It’s been a little over a month since I headed out to Ireland, and a little under a month since I got back–crazy how it seems so long ago. The trip was amazing, a complete whirlwind, and exhausting. Our arrival into London was delayed by about an hour, thanks to a late take off from DFW. This late arrival caused us to hurry through Heathrow, stopping only at the request of two rather rude passport agents who, from the way they treated us and people we met on the tour, don’t really like it when non-Brits come through their airport. Aside from them, though, the airport seemed nice, and I have to admit that flying over London made me want to visit England soooo much. This wish was almost granted, thanks to our good friend Eyajafjallajokull. As we were standing in line to board our plane in London, a breaking news update flashed on the TV from the BBC: Dublin’s airport was set to close. I am not exaggerating when I say that I heard a collective murmur go through the crowd, punctuated by random voices wondering if we would make it through the ban.

Fortunately, Aer Lingus was not daunted by the closure, and slipped us in an hour before the airport closed. Note: I was on a constant lookout for any ash in the air, both on the flight over and the flight to Ireland. I didn’t even see a gray cloud. Upon our arrival at Dublin’s airport, we exited the plane–not a noteworthy experience in most airports, but here, we got to come down those fancy stairs, just like we were all the President of the United States or some celebrity from the 1950′s. It may seem mundane to a lot of people, but I got a kick out of it.

After navigating our way through the airport, we finally made it to where the Paddy’s Palace shuttle was waiting to take us to our lovely hostel. If you’ve never stayed at a hostel before, just imagine a college co-ed dorm or a summer camp cabin with communal bathrooms, although all of Paddy’s Palaces were much cleaner than either of those. Hostel living is easy and breezy, and once you get used to it, no problem at all. Courtney, her mom, my mom, and I really enjoyed it.

We looked around Dublin on our own that night, and the next day set off on our grand tour, six days going around the Irish coast on a big green tour bus filled with Aussies, Kiwis, South Africans, a Belgian, a Canadian and some Americans (plus our Irish driver, Joe). It was a multi-cultural bonding experience, I’ll tell you that much!

As much as I would love to go into great detail telling you every single thing we did, I’m afraid that I would run out of room. I can tell you that the first night we stayed in Derry, Northern Ireland. Derry was an interesting city, full of history and struggle, although there have been great advances toward peace recently. Not knowing too much about Irish history, I was very interested in all that we learned in Derry.

The next morning, we woke up and headed toward Belfast, stopping on the way to see my favorite thing in all of Ireland, the Giant’s Causeway. I LOVED this place, and would have happily spent days there. Unfortunately, two hours was all we got, but we were rewarded by seeing one of God’s coolest creations, and by some delicious Irish stew at a hotel near the coat that I definitely intend on staying at one day. When we arrived in Belfast, I immediately fell in love with the city. There is a ton of history there, to be sure, which was all outlined on our Black Taxi Tour (ironically, I was in the only red taxi in the group). I wish we could have spent a few days in Belfast, but alas, onward we went toward Galway.

The drive to Galway was amazingly beautiful, and we stopped in County Sligo to see W. B. Yeats‘s grave. After more driving, we made it to Galway, where we had a great time. The next morning, we went to the Cliffs of Moher, which were beautiful and breathtaking. I definitely was amazed at just how tall they are. This was a major tourist spot, with people from all over the world there to admire the splendor.

We spent the night in a small village called Annascaul, right on the Dingle Peninsula. It was a quaint little town, and our night was filled with karaoke fun. Courtney and I submitted our request to sing, but I have to say that I was actually glad that the guy never called us up. However, it was great to see our moms along with our new friends from South Africa sing “Dancing Queen!” The next morning, we got up and headed to Dingle, where we enjoyed a couple of hours of just roaming through the city. I would definitely like to go there again, especially because we came upon a farmers’ market, with a ton of local goodies.

We stayed in Killarney the next night, where we were privileged to be able to visit the national park. The scenery in Killarney is gorgeous. There isn’t really a good word to describe how stunning the mountains and lakes are, our a picture I could either find or take that did it justice. Trust me, you’ll have to visit this place yourself.

Killarney was the perfect tourist town, and we had a great time there. I would like to visit again, but I preferred some of the other cities we stayed in, just because they were a lot less touristy. After Killarney, we visited the biggest tourist trap of them all, the Blarney Stone. Don’t get me wrong, the Castle Blarney was really amazing, and the grounds were pretty, but there were tourists everywhere, and laying on a mat and having some random Irish guy shove me headfirst toward a stone to kiss it isn’t really my idea of fun. But hey, if you like it, go for it.

We ended our tour by visiting the Guinness factory/museum back in Dublin. I’m definitely not into drinking, but it was cool to see the history behind this iconic brew. I did try a taste in the tasting room, and was not really surprised at the crazy-bitter flavor of Guinness. I passed on my free pint, and instead just enjoyed the history.

Instead of staying at the hostel again, the four of us stayed at a nice hotel where we felt like royalty after living in hostels–no bunk beds! Private rooms! A real shower!!–it was awesome. And I have to confess that we definitely enjoyed our fair share of chocolate heaven cake and cheesecake. Mmmmm!

I am so glad that we were able to take this trip, and I cannot wait to go back and spend more time in Ireland. The country is beautiful (and the weather was fabulous when we went), the people are super-friendly, and there is a vibe of relaxing and having fun everywhere we went. And who knows, when I go back, I may even let Mark come.

I know this post was incredibly long, but trust me, I could have added another thousand words easily, that’s how awesome this trip was. If you ever have a chance to take this tour, do it! It was a great introduction to Ireland at a wonderfully low cost. If you have a little more time and or money, try renting a cottage somewhere and just staying put…I promise that you’ll be glad you did, and that is exactly what I want to do next time! Thanks for letting me share my amazing trip!