Pubs, Football, Cliffs! Oh My!

I've done it again! I went to Ireland. However, one thing is different. I went with my best friends and saw some really cool things I never got a chance to see. What's not to like? Well... it wouldn't be a vacation with me if weird things didn't happen. Ladies and gentlemen, prepare yourselves for one heck of an interesting trip play by play. Don't worry I won't sit you down and show you a slideshow of all 659 pictures. Phew!

Day 1 & 2: A Journey of Epic Proportions

Many of you may not realize just how complicated it can be to get from London to a hostel in Dublin. Here's what we did and what you shouldn't do since it's overly complicated (but totally fun)

1. Underground from flat to Euston train station. For the non-Londoners that means a LOT of stairs with suitcases.
2. Train to Holyhead, Wales (3 hours of sitting fun... separated from everyone else since we didn't get seats together). It also meant I passed out for most of it.
3. Bus to ferry lobby
4. Stairs to another bus which took us to the ferry. Redundant much?
5. Ferry that made Laura and I sick. BUT... drum roll please.... I saw a SHARK. Yes I freaked out more than I should have, but hey I was excited and it turns out extreme excitement can momentarily cure seasickness.
6. Shuttle to terminal and a taxi ride to hostel where the taxi driver got lost in the city he grew up in.

Oddly enough we were tired by the end of that. (sarcasm for those who didn't pick up on it)

However being the true English ex patriots were are we decided to go see the sites and go out drinking. We made the fantastic choice to follow the music. We ended up in a tiny 2 story pub that had live music every night. We heard one of the best folk blues bands I have ever heard. Those guys can play some guitar.

We even got to meet one of them!

The next day we spent exploring Dublin. Everyone else went to the Guinness Storehouse and had a blast. I spent the day attempting to find some sort of museum/attraction that was open. Absolutely nothing was. I spent the day walking around Dublin in a futile search. Needless to say it was not the best first half of the day.

That night consisted of transport to Galway which was much easier than the trek I described earlier. We got in the football spirit and went in search of a pub that was playing the Ireland Euro cup game. We joined in yelling at the tvs and the Irish spent the rest of the night drinking until they had no more feelings or memory of the sad loss. We had an early night because the next day was nothing short of EPIC.

Next stop: the Cliffs of Moher!!!         Stay tuned for the next blog update in 2-3 days! This will most likely be a series of 3 parts.

St Patty's Day Adventures in Ireland Day 1

"Take me drunk I'm home!"  This was plastered on the shirt of someone Kelsey (one of my best friends of 12 years) and I saw as we departed our plane from Leeds, England to Dublin Ireland. We decided to make the most of St. Patty's Day and venture out to Ireland to party with the best of the Irish. We arrived in Dublin airport by 730am after waking up at 4am. This was not a pretty site as I'm sure I looked like I was practicing for a zombie apocalypse movie.

Our plane ride was uneventful, however the man who shared my row was quite entertaining. He looked like the stereotypical gangster from old movies. He was short, stocky, had ridiculous gold bling on his fingers and tattoos all up and down his arms. I'm convinced he was a gangster. His stories about how he missed Ireland since he hasn't been able to get in the country for 40 years helped my thinking too. In typical Irish fashion he also told us we were going to fall in love with Ireland and that Guinness is better than anything else in the entire world.

By mere accident and a misleading website Kelsey and I ended up staying in a VERY small beach town called Balbriggin 30 minutes outside of Dublin city center. By small I mean the population was 300 at the very most.

As soon as we dropped off our stuff we made a beeline for Dublin. Taking Monsieur O' Gangsterhan's advice we decided the Guinness Storehouse would be the perfect place to visit first. Apparently that's what every other tourist wanted to do also. It was pretty impressive with 7 floors devoted to nothing, but processing beer. We even got a free pint and a half! When we first got there we saw photobooths and anyone who knows me will know that I never pass up a photo opportunity with friends. We learned that the Guinness Storehouse was trying to set a world record and make St. Patty's Day the happiest day of the year by taking pledges to be happy and do something nice on that day. Kelsey and I both signed up for this and got free pictures!

After that we ventured out and tried something new! We got a horse drawn carriage and we taken to Temple Bar where we had lunch. We toured the famous Grafton Street and took pictures in St. Stephen's Green. On our way from Stephen's Green we noticed a HUGE festival with Irish jigging going on. We immediately ran into the center and joined all the dancing for about 30 minutes. We probably looked spastic, but we had the time of our lives. We even got on local tv along with about 200 other people in the street. A professional photographer kept laughing at us and we got our own mini photoshoot. I can't wait to see those pictures. After that we went back to the hotel to relax and prepare for St. Patty's Day.

St. Patty's day toast:  "Here's to a long life and a merry one. A quick death and an easy one. A pretty girl and an honest one. A cold beer and another one!"