I figure the best way to do this is to go day by day that way it won’t get all bunched together.
It was pretty much just a spur of the moment trip for me. The day before I was to leave for Germany I was with Christa and Jenae two of the girls that im probably with the most here. They were talking about a trip and just mentioned Ireland and it all went from there we bought tickets online for about 20 euros each and planned on renting a car while we were there and just drive all around the country for 5 days. Ireland is a really small country so we figured we could drive a lot of it all the way north to all the way south but once we got there we realized that wasn’t realistic and we would have to change out plans because in Ireland the roads are really small and hard to drive on and things take a lot longer than in the US.
Day 1 (Friday)
We flew into Dublin airport and hoped on a bus to the center of town and figured we would go look for a tourist office or at least just find something to do. While in Dublin we were to stay with a couchsurfer Rory who has had HUNDREDS of people stay with him over the years. We found directions to his place dropped our stuff off at the front desk and then went on a hunt to find food. After walking for a while with no luck we somehow wondered down to Temple bar (which we thought was an actually bar but in reality isn’t at all, a “bar” is a town right next to a river) so while we were looking for “temple bar” to get hamburgers we got frustrated and just stopped at this Mediterranean restaurant. After we ate we made our way down to the Guinness factory. The factory was so much fun, it was huge! There are about 5 levels of information and at the top they have a sky bar with a 360 degree view of the city. Once we finished our Guinness’s we made our way back to Rory’s once there we learned that we weren’t the only ones that were supposed to stay there, it was the 3 of us, a boy from Scotland, a girl from Greece, a man from Italy, and a man from Israel, and a guy from Seattle. So with 8 of us supposed to be sleeping on the floor Rory suggested that we go stay with his friend Anthony a couchsurfer and good friend of his. We agreed so he drove us to Anthony’s house where we met 2 girls from New Zealand, a French couple living in Ireland, a guy from Brazil and a girl from Portugal, I was pretty overloaded but Anthony had made everyone dinner so we just sat and ate and chatted about just about everything. Later we all went out to a pub where here we were the league of nations just talking drinking and having a good time. It was so amazing and a time I know I will never forget.
Day 2 (Saturday)
We woke up early said our goodbyes and made it to Enterprise where we rented our car for the week. We took off and drove south-west heading to Cork where there was the Guinness Jazz Festival. On the way we stopped at Cashel Rock a hugely popular castle because this is where St. Patrick baptised the king of Munster. We also pulled off the road and stopped in a few small cities and once me and Christa stopped and got out and chased some cows. It was a fun day we just spent a lot of time in the car talking and just enjoying the country. That night we arrived in Cork found a organic place to eat and because we hadent found a place to stay we parked the car next to a river in Cork and spent the night.
Day 3 (Sunday)
After a good night sleep in the car (ha) I started driving…after a while of getting used to it we made our way up to the Ring of Kerry. The pictures or my description of it will never do it justice; I have never seen a more beautiful place in my life. The huge rolling green hills and the miles and miles of farm land with sheep and cows seemed to last forever. The sky was a little hazy and it was insanely windy but at the same time very fitting for my mental image of Ireland. The roads we really small and VERY hard to drive on, another plus side of growing up in the country I was able to handle the roads well and I felt really comfortable, I mean these roads barely fit one car let alone 2 and being on the very edge of a cliff. Driving seemed to bring out the most frustration between the 3 of us because for me and Christa when Jenea drove I think we both feared for our lives. We managed and spent the whole day just driving immersed in the beauty. I only wish I had better pictures but I guess you will all just have to make your way out there some day! That night we drove to Limerick and spent the night with a couchsurfer William that had stayed with Christa and Jenea before.
Day 4 (Monday)
Cliffs of Moher day!!!!! My favorite part of the trip! I started off driving and we made our way though hours of tiny roads and finally made it to the cliffs. We spent the bulk of this day just getting there and stopping everywhere along the way. When we finally did make it was SO windy your walking to what seems like nothing special but all of a sudden you see these amazing cliffs that your right on the edge of. It is so different over here compared to in the US because back home they would never let you get so close to the edge NEVER but here they let you just sit right on the edge, its insane. We walked around for hours and even got to see the sunset, it makes me sad that I can’t really give that great of a description because it is just so breathtaking. When we finally dragged ourselves away we got it the car and headed to Galway. A college town that is supposed to have a ton of great bars and clubs, but being that it’s a Monday night and we pretty wore out we just wanted to find a small traditional Irish pub, and that we did! We found this little pub in the center of town that had a live band playing traditional music. We stayed there all night talking to everyone in the pub (because we could finally speak English and be understood!), drinking and listening to the great music. That night we stayed in the car again because we couldn’t find a couchsurfer.
Day 5 (Tuesday)
Bummed that this was our last day and not to sure of what we wanted to do we just started off driving back in the direction of Dublin and stopping at every castle we could. The biggest of which was Birr castle this amazing castle that is 1 of the 12 castles that are still inhabited today, most families don’t live in their castles because of the price of upkeep. That night we stayed with this couchsurfing couple that had also stayed with Christa and Jenea a while back. They made us dinner and we just drank a last Guinness in Ireland and watch Boondock Saints and went to sleep.
We drove back to Dublin early Wednesday morning returned the car and made it to the airport. It was a long 5 days and a lot of hours in a car together but we made it through and all had an absolutely amazing time. I would love to make it back to Ireland someday and venture off into the northern part of the country. Ireland is just so beautiful and the people are just so amazingly nice and welcoming. We did not meet a single person who wasn’t willing to help us or didn’t have a suggestion on how we should spend are time, and as we said goodbye to each person we met they would just say “see you next time!”
Heres a slideshow of all my pictures i wish i could show more but these will do!
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