Sharon Shannon in Australia

I was lucky to be in Adelaide during the summer months where there are a number of festivals and events over the space a few weeks. One festival being WOMAD - World of Music, Arts and Dance. A wide variety of musical acts from all over the world. We managed to catch Sharon Shannon and her band who were headlining one of the stages.

Sharon Shannon at WOMADelaide

From Auckland to Afar

After about 2 hours sleep a taxi driver who'd been knocking at the door over almost an hour finally woke us. Well he woke someone else who let him in to wake us. A quick taxi ride to the airport and the 40 hour trip from Auckland to Dublin started. 40 hours because I choose cheapest flight I could find. My plans had changed, instead of spending a year in New Zealand I was returning to Europe to start a new adventure. A few days in London, almost a month in Ireland, a road trip to Munich via Brussels, a flight back to London and then a flight to Addis Ababa in Ethiopia.

I arrived in Addis with no idea what to expect. I hadn't really had time to plan or think about this trip. The month in New Zealand was full on traveling combined with the World Cup and then the month in Europe was similar due to me working. Addis is a pretty rough city, from what I saw and heard people had no problems robbing people in daylight on the street. I was staying on Bole road which is in the posh part of town.

Construction on Bole Road in Addis Ababa

Rwanda Street in Addis Ababa

After a night in Addis we started our journey to the Afar. Anna had already spent the past 3 weeks there and retuned to Addis to meet me. The Afar region is recognized as being the hottest inhabitable place on earth. They're aren't any buses that go to the village we would be staying in so getting there without hiring a private car was going to be a challenge.

View from a taxi in Addis Ababa

First we had to get to the bus station in Addis, we took a taxi yet it took over an hour to get there. The traffic and the roads in Addis are particularly bad. Once we arrived at the station it was chaotic, people shouting everywhere, buses blocking other buses from moving, petrol fumes and lots of noise. Eventually we were directed to the bus we needed to get to Nazareth, the first stop on our journey. We were assured that there were seats, that the bus was leaving and that it was going to Nazaret but when we got on we quickly discovered there were no seats and the bus was already seriously overcrowded. We managed to jump out the backdoor just as the bus was driving away. We quickly found another bus also going to Nazaret that still had some seats. A few hours later after a rollercoaster style journey we arrived in Nazaret. From here we need to get a bus to Awash. Once again the bus station was in complete chaos, a very different and more intense kind of chaos that I've ever experienced even in Asia or Latin America. When I say bus station I am using the term lightly, what I really mean is a field filled with busses and people. Once again people are shouting erratically and rushing to help us find our bus and eventually we do. While we wait for the bus to fill we get talking to a bus driver of another bus also going to Awash. He's a safari tour guide during the high season and a bus driver in low season. He speaks good English and explains how the busses work. The bus we are sitting on will leave when its full, then his bus is next in the queue, once its full he'll leave and the next in line waits for passengers. His bus is a bigger bus that is slower but is more comfortable so some people are choosing his over our bus. Problem is you don't know when it will leave! So while it looks like complete and utter chaos its actually more like ordered chaos.

Once our bus was full and ready to go our bus driver wasn't feeling well so we are left waiting, as are all the other buses. The guy who speaks English asks if we can drive and if one of us would be willing to drive the bus once we get out of town. At first I thought he was joking but I soon realize he is serious. As you can imagine we both say no, although it would make for an interesting blog post there's so many reasons why it would be a bad idea. We suspect the reason the bus driver is ill is due to khat. Since arriving in Ethiopia I've observed many bus drivers, taxi drivers and random people on the street chewing green leaves. It looks somewhat similar to chewing coca leaves in South America expect these leaves are an amphetamine-like stimulant said to cause excitement, loss of appetite and euphoria. While in some countries it is illegal and classified as a narcotic it is officially legal in Ethiopia.

Eventually the driver feels well enough to drive so we're on the road and about 5 minutes into the journey he produces a bag of leaves and starts chewing. Driving in Ethiopia is crazy, crazier than anything I've ever seen before. Crazier than motorbikes in Vietnam, tuk-tuks in Thailand or taxis in Bolivia. Regularly we encountered a car overtaking a bus thats overtaking a mini bus thats overtaking a truck all while facing oncoming traffic that is forced off the road to narrowly avoid an accident. I counted over 7 accidents along the road to Awash, and these were serious accidents  invoking overturned trucks or busses. We made it to Awash in with any serious incident, a few police checkpoints (one that the driver ignored so we were chased down by the police and they argued for about 10 minutes before letting him go), some off road driving to drive on a road that was closed and avoid the diversion that was in place and a few near misses with oncoming traffic. Turns out the bus was continuing to Awash Arba which is the closest town to the village we are taking to reach. We arrived in Awash Arba after dark so we quickly checked out the two hotels in town. The first had cheap rooms but the toilets and bucket showers were outside. We decided to try the "fancy" hotel close by. They had ensuite rooms so we said we'd take one. They were correct in saying they had ensuite rooms but the toilet didn't have any water in it nor did the cistern or did the taps or the shower. We complained and got moved to another room that had some water, i say some because it was just a very small trickle from the tap.

The next morning we made a few phone calls and talked to some people and eventually managed to hitch a ride to the village. After a few hours driving off-road we arrived at Yoreen.

Yoreen village in the Afar

Meeting Paul O'Connell

After our trip up North we went South to New Plymouth for the first Irish game in the Rugby World Cup. We arrived the day before the game and realised that most people had the same idea of us. Even though overnight parking and camping is illegal almost all car parks in New Plymouth were full with Irish camper vans. We were struggling to find somewhere to park up for the night until a random Irish guy came over to us when we were stopped at the traffic lights and told us of a place they had parked. It was the car park for an aquatic centre only a few minutes walk from the town centre. Perfect location, public toilets in the car park and hot showers in the aquatic centre. 


