post trip run down
My trip went as well as I expected, meaning it was pretty awesome. The outgoing flight was quick, about 5.5 hours even with a delay of an hour at the gate. Thankfully the car rental/pickup went smoothly and then we were on the road. I wanted everything to work out as perfectly as it could, this was my daughters first trip to Ireland and I wanted it to be memorable.
Our first stop was in Ennis so we could grab breakfast and hit up a Vodafone so I could get a phone and a hot spot. This was uneventful and we were on our way to Dunguaire Castle which I threw into our drive to break it up. From there we drove a roundabout way to Easky where my cousin lives. This first half of our adventure went rather well. We visited some cousins and my Aunt. Then we toured around to some places which I knew about and some which my cousin brought us to that I'd no idea about. Some of the scenery was pretty amazing and I took a shit ton of pictures. On Saturday evening we hit up a Sligo Rovers football match which was a blast! The crowd was a bit larger then usual as one of the opposing players was a former Ireland international. We also spent some time in some local pubs which was pretty fun and mildly funny seeing how my daughter reacted.
The second half of our journey brought us from Easky to Killarney by way of the Cliffs of Moher. So far in our trip we had seen some pretty amazing things...from sheep in the road to multiple castles, rocky shores, winding mountain roads and even a prehistoric site, but none of it prepared you for the Cliffs of Moher. Literally you walk to the edge of these cliffs overlooking the ocean and you are anywhere from 400-700 feet up. People were sitting right on the edge, it was crazy...We also went to a few more castles, including Blarney castle, (I'd never been inside a medieval castle and it was pretty awesome to see how people lived) and BlackRock castle. One day instead of driving around the countryside we toured around the town of Killarney. Here I managed to hit up a few pubs (the bartenders were much more friendly in Sligo) and partake of some excellent beer and whiskeys.
I'm not really big into site seeing but sometimes you have to compromise a bit though. The first half of our trip was absolutely my favorite (I like more relaxed atmosphere and less bustle) but it was absolutely worth doing the touristy half of the trip. Also deep down I know checking out the country is something my grandmother would have wanted, not only just visiting where we came from.
Our return flight was rather uneventful, an easy 5 hours. After landing and picking up the car we were on our way home, back to the real world of work and paying off this vacation. I did manage two training sessions which I will talk about in a later post.