Stamps in My Passport

It was a cold and dark morning in April, way before the sun would peak through the clouds at dawn, when 4 ecstatic (okay well 3 ecstatic ladies (Peach, Po, Kiki (me)) and 1 man (Chico) who was along for the ride… errr um along as their Branson (iykyk 😉 ) travelers made their way to the meetup point, placed their well thought out baggage into the back of a minivan and scooted off down the road towards the airport. Not long into the drive they heard multiple sirens off in the distance and since 3 of the 4 are nurses their ears perked up at the sounds. We all said a little prayer for those in the accident the ambulence and firetrucks were rushing to save and talked about how we were grateful to finally have the chance to make this trip a reality and a reminder for each of us just how fragile life is & that it’s impossible to predict when something could come out of the blue, like the accident we just passed and change the whole trajectory of your life. For the rest of the drive we talked about our hopes for the trip, what we were looking forward to the most and were all amazed at how quickly the nearly 2 hour drive to the airport passed by. We pulled into the airport long term parking, caught the airport shuttle bus to departures and dropped off our checked luggage with our airline.

With much excitement and joy, we were all giddy that our long awaited and much anticipated trip to Ireland was FINALLY starting! After years of planning, setbacks, pandemic delays and lots of rescheduling, our dream trip was about to begin and we could hardly contain our joy! Ireland trip planning all started in the Spring of 2019 when my cousin Andrea called to ask if I’d be interested in joining her and another friend on a once in a lifetime trip to Ireland, before she could even finish telling me the details I replied with an emphatic YES, sign me up!! Our first initial meeting to plan and go over details was in the Spring of 2019 and then I spent months researching and reading books, blogs and websites about the Irish countryside, about all the best sites, cities, activities and hidden gems in preperation for a trip in April of 2020….but we all know that the world faced a massive world wide plague otherwise known as Covid 19. This caused us to postpone our trip to September of 2020, then to the Spring of 21, once again to the Fall of 21′ and again and again all through 22′ and finally we landed on Spring of 23′ once travel was cleared for international travel. To say we were ecstatic is an understatement!!

After dropping off our luggage we breezed through checkin and security & found our way to our gate (we have one in our party to has to see the gate to believe it does truly exist 😉 ) before we wandered around, grabbed some breakfast and relaxed a bit before boarding our first flight.

Before the trip Peach and I found matching shirts for us girl that were perfect for the trip. We all wore them as our travel day tshirts. Little did we know the shenanigans we’d encounter right at the begining. On our first flight from PDX, Portland Oregon to LHR, London England airport we were seated in the middle of the plane. For 11 hours I had a large man sitting in front of me that kept his seat fully reclined the entire flight (even during food service) and a man behind me who was disgruntled for some reason and decided to alternate between either kicking, pushing or shoving the back of my seat for the entire duration of the flight. Soooo that meant I didn’t sleep a wink and was quite uncomfortable for the flight. Even with alerting the stewardress and asking if she could request the man in front put his seat up during food service and politely asking the man behind to stop shoving my seat it did no good… oh well, I was so elated to finally be on our way to Ireland that nothing, not even rude passengers on the plane were going to put me in a sour mood.

When we arrived at the LHR airport it was a mad scramble trying to figure out which part of the airport to go to. One thing to note is that most European airports don’t post gate numbers for flights until about 10-20 minutes before boarding. Which often means it can be a scramble to get to your connecting flight in time! For us this meant hoping on a train from terminal 5 over to terminal 3, going through 3 different rounds of security checks, riding up and down escalators and lifts, shuffling between one reader board and another trying to determine which gate to report to for our connecting flight into Dublin. Luckily this flight was posted early enough that we were able to enjoy a little breather and coffee pick me up at the Starbucks near our gate. After we boarded our short flight we were almost there. Unfortunately, a toddler sitting behind us had an upset stomach and was sick during the entire 2 hour in the air, so it was yet again an eventful flight. When we finally touched down in Dublin around 5:30pm after traveling for 23 hours, were completely exhausted but elated. We had arrived!!

We wove our way through the airport, located our checked luggage and made our way to the rental car kiosk to pick up our car. It took over an hour to get the car, Chico helped us load up the car with our things & we were off. We had a 3+ hour drive horizontally across the country to reach our 1st destination and our little bnb in Newcastle West just south of Limerick. We made one quick pit stop for a restroom break and grocery store run to stock up on a few things like breakfast items, snacks and some travel essentials that would make the rest of our trip easier. The grocery store was an interesting experience, they have fewer options of grab and go than the US, but we found some really delicious oatmeal and granola options, fresh fruit, jam and toast and some snacks.

