Humpday was bad. I woke up and knew I’d gone overboard with my running. Dear left leg, I hope you heal soon so I can stop whining about such minuscule matters in life when there’s bigger issues the world is facing.
Wept at absolutely everything – inpouring my lowkey anxiety
Wanted to punch everyone doing April Fools prank.
I believe in Mediums more than ever.
Started reading The Five People You Meet in Heaven – Mitch Albom
Went to bed in a much better mood.
Amidst this discombobulated time in everyone’s life I’ve being finding refuge in a lot (okay a few) of activities and one being reading books. Fiction is great for escapism and The Hating Game did exactly that. It’s a light romantic read that leaves you day dreaming about your own Joshua (phoarrr) and fills your heart with buckets of happiness. This book is silly simple – a slow-burn, enemies-to-lovers, office romance kind of story but it works great if you’re looking for something heartwarming and it was just what I needed after reading 21 Lessons for the 21st Century by Yuval Noah Harari. Sure its predictable with the enemies turns to lovers theme but Sally Thorne writes in such a thoughtful style and considering this was her debut novel I found it to be a very impressive book.
The Hating Game is about Lucy Hutton and Joshua Templeman (both very competitive) who work in a publishing company and they’re competing for a promotion which adds fuel to the fire to their already stressful-hate relationship. The book follows the relationship between these two people, which sounds so-so-lala but it’s the way in which Sally Thorne nails the creation of these characters that have their fair share of angsty emotions but without being over the top. Its cute, funny, witty, engaging and emotional – everything you want in a book.
The way Lucy’s character is written makes her very relatable and easy to sympathise with and contrary to the beginning where he is stand-offish and cold Josh brings a lot of heart and warmth to the book as his story slowly unfolds. You can’t not love the two characters, which makes you love the book.
The negatives? If I had to really dig for criticism I’d say the secondary characters were pretty invisible in the sense that they weren’t developed particularly well. But I guess the focus was Lucy and Joshua so I’m going to say that it wasn’t a big deal!
There’s no better feeling than archiving old posts and starting off a fresh 2020 travel post. I’m glad Dublin was the first trip of the year because it reminded me that there are still lots of genuine, friendly and helpful people in this world. There’s still hope for humanity!
Some may find it boring but I thoroughly enjoyed the three-hour walking tour of Dublin. The guide was captivating, articulate and humorous in the way he approached the Irish/British politory (politics+history). He had this incredible talent of narrating and making a heavy subject into a lighter yet still significant story that stuck in your head. I’d recommend it 100% but make sure that you’re equipped for storm/rain/wind/anything but the sun. Also, don’t forget to tip at the end of the tour!
I hate the taste of Guinness but I was glad I experienced The Guinness Storehouse because why not visit when I’m already in Dublin. I’m one of those weird ones that will want to try something even if I am not 100% into it because I also know that there’s a chance that I may enjoy it. How else are you going to know if you don’t try it? I mean it didn’t help that I started my 2020 with my no-alcohol for the year resolution but I didn’t care much about drinking (I did still pose like a real Guinness fan). I was more inspired by Arthur Guinness’ story…genuinely! I mean this guy was getting free water supply with his epic brewery lease deal and had the harp trademarked before Ireland did. #ArthurGenius
Playing the role of tourists meant that we had to go visit the temple bar. To be fair the whole street was called temple bar but this one temple bar (tourist trap) was lit with live Irish music blasting from one corner. The music, the lights….I swear I understood how people get drawn to gambling because we walked straight in knowing very well that a pint of lager would cost a gold mine in this place. I drank orange juice all night just to be clear.
Christmas clearly lasts a lot longer in this pub and maybe thats the reason for the littier drink prices. It’s really up to you and your wallet..maybe good for one round and bounce. We did enjoy the music and the good vibes lasted all night so we didn’t move. Just a warning – it does get very crowded so making your way to the toilet is a real battle, especially if you’re petite like me. Just don’t turn on the tap if you don’t need to.
Our accommodation was pretty central to most of the “should visit” sites and besides it’s a small city so everywhere is walkable. We booked a 2 bedroom apartment with Stay City Aparthotels and it was perfect for our long weekend stay. The staff provided great service and most importantly the beds were very comfortable. There were lots of cafes and restaurants around this area. I would recommend Vandal Cafe and Restaurant, which was close to the Guinness Storehouse. They served good food and it’s got a very instagrammable feel to it.
If you have time don’t miss out on the Long Room at Trinity College’s Old Library. It hold thousands of the world’s oldest book but of course it famous for holding the Book of Kells. There’s also all these marble busts of famous philosophers and writers that line the central walkway of the nearly 200-foot-long room and you just get this incredible feeling of just being alive and present in this building surrounded by wisdom beyond you and your time.
Thank you Dublin! Sláinte! I’m definitely going back to Ireland to explore other places….the Cliffs of Moher is on my list!
