Me, my sister and a brother and his wife suddenly decided to go for holiday together. It was their idea to chose Northern Ireland neither me or my sister had been there before. He planned everything, flights, accommodation and car hire.
The day finally came when we had to board flight to go to NI (Northern Ireland). It was an early flight. I tell you what, boarding Budget Airlines doesn't feel like a that kind of flying experience that you desire. I have always flown in Qatar Airways and other ones but always felt nicer there. The terminal felt like a Victoria Coach station and when we were actually there inside the plane I fell asleep. It was a mere 1 hour journey and there we were, ready to land on the NI soil. I didn't see any scenary cause I was sleeping and another reason was I was not in the window seat. :( But that is what we paid so that is what we get I guess. I have seen those budget airlines show in TV and imagined my journey was better than what they show in telly.
Funny thing is people actually stare at you cause we have different skin colour and they might have never spotted anyone like us so frequently.
It took us nearly an hour to get the car hire which was already booked. Soon after that we started roaming around Belfast international Airport. We went to nearby lake, Lough Neagh. A big lake whose waves felt as big as sea's waves. We still had a whole day to roam around so we decided to go to Silent Valley Reservoir. This place was recommended to me by a instagram follower 'frantic_photography' few days before our trip. That place was awesome. Some things and places are better of seeing yourself. It is amazing to see how human being managed to create such a thing, what a engineering at that time. I also paid tribute to those who died while building that reservoir. I can't explain how beautiful it felt to run wildly around that area. The sounds of massive fall of water, smell of grass, freshness of pure mountain water, the breeze that passed through my cheeks. We all were pretty exhausted and hunger stricken till we reached the apartment.
Luckily there was a Tesco store just below the apartment we stayed at. We cooked a proper dinner and before even finishing one single program in telly we fell asleep in couch.
Next morning we had planned to go to Portrush. Driving in Northern Ireland was a real fun. I tell you what, the roads were wider, toilet signs found everywhere, FREE PARKING signs were ludicrous and people of NI actually GIVE you WAY. I have driven in Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Kent, East Anglia, Yorkshire, Wales, Sussex, Essex, Surrey, and many other places but never felt as nice as driving in NI. This time we stayed at ''No Alcohol and No hot food'' allowed in the room Youth Hostel. There were other people staying there as well. After we unpacked and relaxed, we wanted to go for stroll. According to the recommendation of the owner of the hostel, we decided to take the Causeway Coastal Route from Portrush towards Balintoy. Many beautiful places followed after that. White Park Bay, Carrick-a-Rede, Rope Bridge, Dunluce Castle, Giant Causeway and so on. It did rain for a short period other than that weather was favourable to our trip. To get to the Rope Bridge was 15 minutes walk. We didn't cross the bridge cause being NEPALI we already know how it feels like to be on a rope bridge. We have so many rope bridges ( झुलुंगे पुल ). The longest time we spent was at Giant Causeway. It was such a feeling which I do not have words to explain. We saw a lonely sea-lion as well. We met a really lovely couple Jeff & Christine from Seattle, USA. They were really nice people and we exchanged some conversation. Finding out that we were Nepali, seems like they were really excited. They said they would love to go there someday. It feels nice to hear that people know about Nepal. The waves were really really big comparision to the waves I saw in England. Just staring at the waves and seawater we spent lot of time there. In the evening ( the opening ceremony of ParaOlympics), we sat at a pub nearby and drank MUST not Miss drink - Guinness.
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| Natural formed hexagonal stones |
The next morning I woke up earlier. I decided to go for a walk. The waves were even bigger in the morning. Slamming very hard on those rocks yet they could neither move nor deteriorate those coastal stones. I felt like '10,000 white horse running and rushing towards the shore. I have a video that shows briefly. We had to get to the airport by 3 pm so we couldn't really go anywhere else. Instead of that we decided to take a long drive and go through the mountains, forest and landscapes of NI. On the flight back, it was Air Lingus. Thanks god it was a little bit better service. I had a hunch that I could see something nice. I did see Anglesey and my sister saw Isle of Man from other side. It definately seemed like Snowdonia near Anglesey with high mountains. But I am not sure of it. I can see only clouds for some time. The clouds and the waves I saw in the morning looked similar. Some places, clouds looked like a Candy stick of Kate Perry song 'California Girls'. It is just amazing to how clouds stay like that. As soon as our plane entered London, we could see the dense houses, M25. I was more excited to see London Eye, O2, Thames River exactly the way I see in 'Eastenders', Parliament House, Oval Building, Tower Bridge and many many things I have known of. It was like a free Aeriel view of London. A boy infront of my seat was really excited as well. My heart was at peace after I saw Wembley Stadium, felt like home. I saw Wimbledon Centre Court, blue tank of Southall and so on. Landing was pleasant. After all the passengers got out I wanted to thank the pilot for bringing us safely to our destination. It might just be another journey of a day for him but not for me. The airhostess showed me where pilot was, just coming out of cockpit. I went to him on my way out and told him, 'Thank you for bringing me safely. I watch lot of those Aircrash Investigation program in National Geography Channel in youtube'. He laughed randomly and said, 'Oh none of that happened today' and gave a big smile. First time in my life I thanked any pilot.
Hence, there we were, in our city, London. As soon as we came out of plane we could see people of different ethnic background, busy and narrow roads, smells of curry in bus, and a car overtaking bus when oncoming traffic was just 2 or 3 yards away and so on. Still being in London feels different. It feels like home now.
My short trip budget trip to Northern Ireland was more than what we bargained for. If I get a chance in future I would love to go for 5 hour long walk through the Causeway Coastal Route.
Thank you for reading this long post. Hope you can feel what I felt there but again words aren't enough to explain the beauty of nature and the beauty of feeling awesome.
limshaku
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| Silent Valley reservoir |
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| Carrack-a-Rede, Rope Bridge |
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| Carrack-a-Rede |
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| Giant Causeway |
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| Sunset, sun looks too close at 7 pm |
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| waves and sunset |
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| I think it is Anglesey and bit of Snowdonia |
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| Tryanna scare me aai |
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| Clouds vs Waves, similar |
