The most amazing thing ever — and I forgot to write about it!

I cannot believe I forgot to write about this back in the Kells Bay and Dingle days but I saw the most amazing thing ever. Ever in the history of ever ness. And I said it twice! The first time, it was a jack Russell laying on the back of a donkey. WHAT!! Yes! It was. The second time, it was some kind of sheep dog standing on top of the donkey. And, I got to pet the donkey!

I had no idea you could get a donkey riding dog but now, of course, I need both. Oh, the joy!

Sligo back to the big city

After a wonderful breakfast at the Driftwood, we were ready to blast back across the country to Dublin. This was the only day we had a set time to be somewhere and it is crazy how much that affects everything. Frankly, it sucks. It’s far nicer to travel and arrive when you arrive rather than attempting to schedule everything around trying to be somewhere at 4:45...but that’s where we were.

As we left, Ash decided it was time to take the wheel. It was a bit nerve wracking for us all while she got settled into it. Not that she did a bad job, but, as with all things, when something new happens, there are a few moments of uncertainty, right? Once she got comfy, we all got comfy and we were off to the races! 

We stopped in town briefly to visit the Yeats museum. I would have walked through it but there was a small fee and even though it was a very small fee I decided to skip it. Sara walked through it and said it was well done. The rest of us looked around outside. Sligo is a very cute, clean town.

Next, we wanted to see a Gaelic cemetery just outside of Sligo, so we set off to find it. Apparently, GPS is unaware of it so we made a couple of laps trying to figure it all out. Before long, we were there! It was not what I imagined — I was thinking of our cemetaries and thought perhaps we’d see cool old Gaelic cross headstones and the like. Oh no. This was far more interesting. More like ancient  stone and rock piles over areas where they’d found mass grave sites. We enjoyed walking around through it. Wasn’t a long visit, but an interesting one!

Now we were ready to blow over just north of Dublin to another ancient burial area called Newgrange. I was getting slightly antsy over timing because the Airbnb host we were supposed to meet that night seemed super stressed about the timing and kept asking me to check in. Chill out, dude!! We still needed to get the Newgrange, look around, get to Dublin airport, return the van, get a taxi to the house and check in. Also, lunch. By my calculations, we were going to be about 2 hours late. I ran this by Sara and she thought we could make it. Ok, let’s give it a try!

We got to Newgrange through a series of the tiniest little roads we’d seen yet, only to find out we’d really done it wrong. You are supposed to go into a nearby town, buy a ticket and take a shuttle bus there. Because they didn’t have much parking. Of course, there we were and we parked. But they wouldn’t sell us a ticket. Poop. At this point, we realized we really didn’t have time to go to the city and come back on the shuttle bus. So, we looked around and then just had to bail. Newgrange looked like the world’s largest rice cake from the outside! It was crazy looking!!

So, we set off for the airport to return the van. It felt so weird to return to such a big city after many days enjoying the quiet countryside. We made it to the car return but were unable to text or call our taxi driver. Good grief we tried every which way you can think of, which led to some HILARIOUS quotes while we tried to make one of 2 phones work. So, finally we asked the Enterprise guy to call us a cab. He said he could but it would take 25 minutes and we could just take their free shuttle to terminal one and grab a taxi there. Bam!

So, we went to get on the free shuttle. Which took 25 minutes. LOL. He dropped us off at a taxi stand which then took another 10-15 minutes. Again, we aren’t used to lines of people waiting for cabs. We’re used to lines of cabs waiting for people. So interesting. Anyway, finally underway, and keeping in close contact with my nervous airbnb host, we looked like we might only be a few minutes late.

As we arrived, we waited by the car park sign for the host to meet us and walk us into the complex. Before long, he arrived and showed us around. Nice place! A walk up style townhouse with three stories. 4 bedrooms and 3 baths. Wow! Cool!  We asked him if the pub nearby was good because we were hungry and tired and didn’t need a lot of effort to get dinner;) He said yes so we were off to Beggar’s Bush Pub.

As we walk up, a man was standing by the front door and sees us and says, “Ah, feckin’ Americans!” Mom and I laughed and said, “How did you know?” Apparently (we didn’t see this because we walked on in) he then pretended to shoot the rest of us. Um. Ok. We didn’t see any seats inside so we sat outside. We quickly realized they didn’t have food. Dang it. We had a round of drinks and Sara looked for possible dinner places nearby. It was her last night so we told her to choose what sounded good. She found a place only a block or so away so once we finished our drinks we cruised over to the Chophouse for dinner.

Man - what a great find! Lovely little local place. Great wine list and delicious food. We got California Chardonnay, which tasted like heaven! Everyone really enjoyed the meal. A quick walk home and a little bit of hanging out and talking was all that was left before bed. Sara had to be up and out early for her flight so we hugged goodbye. I didn’t figure I’d be up early enough to see her in the morning. Sad to see the trip fly by so darn fast! 

The night we all needed— the Driftwood Inn, Rosses Point

We realized while driving into Sligo, that we were not, in fact, staying in Sligo. Rather, we were just a few miles outside town, in an adorable little place called Rosses Point, right on the water. As we pulled up in front of the Driftwood Inn, I think the whole van did a collective sigh at its dreaminess. Apparently dreaminess isn’t a word because it keeps trying to autocorrect to dreariness, which is almost the exact opposite of what I mean.

