Tag: UK

Let’s Check Expenses on (Norhtern) Ireland Trip 2023!

ZooksLeave a comment

Tere!

In March, 2023, I went to Ireland again! It was my third time going there with my current passport, and the fourth time in my life!

I actually wanted to go there in June, but owing to the changed tax in the Tallinn airport, Ryanair, a European LCC, cancelled all the flights and has stopped the operations to seven cities from Tallinn as of the end of March, 2023. Hence, I had to change my flight schedules.

This time I had travelled there for eight days – spending the first day and the last three days in Dublin and four days in Northern Ireland based in Belfast –. Northern Ireland is in the Irish island whilst the currency is British Sterling Pounds (GBP) as it’s a part of the UK. I wanted to use GBP in cash so I withdrew 100 GBP in cash, and used my Estonian bank card (EUR) simultaneously.

The budget of this whole trip was surprisingly 1,800 EUR. This was because I wanted to drive a car in Ireland, and yet since I changed my trip plan, I couldn’t get an Estonian driving licence by then. The 100 GBP withdrawn is part of this budget.

Let’s see the total expenses.

Destination

Dublin/NI

Budget (total)

1800

Transport

Flight

€97.05

Public

€41.04

Accommodation

€631.65

Food

€129.57

Leisure

Sightseeing

€61.72

Souvenirs

For myself

€54.20

Souvenirs

For others

€32.00

Insurance

€20.00

Others

€125.39

Sum

€1,192.62

As you can see above, I eventually used two-thirds of the entire budget… I travelled there by myself this time, and I could save some money because I could book flights, accommodations and museums anytime. Probably therefore, I could save some money even though I changed the travel plan in February, happening in March so suddenly.

Also, both in Belfast and Dublin, I didn’t use the public transport that much, and I walked a lot, due to which the average number of steps per day was 14,000 or something. What is more, in Belfast, tickets for doubledeckers called Metro were valid for 45 minutes, so (I don’t know if it’s really allowed but) I used one ticket to change the Metro.

As for the withdrawn 100 GBP, the details are below.

Transport

Public

3.9

Food

62.78

Leisure

Sightseeing

2

Souvenirs

For others

3

Others

10

Sum

£81.68

Around 20 GBP were left here as well. I don’t know when I will go to Northern Ireland or the UK per se, but I want to go to Northern Ireland and Scotland which I have visited before again, and want to visit Wales too, so it wouldn’t be too bad to hold some GBP.

Concerning the travel insurance, I bought a policy on ACS called Globe Traveller, which includes European countries including the UK for 15 days that include both trips to Ireland/the UK and the Netherlands because in Estonia we have to take at least one more than 14-day holiday per (calendar) year. Therefore, I divided the whole policy price into two: 20 EUR for the Ireland trip and 10 EUR for the Netherlands trip just for myself (my calculation). That’s why you can see 20 EUR there.

Also, as of March 2023, I didn’t make the whole holiday plan yet, I could use the leftover of 600 EUR for unplanned trips.

I didn’t mean to save money, but I didn’t buy that many souvenirs, and sometimes I cooked at the accommodations, buying foods at supermarkets for breakfast or dinner. However, if you eat out more often and purchase more souvenirs or more expensive souvenirs, then you might need more than what I spent.

Lastly, I felt the price in Belfast was cheaper than Dublin.

Aitäh! 🙂

5 Foods You Can Eat in Northern Ireland

ZooksLeave a comment

Tere!

“Northern Ireland is a part of the UK, Northern Ireland is part of Republic Ireland, so there are not many differences.”

Have you ever thought like this?

Then, have you searched about food culture in Northern Ireland before? It is indeed variant.

Surely, there are no big differences, but even slight differences are still differences, and its trivialness makes it unique in the culture.

This time I will talk about Northern Irish cuisine which is not so well-known.

Table of Contents

     1. Fifteens
     2. Champ
     3. Soda bread
     4. Potato farl
     5. Ulster fry
     ★Summary

1. Fifteens

First of all, let’s talk about “fifteens”! This is a kind of sweet in Northern Ireland.

