Ireland: Speaking Irish

I made it home! Safely. Of course, I have a cold and I still don’t know if I got it from sleeping in a van with five girls or sitting next to a lady with sniffles on the plane ride home. Roy is trying to avoid me at all costs but I think he might already have it. I’m beginning to feel pretty bad about that.
Ireland was majestic! Of course we didn’t see any leprechauns but we held out until the very end. We spent a lot of time driving on one lane country roads with cars going in both directions. Our little 30 year old Volkswagen van, appropriately named Sunny, didn’t go very fast and was always one big speed bump away from breaking down. The weather was gorgeous (probably in the low 70’s) and it hardly even sprinkled (Ireland is green for a reason). We were supposed to spend the first four nights camping out of the van – I made it through the first two nights before I convinced Michelle to find a cheap B&B above a pub so I could sleep on a bed for a night. When Serena told me I was “trooper”, I asked if my enthusiasm for sleeping in a van was that obvious. But, overall, we had a great time.
On Sunday upon my arrival into Dublin, I met the girls at their hostel, we took the train out to pick up Sunny and after a quick driving “test”, we headed out through the Wicklow mountains (where PS I Love You was filmed) before settling into a parking lot beside the ocean in Tramore for the first night.
Monday, we woke early and got back on the road towards Cobh and onto Kinsale (one of my favorite cities) for dinner – If I had even an hour longer, I would have taken out a kayak on the shoreline. That night, we made it to a closed camp site outside the Ring of Kerry for our first shower. We all slept in (9am) and cooked a nice breakfast spread (out of the van, of course) before heading onto Dingle for our third night. Dingle is known for their music so we enjoyed a few pubs and lots of live music before settling into a nice twin bed of my very own that night.
The next morning, Michelle and I ate the Irish breakfast and complimented it like we’d never eaten a restaurant meal before – I still remember how amazing the porridge tasted. After that, Kelly, Michelle and I rented bikes and began our nice leisurely ride around the Dingle Peninsula. Of course, the nice “leisurely” tour around the peninsula turned into a 20 mile bike ride up hill. It was gorgeous although I seriously wanted to quit about 10 miles into the ride. I would have cried if I knew I could have taken a taxi home. But, it was breathtaking…through the mountains, by the ocean and along some gorgeous green paths – we even saw a rainbow! It was hard to complain about the pain but I managed it. That evening, we loaded back into the van and headed onto Doolin that night. Although a very small town, this place claims to have the best hostel in Ireland (we camped out in the parking lot). That night we found my favorite pub where we all enjoyed a glass of wine and listened to an amazing band – I will never forget that violin. Even exhausted, I didn’t want to leave.
Early the next morning, we took Sunny to the Cliffs of Moher. We parked down the road so we could hike the cliff – we all took our lives in our hands doing this but the picture we got was worth it (since we lived, of course). The hike was a lot of fun and I could hardly feel the pain from the bike ride the day before. Even though the wind almost knocked me down, it was beautiful. It was already Thursday so we had to get back on the road to Galway for the oyster festival. We checked into the hostel (on the busiest street in Galway) got dressed and headed out to join the masses celebrating Guinness’ 250 Anniversary. I don’t care for the stuff but I had to join in at least one drink or I couldn’t claim to be Irish. Side note: We randomly had groups of people pointing at us and calling out “American” – was it that obvious?? After a nice fresh oyster on the street and a few visits to local pubs, I called the early shift and joined Serena back in the dorm around 11pm, just in time to call Roy before he left work (Lisa had provided a phone for me so I could call/text Roy throughout the day…I’m sure he loved it).
Friday was our last day and after 6 days of traveling, we were all pleasantly pooped. Serena drove home (and I navigated with our trusty GPS, Emily) while everyone else slept in the back. We said good-bye to Sunny, took the train back into the city and checked into our hostel. We didn’t know it at the time but it was Dublin’s culture night where all of the cities prized collections were open late (and free!) to the public. So, we quickly made our way to a pub for our last grub and headed out on the town…we saw the Book of Kels, walked by the Dublin Castle and even caught an art exhibit. The city just lights up at night! We didn’t make it out too late before all of us agreed to go back and enjoy our private room overlooking the city. I had to be up by 5:30am to make the bus to the airport. After Serena got up and walked with me to the bus stop (thanks, again!), I made it into the arms of my favorite person 22 hours later (8:30pm on Saturday night).

Michelle, Lisa, Serena and Kelly – what a trip! I’ll never forget it.