We noticed a crowded patio out front, water facing, and figured it’s must be a cool place to grab a pint after work for locals. We grabbed our rooms keys and went to check out the rooms. ADORABLE. Each room faced the water. Ours had a huge soaking tub right in the middle of the room. Just as cute and well appointed as could be. 

After we got settled, mom, Jason and I went for a walk up the water. We knocked on Sara and Ashley’s door but they weren’t in. Or, they were ignoring us! Anyway, it was a gorgeous albeit breezy walk. We met lots of local dogs and many people were out for a stroll. At the top of the hill, we could see forever and there was a fabulous statue of a woman with her arms open wide, like she was welcoming the ocean in. Loved it.

We made our way back to the hotel and decided to grab a drink at the bar and sit outside on the patio. By this time, the entire patio had cleared and we had the place to ourselves! Bam! We found Sara and Ash at the bar enjoying a snack and a drink. We recommended the walk to them and they later took us up on it. We weren’t that hungry so we just had a couple of drinks and then had a cheese and cracker or two up in the room later. 

This place was the little breath of calm and respite we needed after several days of busyness and moving around. Loved it.

Visiting Kylemore Abbey and on into Sligo

Freshly bapped up, we were ready for a big adventure at Kylemore Abbey. We’d seen some pictures online and it looked to be breathtaking. We arrived mid morning, which is to say, slightly ahead of the tourist busses. Which is to say, perfect timing. 

The place was absolutely stunning. Incredibly beautiful. In a “we don’t make things like this anymore” kind of way. This always gives me pause. Why don’t we? Why don’t we build things this beautiful anymore? Anyway — we decided to go first to the gardens. WOW!! We were so delighted with the crops, herbs, plants, trees, flowers. Jason was gathering lots of ideas for a future farm. Mom and I were saying we sure wished Aunt Linda was there— she would have really enjoyed that. We walked over to the Abbey next. We got to walk through a little bit of it. They’d done a nice job of preserving it. Some rooms operating as a museum and others left with the original decorations and furniture from years ago. We did see one nun. She drove up in a car. For some reason, this really rocked my world. Never think about nuns driving cars. From the abbey, we walked down to an old, insanely cool mini cathedral. It was really lovely. We considered stopping for a scone because apparently this area of Ireland is known for its scones but by then the little cafe was overrun with all the people coming in from the tourist busses. We decided to roll back into the little village and have one there instead.

This was about the time that mom stepped in front of oncoming traffic.

One interesting thing about traveling to other countries is this notion that you just can’t quite get right. All the normal stuff no longer applies. All your preprogrammed scripts don’t work. Since we were babies, we’ve looked left before stepping onto a street. Looking left doesn’t help in Ireland. You look left, step into street, and a cab shows up from the right about to run you over. All those many things we take for granted are suddenly disorienting. 

Anyway, I screamed, “MOM” and she stepped safely back. Whew!

So, we go to buy the scones and end up with...a whole lot of chips.

Now, this is important. The chips here are AMAZING. Why are they so good? The collective fave is the shamrock and sour cream chip. 

We’re ready to cruise up to Sligo now. Home of W.B. Yeats.

Bap, roll or wrap?

So, we had a slow start leaving Galway. We’re at that point in the journey where we’ve been experiencing a lot of togetherness and despite this, somehow failed to talk about what the morning would be like. We’re not solidly planning each day out but we generally have some semblance of what time we’ll be leaving and what not. Today, we did not which meant a few of us were up sitting around waiting and a few slept longer. All fine and good in the long run but we realized it’s more fun for all to agree on a leaving time so everyone knows what’s up and can do their own thing until then. No worries, we’d do better from then on.

So, we get in the car and we’re trying to figure out breakfast. Ireland is a slow rolling start sort of place so there are no options for early breakfast eaters. And by early I mean before 9 am. Suddenly, Sara sees a place and we pull over. Woo!

It’s a cute little place with only outdoor seating. I order a breakfast sandwich called, “the manhattan” for reasons that never were clear. Here’s what happened next:

Me: I’ll have the Manhattan, please.
Her: Bap, roll or wrap?
Me:
Her: Bap, roll or wrap?
Me: uh
Her: walks to bread racks and speaks slowly while pointing: Bap....roll... wrap?
Me, stares at “bap” trying for words:
Her: stares at me
Jason: I’ll have the Manhattan, too, on a bap
Me: yes, bap
Her: ketchup, relish or butter?
Me:
Her:
Jason: yes
Her: which one?
Jason: butter?
Me: no
Her: ketchup, relish or butter?
Me: no. None. Nothing
Her: dry?
Me: I’m sorry, I don’t understand what’s happening.

Seriously. What the hell is a bap and who puts ketchup, relish or butter on an egg sandwich?

My brain died. I can’t speak English. Just want egg. Hungry.

Cliffs of Moher— getting touristy— and Galway

The Cliffs of Moher and The Big City

As we got going in the morning, we were heading towards the Cliffs of Moher — one our only true tourist spots that we planned to hit. Massive 700+ foot cliffs plunging straight into the Atlantic Ocean.