It’s called “fifteens” because almost each ingredient needs 15 stuff.

How simple. 😂

“almost each ingredient needs 15 stuff” means that it requires 15 marshmallows, 15 glacé cherries in addition to 15 digestive biscuits. Additionally, you need a bit more extra ingredients to make fifteens. You can find fifteens’ recipes online very easily like BBC’s webpage.

I want to try to make fifteens some day, so once I make them, I will upload a picture of them on my social media channels and this blog. (I’m not sure if I can obtain cherry stuff in Estonia…)

2. Champ

Secondly “champ” is Northern Irish mashed potatoes.

It’s different from ordinary mashed potatoes because champ contains green onions.

It is good (although I’m usually not a big fan of mashed potato because I don’t have to chew a lot).

It’s not actually clearly visible because of gravy sauce.

On the day tour in Northern Ireland by Viator which I participated in, you will have an opportunity to have some lunch in a town called Ballintoy, where you can have champ. The restaurant’s name is “The Fullerton Arms”.

3. Soda bread

Soda bread can be an implication of Ireland. In fact people in the Republic of Ireland also eat soda bread.

The recipe is fairly easy, and the ingredients are simple too, but often the recipes require buttermilk.

Is it butter or milk.

That’s what I often want to say. (I know it is a product called “buttermilk”.)

In Estonia, it is hard to find unflavoured buttermilk. It is called “hapendatud piimatood” or “petipiim” in Estonian. Luckily, recently I found Lidl discounted unflavoured buttermilk, so I will try to make soda bread.

Also, usually bread making needs yeast, and yet soda bread needs baking soda instead of yeast. No egg is necessary either. (Some recipes still require eggs though.)

It’s quite dry bread, but I personally like its simplicity. It matches butter well.

4. Potato farl

Farl is a flat bread. I saw not only potato farl but also soda farl (which seems to be a bit different from soda bread) at a supermarket in Belfast. I bought soda farls and tried them, and it actually tasted good.

Technically, potato farls per se aren’t Northern Irish particular food, but it is often served in Ulster fry in Northern Ireland.

5. Ulster fry

When going to the UK, many of you might have English breakfast.

But English breakfast isn’t everything!

Both Irish breakfast in the Republic of Ireland and Scottish breakfast in Scotland are slightly different. As they are different, the breakfast in Northern Ireland called “Ulster fry” is also different.

Then, how different are they?

The basic components in each type of breakfast is often

  • bacons
  • sausages
  • fried eggs
  • mushrooms
  • tomatoes
  • tomato-flavoured beans

(The portion and some other details can be changed, depending on the restaurant or who serves it to you.)

I made a table to compare each type of breakfast except for English breakfast.

Irish breakfast

Scottish breakfast

Ulster fry

  • Black puddingWhite pudding
  • Only black pudding
  • Only black pudding
  • Sometimes hash browns
  • Square sausagesSometimes haggis
  • Regular toasts are common
  • Scottish breakfast rolls
  • Soda breadPotato farl

Now you see the differences, don’t you!?

I had ulster fry at a restaurant called Bright’s Restaurant in Belfast.

In the picture, the one under the fried egg is a potato farl, and the one under the bacon is soda.

It is tasty, and it makes you full, but it’s still greasy, so if you can’t handle oil well, you might want to choose a small size.

When it comes to the regions in the UK, I haven’t been to Wales yet, so I’m curious about their food culture. I wonder if they have “Welsh breakfast”.

★Summary

There are not many, but you might have thought surprisingly there were, yeah?

Actually, there are a bit more, but since I didn’t get them, I didn’t include them in this article.

The potato farl was pretty good, so I want to eat it again.

If you have any plans to visit Northern Ireland, try Ulster fry!

By the way, it might be hard to get to Northern Ireland from Estonia nowadays due to no flight operation to Dublin by Ryanair anymore.

Aitäh! 🙂

3 Things You Can See/Go to in Northern Ireland

ZooksLeave a comment

Tere!

