It’s a long way from Tipperary
I’m not turning this into a travel blog. So you will not find travel tips or how to budget travel (because I’m useless at it) and you won’t find photos of places and whatnot. But it just dawned on me that I am what is colloquially called a digital nomad. I have been just such a thing since the beginning of the year but I guess now it’s official. And to make justice to the title, I’m moving from A to B. Where is A and where is B is irrelevant but it’s going to take me close to 2 weeks to complete that journey.
I’m on day 3 of an 11 day trip that will take me to B, if everything goes according to plan, and there is a plan, I’m not just going with the flow. Today I’m in Nuremberg Germany, and tomorrow I’ll leave to Austria where I’ll stay for 2 days.
So this is my account of this trip so far. It started in Tipperary at the end of December last year but I’m skipping right to the 31st of July when I left the UK.
I was told when I arrived at the UK, that I would learn to love it from this stay. I have been to the UK a good few times before and although I kept coming back for several reasons, always to do with visiting someone, I wasn’t a fan. And by UK, I really mean England. It would take a couple of blogs for me to dissert on why I wasn’t a fan but I’ll just say this — I do have a newfound appreciation for England. Granted, Somerset is not representative of all of England but still, I thoroughly enjoyed my stay, the people I met and the general vibe of the place.
I read that England is suffering since they have left Brexit and their economy is in shambles but that’s not my experience and if this counts for anything, almost everything I can think of, it’s cheaper in the UK than in a number of countries I can name. Ireland, Belgium and Germany so far.
If you’re Irish or visited Ireland at some stage, you will probably be familiar with the rip off Ireland. Well I have news for you. Not good news necessarily, since it won’t change that, but you may feel slightly better knowing that there are way worse rip offs than Ireland. At least in Ireland you can take a piss in a petrol station for free. In Belgium I had to pay 0.90€ and in Germany I actually paid 1€ to use an urinal at a petrol station (twice). Mind you, that was on top of paying for the diesel. I drink a lot of coffee and water so I have to go a few times a day.
Anyway, it wasn’t all bad. Even though the diesel was much dearer than in Ireland or England, there were no tolls on the roads and the roads are great. I’m learning that the poorer the country the more their citizens pay to drive on the roads they already paid for many times. And the fake rich countries start to show their true colors when they start increasing the costs to use the roads that their citizens paid for. Anyway, for the time being no tolls for me, in a few days that will change.
Bruges is like Amsterdam but nicer, much nicer. If you’re not interested in the Bulldog coffeeshops and the Red Light District but still want to have a craic in a cool spot, Brugge won’t disappoint.
For Nuremberg I don’t have much to say I’m afraid, I drove over 7 hours under constant heavy rain with no visibility, got here wrecked. Still, the Nuremberg Castle is worth a visit and the Nuremberg Bratwurst, it is, I wasn’t expecting, exquisite. No wonder it’s world renowned. There’s a traditional restaurant just outside the castle, and I have to mention their bratwurst with cabbage.
So far I can say that the north of Europe botched my attempt at doing this trip on a budget. Whatever I saved here and there (I haven’t paid a penny in parking yet), I ended up paying it back on something else (a paid toilet in a petrol station for fuck sake!)
Tomorrow is hiking day weather allowing.
Auf wiedersehen