We were there in no time, and glad to get there early before ALL the tourist busses. We parked, paid and started walking up the slopes and steps to get the view. There were already quite a few people out, but it was manageable and easy to walk around. The area around it was well done — there was a small tourist center, public bathrooms with unisex bathrooms — interesting to all go into the same bathroom!!! There were a couple of little shops but it wasn’t overdone. It wasn’t the typical American type tourist spot where there were a gazillion crappy t-shirts, sugary snacks, etc. 

We got separated walking around — with the agreement to just meet back up down the hill later. Mom and I enjoyed walking to the left, and then way up again to the right. She did awesome — walking up all the steps. At the top, there was an old guy playing the accordion. I recorded him playing amazing grace for a bit. Really cool. There was a farm that ran almost to the cliffs — so plenty of sheep around, too.

Unlike the US, there weren’t a lot of solid barricades separating the walking paths from the cliffs. This is both refreshing and great for all the young morons who wander out to take selfies. Before long, the cliffs were full of people who climbed over the rails and were stomping over the likely homes of puffins and other burrowing creatures. Geez. So maddening to watch. A policeman came before long and waved them all back. One brazen girl defied him to fluff her hair and continued taking pictures until he blew his whistle. Then she ran to him — like she knew she was pressing her luck.

We met up with Sara and chatted a bit about how Instagram and other social media sites are really ruining travel to some degree. Gone are the days were people would stand in quiet appreciation and just gaze at the cliffs. Now, we’re scrambling out past the barriers and primping to take the coolest photo so other people will think.... what? We’re cool? On the one hand, whatever. Take your selfies. But on the other hand, not only are you ruining it for yourself — are you really seeing what you came to see, or are you just seeing yourself? But you’re also messing it up for others. I didn’t come to the Cliffs of Moher to gaze out and see the mountain covered with selfie takers. Right? Anyway, blah blah blah, I’m getting old and cranky.

We all met back up and decided to get the heck out of town as all the tourist busses were now pouring in. We were cruising towards Galway — eager and hopeful to hear some live Irish music. 

We got to enjoy a lot of tiny little Irish roads on this portion of the trip. When I say tiny, I mean the roads are meant for two way traffic, but one car’s width scrapes the plants on both sides of the pavement. There are some turnouts as you go — but not often enough for those of us who aren’t Irish. We knew some basic rules — the person going downhill backs up if 2 cars meet. We all sort of held our breath and said a prayer that we wouldn’t encounter a giant bus on one of those roads.

The scenery in Ireland is exactly what you imagine in your mind and hope for when you go. Having been to Iceland, there are certainly similarities. But where Iceland is more raw and untouched beauty, Ireland comes across as pristine, well cared for beauty. As though a master gardener, farmer and shepherd are secretly living in every square mile and personally ensuring everything is impeccable. 

At some point, I saw some tiny signs along the road urging no cutting or mowing so as not to propagate an invasive weed. Fascinating! So the flowers and bushes were growing wild and free and were as lovely as anything you can imagine. 

Speaking of signage, another great thing in Ireland is the lack of billboards and signs. There are some in the large cities, but by US standards, very, very few. It was liberating to not be constantly marketed to. On the other hand, the lack of street signs on every street makes being a tourist without WiFi difficult at times;) Major streets had signs — always posted on the sides of buildings and not out on the street corners or hanging from signal lights. 

We found the Irish to be very calm, chill drivers. Occasionally we heard a honk in the city, but it was never a road rage thing, more of a warning thing. You know, as in when someone uses the horn for its intended purpose! They let people over, generally don’t drive wild and way over the speed limit (but when they do, it’s an Audi). The trucks try to get over so you can pass. I loved it — of course, I wasn’t driving. But, I just found it refreshing. I’m so tired of the constant stress, speeding, anger and rudeness you get in the US when you drive. 

Oh, and get this — their gas stations are AMAZING. Like — fresh, wholesome food. Bakeries with amazing breads and scones. At some gas stations, they had small laundry mats outside. Just pull up, through in a load. Come back later. Wow!!! We often got our coffee from a gas station/convenience store type place. As in Australia, every where you go for coffee, it is made by hand. No stagnant overnight pot of stale drop coffee sitting on a burner. 

Anyway, we rolled into Galway, the second largest city in the west (after Limerick). It’s a super cute city center all wrapped up with rivers and bridges. We parked at a cathedral for 5 euros a day and went to grab some lunch while we waited to meet our host to check into our apartment. 

It was a gorgeous, sunny day and Galway reminded me of San Francisco in that when it is sunny, everyone comes outside, lays in the parks, enjoys being out and soaking up the weather. It was great people watching! 

Mom had looked up some cool pubs to go to so we cruised over to check them out. They were indeed cool — but drinks only. And we needed food! We quickly found a place nearby and went in for lunch. It was a huge place with lots of tvs— something we hadn’t seen a lot of yet. We noticed right away there was a hurling game on and Galway was playing Kilkenny. Hurling... you must be wondering what it is. I know we did.

Turns out, Ireland invented their own sport and they are crazy about it! It’s quite fun to watch, actually, especially when you have no idea what’s happening! So, they have these weird paddle/bats that they can bounce the ball on (like paddle ball). They have to bounce the ball on the bat every x number of steps but other wise they can hold the ball and run or smack it way down the field to a teammate. The goal is sort of like a soccer goal but you get 1 point for over the top and 3 for in the goal...something like that.  Anyway, fun to watch there with the Galway peeps and they ended up winning. 