Belfast is the capital of Northern Ireland. Though I saw lots of tourists from all over the world, I didn’t see anyone who seemed to be from Japan. (I believe there are some, but I didn’t really see anyone who might be Japanese.)

Then, what could we do in Belfast which might not be so fascinating for the Japanese people?

Table of Contents

     1. Belfast walking tour
     2. Belfast castle
     3. Crumlin Road Gaol in Belfast
     ★Summary

1. Belfast walking tour

Belfast is cosmopolitan (at least for me) but quite compact. It might be suitable for shopping, but I wondered about sightseeing in Belfast. Famous sightseeing places seemed to be outside of Belfast.

However, there is still famous stuff in Belfast, so in terms of Belfast city sightseeing, I took part in the Belfast walking tour.

Booking is required, but the walking tour per se is free. Since this sort of walking tour wants some tips, at the end of the walking tour, it’s polite to give some tips. In my case, I had no idea how much I should give, so I gave the guide 2 GBP which was the biggest amount of cash I had. I wanted to give him 5~10 GBP, but I didn’t want to ask him to give me the change because it sounds weird, and the notes I had were 20 GBP or something. (Sorry, Mr. guide.)

Before participating in this walking tour in Belfast, I wanted to go to the loo in the accommodation I stayed at, but since girls occupied there, I headed to the meeting point of the walking tour, and asked the guide where the public loo was. He told me there were loos in Belfast city hall. It was free.

The Belfast walking tour started in front of Belfast city hall. We sometimes stopped, and listened to the guide’s talk. His historical or political talks were interesting. The guide lived somewhere else temporarily, but other than that, he has lived in Belfast all in his life. He had some experience in guiding in Belfast, so he was reliable.

The Belfast walking tour ended at the salmon statue.

The guide also recommended a few nice pubs in Belfast. (I didn’t go to any of them as the next day was St. Patrick’s Day, and in all the pubs there would be a crowd.)

The walking tour took two hours. I would recommend you to wear some trainers that you are used to so you can prevent yourself from injuries with your shoes. Luckily, when I attended the walking tour, it wasn’t even showering.

2. Belfast castle

In the afternoon of the day I joined the walking tour in Belfast, I went to the Belfast castle, too. You can take only one double-decker called Metro from the Belfast city centre to the Belfast castle.

Once you arrive at the nearest bus stop to the Belfast castle, you need to walk to the Belfast castle. The Belfast castle is situated in the middle of a mountain (or just a steep hill), and at some point it’s sharply inclined. Also, after the shower or rain, the ground is pretty slippery so be careful. You need to climb the mountain quite a lot.

The admission is free to the Belfast castle. If it’s sunny, the coastal side that you can see from the Belfast castle is spectacular. If it’s not a cold season, then you might see some flowers in the garden at the Belfast castle.

However, the inside of the Belfast castle was a bit creepy. Perhaps it was because of the silence there. I didn’t check any rooms in the Belfast castle. I also didn’t see many tourists there.

When going back to the Belfast city centre from the BElfast castle, you should probably have enough time, particularly in the afternoon on a weekday, after 3 pm.

It seems schools in Belfast finish then, so the pink doubledeckers as Metro appeared to be used as school buses. I saw a number of buses from the city centre, but the bus to the city centre was delayed a lot.

However, I patiently waited, and could get on one. Therefore, it’s better to avoid putting any plans with specific time after visiting the Belfast castle.

3. Crumlin Road Gaol in Belfast

What is more about Belfast, I went to Crumlin Road Gaol. This gaol was used in real life in the past. I purchased a ticket online in advance, and it cost 13 GBP. I went there in the morning. I felt the Crumlin Road Gaol was far from the Belfast city centre as Belfast per se is really compact, but it takes only around 20 minutes by walk from the city centre to the Crumlin ROad Gaol while I took buses on the way to the Gaol.

