I personally don’t think that “explore belfast” as title is appropriate. As a matter of fact, we didn’t quite explore the city as we were only visiting Belfast castle and strolling around the city centre. haha. This particular trip was probably the most random one I’ve made with numbers of misfortune occurences. So, this is how the story goes.. Me and neni headed to Bristol because we booked ryan air ticket Bristol-Belfast. It was amazingly cheap, I tell you. 5 pounds for single flight ticket just sounded ridiculous yet miraculous to us — students — if I might add. So we thought that it would be a brilliant idea to make a go for Bristol daytrip before flying to Belfast. It would be great indeed, WITHOUT THE RELENTLESS-STUPID-UGLY RAIN. So misfortune #1: relentless-stupid-ugly rain. I believe that all travellers hate rainy day when they are on a travelling mission. Bristol is nice, it has a great shopping centre named Cabot Circus. We didn’t have so many pictures there, blame the stupid rain. I think Bristol looked nicer than Birmingham, no offence. hahaha. Misfortune #2, I gave up all my toiletries to the airport security guy. I didn’t store my stuff in the baggage because it required further charge so I just brought a handbag, squeezed all my stuffs there, took it with me to the aircraft. But I completely forgot the airlines regulation on liquid and stuffs. And to my dumbest, I actually took the brand new bottles of facial cleanser and moisturiser I bought couple days before (which in total are quite costly for me). They were each 150 ml whilst the limit for each bottle of liquid is 100 ml. I did lie to them by telling now it’s only half left, they just couldn’t see it. But airport guys are always heartless everywhere, that’s all I know. They didn’t care to what I said. So there they went, all of those brand-new-quite-costly-stuffs were thrown to the bin. I was really into pieces, seriously. A serious heartbreak. We arrived at the Belfast International airport quite late and we didn’t want to stop by any stores to buy toiletries. I ended up sleeping like a smelly cat. haha.
But I loved Belfast at the first sight, just as soon as I set my feet on the Belfast land. haha. You know there are some political issues between Northern Ireland and England. I don’t really care anyway. Despite all the issues, I personally think Belfast is a nice city. We just booked one night at Belfast hotel but somehow, whimsically, tried to find ways to extend our stay to 3 nights. hahaha. Well, that sounds crazy, I know. Searched for hotels rate for 2 days and information to change our flight schedule. Nevertheless, the price estimation took us aback. So we just gave up with the ideas to extend the trip. The day after, I got up a bit early and rushed to the nearest store to buy toiletries because I didn’t want to appear as a smelly ugly cat for the whole day for real. The weather was amazingly sunny in the morning, and I hummed “GREAT..It’s gonna be a great day with great weather”. But it turned out raining very heavily in the afternoon and to make things worse, my umbrella failed me. Misfortune #3, RAIN agaiinnnn, yes that stupid ugly rain (it’s always rain and rain that I really hate) and it resulted in a terrible headache. sooo, Belfast.. at first we planned to visit two tourism spots there: the Belfast castle and titanic tour (the city is very well-known for the titanic history). As Belfast castle is the furthest among those two, we went there first, by bus. From the guide book it was written that bus journey would only take about 10 minutes to Belfast castle. It turned out, about 20-30 minutes. I asked the bus driver to kindly give a sign for the Belfast castle bus stop to us so then we knew where to get off. He said “sure, no problem”. Turned out he was (very) late to give us the sign that I told him. We stopped a bit far away and walked farrrr until we arrived at the castle. It was raining so heavily, in case you forget. Both me and neni were bewildered about the entrance of the castle. hahaha. It was up on the hill so we could say we were two hill-climbers of the day, perhaps? hahhaha. Thank God we found a shortcut. Misfortune #4 bus driver stopped far from the site, caused us to walk far to the castle and confusing entrance. But the castle was good. Luckily, the rain just suddenly stopped when we reached the top of the hill where the castle was lied. Beautiful view from the top! So I switched on my camera, then realised that there was something wrong with it. It took a while until it was really really successfully switched on. I was so depressed and frustrated. How could that happen to meeeee? All those consecutive misfortunes?? At first I switched it on, but nothing happen. The screen was all dark. I switched it off again, switched on again, switched off again, switched on again….. thousands time doing the same things, until it finally ON! It has never happened like that seriously. I don’t know what is happening to my lovely camera. Now, my camera is still sick. I have to attempt thousands times of switching on and off until in really is ON. I want my camera back healthy. so yes, misfortune #5 camera breaks-down that makes me quite depressed. I feel bad. We didn’t have much time to visit the titanic site. Our flight back was at 6.30 pm and it was already4 pm when we were over with the Belfast castle tour. So we just took the time enjoying the city centre vibe and stopped by a little cupcake cafe which successfully cheered me a bit.
Northern Ireland is really good. It’s worth my another visit anytime soon. I promise. And despite all those continuous misfortunates, I’d rather take them as precious experiences. There are always some things that travelling offers to us. All-wrapped to an unforgettable experience. I feel good now I’m home, in Birmingham, which although I don’t really think it’s as beautiful as other cities, I feel it’s my home where my heart belongs to. hehe. I’ll never get bored of travelling no matter how it will surprise me (both in good and bad way). All that matters is the experience!
