My Pretty Little Galway Girl
We told each of the kids that when they graduated high school, we would take them on a trip anywhere in the world. My oldest Kaleigh wanted to go to Ireland and learn more about her roots on the Hanley side of the family, so we were more than happy to oblige. The three of us (Kaleigh, my girlfriend Debbie and I) set off with my best friend Liz in tow. Luckily, we had enough United miles for three plane tickets so that helped bring the cost down significantly. At the time we were miles newbies and weren’t aware of the United excursionist perk – had we known then what we know now we could have popped over to Iceland, the UK, or even Turkey for free! If you’re not familiar with the United Excursionist Perk and want to learn more, click here. But lesson learned and my goal is to make sure that doesn’t happen to you lol!
We started off in a panic because our flight to Newark was severely late and we almost didn’t make our connecting flight to Dublin. After a flat ¾ mile sprint (which showed just how woefully out of shape I was) to the gate we arrived just in time – only to find out that flight had been delayed also lol! Something to think about when planning your flights is that there are typically only one or two flights a day to some of the international locations, so if it gets cancelled or you miss it because your connecting flight is late, more than likely you won’t make it out until the following day. For this reason we always make sure we have a long layover, and if we have the time we don’t like to plan too much on the first day of an international trip, a) so we can rest after having been on an overnight flight and b) because if our plane is late we don’t lose money on something we’ve already paid for.
We arrived in Dublin, rented a car at the airport from Dooley Car Rentals and immediately drove about an hour to Meath, saving Dublin for the end of our journey. Driving on the left wasn’t too bad, but I’m really glad we opted for an automatic transmission. Some of the better credit cards will offer insurance on the rental car, but you should definitely take the additional coverage here in Ireland. The roads are very narrow and if you look carefully, you’ll notice almost all the cars have scrapes and scratches on the side. We *may or may not* have had a mirror incident ourselves. While we were waiting we saw a number of people who wanted to use the coverage offered by their credit card company but Dooley wouldn’t accept it without a written letter. We had heard this and made sure we had one sent to us by Chase a few days before we left. We stopped off in a cute little pub to have fish and chips and so Kaleigh could have her first legal drink. She immediately discovered she was an Orchard Thieves fan! Then we headed off to our first Airbnb of the trip, Crooked Wood Farm. Crooked Wood is a former dairy farm, and the barn was converted into a studio. It is still a recording studio and a working farm, some of the instruments are still there and the owners Linda and Enda might even stop in and have a jam session with you. In the morning, there were donkeys at our window peeking in to say Hi! The land was beautiful, and it was a great place to relax and recover from that initial jet lag. The space has two bedrooms, but there are 7 beds so if you have a big family, this is just the place!
The next day we woke up and headed to Eniskillen in Northern Ireland. There was a slight moment of panic as we realized once we crossed the border the street signs went from Kilometers to Miles, but our car odometer was still in Kilometers. Those first few minutes of trying to do math in your head while driving is no joke! The portable wi-fi unit we rented from Dooley also stopped working until we went back to Ireland so just know you might be on your own if you’re relying on that for a GPS. Luckily Liz was using her AT&T International Day Pass and the service was fine. We stopped at the Hard-Boiled Egg Café to have our first Irish Breakfast of Boxty and Brown bread. Kaleigh of course had pancakes because to say she is not adventurous when it comes to foods is an understatement. We stopped at Eniskillen castle and walked around the city a little bit before heading off to our final destination for the evening – Finn Lough Resort.
One of the things we love to do on our travels is to find unique places to stay. When we saw the Bubble Domes at Finn Lough, we knew we had to make the trek up to Northern Ireland just to stay in them. It was a little bit of a splurge, but hey like the blog says – “Life is short, buy the ticket”. When we arrived, we booked the Elements Spa Trail, a trail through the woods with a different activity at each stop including saunas, hot tubs, aromatherapy, and even a float chamber! I had never been in a float chamber before and initially felt a bit awkward but by the time we were done I did not want to get out! The view from the hot tub was so amazing we *may* have spent a little more than our allotted time there lol!
After the Spa we showered and went to have dinner at the Finn Lough restaurant. The food there is locally sourced and to die for! Among other things we had pan fried sea bass with creamed leeks, sweet potatoes and beetroot rosti; pan seared sea trout with warmed chorizo and comber potato salad; Lamb rump with celeriac root, sautéed savoy cabbage, wild mushrooms and port reduction to name a few. Lizzie is a major foodie and she thought this was the best meal of the trip!