This kind of gaol has realistic creepiness. Since I’m chicken though I’m interested in such places, I walked very slowly, and sometimes followed other visitors. 😂 There are two points where there are automatic announcements, detecting human visits: one is inside of the gaol, and the other one is outside of the gaol. The system suddenly starts announcing, so the elderly woman in front of me said her heart would have stopped. Besides, that lady was affected twice. It’s not good for elderly people. 😂

The Crumlin Road Gaol used to keep women and children as well, and there are explanations on it and dolls too. You can see the hanging room as well.

The Crumlin Road Gaol also has a restaurant, and you can have lunch or dinner at the restaurant where you might slightly feel the gaol. (The menu isn’t like a gaol menu. You don’t really feel the gaol in the restaurant unless you pay attention to the atmosphere there.)

★Summary

Usually I go and see sightseeing places by myself, so I took part in the walking tour for the first time in my life, which was the right decision. If you can have a fun or experienced guide, you can listen to fruitful stories from them.

As for the Crumlin Road Gaol, I had to be brave as I’m chicken, but I’m satisfied that I could go there. (And I still like this kind of creepy place…) It seems they have events at the gaol from time to time like on Halloween, but that’s too much for me.. That’s too scary…

Aitäh! 🙂

3 Must-Sees in Northern Ireland

ZooksLeave a comment

Tere!

Though I had been to Northern Ireland once before the trip in March, 2023, I just dropped in a county called Enniskillen which has the border with the Republic of Ireland. Therefore, I had never done any sightseeing in Northern Ireland before. Also, I wanted to visit some filming locations of “Game of Thrones”.

Reference

The places I wanted to visit most were typically Giant’s Causeway as well as the Dark Hedges which is one of the filming locations of “GOT”. Since I love abandoned castles, I hoped to see the Dunluce castle if possible. However, if I tried to go to all those places by myself even though there are only three, it seemed to take one day.

In addition, I didn’t have a valid driving licence in Europe at that time. (I have a driving licence in Japan, and yet due to the fact that I have lived in Estonia for more than one year, I was not eligible to apply for the international driving licence. Hence I went to a driving school in Estonia.) As I was not legally able to drive a car, public transports were the only option for me to travel. However, given that I wanted to take buses, I had to consider the bus routes, theri frequencies, and their time.

I wondered what to do, and suddenly I thought “Maybe I can go somewhere else on a day trip?” Then I googled and found a tour in Northern Ireland on the website called Viator.

The tour started in Belfast and took approximately nine hours, going to major sightseeing places in Northern Ireland. Looking at the itinerary of the tour, all the places I wanted to see were included.

Therefore, in this article, I will talk about the tour and the points on this tour!

Table of Contents

     1. Viator’s tour in Northern Ireland
     2. Sightseeing places in Northern Ireland
          a. The Dark Hedges
          b. Carrick-A-Rede bridge
          c. Giant’s Causeway
          d. Dunluce castle
     3. Food & beverages, toilets and the internet on the Northern Ireland tour
     ★Summary

1. Viator’s tour in Northern Ireland

Viator has multiple options for the tours in Northern Ireland, and I chose the one with which I could go to major sightseeing places including my wishes in Northern Ireland.

It cost around 40 EUR, which was not too bad.

2. Sightseeing places in Northern Ireland

On Viator’s tour I attended, we went to several sightseeing places, but here I selected a few places I wanted to go before this trip!

a. The Dark Hedges

The Dark Hedges is the filming location for “GOT”. If you google this place, it looks creepy, but it wasn’t when I went there probably because we went there at noon.

But I’m glad that I could go there, and I want to see the Dark Hedges in a dark time!

b. Carrick-A-Rede bridge

This bridge is the one this tour has its picture, but

we couldn’t go close to there.

We just saw it from far away.

This is because, according to the tour guide, you can cross the bridge only on a private tour.

I was a bit disappointed, and yet if the tour had included this option, the tour price would have been more than 40 EUR, and the tour couldn’t have finished in a day.

I want to go there on a private tour some day!

I’m pretty sure I would be a chicken there, but I want to try to cross that bridge!!

c. Giant’s Causeway

When it comes to Northern Ireland, Giant’s Causeway might be the first thing you might imagine!

