Happy Hippy Traveller: The adventure begins!

Welcome to the magical land of Jess.

Feel free to grab a cup of tea and make yourself comfortable. Ill put you in my pocket and take you on my adventures.

I am on a great big adventure at the moment - in beautiful Europe. I hope to take 'the road less traveled' and learn as much as I can about the world and all the variety it has to offer, and of course learn the mysteries of myself on the way.

So here I am - in Dublin and I keep forgetting I'm on the other side of the world. I have been working and living here for 6 months now, enjoying the craic. Although enjoying the craic in Dublin is a pretty expensive thing to do - so many pubs to be investigated (who has the best pint of guinness?) And at five euro a pop - I soon have to choose between food and pints (guinness is almost a meal isn't it?). So that's where all my money went. Its funny though, I have come all the way to Dublin - the capital of drinking - to realize what an absolute waste it is. Back home in Oz, it has been my way of life. Don't get me wrong - a drop of wine shared amongst friends or a nice cold beer after a hard days work is great, but going out to get drunk for no reason other than because we can and not remembering a thing the next day - nursing a sore head - only to fix it with another big night - its not going to be a part of my life anymore. I guess being around it so much here, has made me rebel against it. So in the 6 months I've been here - I've quit binge drinking, smoking and I'm a vegetarian. And it hasn't even been hard. I guess when you have the will, you have the power.

So ill just give you a little insight of my time on this magical Island so far..
As soon as I got here - I couldn't understand a word the Irish were saying! Especially when I started working, I would just laugh and smile (assuming they were saying something funny - which is most of the time), but now I am used to it and accidentally have an Irish twang in my accent sometimes. Just call everything a yolk and say its bleedin savage if its really good otherwise call it a feckin eejit! The Australian accent is really rough though. Compared to everyone else I sound like a country person with missing teeth spitting on the floor chewing on hay.
At Christmas time, it really felt like Christmas. They go all out here, lights, doll house displays, lit up Christmas trees everywhere and Christmas markets with mulled wine.. it also snowed a week before so everything was blanketed white - a truly beautiful sight. It doesn't usually snow in Dublin so I was very lucky! And you could tell because I saw at least 4 people slip over on my way to work each day - knowing that I was next!

Dublin is a nice, cozy city.Its small enough to feel personal and big enough to have so much going on! There is plenty of art here, galleries and shows everywhere. And there's markets and vintage shops funky little bars with loads of live music. There's also three beautiful parks near my house, I have to walk through one everyday to work. I think that's what kept me sane. Those couple of moments of peace and beauty. What counteracted my peace is working so hard. I have been working crazy hours full time since I got here. On the minimum wage which is less than I was earning when I was 15 working at a petrol station cleaning. But the people I work with made it worthwhile. I consider everyone I work with a good friend. I guess we all spend alot of time together, but we really have been a team. Its like a big family. But I think it will be my last bar person job for awhile though. From now on I will only work in a job that helps the world and is positive - no more working just for the money. Do what you love and the money will follow.

So my adventuring starts here. For the rest of my time overseas - I will be volunteering and spending as little as possible! If you are willing to do the work - there are opportunities everywhere! Of course you could just work your butt off and travel comfortably, seeing the same things that millions before you have, (or you could see from a click of a mouse) OR you can get amongst it! And make your adventure a big learning experience, really challenge yourself to question everything with a curious, open mind. I have never worked so hard as I have here in Dublin. Long hours on the minimum wage behind the bar and for what? To spend the money on things I don't need. The best way to save - don't spend.
I came here with only the things that could fit into my backpack. Now that its time to move on - I have had to get rid of SO much. It really is a waste. Clothes, beauty products, hairdryer and straightener - all that money that went into my luxuries - are now given away. I met someone from Brazil who lives by throwing out something old to replace for the new. So simple. Of course on the road, you have no choice - but even at home - do you really need all that stuff? Does it really bring value to your life, will people accept you and like you more because of it? Who cares! I feel so much freer without it all now - my whole life fits into a 65L Backpack. And it feels good.

I am wrapping up Dublin this week to head over to County Clare to do a Vipassana Mediation course for 10 days. It sounds amazing and its world wide and you know its genuine when they ask for donation only, they do it out of love - not to make a profit. Now this wont be any holiday retreat. You aren't allowed to speak to anyone, no books, phones, excersize - no distractions whatsoever. Just you and your mind in silence. Its going to be tough - my mind can be such a bully sometimes so hopefully we get along. You don't realize how active and cluttered your mind is until you try to silence it. How can I fully accept my new experiences ahead with an open mind - if my mind is already full of junk?

I will then be heading off to a farm in County Clare to do some wwoofing. I am so excited about this. I can't wait to learn how to garden, build and live simply. Invaluable information for the future. They have no running water and a compost toilet. I don't want to depend on hiring a different person for something to be done, when I can feel the freedom and satisfaction of doing it myself. I also don't want to depend on the constantly rising prices of fruit and veg at the supermarket - grown in a chemically grown mass produced farm. When I can grown my own with love and nurture - getting as much of that natural goodness as possible. Its a bit like mass producing meat really. When you eat those poor animals who haven't even seen the light of day - living a life of death and disease - you eat all that negative energy with it. The same goes if vegetables aren't grown naturally and freely.
Anyway the farm I am going to is so remote that I will need to hitchhike there. How exciting! And what safer country to do it in than Ireland - everyone wants to help! I am going to try to rideshare/hitch to most of the places I'm going.
After my wwoofing I will be cycling down the west coast of Ireland with my friend. I am by no means a fit cycler - a cycler at all for that matter but Im reading to rise up to the challenge. My carbon free 3 weeks. I have a really good Northface tent (second hand from gumtree) so will be camping most of the time. Now we probably picked the worst country weather-wise to cycle in as Ireland's famous for its constant rain - but its will be beautiful anyway. Plus were staying optimistic, we will deal with that when we get to it. We plan on riding only 50 to 70 kms a day and have only a rough idea where were going - that way we can go whichever way we feel and see what surprises Ireland has for us. My housemate got the idea from reading 'Cycling home from Siberia' - which is a great book and definitely recommend it! Also we have a mutual friend who we love dearly and he is in a wheelchair so we are doing it on his behalf! He doesn't know yet though so shh.
We will be filming it, as my friend is studying film at Uni so I will put it up to share :)
So that's all for today but I will give you a quick peek of whats to come in the next few months... a couple of funky festivals in Somerset and Cambridge, England in July - Amsterdam Pride in August and volunteering to save the turtles while camping on a beach in Greece - the rest will sort itself out along the way.