My first stop in Ireland was Cork. I had no idea when I booked the flights that I would be flying straight into the middle of the Cork Jazz Festival. It’s held on the November bank holiday long weekend each year so of course the city was packed.
Not knowing about the festival or the long weekend, I went to book accommodation a couple days before my arrival and found that there was next to nothing available. In despair, I decided to sign up with Couch Surfing and see if I could find somebody willing to put me up for a night or two. I sent a few notes out to some interesting people but everybody said they were already full.
On the morning of the flight, I posted a plea for some floorspace on the CS forums. I also started to put together a backup plan that would involve taking a late bus to somewhere closeby like Killarney.
At the airport I checked my bags for the flight to Cork and went in search of free wi-fi or an internet kiosk. Once online, I went straight to try and book a room in Killarney. I was just about to complete the transaction when something twigged in my brain and I realised I should check CS one last time. Luckily, a bloke named Jim had thrown me a lifeline and said to give him a call when I arrive in town. I have to say I was pretty relieved and also excited about trying couch surfing for the first time.
I met up with Jim down at one of his local pubs called ‘Sin E’. He was a nice, down to earth type who’s also do his share of traveling. As it turned out he had another couch surfing guest staying as well. Sandor was a cool Hungarian who was traveling through Ireland on a break from work. We had a quick pint of Beamish and made our way back to Jim’s place for a traditional Irish stew. It was tops! To make things even better, the “couch” was actually a blow up mattress on the floor which was nice and comfortable.
Next day, I walked into town at around 10am. It was pretty wet and miserable so I decided to see some shops, suck on a few coffees and then ease myself into an afternoon of jazz. It wasn’t the best day of the trip but looking back I can’t complain.
In the evening, I went to meet up with some of Jim’s mates down at another quite pub. After the group split, we moved on to Sin E where it was quite lively. I met a bunch of really interesting locals who were out making the most of the long weekend. We shared quite a few good stories and plenty of laughs which apparently constitutes “good craic” (although there’s debate on the spelling).
The next morning I packed it up fairly early as I didn’t want to over-extend my welcome at Jim’s place. I lugged the bags down to the bus terminal and made my way north to Galway.