Kieran Donnelly

A week ago today I was just returning from Amsterdam after catching up with three of my best friends who live in all different parts of the world. 

Flew out with Easyjet who as usual provided a cost effective way of getting from A to B. Some people seem to have all kinds of trouble with them, but I think it’s just because they can’t follow simple instructions. (1. Turn up on time. 2. Make sure your overhead luggage isn’t too big. 3. Bring your passport. 4. Ensure you’ve filled out all details online.) It’s ridiculously easy and everytime I see someone arguing with a check in clerk I just think “They’re just a person too, be nice to them and they’ll help you.” 

Anyway. Arrived in Amsterdam no trouble, only a 90 minute flight. Spotted something I’d never seen before and never knew existed on the way in; Windmills at Sea?!

After an hour or so Thomas and Lars arrived in from Sweden, and we grabbed a bite to eat before guessing which train to get on. Luckily enough we got it right and ended up in Amsterdam Central Station. Lars had been here before and knew his way (sortof) to the Red Light District where our accomodation was. 

We booked a private apartment for the 7 of us which was divided into 4 rooms of 2, in two separate floors. We were smack bang in the middle of the Red Light zone, and could even see a couple of the windows from one of the rooms. 

John and Sam had already sussed out the accomodation and had got the keys, so all the boring checking in stuff was already done by the time we got there. On the first night our friend from Havelock North High School Matt Baddiley was there with his girlfriend and her friend and they stayed with us for the first night before they continued on their travels.

I really enjoying catching up with John and hearing about all his travels and what he’s been up to. I felt particularly jealous at the end of the trip when he basically put his finger on the map to decide where he was going to travel to next. “Paris tonight maybe?” He was on an interrail trip. I definitely need to do that at some point.

Soon after we arrived Simon and his girlfriend Miriam turned up and it was great to see him again. The last time I saw him was in Germany at the start of 2006. It was like no time had passed at all, he was still built like a Sherman Tank and his English was still pretty good as well! We’ve been threatening to meet up for a couple of years since I arrived in Ireland and I’m glad we finally did. We won’t wait so long to meet up again.

We spent most of the weekend enjoying the sights and sounds of Amsterdam, we went to a few cafe’s and wandered about. We didn’t visit any of the traditional tourist attractions but the weekend was more about catching up with everyone.

The weekend went all too fast, and too soon we were saying our goodbyes and heading our separate ways. 

Amsterdam was mainly as I expected it, though I did have an ‘American Movie’ kind of impression of it i.e I thought it might be a bit more glamourous. It wasn’t. 

If there was something to take away from the weekend it’s that whenever you’re really good friends with people it’s like you’ve never been away, and that I am going to be making much more effort to visit my friends whereever they happen to be in the world.

More photos to come..

In two weeks time I’ll be getting my stuff packed for a 3 day mini vacation to Amsterdam. There I’ll be meeting up with 7 others, including 3 of my good friends. 

Simon, from Germany, will be bringing his girlfriend and one of her friends. Simon lived with me in New Zealand for a year when we were in high school, and we had heaps of really fun times. I visited him in Germany for a month in 2005, and that was the last time we saw each other. 

John, I went to school with in Havelock North and he has been one of the few that I’ve kept in touch with. He’s been working around the world in London and now Switzerland, and we are the instigators of this trip. Last time I saw him was in New Zealand before I moved to Ireland! John has a friend called Sam coming as well.

Thomas, from Sweden, I met in New Zealand in 2009 and we became really good friends. We travelled together from Auckland to London Heathrow on my way to Ireland and toured NZ for a week before which was awesome fun. He’s bringing his flatmate, Lars, who I met when I visited Stockholm in 2009.

I’m really excited to see everyone again and to meet the new faces. 

We’ve booked accomodation in the heart of the red light district, a 2 storey apartment building with 4 beds per floor I believe. The photos and reviews are excellent, and it’s fairly cheap too! 

I’m going to make a video of the trip, as this knocks off one of my 12 month goals (see 2 more countries).

2 weeks to go!

Last Sunday I turned 24. In the last couple of years since I moved to Ireland I have packed a lot in. I’ve travelled to Sweden, England (twice), Scotland, the South of Ireland, home to Australia and New Zealand and Portugal. I’ve made a whole pile of great life long friends through work, flatting, and cricket. I’ve made huge steps into fixing the financial mistakes I made while I was a student, and have cleared all my credit card debt, a number of personal debts, and am closing in on the black again. Louise and I have been together for over two years now, which shows the move here in the first place was worth all the trouble!

I thought it would be fun to set myself some (hopefully achievable) goals for the next 12 months. Here they are. If you’d like to get involved in helping me cross them off, let me know!

Financial

1. Clear all debt (excluding student loan).
2. Savings equal to 6 month burn rate. 
3. Passive income equal to salary.

Adventure

4. Visit Amsterdam (August 26-29th booked).
5. Skydive.
6. Visit 2 other countries.
7. Go on a ski trip.

Sport

8. Finish the cricket season with 25+ wickets at a strike rate of less than 18.
9. Start playing football again.
10. Get golf clubs and try not to lose them .

Skills

11. 12 month average close rate = more than 3/5.
12. Learn 12 new songs on guitar.

Today I have switched my blog back to Tumblr as I just found wordpress too big for what I need it for. I have managed to set everything up fairly well, and have integrated twitter as the first post that appear when you visit my blog. Now to fill it with content!

It’s been almost 4 weeks since my last post. During that time I’ve:

• Moved house into a 4 bedroom place off the stranmillis road, sharing with 3 other guys.

• Been given an additional role at work, Looking after the @ClarityTelecom twitter account. Been fun so far, really enjoying building it up from scratch and finding out about the online scene in Northern Ireland.

• Booked my tickets to heathrow that will link us into the flights to Australia and New Zealand for the holiday louise and I are going on.

• Brought the cricket season to a close with the annual dinner. Was a long season but finished in style by winning the NCU Premier League.

• • much more but will post more regularly here again.

So that’s about all for now.

Is ridiculously persuasive on the phone. Ice to an Eskimo.