Ireland

So Kelly and I went to Ireland for our honeymoon a few weeks ago. Throughout the past few years while at college I have had the amazing opportunity to travel and see different aspects of the world. For some unknown reason, however, I have had this uncanny reluctance to travel to Europe. Don't get me wrong, I find the history and culture of most European cultures fascinating as I do all cultures, but European cultures have always seemed boring to me.
Ireland has always been on Kelly's "bucket list" yes the now cliche bucket list (thank you Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson), ever since she was very young. Her mother went to Ireland and Kelly has always had this sense of Irish blood pulsating through her. So I thought I would surprise her. Even though Europe is low on my list of places to see before I die, I knew Ireland would be different. I just wanted an excuse to go somewhere.

The trip was essentially flawless. I credit that to the many hours I slaved over the computer for about 4 months before arriving in Dublin. Our itinerary consisted of arriving in Dublin at 9 a.m. Monday morning. I did not sleep at all because I was too busy watching Transformers 2, Land of the Lost, and Mulan on the overnight airplane ride. Plus I get gitty with excitement on airplanes traveling to unknown areas of the world. We had to walk aimlessly, but with a mission around Dublin for about 4 hours before we were able to check in at our B & B (bed and breakfast, however don't be deceived like we were. You have to pay an additional price for a breakfast). Kelly and I tried to everything we could for the first 2 days of being in Dublin. We walked everywhere. If it wasn't for our trusty travelers book by Fodors, we would have been lost before we got off the plane. Thanks to that book and our motivation to walk everywhere, we boldly, and with confidence say that we almost have that city memorized.

After 2 days consisting of sight seeing at places such as Malahide Castle, Dublin Bay, St. Patrick's Cathedral, Guinness Storehouse, Trinity College (the Long Room and the Book of Kells are indescribable), and several, several pubs, we took the cheapest way possible, a bus ride across Ireland to the mesmerizing Dingle Peninsula. The bus ride, although a few hours longer than any other means to get to Dingle was the cheapest, and greatest way to see the real Ireland. We made dozens of stops in small Irish towns and villages, and we were able to sit and ride with the locals who use the bus everyday. $150 for the two of us taking the 9 hour bus ride was way more justifiable than spending nearly $270 to take a 6 hour train ride. We needed to pinch the penny, or should I say Euro when we could because Europe has this way of taking all your money (more on that later).

Dingle was an excellent oasis from the bustling city of Dublin. Dingle was our Grand Marais to Minneapolis. Our Manistee to Detroit. For those who do not understand the correlations, put simply, it was a very quaint, relaxing town on the Atlantic. We stayed at another B & B, and did a lot of relaxing which lacked in Dublin. There still was, however, a lot to see and we were not about to miss it. We stayed about 2 1/2 days and 3 nights in Dingle. It was very relaxing. October is Ireland's wettest month, and the entire 7 days we were in Ireland, it rained for only 1. Dingle was warm, sunny and mostly gorgeous. One day we went on a 3 1/2 hour boat tour of the Great Blasket Islands on the Atlantic. We saw such things as dolphins, seals, goats, and 2,000 year old archaeological sites from the Celts. We saw where Gale Saiyers lived before she was evacuated from the Island during WWII. We saw amazing Irish landscape on the sea side--landscape that makes Ireland so popular.



The Second day we decided to fulfill Kelly's dream (other than coming to Ireland) which was to go horseback riding in the Irish hills and mountains. One of the bonuses to going to Ireland in October is that while you gamble with getting rained on the entire time (lady luck was on our side), the tourism industry is coming to a close. Meaning, everyone is headin' out of Dodge. Kelly and I were the only 2 customers to go horseback riding. So other than our guide, who spent the whole time yelling at her dog who was running along the entire country side chasing sheep that did not belong to him, it was just Kelly and me. Amazing countryside to say the least. Kelly has good taste and I thank her for dreaming to go to Ireland.


After an astonishing 2 1/2 days and 3 nights in Dingle, we took the long bus ride back to Dublin, where we would close out the night and our honeymoon in Ireland. The bus ride was perfect, as well as our last evening in Dublin. While in Dublin, we got a slightly better room at the same B & B and we decided to make one final hurrah of sightseeing. We walked to the Dublin Castle. There was not much left of the enormous castle first established by Viking Longboats (Dublin and Limerick, the 2 largest cities in lower Ireland were actually established by Vikings, huh.), but there was some, and some is all we needed to get our enjoyment out of the building. That evening we TRIED to save more money (at this point our Euro was exhausted and we now relied on the Visa) so we went to McDonald's of all places. Even McDonald's was overpriced (more on that later)!


Needless to say this trip was amazing. Kelly and I love to explore by nature, and going to a new country and sitting in our hotel room for a week did not sound appealing. We did a lot, and we aren't going to lie and tell you there were not times we were stressed, because when you try to do a lot, including staying 2 days in one places, then taking a 9 hour bus ride across the country, then coming back all within in a week, there is naturally going to be stress. It was worth it however. We did what we could, and saw what we saw and there were no regrets. We had a blast in Ireland and have not closed the books on it yet. There is potential to go back (several, several years from now), but we just don't know yet. There is a lot more out there to see.