After lunch, we went back to the cool local pub and had a round of Galway gin and tonics while we finished watching the hurling match. Galway gin not as good as Dingle gin, but still good! We talked to one of the barmen — he told us a lot about hurling but also mentioned they don’t like having TVs because it gets too loud. I love this place!

Speaking of loud — remember I was mentioning this before. Every place we’ve been has a set quiet time and everyone seems to follow it. Dead quiet from 10PM- 8 AM and then still pretty darn quiet after that. it’s SO refreshing! 

We went to check into our apartment— a very nice 3 bedroom place right in the middle of everything. We knew we wanted to do laundry that night so we were pleased to find a washer/dryer combo. The dryers in Ireland are interesting. First, it seems most hang everything to dry, so dryers are uncommon. I don’t mind this in principle, but when you only have one night to do laundry and need to do 4+ loads, you really need a dryer. Well...we had some heartache over this one. First, we couldn’t get the door to open again after it washed. Then we couldn’t get it to start. The buttons are labeled differently than ours would be, so nothing made sense. I finally downloaded the user manual and we figured it out. But, it took 4 hours to dry one load. That was insane. Since it was a washer dryer combo, we couldn’t get through all the laundry we needed to do. Oh well. 

We wandered back in to town for dinner but found many places closed. That meant the rest of the places were crowded. We ended up at a nice place but no live music:( After dinner, Ash, Jason and I walked around trying to find some live music but either it started at 10:30 PM or wasn’t happening that night. Dang!! 

This reminds me — they have an incredible amount of daylight right now. It would be light outside until 11 PM if not longer and would be light again around 4 AM. Really cool!! Although, it did make it harder to fall asleep at night. I enjoyed that we never had to be anywhere out in the dark.

Dingle Time!!

Dingle, It is!

Ok, so we didn’t make it to Dingle yesterday but today is the day! We didn’t want to eat breakfast at the hotel in Kells Bay so we agreed to meet up around 8 and get on over to Dingle for breakfast.

We got right on the road and before long we were in Dingle. We noticed right away there were a lot of cars around and eventually, we found out why. It was the morning of a major adventure race! We came across runners and bicyclists. We thought it was a triathlon — but later found out it was more! They also hiked and kayaked. What a great race. Interestingly, they didn’t close the roads. The poor racers were right there with the car traffic — yikes. So, the tiny town was swamped ... and there we were!

We found an adorable little place for breakfast. We sat on the back patio enjoying our coffees and food. We decided we better leave the car where we parked it since the place was so packed and we set out walking and popping into the cute little shop lined streets. 

I was stoked to make it to the distillery but we pretty much needed to make the loop around town before we got there. We got to walk near the finish line and really enjoyed the buzz of the small own alive with the race. 

We crossed a way too tiny little bridge and made it to the semi famous Dingle Distillery— just in time to learn they were booked up for the day and closing early since it was Sunday. Oh no!!! :( By this time, everyone had gotten their fill from shopping and the crowds and mom wasn’t sure she wanted to work up the hill back to the car so Sara, Jason and Ash set off to get the car and mom and I waited at the roundabout and watched the race continue on. 

Since  we ate breakfast late, no one was hungry for lunch and we decided to power on towards Limerick. In the perfect storm of all things, as we approached Limerick, suddenly, everyone was starving and had to pee. Plus, it was the biggest town we’d seen in days and the traffic was crazy. Our route of travel took us straight into downtown and we couldn’t find a place to park or decide were we wanted to go. It was quickly frustrating trying to navigate it all. 

After about 10 minutes, we decided to just head towards our house for the night. Just before leaving town, we came across a grocery store and decided to pull over to pee and load up on snacks and wine for a dinner at the house in the country.

The grocery store was interesting — a really big store and not one single bathroom. We had to leave the store, walk down the strip center to a small restaurant and use their bathroom. When Ash and Mom got there, they were closing up citing some, “trouble outside.” We never understood what the trouble was but nothing was apparent to us!!

We stocked up on all kinds of delicious cheese and crackers and Dingle gin — the distillery might have been closed but by golly were were going to taste it! Also, some wine. We set off looking for the address we’d been anticipating the whole time — old hurling field! At that time, we had no clue what that meant and didn’t care. It was just a cool sounding name.

We arrived shortly to an adorable house just out in the country. To our delight, they also had 3 dogs who were so excited to see us. The owners were staying on property and came to greet us and then let us be. We spread out — another place with all the bedrooms on one floor (this time the upper floor) and the living space on the ground level. We met up in the kitchen for gin and tonics and OH MY GOSH the Dingle gin was amazing. Everyone was in love. Since we didn’t have lunch, we tore into the cheese and crackers, olives, bread and butter. The dairy products in Ireland are absolutely incredible. The fave of the night was a blue cheese from Cashel — insane!!! 

After dinner, Jason played fetch with the littlest dog for quite some time. We later found him carrying around a brick in his mouth and trying to bury it. He was a jack Russell, so that was quite a feat! 