New Plymouth was full of Irish fans, everywhere there were people dressed in green and the two Irish bars in town were full from opening until closing. It rained and rained the day of the game and throughout the game itself but this didn't stop the Irish fans coming out. There were some USA supporters around as well although they were seriously outnumbered.

Green Army

The game itself wasn't the best but there was a great atmosphere around the stadium and everyone was enjoying themselves. The organisation of the event was excellent and everything worked as planned and without any problems. 

The rain wouldn't stay away

A few hours after the game we met Paul O'Connell in a car park. He passed passed by us on his way to the nearby gym and decided to come over to chat. He stayed for about a half hour talking, laughing and joking with everyone. 

Paul O'Connell with the group

We even got him to take our photo. This had been a running joke for most of the day but we never thought we'd end up asking Paul O'Connell. Some of the other fans didn't get the joke but luckily he did. It probably would have been better had we got a photo of us with him or sign our jerseys but possibly not as humorous.

The one Paul O'Connell took!

So what do you do?

Seamus called me one day to say that Jason had invited us to an Irish party. He was a bit vague on the details but I said I’d go. Although I had a question.... “Do we need good clothes?” because at the moment the only clothes that I have are tshirts, shorts and jeans.
I was assured jeans and converse would be fine so that night we headed to the party. When we were walking past the hotel (because we couldn’t find it) a guy asked in spanish if we were looking for the Irish party. We obviously look Irish!


The party was on the 6th floor of an Irish hotel. When we walked out of the lift we could see into the party and everyone was in dressed smartly and drinking champagne. The men were in suits and the girls were in dresses. But it was too late, we’d come too far so we had no choice but to go in. Once we entered a guy says hello to us. Seamus say a few words in Spanish but the guy interrupted and said you can speak English if you want cause we’re all Irish here. So we spoke in English, lots of questions about who we are, where we are from and what we were doing in Buenos Aires. Then there was a little silence so Seamus asked him - What do you do? I think this is a very typical question asked by Irish people when they meet someone for the first time. In China they asked how much money do you earn but that’s another story.


Anyhow the guy seemed to think this was a strange question, well based on his facial expression and his reaction. Anyhow he said that there are a lot of people in Argentina with Irish heritage and that there are many people living in Buenos Aires from Ireland. Later we found out that the guy we were talking to was the Irish ambassador in Argentina. I think he assumed that we knew he was the ambassador and thought we were asking what does the ambassador do!In the end we had a good night, we talked lots about Ireland and traveling and so on. There was free champagne, wine and food as well so that helped.


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Passion Pit in Buenos Aires

I saw an advertisement saying that Passion Pit would be playing in Buenos Aires. This would be their first time to play in Argentina. Passion Pit are one of my favourite groups at the moment, I've seen them play 5 times in Ireland over the past 3 years so when I heard they were playing in Buenos Aires I wanted to go see them.

An Advertisement for Passion Pit in Argentina

I bought the tickets on the internet but I didn't pay for delivery as there was a place near my house where I could collect the tickets thus avoiding the delivery charge. I'd paid 30 euros for 2 tickets, almost the same as the cost of one ticket in Ireland but Passion Pit would not be as popular in Argentina.


I never collected the tickets until the day of the concert because I went to Uruguay and because I was lazy. When I went to collect the tickets on the day of the concert there was a problem. There are always problems when I want to buy ticket in other countries. The computer in Groove wasn't working so they couldn't sell the tickets but at least this time I understood the girl when she told me this. She told me to call back later.


I noticed that the door was open so I went inside. There were a few guys working but they didn't say anything to me only "hello". I walked around the bar area then went up stairs and watched the sound check for Passion Pit. There were a few guys from the band on stage for this. There was a guy beside me taking photos and after he walked past me I noticed that he was one of the guys from Passion Pit. By the time I realised this it was too late to say anything.

Passion Pit Sound Check

That night I went early to Groove as I needed to collect the tickets before the gig would start. There were already a lot of people queuing outside. I got the tickets and went for dinner. when I got back there was a massive queue. We waited for about 1 hour until we were allowed enter. In Ireland we have support bands that play before the main act but in Argentina this does not seem to be the case. So once inside we waited for another 2 hours listening to a DJ and watching an empty stage. In the end Passion Pit came on stage and played for about 2 hours. At this stage Groove was full and it was really really warm. I don't think I've ever been at a concert where it was this warm before but the music, crowd and the atmosphere was great.

Passion Pit in Buenos Aires

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Dublin to Riga

The first leg of my trip was a €50 Ryanair flight to Riga. I stayed in the Naughty Squirrel backpackers hostel in the old town. There were 6 other backpackers staying in the hostel so we went out to dinner together and then walked to the Skybar. The skybar is at the top of a modern hotel and great views of the city but the drinks are very expensive. We only stayed for one drink and then went back to the hostel.

Riga by night

The next day we had a look at the christmas markets and then did a free walking tour around Riga. About 2 hours into the tour we stopped at a cafe but I don't drink tea or coffee so I ordered a hot chocolate. It wasn't what I was expecting...

Hot Chocolate in Riga

I got a small cup of melted chocolate and a glass of water! As part of the walking tour we stopped at an cinema that still paints the posters for any films that they show.

Painted Cinema Posters

As there was only 3 of us doing the walking tour the guide suggested that she could take us to a flea market. They don't really like tourists there but we'd be ok as it was a small group. We were not allowed to take any pictures there as some of the items for sale were probably stolen - car stereos, phones etc. They sold everything and the stalls were completely random. For example: one stall might be selling car engines, mobile phones, a few computer processors and a pair of ice skates.