This past weekend I finally took my first solo trip! Friday morning I packed up my things, loaded them all into my backpack and headed to Connolly Station. I had pre-booked my tickets from Dublin to Belfast on the Irish Rail website, which meant that I could choose a window seat (which was prime). When you order online you can collect your tickets at the station kiosks, which was really convenient and saved me having to rush to buy them on the day.

Once I’d boarded the train (nobody had booked the seat next to me #winning) it was only a 2 hour ride until we arrived into the Belfast train station. I must admit, when I first walked out of the station, I questioned my decision to travel alone just a bit. The station is in sort of an industrial area without many things around it, but once I started walking towards city centre and my hostel, things started looking better and my nerves calmed down.

The hostel I stayed at was awesome. It’s called Vagabonds and is located right between the Botanical Gardens and the city centre. I arrived at about 2pm and the staff members made me feel right at home, showing me around and letting me settle into my room. The beds and bathrooms were clean and there were tons of areas to chill out and talk to the other guests, which was nice.

My first day out I just sort of wandered around the city. It was sunny out (a rare thing) and so I ended up walking all the way to the river, at which point I was starving. I noticed a little cafe and decided I’d pop in for a coffee and some sort of snack. The shop was called the Dock Cafe and it was adorable. All mismatching chairs and couches, with a big map on the wall where you could add a push pin to where you were from and a little serenity garden in the corner.

I walked up to the counter, where a very nice man asked if I’d been there before and when I replied no he explained to me that this cafe operated on an honesty box system. You can have tea or coffee or cakes, whatever you want, and then when you’re done you put as much money as you think your meal/drink was worth into the box. That way those who can give more do, and those who can’t can still have the same treats. He also said that they welcome people to bring in their own food, or to just come in to relax.

I loved this idea and planted myself in one of the many cushy couches with a mug of coffee (my one true love) and a little cake (the runner up for one true love). After loitering for longer than I’d care to admit, I hoisted up my purse and left the cafe.

At that point I was so close to the Titanic Museum that I decided I’d try to catch the last tour, as it was already almost 4:45pm. Luck would have it that I got there just in time for the last hour of tours (they close at 6pm) and because at that point in the evening the S. S. Nomadic is closed for viewing, which is normally included in the price of the ticket, they give a special “late saver” ticket rate that only gives you access to the museum. Thus, I purchased my discounted ticket (£7.50 as opposed to to £17.50 for the normal day tickets) and went up into the exhibits.

It actually was quite a cool museum, it had tons of information on the building of the ship, as much of it’s construction occurred in Belfast, as well as some tidbits on the political and social climate of Northern Ireland/the world at the time. They had an area that projected a digital walk-through of the inside of the Titanic on three walls, so when you stood in the middle it felt like you were inside it, as well as reconstructions of the rooms.

The most powerful part in my opinion though was this dark room they had set up where a video of the Titanic sinking below the surface of the water kept playing. Along the walls were copies of the Morse Code signals that the ship sent out trying to save itself, with the responses of the ships around them. And all the while, they played audio recordings of first hand accounts, people who had been on the ship and escaped on the lifeboats, reliving the nightmare.

If you have too many feels after that (guilty) you can move onto the next room where they have a huge screen projecting video of the underwater excursions to the Titanic, which definitely piqued the science-major part of my brain and which I found really interesting (they had to travel 12,500 feet underwater to get to it, the Empire State Building is only 1,450 feet…. IMAGINE THAT).

Finally they started shuffling people along as the museum was closing soon and I headed towards my hostel. The night was relatively warm and I wasn’t keen on spending a ton of money on dinner, so I grabbed a salad from Lidl and ate it on a bench in front of City Hall, which was actually entertaining as there’s good people watching around the area (there was a Mormon missionary making a very strong attempt to save passersby, which didn’t seem to go over well in many cases).

I spent the rest of the night back at the Vagabonds beer garden, drinking a few bottles I’d picked up on the way home and chatting with my fellow travelers. The next day I was going on the Game of Thrones Tour, so I didn’t want to go too wild.

I woke up early on Saturday and headed over to the meeting spot for Game of Thrones, which would take me through the sets of the North (WINTER IS COMING) and the Twins and such. I’ll write a separate post about the GoT tour, because it was an experience indeed.

We returned to Belfast at around 6:30pm, at which point I’d been so thoroughly soaked from the full day of pissing rain that I immediately headed for a pub with a pal I’d made on the tour to enjoy some burgers and beer (an award winning combo if I do say so). When heading home, I received a message from some of the other girls in the Stint program (the program that helped me coordinate my visa/does gap years and internships). They had decided to come up to Belfast too, but hadn’t been able to leave until Saturday morning and were staying in a different hostel.

They joined me at Vagabonds where we pre-gamed with the rest of the travelers and some of the hostel staff. It was good craic and eventually the whole squad moved out to a bar/night club down the street called Lavery’s (the hostel even had vouchers they gave us that allowed us free entry which was prime). Lavery’s was insane, with multiple pub areas, outdoor beer gardens/balconies and a club-type room with a DJ and a dance floor. I would definitely recommend it for a night out in Belfast.

Sunday morning was spent nursing my hangover (thank baby Jesus for large water bottles and nutella-peanut butter sandwiches) and wandering around the Botanical Gardens and Ulster Museum, which is located within the gardens and has free entry. I then joined those lovely Stint ladies again for some good old fashioned shopping in Victoria Square Shopping Centre, which is a covered mall in city centre that is a great spot to avoid the ever-changing weather.

After spending too much money on things of questionable necessity, I finally returned to my hostel, picked up the rest of my belongings, and headed to the train station to return to Dublin! Note to the wise, since Belfast train station is quite small, people start lining up to board the train out in the ticketing area early, you can’t just walk onto the platform.

And there it is! My first solo-ish trip was a success (I had people to meet up with, but I stayed by myself). On to the next! 🙂