We had trouble figuring out how to make the dang toilets flush. We’re learning plumbing is interesting here. Finally, Sara had to ping the owner to come show us how to make the toilets flush. (Pump the handle fast 3-4 times and then it goes....sometimes:) ) 

While the setting of the house was lovely outside of town, no one slept well. The beds were really uncomfortable and the pillows were like gravel. Such a bummer. The house also wasn’t as clean as we were used to— I wouldn’t call it dirty, but it was clearly not fresh and clean. We had to wash the dishes we used first, as an example. Pretty odd!

We retired somewhat early — eager to head out the next day and move on towards Galway. 

so bad at getting a taxi

Ok, I’m jumping ahead to tell you how insanely bad we are at getting a taxi in Dublin.

This is something you don’t necessarily think about — the protocol for hailing a cab in another country. I’m used to clicking a button on my phone and a car rolling up to my house to get me. We can’t do anything like that here because a) no Uber or Lyft here and b) there is a taxi app but we don’t have local (in country) mobile numbers so we can't use it.

Recent times we’ve tried to get a cab:

You recall the morning we tried to go to the airport to get our rental and our cabbie didn’t show up. Jason and Sara walked around the block and found one.

Coming back into Dublin from our tour of the country, we tried to call the awesome driver who took us to the car rental at the airport when we first got our car. He gave us his card and said to call or text. We did both — and also whatsapp’d And nothing ever happened...that we can tell. Sara’s phone was working with a local SIM card...but we couldn’t get through. Mom has free data but we couldn’t get through. We did crack ourselves up thinking about how many wrong numbers we must have texted trying to figure it all out. It’s no wonder no random person didn’t want to come pick us up with a text like, “Hey, its the 5 crazy Americans...can you come get us?” So, we finally asked the Enterprise car rental guy to call us a cab and he said he could but it would take 20-25 minutes and instead we could ride their free shuttle to terminal 1 which drops at the taxi stand. Perfect! Except it took at least 20 minutes to get on the free shuttle and then it dropped us at a taxi stand with a long line. Sheesh. We’re used to taxi stands with long lines of cabs waiting for people — not the other way around!

So, now we’re trying to find one in Dublin to take us to Guinness. We’re not sure how to get one to pull over. We tried a few things. Nothing happened. We moved to a less busy road. No luck. Finally, Jason walked through traffic and asked a cab driver who pulled over for us. Yeah! We asked him what to do in the future and he said to put your thumb out like a hitchhiker. Ok, no problem.

Well, next cab needed we did the thumb trick and not one single cab would pull over. Granted, we were trying to flag down all cabs, including those that already had people in them. We couldn’t tell this until they were right upon us, in our defense. We never could get a cab so we ended up walking from lunch to the whiskey distillery through a couple of churches. Hey, why not?

After whiskey tasting, we really needed a cab. Jason asked the distillery staff to call us one. They had a button they pushed! Bam! Easy! So we went outside to wait. A few minutes later one pulled up, and we all got in.

Nope.

Turns out, he was there for someone else. We had to get out.

OMG.

So then some other groups were outside and we all had these numbers — a cab pulled up and we were all trying to figure out if it was ours or not. The cab driver said no to all our numbers but then told us to get in. We were so confused but who cared?

We asked him how to hail a cab and he said just stick your arm out. Hmmm. Ok. We’ll try it again, I suppose!

So, even when we have a direct #, we can’t get a cab. Even standing in the taxi line, we can’t. Even hailing it the way to cab drivers said to. Even when it arrives and we get it, we have to get out.

We suck at this.

Almost Dingle Day

After a great night at the lovely Avalon House and a delicious breakfast, we were ready for our longest driving day and we set out thinking we were going to Dingle!

All of us had been so busy before the trip that most of us hadn’t really had much time to look at Sara’s proposed agenda and see what all we wanted to do around each stop. In a way, this is fun because everything is very spontaneous. It also takes a bit longer to make decisions like where and when to eat a meal, etc. Traveling in a group of 5 very different people could make that more difficult, but so far everyone has been very accommodating and very much, “whatever, I’m just happy to be here” which helps a ton!

Anyway, because I didn’t look at anything pre-trip, I didn’t realize we were driving on the ring of Kerry for part of this leg of the trip. Not that it matters, but I just didn’t realize it! I also didn’t realize that where we were staying was 1.5 hours from Dingle. Meaning, by the time we got to Kelly’s Bay, we’d already driven 3+ hours so there was no way we were going to want to drive another 3 to get to and from Dingle that same day. We were ready to explore!

Kell’s Bay was AWESOME. It’s like a beautiful tropical jungle lodge set midway up a hill looking out at the bay. There were awesome trails cut out with waterfalls, suspension bridges, incredible flowers and trees. Even hand carved dinosaurs from fallen trees! What a great walk! It was a bit more cool in the shaded areas but still not chilly. We had so much fun exploring and walking.

We decided to try a place called O’Neils for dinner. It was a seafood place on “the point”, meaning right at the edge of the sea. It was about 25 minutes away so we headed to it after our walk. We got there in no time but also before the place opened:) We killed the 30 minutes or so walking around, watching the car ferry go back and forth. Neat spot! We noticed a small group of men walk into the pub early and get pints so we sauntered on in, too. We’d already lost Ashley who was down near the water exploring, but we figured she could figure it out and come join us — and she did.