After dinner we walked down to the lake to have a drink, then retired to our Bubble for sunset and the main event. The Bubbles had 180° transparent wall, luxurious four poster beds, sitting chairs, an ensuite bathroom, a Nespresso coffee maker, fluffy robes and an open view of the sky and forest around you. It was pretty freaking cool to lay in bed at night stargazing! The only issue we had was that there is no a/c in the Bubble and Ireland was having a bit of a heat wave – so as you can imagine during the day those Bubbles would get REALLY hot! I’m talking bug under a magnifying glass hot. Luckily, we were just there for an evening so it was perfect for us – but if you’re considering the Bubbles and want to be able to use them during the day, I would avoid the summer months. (They do have heaters for the winter)
Breakfast the next morning was just as amazing as dinner – Wild mushrooms, poached egg and hollandaise; Eggs Benedict; and Leek and Onion sausage which sent us off in good spirits for our trip to Galway. We stopped at the Glencar waterfall along the way and ended up in Galway shopping and taking in the sights with the occasional pub pop in for a pint. We took a Galway bus tour to see the beach and other areas along the way including the beautiful Galway Cathedral. We stopped in a little pub for dinner and then headed out to our next Airbnb – our own private castle in Craughwell.
The owner Pete bought the castle in 1997 and refurbished the entire thing himself by hand. When you stay at the castle Pete and his family live on the bottom floor, but the rest of the castle is yours. There are beautiful doors and turrets and the view from the top is amazing. The furnishings inside are reminiscent of a medieval castle and the fairy lights on the bed canopy are icing on the cake. There is even a bathtub hidden amongst the floorboards adding to the mystique. Pete and his family were amazing, and even came out to join us for a game of racquet ball. Pete was full of ideas for things to see and do, and even told us about a private area to view the Cliffs of Moher without other tourists around.
The next morning, we visited the Cliffs of Moher, however mother nature was not being agreeable, and though it was still awe-inspiring we saw more fog than we did cliffs.
Afterwards we made our way to the little fishing town of Dingle, one of our favorite towns in Ireland. We spent the evening in the Dingle pub, listening to Irish music and watching some traditional Irish dancing. The following morning, we woke up and took a tour of the harbor looking for Fungie the dolphin who swam right up to our boat!
We had some Murphy’s ice cream which was SO good we had it several times on our trip, and then took the Slea Head drive around the peninsula – the views were beautiful! We stopped at Inch Beach on our way out of town where they filmed the movie Ryan’s Daughter and marveled at the jellyfish everywhere. All the guide books will tell you that it is best to drive clockwise on the peninsula as the best views are on the left, and you’ll be behind the tour buses and won’t have to pass them when the road turns into a single lane. We actually did the opposite, since you drive on the left and when it turned into a one lane road and someone had to pass, I wanted to be the one up against the cliffside wall, not the one who was on the edge where there was a sheer drop!
We stopped in the cute little town of Killarney on our way to Bantry and walked around for a while watching the street performers.
The next day we headed to Blarney and of course Blarney castle to kiss the Blarney stone. We waited in line and just before Kaleigh got to the stone, the Japanese tourist in front of her decided that instead of giving the stone a peck, he needed to give it a full out tongue French kiss! Kaleigh halted the entire line and told them she was not kissing it until they disinfected it (which they did lol!) Not sure it was worth the 1.5 hour wait and the 100 stone steps to the top – but I guess it’s the symbol of Ireland and something you have to do.
We drove to Cork and noticed a curious pattern had been occuring the entire trip. Debbie and I did the driving and sat up front, and the MINUTE the car started moving Liz and Kaleigh would fall asleep. How can you miss out on such beautiful scenery?!? Apparently they could, Deb and I would laugh as one of them would say, “oh! Look at that cool suspension bridge”, and it was only the 52nd one we had crossed on our trip lol! We spent the rest of the day in Cork wandering around. What we’ve discovered about Ireland is that many restaurants close relatively early compare to the US and it was hard to find something open after 6 p.m. Luckily, we stumbled across Market Lane that had amazing food. We had Arancini of Toonsbridge smoked scamorza cheese, spiced beetroot and tomato purée, Kabayaki glazed pork belly, sambal roast cauliflower, kimchi salad and Brookie and chocolate ice cream sundae with salted caramel popcorn.
The next day we drove to Waterford and walked around the downtown Viking Triangle and visited the Waterford Crystal museum.
