Week 4: Family Time in Ireland

After class on Friday, October 11th, Kellie and I headed to the East Midlands Airport in-between Derby and Nottingham to fly over to Dublin, Ireland for the weekend. Our flight was originally supposed to leave at 9:10 pm however, it got delayed 2 hours...

Once we arrive in Dublin around midnight, we headed to our Bed and Breakfast which was surprisingly nicer than the pictures we saw online... what a relief! As soon as we arrived, we headed straight to bed because we had a busy weekend ahead of us traveling all around Ireland.

Saturday, October 12th, Kellie and I walked to my family's accommodations in Dublin and we headed to the Guinness Storehouse. Boy, we're we all SHOCKED by how AMAZING this storehouse was. This place was equivalent to Mr. Wonka's Chocolate Factory and Disneyland but for adults and instead of rides or chocolate... it was BEER.

We got to learn about how Guinness was made and created and even got to taste some too! My favorite part of the storehouse had to be the gift shop, free tastings and the traditional Irish dancing that came along with it. We also got to pour our own Guinness from the tap and then got a certificate that said we were "Master Pourers"!

After Dublin, we headed to Cork which was a small quaint town with lots of older architecture and adorable restaurants. Cork has all sorts of water passages that flowed through the town but it wasn't quite like Venice.

After Cork, we headed to our newly found favorite Irish town, Dingle. Yes, the dingle jokes were said the entire time and yes, the locals hear them all the time. We stayed in Dingle because my family planned a pub-crawl due to the walkability of the town and the number of bars. Dingle is home to over 30 unique pubs, including one that is a half hardware store and half bar (which was soooo cool)! We had such a great time there. After making it to 1/3 of the bars (sheesh) and having a 5-hour car ride back to Dublin the following morning it's safe to say, we were all "hurting" in the morning and during that treacherous car ride. However, despite the "pain", we endured in Dingle, it was SO WORTH IT!

Ireland was by far the most beautiful place I've visited thus far in Europe and I'm so lucky that I got to experience it with my family!

The following day, Kellie and I flew back to England while my family flew back to the state. I'll y'all at Christmas and thank you for some unforgettable memories of a lifetime!

Four Things I've learned in Ireland this Week:

1.) Never try to "keep up" with my family during a pub-crawl.

2.) If you slide your Guinness Master Pourer certificate across the bar, the bartender MAY let you pour yourself a Guinness... At least he did for me!!!

3.) Never let Tracy, my mother, take the three-hour-long extra scenic route... A trip that could've been 3 hours turned into 6 for 10 seconds of the ocean views, LOL.

4.) Always ask locals for their sight suggestions. We saw the most beautiful countryside, oceans, and cliffs because of local suggestions.

Now, I'm off to do loads of homework tomorrow and prepare for classes later this week. Late Friday night, I'll be headed to London to pick up Collin at the airport and we'll get to experience London and Paris together!