What a great spot! We chatted with the owner for a bit. Her daughter is now living in Santa Barbara. I decided to try the Dingle gin and ordered a gin and tonic. It came out with a slice of orange and juniper berries! It was SOOOO delicious. Wow. I was excited to visit the distillery in Dingle because it had actually been featured in a recent Wine Enthusiast magazine— so between that and my first taste, I was really looking forward to the visit the next day.

As we finished up our awesome seafood dinner (I had the house smoked salmon — sooooo tasty), we headed back to Kells Bay. Everyone was ready for some down time, so we split off to our 3 rooms to chill. Our room faced the bay and we had the windows open and got this incredible, cool breeze off the water. It was so awesome. Another great day of exploring in the books.

Breaking News: The Irish Don’t Use Kleenex

We’ve now stayed in 7 different places and none of them have had any sort of tissue other than toilet paper.

Also:

Never any kitchen towels. This was really puzzles me. Only a single sponge. At the first house, the little book left said it had kitchen towels so I emailed to ask where we could find them. They said they didn’t provide any. I guess they only use the dishwasher and never dry their hands?

Also:

With coffee service, there are always what looks to be little creamers but they are always just milk!

Which reminds me:

We have yet to see a single chubby Irish person. For some reason, I imagined we would see more. They are all quite trim.

And:

The whole country is just so quiet. Not quite as quite as Iceland...but very, very quiet. We’re constantly having to lower our voices or tell each other to bring it down a notch.

Which brings me to:

We’re often stared at. Obviously, Irish people can tell we’re not Irish. In smaller villages, it could just be that they know we aren’t from there. Sometimes, perhaps we are forgetting and being loud. All the time I’m wearing hot pink sneakers. But, what else is it? How do they alway know?

This is why travel is so fun. I love experiencing all these things!

On the road to Kilkenny

We woke up and walked over to the little Insomnia coffee shop inside the Spar (the local grocery). We grabbed some breakfast like things there and the coffee and ate breakfast in our apartment. We’d made plans with the taxi driver who brought us to our apartment on day one to come get us at 10 and bring us to the airport to get our rental car. We were all gathered outside at 10.

Nothing happened.

Finally, at 10:15, Sara and Jason walked around the block and found a van taxi to come get us. We didn’t get the card of the guy who had agreed to come so we couldn’t call him. We’re guessing he just flat forgot. No matter, this guy was also hilarious and got us to Enterprise straight away. We liked him a lot, got his card, and plan to call him for our next couple of airport runs. The van for all five of us with luggage from city center to the airport rental car area was 26 Euros. Amazing. 

Now, the fun begins! We are free to roam! Sara takes the wheel with Ash navigating, which is great since they were both in the lessons and learned the road signs, etc. Our number one goal is just to get the heck out of the city and the traffic and get onto the Motorway. The mini van is just perfect. We all fit well and the luggage we brought is just right. There is a third seat that we thought we’d use but there is absolutely no leg room. As in, I’m not sure anyone ever could sit back there. Strange design. We began our drive south to Kilkenny and learned to understand the GPS we rented. Since we don’t have mobile phone use unless we’re somewhere with WiFi, we couldn’t use any of our normal GPS options. We’re finding that this isn’t the best GPS we’ve ever used, but we’re getting used to it. It gets us to the right places but it really isn’t intuitive. Sometimes you can’t quite tell which way it wants you to go and this is made worse by there often aren’t posted street names unless you are right in a village. Anyway, Sara was doing great driving on the wrong side of the car and road and before long we made it to Kilkenny. 

This was to be our first castle! Yeehaw! Kilkenny is so cute. We found a wonderful restaurant for lunch. The meals here aren’t rushed. The food comes out fast, is delicious, and there is zero hurry to get you out the door or “turn the table” for other guests. It’s really nice. I tried a Jamison and coke after lunch and it was nice! 

We cruised up to the castle — walking and leaving the car where we parked on the outskirts of town. We were about 45 minutes early for a tour but there was a self guided option for something like 6 euros so we jumped on that. The castle was lovely — nice tour through there. It had been restored and lived in so there were some areas that were more modernized because of structure concerns from the original, of course. We enjoyed the pictures of the original and the many things they were able to leave in place. The grounds of the castle were also incredible. There was a lovely garden in the back, long, rolling green fields in the front where some local kids were playing. We joked that in the US you wouldn’t be able to get in the grass much less play sports at something like this. And the grass was still perfect!  

After the castle, we wanted to see the cathedral but we thought we better move the car closer because at some point Mom would get tired and not be able to have another really long hike back to the car. So, Sara, Ash and Jason went to get the car and mom and I stayed at the roundabout outside the castle. It then promptly started to rain. At least it wasn’t a major downpour. Mom had a rain jacket on but I just had a sweatshirt. About 10 minutes into that, she suddenly remembered she had an umbrella in her purse. Geez!! 

So, they picked us up and we went to see the beautiful cathedral. Sara dropped us and found a parking spot. It was gorgeous but didn’t take more than a few minutes and then we were ready to walk around. The town is full of lots of shops. They don’t have large malls here so everything you need is in small shops scattered throughout the town. We walked and explored. It drizzled much of the time. Ash and Jason found a pub called Paris Texas, which is an actual city in Texas! So crazy. They went in briefly but didn’t get to find out the full story. We’ll have to look it up. 