Then we made our way to the next Airbnb on our list – Mooncoin. This was a 300-year old restored watermill and the inside was beautifully refurbished with stone and wood walls. There was a deck over the little river that ran through the back yard, and we sat outside for drinks and a game of cards. There was even a wedding party that arrived and took pictures in the front yard while we watched.
Finally, we made our way back to Dublin to spend 3 days in the capital city. Our first stop was of course the Guinness Factory where we learned how to pour the perfect pint. We got the obligatory pictures then decided none of us were really Guinness fans and gave our free beers to the college guys in our group who were VERY appreciative 
.
Next we headed to Reinkarnated, a local tattoo shop where Lizzie and Kaleigh both got Irish tattoos as a souvenir of the trip. Kaleigh was a little hesitant when she realized mom couldn’t go back with her, but she worked through the tears and now has a trinity knot in the shape of heart symbolizing her and both of her sisters displayed proudly on her back.
Next up was the Irish Dance party where we learned how to do some traditional Irish step dances while they played Irish music. I think this would have been much cooler had there been more people there, but there were just 7 of us which made it a little awkward. Luckily, they served alcohol and after a few drinks we just went with it lol!
We wandered around Temple Bar for a while checking out the stores and bars. For dinner we had traditional Bangers and Mash, and Beef and Guinness stew. For dessert we went to the Bubble Waffle Factory – warm waffles shaped like a cone and filled with ice cream and other delicious fillings like the Mr. Oreo – Oreos, Nutella, chocolate sauce, ice cream and cream; or the Strawberry Delight – Strawberries, ice cream, your choice of sauce and cream. YUM!
The next day we wandered around Dublin taking in the sites like The Brazen Head, Dublin’s oldest Pub. One of my favorite things though was a visit to the Tivoli Car Park which we visited on a whim. I LOVE street art and Tivoli carpark is just a parking lot that is artistically graffitied a la Wynwood Walls. The cool thing is though, artists from around the world contribute to this little open-air museum, and once a year they get together and change the murals – and today happened to be that day! We were walking by late, and the gates were closed and there were people in there working. One guy saw us taking pictures thru the gate and invited us to come in and take have a look. He handed us 3D glasses on the way in to truly appreciate the work of Insane 51 who was there putting some finishing touches on his piece. He does double exposure 3D murals, where if you look through one side of a pair of 3D glasses you see one thing, and something totally different on the other. This one is both a dog and a man. All the artists finished their murals in just one day. We were lucky enough to be the first ones to see the finished products. These pictures don’t give you a real feel for it or do it justice – but take a look at his Instagram page to see what we saw …. It was like our own private gallery tour and we were in awe.
The following day we took a bus tour to Northern Ireland. We started with a Black Taxi political tour in Belfast. Our driver, Paddy, was passionate and informative. We hear a lot in the states about the conflicts here, but it’s nothing like seeing it and hearing it from a local’s point of view. Paddy had so many stories about friends and family members and you can tell it’s something that is still on their minds. We visited the Peace Wall, which is part of a group of walls erected to separate the warring groups of the Catholics and the Protestants that still stand – but today they have murals that symbolize harmony.
Stop #2 was a visit to the rock formations at the Giant’s Causeway which are about 40,000 interlocking basaltic columns that are a result of an ancient volcanic fissure eruption. You can either take a hike down to the Causeway and see the beautiful views from the hill like we did, or you can take a bus down. We definitely took the bus back up as it was pretty steep!
Stop #3 on the tour was the Carrick-a-rede rope bridge, and the most magnificent views of our trip yet. The rope bridge spans 66 ft and is 98ft above the rocks below connecting the mainland to the tiny island of Carrickarede. Lizzie who has a fear of heights was able to make her way across the bridge and take it all in.
Our last day was spent wandering around Dublin (and having more Murphy’s ice cream). We visited Trinity College library and the Book of Kells (an illuminated book containing the four gospels of the New Testament) – I am a sucker for a beautiful library.
We capped the trip off with the opening night of Riverdance at the Gaiety theater. I’ll have to admit I never really had any idea how much variety there was in Riverdance. There was of course a lot of Irish step dancing, but there were also instrumentalists who were phenomenal, and their energy together was so fun to watch. The unanimous favorite was a playful dance “banter” between the street dancers, and the Irish folk dancers. If you ever have the chance to see this show, GO. It’s definitely not “the Irish version of the Rockettes” as I’d gone into it thinking.
All in all, we thoroughly enjoyed our trip to Ireland and can’t wait to see where our next adventure brings us!