It’s very famous, and a typical sightseeing place in Northern Ireland, but I had wanted to visit there for a long time! The admission fee was included in the tour fee. You can walk around there by yourself, or you can walk while listening to the guide’s talks. (The guide fee is also inclusive.) I walked with the guide. He talked about geology, anecdotes and his experience-based stories concerning Giant’s Causeway. (Since it’s located in the coastal area, and sometimes it’s very rainy and/or windy, you can borrow a headset to listen to the guide’s talk.)

Giant’s Causeway was much vaster than I thought, so I didn’t have enough time to walk everywhere. I want to go there again!

When it’s rainy, the ground is quite muddy and slippery, so it’s better to wear anti-slippery shoes which can be dirty.

d. Dunluce castle

The Dubluce castle is an abandoned castle. I love abandoned castles so much for some reason.

However, we couldn’t go that close to the Dunluce castle.

The coach stopped at the official view point where you can see the Dunluce castle. It was slightly disappointing. The coach stopped there for only 10 to 15 minutes as we just saw it from the view point.

But I could see the castle at that time, though it’s blurry and hard to see in the picture, so I’m satisfied.

On the contrary, I still want to see it more closely, so I need to try again.

3. Food & beverages, toilets and the internet on the Northern Ireland tour

This tour does not include food or beverages. It might be a good idea to bring at least a bottle of water, and yet for some people who participate in this tour might need more in summer. However, at some points on this tour, you can buy something at a store. Depending on the place, there was a convenience store called SPAR.

We spent lunch time at a restaurant in a town named Ballintoy, and they had a coach menu. (This is probably due to avoiding the congestion at the restaurant.) The coach menu had an option with which you can eat champ, Northern Irish mashed potato. I will talk about this in a different article. During lunch time, you can spend time at the restaurant, or you can stroll around there. It’s not mandatory to have lunch at the restaurant, so if you want to save money, or you are not so hungry, then you don’t need to book dishes on the tour. (The tour guide understands this so no need to worry about saying no thank you.)

In terms of toilets, I felt I could go to bathrooms at almost every sightseeing place. I didn’t have to wait patiently for peeing. 😂 However, if you arrive at a place where you have an opportunity to go to the loo, it’s probably better to go. Plus, after leaving Giant’s Causeway, you can’t get any chance to go to the loo until you arrive in Belfast. I recommend going to the loo in Giant’s Causeway as the distance is quite long to Belfast.

What is more, surprisingly, the coach didn’t have any internet access or changing ports. However, it’s understandable in a way because some buses or coaches have either or both of them whilst others don’t in any countries (even in Estonia). It wouldn’t be a bad idea to bring a phone cable to charge though. I was also fine without the internet on the coach since I could use giffgaff’s internet up to 15 GB.

★Summary

Whenever I travel somewhere I have never been, I’m like “I want to go to this place and that place.” Then after visiting them, I feel “I want to see it in a different version, or in a different season”. Then I go there again. That’s why I go to the same places repeatedly.

Honestly, I thought I wouldn’t feel I wanted to go to Northern Ireland again as I would be satisfied, but in fact I want to go there again…

As for the tour, I would recommend it if you wish to see lots of places in Northern Ireland during a short period.

Aitäh! 🙂

Let’s Buy British SIM Card in UK (Northern Ireland)

ZooksLeave a comment

Tere!

Before going to Northern Ireland, I had been to Scotland in terms of the UK trip, and it was before Brexit as well as in 2019. I have used a SIM card from Telia’s brand called Super since I came to Estonia. As of 2019, as Super’s services were different from recent days, I used Super’s SIM card in Scotland as well.

However, this time the situation was different. Brexit has been done, and the UK is excluded from the roaming package offered by Super because it’s valid in the EU.

Asking Super’s support, the only reasonable way to use the internet in the UK was to use a British SIM card. Otherwise roaming on the Super’s SIM card is very expensive.