We decided we best get on the way to find our lodging for the night so we looked up the hotel in the GPS and took off. All was well and we found it in no time. We pulled around back of this cute little B&B looking place and were starting to unload the car when a man walked right up to us and said, “You’re in the wrong place. You’ve got the wrong house!” No one ever said the Irish weren’t direct! We said, “no, we’re staying here tonight.” He said, “You don’t have a room!” Sara said, “yes, I’ve had a reservation for weeks.” He said, “No, you don’t.” Finally, I pulled up the confirmation code for him to look at. He looked at it and said, “castlecomer.” I stared at him. He said, “This is Carlow.” I kept looking at him because I had no idea what that meant. Then he said, “You’re in the wrong town.” UGH.

So, we got the heck out of there as fast as we could since he obviously did NOT want us around. We were only about 15-20km away from castlecomber, thankfully. The hotel we ended up with was very cute! It had its own pub and restaurant which was great for that night and the next morning. We were supposed to have 2 rooms as they had triple rooms with 3 beds but the one that Sara, Mom and Ash got had a double bed and a twin...not really ideal. So, Sara was able to grab another room so we fit better. The rooms were nice and confortable and clean and we had a good night there. Ash, Jason and I took a short walk through the village. Short because the village was tiny! But, cute, clean, well kept. Very nice.

Secret Food Tour, 10 miles of walking, and Dublin fun

Our first morning in Dublin was great — everyone slept pretty well and we were ready to rock this town. We had a food tour booked so all we needed to do was find some coffee and walk toward Trinity College to meet up with our guide. We discovered a small grocery market not even a block from the apartment and — even better— they make a great flat white at the little coffee nook inside it. Flat whites are a coffee we fell in love with in Australia. It’s reminiscent of a latte, but more coffee to milk. No, it is not a synonym for cappuccino.

Anyway, we set off walking with Sara, the human compass, leading the way. It was something like a 20 minute walk— this becomes important later. It was fun people watching since it was time for everyone to get to work so there was plenty of hustle and bustle. Lots of people ride bikes here and the city is full of bikes you can rent for a few hours or the day — super easy. In no time, we were in front of trinity and killed time waiting by popping into a few shops. Mom and I bought some cute hats to help keep us warm. There was a chilly breeze and the hats were perfect. We walked into the main courtyard area of Trinity and it was gorgeous. There were plenty of tour groups all around and we were happy to be going in a different direction from them!

We met up with our awesome guide, Noel, and 2 others who were on the tour with us — a couple from Florida!  He was the perfect guide - upbeat, funny, positive and considerate. We went to five different places including a full Irish breakfast, a whiskey tasting (mom liked the Irishman whiskey!), a cheese tasting, a full lunch at the Hairy Lemon and finally out for ice cream. Everything was absolutely delicious and 100% made in Ireland. What a treat. We also tasted our first Guinness (well, in Ireland). It was so much fun and a really different way to see and hear about a city. Because of the food tour, we’d gone round and round  the same couple of blocks a few times and ended up all kinds of backwards.

Sara and Ashley were going to go take a driving lesson so we split up and agreed to meet up later back at the apartment. Mom, Jason and I cruised back to the pub that Noel thought served the best Guinness in town to test that out. Jason and I had one and Mom tried out a wonderful Irish coffee. This pub, Grogan’s, was really interesting inside — totally packed with locals. Just an old bar man and a girl working the bar. We could see inside the men’s room the whole time, which was also interesting;)

After, we decided to walk on back. Somewhere along the way, there was a wrong turn. We thought we were still generally going in the right direction so we carried on. For 1.5 hours. Seriously. And we only stopped because my poor mom’s knees were hurting so badly that she was walking about as fast as a decrepit tortoise. We decided we better get a taxi and have him take us to our apartment. So, we walked into a Hilton we came across and I held out the map and asked the lady where we were on it. To my shock and horror, she drew a circle directly south. I thought we were directly east. We did in fact cross the canal. But not the right canal and not in the right part of town. Oh man. What a hoot. We learned when we ask locals where the river or canal is, we need to be much more specific. So, a very kind Hungarian taxi driver took us to our apartment. The ride was about 20 minutes and it only cost 16 euros — about 20 bucks. Awesome.

Thankfully, we got home before Ash and Sara so we Could tell them the story on our own terms and not because they saw us drag in after them. Jason and I went off in search of some cbd oil for mom to try on her knees. We found some not even a block away at a local pharmacy. No THC. Bam! Perfect. We took that back to her and then went back out to find some bottles of wine. We were long overdue a good glass of wine after all that walking. All said and done, we walked 10 miles. Pretty solid day.

Mom, Ash, Jason and I were still up for dinner but Sara was cool with skipping it and staying in so we trekked across the street to an Italian place — mostly because it was close. It wasn’t the best, but hey, who would think Italian in Ireland would be? But, it hit the spot and we were all ready for bed early!

Philly to Dublin...the adventure begins

Our trip to Ireland began in Philly, of all places. As it turns out, it was a great way to get the trip started. We’re a few days in now so I have hindsight on my side, which is always helpful. 

But, let’s start at the beginning.

So, 5 of us are meeting up in Ireland. Me, my husband, my mom, our friend Ashley and my friend Sara. 4 of us are flying to Philly to spend a few days and then flying together over the pond. Sara will meet us at the airport — she’s flying in from Saudi Arabia where she works. 