**TIP: One of our favorite ways to minimize expenses is to pop into a local grocery store and stock up on snacks and breakfast items so we can reserve our food budget for one larger meal each day. We do this by starting the day off with a big hearty breakfast of protein, fresh fruit and foods that are filling. For lunch we usually bring along protein bars, jerkey, nuts, fruit, and other prepackaged snacks that are easy to store in the car or our day bag or we stop and grab a quick bite if we need a larger tide me over. For us, this is an excellent way to keep up our energy but to decrease our food budget. It worked especially great for our itinerary that had us jetting around from one location to the next and not always near a city or restaurant at typical mealtimes. For us this works well because we all travel in a similar fashion where we would rather be out exploring, seeing the sights than spending daylight hours sitting inside in a restaurant. We usually reserve that for the evening after the sunsets and we eat a larger meal.

Finally we arrived at our airbnb rental in Newcastle West, checked in and received a tour from the lively owner and began to settle in. First thing on the agenda was to unpack our groceries and have a quick shower before getting some much needed rest.. however the term “quick” shower would take on a whole new meaning by the end of the night. I was the lucky guinea pig who attempted to use the shower first and learned the hard way that the shower system was completely different than expected. As a frequent traveler I was well aware that European outlets, electrical/wiring and plumbing can vary greatly from city to city and country to country. What I did not anticipate was needing to run the complicated “Hive” system to operate the water heater properly. We thought we had it figured out so I hoped in the shower and lathered my hair in shampoo only to discover that the water had turned into a trickle of scalding hot water and nothing more. After quickly hopping out, re-robing and dashing to the other restroom in the house I was able to finally rinse the shapmpoo from my hair & enjoy a normal shower. Then it was off to bed to rest for about 6 hours before waking bright and early the next morning eager to begin our first adventure.

We couldn’t wait to traipse across the lush green Irish soil and begin our 7 & 1/2 day journey all across The Republic of Ireland. To explore and soak in the richness of Irelands vast landscape, to experience the rugged beauty of the terrain, get lost in medieval castles and massive stone fortresses, or attempt to drive through extremely remote & sometimes trecherous parts of the country (on what can only be referred to as a one way deathtrap…otherwise known to locals as a regular country road! 😉 ).

Finally seeing the natural wonders, magnificient cliffs, rolling hills, stunning castles and ancient ruins in person after years of planning unlocked an adventurer & wanderlust spirit in all of us. It was truly a wonder to breathe in the fresh Irish air. To wander and explore to our hearts content, wind up getting lost in a moment or experience, find ourselves completely smitten with the incredibly gorgeous countryside, amazed & fully absorbed by the Irish culture, the wonderful people, mind blowing viewpoints and the unique feel, smell and vibe of Ireland so much that none of us would be ready to leave & would hatch multiple plans over the course of the next week. Including where we would stay & how we could move our families across the sea, and dreamy thoughts of how we’d begin a new life by the Irish seaside… Ahhh to dream. Irelands natural beauty has a tendancy to inspire wistful dreams and thoughts filled with fanciful what if’s. Perhaps someday we’ll return for a lengthier stay!

The Emerald Isle was everything we hoped it would be and created a yearning deep within to explore everything she has to offer. Every day was like something out of a dream that I never wanted to wake up from. It filled my heart with so much joy and gratitude and ticked all the boxes of everything you could hope to find in one country. It literally felt like I was walking around in a fairytale land that was so beautiful and majestic that it couldn’t possibly exist in reality and actually be that amazing. Ireland far exceeded my expectations and met me full on with one beautiful location after another, seemingly growing in its power to knock me over and leave me speechless. The views just kept getting better and better, they each held so much power it was like getting the wind knocked out of you and you were just there. Standing there gasping, trying to suck in as much of the wonderful, clean air as possible while simultaneously feeling like you might pass out because the views were just that mindblowing. They were so incredible that words won’t do them justice and now that I’ve returned they fill my dreams constantly.

I can’t wait to share all that we did, our funny stories, hilarious moments of shock and surprise and near misses. Some anecdotes, quips, tips and suggestions for what to see, do, not to do and what you definitely should not miss when you visit Ireland the first time! This will be broken into a series so you can skip to the sections that interest you most. For more about our first day in Ireland and our hiccups on the way there continue reading on the next post .