is fine, it’s just a university city with nothing sparkling to gaze at, but it served as the perfect transition from Killarney to Dublin. We did manage to stumble upon a market, which of course I was pretty thrilled about.
We returned to the hostel and quickly decided we were bored. I announced that I was headed to an evening yoga class, and somehow James agreed to join me.
We went to Himalaya Yoga in downtown Cork and nervous James chose a Level 1 class, claiming that he was new to yoga and didn’t know anything. Hey, whatever. I was just happy I had a yoga bud.
We enjoyed the class, James clearly knew exactly what he was doing, and afterwards we ended up chatting it up with the owner.
We walked back to our hostel and enjoyed a chill night talking about our plans through the live music in the bar before calling it a night and retreating to the closet-sized dorm.
Wednesday, September 11, 2013
We took the bus to Dublin. The ride took nearly three hours and was more than enough time for me to get extremely frustrated that I was actually reading Fifty Shades of Grey, inarguably the WORST way to spend a second of your life. I think E.L. James should be sentenced to a life of planting trees just for wasting paper, polluting book stores, making Seattle look like a disturbed city, and calling herself an author.
Hey if anyone has some GOOD book recommendations please send them my way (think Paulo Coelho, Osho, happy and inspiring or teach-me-something worth knowing stuff!)
We spent the day in the all-too-familiar Dublin cruising around. James got some amazing Mexican food and with a happy belly, we ended up going out to the bars and making one last go out of Dublin.
Thursday, September 12, 2013
We hopped on the bus to Belfast. After a two and a half hour drive we arrived in Belfast.
James picked out the coolest hostel ever, Vagabonds.
We walked around Belfast and checked out Victoria Square Shopping Centre, got some Starbucks, and then saw City Hall all nice and lit up.
We spent the night at Vagabonds and finalized our plans for the next few days exploring Northern Ireland!
Peace out Ireland!!! Thank you for letting me reset my Visa!!!
We rolled into Dublin at about 4:30 p.m. and picked up Emmy outside the bus station. After a few wrong turns we eventually found our way onto the M6 via the M4 whipping our way toward Galway and the west of Ireland.
We cruised right through Galway and headed north up the coast toward the town of Clifden, which is located a few miles from the gate of Connemara National Park.
It took about two hours for us to reach Clifden, and of course Tarynne insist that I stop the car so she could take some pics of the scenic drive.
When we arrived in Clifden we made an immediate stop at the first gas station we came across for gas, booze and a few snacks for the night.
Of course it wouldn’t be a successful first day of a road trip without me making a wrong turn in the complete opposite direction of our destination. Shortly after leaving the gas station I turned left instead of right and we bombed down the road for about 20 minutes before realizing I had gone the wrong way.
Tarynne and Emmy can’t be mad though, because my wrong turn resulted in some of the best photographs of the entire trip…
After back-tracking 20 minutes I finally got us on the right road and about half an hour later we arrived at our campsite, Acton’s Beachside Camping.
It only took a few minutes for us to set up the tent, build a campfire and crack a few brews.
Oh, and cook a tin of beans and a slice of sandwich meat for dinner. No expense spared.
Monday, August 12, 2013
Well, it didn’t take long for our trip to take a massive turn for the worst.
I woke up at 6:30 a.m. on Monday morning in excruciating pain, unable to open my eyes. It felt as if someone was taking about ten needles and stabbing them right through my eyeballs.
Obviously an ideal situation when you are camping in the middle of nowhere.
Given the fact we had just spent the night sleeping amongst a bunch of tall grass, I chalked it up to me being extremely allergic to the foreign Irish grass surrounding our tent.
While I stumbled around the campsite with my eyes clenched closed basically screaming in pain, Tarynne did what Tarynne does best and took pictures of the beautiful campsite I couldn’t see.
With me blinded by what I though was the alien Irish grass, our trio faced a horrifying, but unavoidable situation. Tarynne was going to have to commandeer the right-hand drive, left-hand shift, manual VW Golf.
It was one of the most terrifying 30 minutes of my life, especially because I had my eyes closed and had absolutely no idea what was going on.
Thankfully we made it safely to Clifden. Upon arrival I went immediately to a pharmacy to get allergy medicine and eye drops. While I tended to my dire medical situation, Tarynne and Emmy picked us up coffees and some breakfast supplies.