And why? Well, about 2 months ago I was out in San Jose working and got a text one morning. It was Sara. She said, “Do you want to go to Ireland?” I said, “yes.” Turns out, most people say yes to that question so here we all are. 

We started looking for plane tickets and the proverbial poo hit the fan. We like to fly on miles but,  as anyone who has ever flown on miles can tell you, it ain’t easy. In fact, it ended up not working at all. The prices were sky high and it started to look like the whole trip might be in jeopardy. Mom threw out a high end cap and we got serious about hunting for airfare under that, still in business class. 

Next thing you know, we’re all heading to Philly. We ended up spending the weekend there because we realized non of us had ever been there before. What a crazy fun town! We went full tourist and did all the things — including the double decker bus all around town and eating cheesesteaks at the tourist places. It was great. Such a walkable city. Clean. Easy to navigate. Lots to see. Beautiful architecture. Amazing history. We all just really enjoyed our time there.

And, later we realized the true greatness of it was we had a small decompression window before the big trip began. We let work shake off. We stopped being stressed and hurried and worried. We started just enjoying time. We did what we wanted when we wanted and let go of the rest. What’s better than that? 

We stayed at the Embassy Suites right in the middle of the museum area, which was awesome. We had 2 rooms next door to each other and made good use of the free breakfasts and happy hours. The weather was perfect. Such a treat to have cool nights with no mosquitos!!

The days flew by and it was finally time to head back to the airport and get on our long flight. All of us but poor Ash were flying business and were looking forward to a meal, wine and a lay flat seat. We got to hang out in the British Airways lounge ahead of the flight — it was really tiny. I was surprised. We’re used to the giant American Airlines lounges. But, the food and drinks were free and the chairs were comfy so we killed the time pre-flight in there. There was good people watching — including a Russian lady who power chugged 4 straight espressos and an old man who came to get a cappuccino but pulled his coffee mug away after just the milk and let the espresso run all over. 

On board, we found our seats. They were pretty cool. Great privacy— I felt like I was in my own little suite...unless I sat up and lowered the privacy glass and then I was staring right at Jason;) Mom was a few rows behind us so I went to make sure she was all set. The service was impeccable— really amazing. The only negative was that the plane stayed really uncomfortably warm all night long. I was sweating and having to fan myself. I’m not sure how Jason survived, as he is always hot. The flight went by so fast. Almost too fast — I found myself oddly wishing it had been a bit longer because I didn’t get much time to sleep. By the time the run the drinks and dinner service and you get the bed made and relax, there were only about 4 hours max to sleep. That’s a decent nap but not a good night’s sleep. 

We woke up coming in to land in England. We had to go through passport checks and security again and change terminals. We didn’t have to claim and recheck bags at least. Security was a bit of a whip but we ended up making it to our gates with time to spare. We were pretty tired but hanging in there. The flight to Dublin was super short — something like 50 minutes. We barely got our water and we were landing. The plane was weird. We were in first class but it was 3 and 3 with the middle seat blocked out by a custom tray table...so we were only seated 2 per row. But there was no additional leg room. It was odd! But whatever. The flight was too short to care.

Once on the ground in Dublin, we were stoked! Tired but happy. Then, mom’s luggage didn’t come off the plane. Crap! She went to file a claim. I was trying to contact the driver who was supposed to come get us so he wouldn’t leave us but I couldn’t get through. I could tell Sara’s plane was going to be late. Finally, just as mom made it up to the counter to file her claim, someone came by and said there was still some luggage on the belt in the back. He fired it up, and here came her bag! Wow! So cool. We went through customs and pretty quickly found our driver. He seemed in a hurry but I told him we were still missing Sara and he waited. About 15 minutes later, out she came! BAM! Party TIME!

SO, we take off for the van trying to run after the driver who is walking crazy fast through the rain and never looking back to see if we’re following. I was second in line and made it my goal in life to just not lose him. We all get there, get loaded up and in the van and then, we see our first fist fight in Ireland.

Damn, I love this country.

So, we watch two cars ahead of us in line to get out of the car park start to get mad at each other. Finally, one gets out and walks up to the door of the other. They start fighting. And then our driver warms up! I said, ‘man, is this normal? Should we expect this?” And he said, “I hope so!” And then, “You should always punch them in the face. But really, he should have just killed him.” And for the next 40 minutes drive or so he had us all laughing. He was really a character. At some point he learned that mom just turned 70 and he told her she was, “quite fresh for 70!” He got a big kick out of mom trying to tell him our address and pronouncing a common word, “quay” as “kway” rather than “key”.

Our apartment wasn’t quite ready, so we dropped our bags at the office and went off about the streets of Dublin for fish n chips and the grocery store. So happy to be reunited with brown sauce for fish! A love of mine from the Oxford days. A couple hours later, we were ready for the apartment and the driver took us over to Hanover Quay — on the grand canal. A lovely area right near the Google campus and the U2 studios. We were too worn out to want to go exploring so we stayed in and had a dinner of cheese and crackers and wine. 

The apartment was awesome — 3 bedrooms and 2 baths on the ground floor. A large living room, kitchen and dining room on the second floor. We had lots of room to spread out and get comfy. We were also able to do laundry — which was perfect timing! We only brought 4-5 days worth of clothes an the short Philly stay had run through most of them.