Nord Irland -- schoen

Took the bus and ferry from Edinburgh to Belfast yesterday. Although the trip was nearly seven hours, I had a wonderful time. I was able to secure a £25 fare for both the bus and ferry, which made it especially nice. Finally -- affordable long distance travel!

The ferry ride went a lot better than the DFDS Seways ride from Oslo to Copenhagen. The main factors that influenced this were:

1. Good sea conditions
2. Watched a movie (Bolt) in the onboard cinema area for most of the duration
3. Smaller ship

Am now staying at the Radisson SAS in Belfast, a splurge for this leg. For whatever reason, I've been upgraded to a business class room and feel utterly spoiled at the momet -- free The Indepdent at my door, slippers, a bath robe, and a nice desk for writing. I'm soaking it all in!

While my introduction to Northern Irland has been wonderful so far, I am bracing myself for drunkenly displays of disorder, as it is the weekend and there are a few festivals going on in the area. Yesterday on the ferry ride, a man in front of me was trying to sleep off his hangover -- the smell of hard liquor with a weak attempt at concealing through cheap cologne oozing out of him. 20 min after he had been resting, two mentally challenged gentlemen sat down to watch the film. Perhaps it was their lack of inhibitions that prompted them, but the one had a habbit of grunting and pointing out the window with an oustretched palm as if to draw everyone's attention to what he thought was interesting. In this case, he grunted and indicated to the drunk/hungover gentleman, causing the drunk man to get out of his seat in a short rage and ready for a fist fight to ask,"What the f---? Are you 'huhhhing' at me? HUH?"

In response, the two gentlemen smiled at him and nodded, not really understanding. Somehow, through his stupor and the aid of his friend, he was able to recognize that they were not mentally well and retreated to a quieter area of the boat.

Statistics say that women and men from the UK far outdrink their European counterparts, especially on the weekend. After living in a society that does not allow alcohol, it is strange and disheartening to see blatant scenes of drunkeness. This weekend, I will check out the Taste of Belfast festival. I pray that people can control themselves so that we can all have an enjoyable time.