Hello from Ireland, from Cork (south), west-coast to Limmerick
and Dublin (East-Center)
Date:	9/26/99 9:52:29 AM Eastern Daylight Time

Typing this from the Globe Cafe on the O'Connell St. in
Dublin. leaving tomorrow night for London by bus,
connecting to bus to Paris-another 2 nights without sleep,
but I like this on the on-the-go lifestyle...

Yvonne, my lowly bus-mate from Germany, received your
message. I am glad you are settling down nicely, and with
positive mental attitude, in your new environment. Good
luck with all your plans and aspirations. I'll be in touch.

Femsi, thanks for that blue shoulder bag, which is holding
all the trawl stuff I am accumulating along the way.
However, I am offering my gratitude with mixed emotions as
the damn thing now weighs 25 kg (60 or so pounds), which,
before my trip, I had resolved to carry, as a physical
exercise. Of course, there are times when I feel like an
ass for having decided so.

Tom, your email about the Western Coast of Ireland being
most beautiful reached me in the morning of my trip to
Cork. I bit the bullet, took a train to Dower, rented a
car, and drove west to Lands End, then up to Wales. After
crisscrossing that part, I came back to Bristol, dropped
off the car, waited for the 11 -. 30 night bus to Cork, the
same I would have taken from London. Reached the ferry
station at 2 in the mom, took the 4-hour ferry, continued
another 4.5 hours by bus to Cork.

Slept the night in Cork-Isaac Hostel is really nice and
close-rented an Alamo car, and drove the southwest comer of
Ireland thru Bandon, Clonakilty, Bantry, Kenmare, Killarny,
which I was told is the most scenic area of Ireland, then
to Limerick, to Dublin. Have whole afternoon and night
here, before catching the 10 (mom) bus tomorrow to London,
which, as you remember, includes also a ferry ride. Thanks
for your suggestions for enhancing my visit.

2. Anatomy of HEAVY backpacks and some of the idiots who
carry them. When I was in South Pacific, I had mailed to
myself 3 or 4 heavy packages containing the travel
brochures and post cards I collected along the way-, I did
NOT this time. Why? Before my trip, I watched on TV a lady
mountain climber put more and more rocks in her backpack
and climb steps with them, in preparation for the mountain.

I resolved to do the same, though along the way my
resolution oscillated occasionally. Indeed, one of the
reasons I stayed at the dump in London is so that I could
leave the heavy (25 kg) second bag there for my excursion
to Scotland. And I felt like a bird with only one light
bag. And the real backpack has, besides back straps, nice
wheels. Often I also felt like cheating, like in bus and
train stations, smooth sidewalks, etc., by merely loading
the heavy bag on top of the one with wheels and rolling
both. Of course, on rough Old Town streets, usually covered
with cobble stones, I had to carry them, regardless of how
I felt, the heavy one, which is only a shoulder bag, on top
of the backpack.

Of course, it is one thing to decide to exercise and
another to actually carry a 33 kg load on one's back,
sometimes for a mile and/or 4 stories up. These do not
always sync, especially when the exercise comes after a 20+
hours of bus or train ride, and/or 2 nights without proper
sleep. The satisfaction came with the satisfaction of
watching myself evolve physically, almost on a daily basis.
But there were/are also additional costs, besides the heavy
load. Like many other true backpackers, almost all my toes
and parts of my feet are now bandaged and there are times,
after a "heavy" and long day, when I walk as if on stilts,
despite the new Alpine shoes I purchased in Stockholm,
which now feel NOT wide or long enough ... 

In this line, resolution or not, I do not want to declare
myself a total idiot. My return ticket to Miami is set for
Oct. 5. However, I also made contingency plans for
extending my stay until about Christmas to do also Southern
Europe and Morocco. I will decide about the extension in
Pads, after a good nights sleep and some rest from the
hectic pace I have been pursuing, which also includes
arranging my trip on the go. I have an idea where I should
be next, but the day/time, mode of transport, and details I
decide on-the-go. Albeit, if I continue after Oct. 5, 1
will leave the heavy bag in storage at the hostel in Paris,
and accumulate travel stuff in my backpack which is easier
to carry due to the twin straps.

On the funny side, sometimes I left the heavy bag alone at
a comer at a bus/train station, like in Bratislava, to go
sightseeing for 2 or more hours, thinking that if anyone
was idiotic enough to walk off with a 25 kg load, he/she
was welcome, perhaps also doing me a favor. So far, I seem
to be the only idiot willing to do so. Then again, I have
on hand, at the condo and with me, more travel info and
exotic details than the American Express travel office.

Pads may be merely a stopover destination for me this time.
I haw to be in Munich for the start of the Octoberfest,
though I am really not a beer drinker. I am going there to
listen to German drinking/drunk songs which are rough and
lively. I'll decide how long to stay when I am there . . .