Then I googled British SIM card brands/providers, and found that in the UK having a contract with the provider is pretty common unlike Estonia. However, a few of the providers sell SIM cards without any contracts, and I decided to buy a SIM card from either LEBARA or giffgaff.

Table of Contents

     1. Where did I buy a SIM card in Belfast?
     2. After inserting a SIM card
     3. The provider I chose
     ★Summary

1. Where did I buy a SIM card in Belfast?

I went to Belfast from Dublin by coach, and arrived at the coach station in Belfast. The Belfast coach station is located in the centre of Belfast, and there is a convenience store called WHSmith. (This convenience store is kind of hidden so it’s a good idea to ask the exact location at the coach station info centre.)

I searched stores where they might have SIM cards in advance, but it seemed some of them didn’t have SIM cards, and unfortunately WHSmith in the Belfast coach station didn’t have SIM cards. (In Estonia, you can buy SIM cards basically at any R kiosk. Also it was surprising that the convenience store in the coach station didn’t have SIM cards.)

The manager of that convenience store asked one of the security guys (?) to guide me to the device accessory store where I could buy SIM cards. This device store can be found after the doors near the ATM in the coach station. A guy who seemed to be from India or somewhere runs this store.

I asked this Indian guy for a SIM card, and he just showed me only a part of the shelf where he had lots of SIM card options. Later I found LEBARA and giffgaff’s SIM cards on the opposite side of the shelf, and got giffgaff’s one.

Asking how much it cost, he just told me to bring it to the pharmacy next to the device accessory store. I went to the pharmacy, but the clerks said “Sorry, you can’t topup that provider here. You need to go to Tesco.” Then I went to Tesco outside of the coach station, and the Tesco clerk explained everything to me nicely.

I didn’t pay for a SIM card, which appears to be okay in the UK, and yet I am not quite sure about this as this Indian guy didn’t handle my request properly.

2. After inserting a SIM card

After inserting the SIM card, I couldn’t connect to the internet, so I asked the Indian guy at the device accessory store where I got the SIM card, but he was just showing me a fake smile, talking on the phone. However, when some other customers came to the store, he handled their requests. I told him “The SIM card doesn’t work. There is no internet.” Then he said “I’m talking to my boss 😊”, showing me a fake smile. He still handled other customers’ requests while he was talking on the phone.

After waiting for him for one hour, I turned off my phone, and connected the internet, solving the problem on my own. Then I said “I solved the problem by myself” to him.

I felt so annoyed and disgusted because those who were nice to me were all the whites. The Indian guy at the device accessory store properly talked to only the white customers. This is the fact that “the minority bullies the other minority”.

The beginning of the trip in Northern Ireland was awful.

3. The provider I chose

I topped up giffgaff’s SIM, paying 10 GBP. I think I got 15 GB for 10 GBP. If I remember correctly, given that you top up more than 10 GBP for the giffgaff’s SIM, you can use roaming up to 5 GB in the EU for free, so I used giffgaff’s SIM until I got home in Estonia.

I cannot recommend giffgaff as I’m not an expert in terms of British SIM cards or internet providers, but this service was pretty good, I think.

In Estonia, you can buy a SIM card for 1 EUR, and I buy 1 GB for 3 EUR, so I felt 10 GBP was expensive in the beginning, and yet with 15 GB, actually giffgaff is cheaper. Since I’m outside quite often while travelling, I was happy to have giffgaff’s SIM with 15 GB for 10 GBP, which I didn’t have to pay attention to the amount I could use.

★Summary

To use giffgaff’s service I needed to create their account, but as it was a top-up SIM card, I still keep their SIM card even now. Also, I want to go to Northern Ireland again, and want to visit Wales some day, so it would be useful anyway.

One thing I learnt this time was I should bring a paper clip next time when I need to change the SIM card because I had only earrings that hang on the holes in the ears, not those need to catch from the back, and the ones that hang on the holes in the ears are too weak to open the SIM card port. You still need a bit more power if you use a paperclip to open the phone SIM card port, but you can break paper clips, and they can open it. In order not to forget the paper clips, I store them with the SIM in a bag now.

Aitäh! 🙂