Ireland Girls Trip
On my way to Indonesia last week, I decided to make a weeklong stop in Ireland to see my family and some old friends. Ireland was on the way after all, it was no trouble to stop in. That’s my problem when it comes to travel, if I have one destination in mind, I may as well at 3 or 4 more if they’re, “on the way.” Due to the country’s extremely convenient location, Ireland is “on the way” to many locations, therefore making it the perfect stop before other travel. My friend Laura has the same problem, which makes us both great and terrible travel partners all wrapped up in one. Great, because we both have the same idea of what constitutes a good trip, but terrible because our friendship lacks a voice of reason leading to the execution of some pretty wild, albeit very fun, plans.
I decided to go to Ireland for a week not only because it’s ‘on the way’ to Asia, but because you have to see family when you have the chance. I don’t know where I’ll be this time next year, I can only hope I’ll have the flexibility within my life to do another trip to Ireland, but I truly have no idea. This time last year, I was living in Los Angeles with the plan to stay there for another few years and now I’m in Indonesia. Life is too crazy to not jump on opportunities when you have them and far too short to miss out on time with your people. I was so happy to see my aunts as I hadn’t seen them before Covid, and they were more than happy to host me and my two friends, Laura and Gwenn in their home in Dublin, just 20 minutes outside the city center.
Laura flew in from Brussels just a few hours after Gwenn flew in from Amsterdam. Unfortunately both of their flights were very delayed. Gwenn’s I understand as she flew Ryan Air, you get what you pay for really. Laura flew with Aer Lingus though, they’re usually pretty reliable. Both airlines listed ‘weather concerns’ so I suppose I’m just going to stay grateful that their flights landed at all.
The morning after they landed, we all hopped on a cross country bus to Galway. Dublin is fun, but I’ve been to Ireland at least 30 times if not more and wanted to see a little more countryside. The bus was only 14 Euros which was a great price considering the train cost 47 Euros. It was a big, comfy coach bus and though a little longer than we’d prepared for, it was pretty comfortable! Upon arrival in Galway, we of course found a pub immediately and had some Irish coffees. I said at that moment that I didn’t want to be ‘sober for the duration of Galway.’ I was pretty much sober after those Irish coffees. It was too cold to even enjoy drinking. We found our teeny tiny hotel room that’d we’d booked the night before, just next to Eyre Square and crashed for the evening. We were all so cold and had a long day ahead of us starting early the following morning!
Through Galway Tours (100% reccommend) we booked a 10 hour tour to the Cliffs of Moher. It stopped at some places along the way, too. The first stop was Dunguire Castle. I remembered going there in 2018 with my mom and my sister, so I had some happy memories brought back to me which is always a great way to start the day. I was entirely grateful to be stopping there as well, as I was all of 30 seconds away from puking in my bag. If you’ve ever riden on those roads, you’ll understand the extreme motion sickness I was suffering from. Ever so glad I brought Dropamine with me, but sad to say it didn’t do much for my symptoms for that day. Those roads are no joke and I didn’t realize you’re supposed to take motion sickness pills 30 minutes before, not when you’re green in the face already.
On we went, making a few stops here and there. Gary (our amazing bus driver) knew I wasn’t feeling well and was so good to always ask how I was feeling every time I would get on and off the bus. He gave us so much information, he didn’t stop talking from Galway all the way to the Cliffs of Moher. Like I said, I’ve been to Ireland many, many times and this was by far the most informative tour I’ve ever been on! Shout out to you Gary, fab time x.
When we got to the Cliffs of Moher, I actually couldn’t believe my eyes. The sea was still, the sky was blue, the sun was out, and I could almost leave my coat on the bus due to the warmth of the air around me. In January. When I’d been to the Cliffs of Moher last it was August of 2018 and I remember being so cold, it was very windy and more “typical” Irish weather. This was so unexpected, so out of the norm! I couldn’t be more surprised in the best way. Gary mentioned that people tend not to come visit Ireland in January, as it’s considered ‘off-season’, but you can get some of the nicest, clearest days in the first month of the year- I’d definitely recommend it! It’s not as cold as you might think.
We walked all around and then of course stopped upstairs for a cup of tea. My entire body still hated me and I was definitely suffering the effects of motion sickness still. Instead of tea, I decided to buy a Sprite. I credit that amazing bubbly drink for ‘healing’ me. I felt totally fine on the drive back to Galway, just about 2 hours long. I couldn’t believe just how fine I felt. Exhausted from our day, we all crashed pretty quickly when we got back to the hotel.
The following day, we didn’t really know what to do, we were supposed to check out at 11am and only woke up at 10:50, so that sort of set the tone for the morning. My friend texted me she was in town, so we ended up meeting her and her friends for some breakfast and coffee before our several hour long bar crawl. In between Guinness pints and baby Guinness shots, we did some thrifting and other shopping. By the end of the day we were just right and tipsy enough to get on our bus back to Dublin and sleep the whole way there.
I couldn’t believe how fast the week was flying by, soon enough I’d be on a plane to Asia by myself. It’s funny to look back on that. I was very apprehensive about coming here by myself. It’s by far the biggest thing I’ve done by myself in my life. Yes, I drove to LA by myself, I moved to Hawaii by myself, but all of those things were in the US. There was always at least that level of comfort. We spent the next few days reliving my childhood, by going to St. Anne’s Park, Malahide Castle, and other places I spent my childhood summer. We spent a day wandering about Dublin City, and meeting another one of my friends for drinks at a place called Bad Bob’s. Irish pubs are like no other. The music alone made me want to move there. So many places had live music and they weren’t singing the same 2010 ‘club hits.’ They played songs like “Dirty Old Town” which is so much more my speed. I enjoyed every minute.
Ireland holds (& will always hold) such a special place in my heart. I’m so happy I got to share it with my favorite travel friends. I honestly haven’t stopped thinking about moving to Ireland after this trip. I am an Irish citizen after all. I guess we’ll see!
Xx