With drugs and breakfast supplies in hand, we climbed back into the Golf and cruised out of Clifden toward Connemara National Park. Well, if you can call it cruising. I think we might have left the clutch in the middle of the road somewhere between Clifden and the park gate.
By the time we arrived at Connemara National Park I had managed to get my eyes half open, but only with the assistance of Tarynne’s pink sunglasses and both my hands as sun visors.
Despite some initial reservations I decided to accompany Tarynne and Emmy on the hike into Connemara National Park and up to the summit of Diamond Hill. Although I didn’t see much from the top, it now looks like the view was pretty spectacular.
By the time we got back to the car my eyes weren’t any better. In fact, they seemed to have gotten worse.
Once again Tarynne got behind the wheel of the rental car and drove us safely 80 kilometers back to Galway where we planned to stay the night.
By the time we arrived in Galway I was in absolute agony and we had to spilt up. Emmy went to find us a place to stay, while I, guided by Tarynne’s hand stumbled through the streets of Galway looking for an Optometrist.
We finally found one inside the Eyre Square Shopping Centre. There was a line to see the optometrist, but I quickly made it clear to the lady behind the counter that I would not be waiting in a line and that the eye doc would be seeing me immediately.
Fortunately, the lady behind the counter abided and I was ushered into the back room to have my eyes inspected.
It took the doctor all of 15 seconds to tell me I had ulcers in both eyes and that I needed to go to the emergency room immediately. He quickly wrote a note for me to hand to the emergency room doctor that said what was wrong and he sent me on my way to University Hospital Galway.
Just our luck. For the first time in six weeks we try to take a trip to see the sights of Ireland and I end up in the goddamn emergency room. Classic.
Anyway, after Tarynne bull-dosed everyone in sight at the hospital and got me to the front of the three-hour line, I saw the doc and got what I needed: a local anesthetic and some antibiotics.
The local anesthetic worked immediately and I spent the rest of our trip pouring it into my eyes so I could somewhat see and enjoy the sights around us.
The good news was that while Tarynne and I dealt with my medical perils, Emmy was able to secure us a nice fancy 35 Euro room for the night.
Tuesday, August 13, 2013
On Tuesday we woke up and headed straight to the bus station to catch a ride to the ferry terminal so we could spend the day on Inishmore, the largest of the Aran Islands.
When we arrived at the island we immediately hit up the Spar grocery store for lunch and then rented bikes to explore the rest of the island.
Oh, and of course before leaving on the bike ride we went shopping for wool hats…
Just in case you were wondering, riding a bike with your eyes closed in a place you have never been before is not exactly the greatest idea.
Although I once again missed most of it, the bike ride around the island was beautiful.
It was a very wobbly ride, but we all made it to the main attraction of the island, Dún Aonghasa, a prehistoric fort on the edge of a 100 meter high cliff.
After spending about half an hour at the fort we walked back to our bikes and began the ride back to the ferry dock.
On the way back we stopped at a beach and relaxed for a few minutes in the surprisingly hot Irish sun.
When we got back to the ferry dock we had time for a quick pint before catching the boat and bus back to Galway where we once again spent the night.
Wednesday, August 14, 2013
On Wednesday morning we grabbed a coffee at Butlers Chocolates and then a quick breakfast sandwich before setting out in the car due south toward the Cliffs of Moher.
Google drive time says the trip only takes 1 hour and 23 minutes. There’s clearly not a line in Google’s code that accommodates for the difficulty of navigating the tiny Irish roads in the deathtrap on wheels.
This paint job is probably the only thing that could have made the situation any better.
Anyway, about three hours after leaving Galway we arrived at the Cliffs of Moher. The cliffs are well worth the trek and without a doubt the best “tourist attraction” we have seen in Ireland to date.
With the low clouds and mist coming off the sea we might as well have been on the set of Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince.
We spent a good three hours at the Cliffs before starting the drive back home.
On the return journey we drove back via Limerick where we dropped Emmy off so she could catch the bus to Dublin.
We finally arrived back home by 10 p.m.
If we learned anything from the trip it’s that Galway is cool, the Cliffs of Moher are dramatic, eye infections suck and despite the shaky start, Tarynne is actually a better driver than me.
AWAY2TRAVEL 