24h In Belfast, Northern Ireland
Belfast at night…
Picture this.
It’s the New Year and because being spontaneous is at the front of your mind for 2024, you end up booking a ticket to see the Belfast Giants because you’re an Ice Hockey girly after all. The only caveat is that the game is in Belfast, so you need to get yourself there first. How expensive could flights with EasyJet be? Not much… Unless you dare to check in a bag which means you might as well buy a return ticket to the Maldives.
You skip the ‘checking in a bag’ thing because that means you could end up homeless, so you proceed to board on that plane to Belfast on a sunny day in England, which quickly turned into a miserable cloudy and misty day the moment you step your foot at the Irish airport. The rumours were in fact true; the weather here is as grey as possible which makes the weather in Cambridge seem like heaven.
You make it out of the airport without anyone checking your passport (which still amazes you because…what if you are a murderer?), and you make your way to the city centre which was just a bus ride away. Belfast doesn’t feel like you really left England which makes sense that it’s still part of the UK.
If you are a GoT fan, I recommend visiting Belfast
Anyway… you’re starving so you try and find somewhere to eat. You’ve seen on TikTok this food heaven called Trademarket so you head there omitting to check if it’s open on not. You’ve been warned. It is closed. The foodie adventure continues and everyone knows what happens when a foodie is starving and can’t find somewhere to eat… they keep searching until they find a place that has more than 4.5 online star rating because anything below that is not good enough. You end up compromising on a place called ‘The Tribe’ which has burgers and unhealthy fried things so you were easily convinced. You ask the server what they recommend, he says something that you don’t agree with so you go with the thing you wanted in the first place; some kind of fries with fried chicken, blue cheese and buffalo sauce. If only it wasn’t that saucy…
Next, you decide to walk to your hotel because T-3 hours before the game and in true adult style, you need to shower, relax and chill by yourself before any further human interaction.
Malmaison, Belfast
It’s game time and you head out there having no clue on where you’re going but you spot the Hockey jerseys so you start following them… because just like someone, somewhere said, if you don’t know where you’re going, just follow the crowd. You find your seat which was very close to the ice to the point that you start hoping and praying that the pucks won’t decide to hate on you and hit you straight in the face. You’ve been told it hurts and therefore, no thank you! In any case, you chose those seats so you shouldn’t really be complaining.
Belfast Giants VS Nottingham Panthers
You expect the Giants fans to be loud, fun and exciting and the Panthers (opponent) fans to be not as loud. Oh boy were you proven wrong… The Panthers fans wanted everyone to know they were in the building and they didn’t fail to do so! It was a good game but would you fly again to do the same thing? Probs not. You might as well drive 2 hours to Nottingham…
You must admit that Hockey fights are your favourite thing (sidenote: If you are that person that claims that you don’t like Hockey fights… you are lying to yourself and the rest of the world). Oh let’s not forget the Hockey songs… I call it art! Picking songs/sounds for Hockey related things hits differently… Lastly, a special shoutout to all Hockey players. Why are you so cute (i.e. why do you always do cute things)? It might be the Hockey gear, but there is something special about the hockey players and community in general!
Game ends, you find the closest place for food which is Five Guys and you’re prepared to finally sell that kidney. You are feeling brave and you want to try something new from the menu so you go for the grilled cheese. It is scary to see that it costs £5 and it’s even scarier to realise that it was literally a bun with cheese… for £5! Was it tasty? Yes it was. Was it worth the money? No but then again nothing is worth the money at Five Guys. But you like doing silly things!
It’s a new day in Belfast and the agenda has the following:
Go find the nearest water and just chill.
Eat, drink, walk aimlessly.
Don’t miss your flight.
Sleep.
You conclude the following:
You successfully completed your agenda and life is good.
Belfast is worth visiting, even for 24h.
You won’t necessarily fly to Belfast just for a Hockey game. Driving to Nottingham for a game is worth it. And the fans won’t disappoint you.
Till next time!
