The Emerald Isle

Following my week in London, I made my way to Dublin, Ireland, to begin a one-week vacation around the emerald isle. I met my sister Cady and two friends Kacey and Caitlin in Dublin and we began our Contiki tour. Contiki is a tour operator with vacations tailored to 18 to 35 year olds. A few years ago I would have scoffed at the idea of going on vacation on an organized tour but it was very nice to get on the bus every morning and have the day already planned out. Not worrying about where we were going to stay the following night, meals, etc. = a more relaxed vacation!

We had a quick orientation and dinner in Dublin and then it was off to Northern Ireland the following morning. We spent the day learning about The Troubles, conflict that recently occurred in Ireland. We could still feel the tension in Belfast and Derry/Londonderry and it was a very informative, history-based day. We also had the opportunity to visit the Titanic Museum in Belfast, as Belfast was where the Titanic was built, and the Giant’s Causeway.

Cady and I at the Giant's Causeway.

Giant's Causeway.

Day three of the tour took us to Galway, a cutesy town located along the western coast of Ireland. We spent the day exploring Galway and also visited the Aran Islands the following day. The Islands are a short ferry ride from Galway and a total of 800 people live on the three Islands. We visited the island called Inishmore, which is rural and somewhat remote but very beautiful. Cady, Kacey, Caitlin and I, plus a friend named Erin who we met on our tour, took a pony cart ride around the Island and explored Dun Aengus, a ruined fort located on a cliff which reaches heights of 330 feet above the Atlantic Ocean.

Lady, our trusty transportation around the Aran Islands.

Cady and I at the Aran Islands.

Following a few days in Galway, we next traveled to Cork with stops at the Cliffs of Moher and the Blarney Castle. The only disappointment of the trip was the weather on this day; it was so rainy and foggy that we could not see the Cliffs of Moher! The fog was so thick, you could barely see your hand in front of your face! So, I guess this means we’ll have to go back to Ireland and try to see these illusive cliffs!

Me at the Blarney Castle.

After 4 successful kisses on the Blarney Store, we arrived in Cork. Cork is a more industrial city and has a very different feel than the other cities we visited in Ireland. We all decided we quite liked it. The next day we made our way to Kilkenny via Cobh. Cobh was the last port-of-call for the Titanic before she started across the Atlantic and they have a nice museum highlighting this event as well as the mass migration of Irish folks which occured in the 1800’s and 1900’s. Approximately 80 million people around the world have Irish ancestry, due in large part to mass migration that happened because of events like the potato famine.

Our final day of the tour took us back to Dublin where we learned how to pour the perfect pint of Guinness and explored Trinity College. After a delicious Italian dinner (very Irish, right?!) we packed up our new Irish souvenirs and made our way to the airport for the long flight home. Overall, Cady, Caitlin, Kacey and I had a great trip around Ireland. We saw and did SO many things on this tour; I can confidently say that we conquered Ireland!

Tribute to Bobby Sands, who died during the recent conflict in Ireland.

Wall in Belfast separating the Catholic and Protestant areas of town.

Cady and Kacey at the Giant's Causeway.

Me at the Giant's Causeway. So pretty.

View of Derry/Londonderry, Ireland

Cliffs on the Aran Islands.

Cady and I at the top of the Blarney Castle.

View of the Blarney Stone from the ground. It is located at the very top of the castle!

Jameson and ginger at the Jameson Distillery.

Me with my Jameson and ginger.

Irish countryside.

Cady and Kacey pouring our pints of Guinness.

Pouring the perfect pint of Guinness.

Kacey pouring a pint.

I did it!

Cady is not a fan of Guinness.

Cady and I at the Guinness Storehouse.

This is all Kacey and I could drink of our Guinness. Too heavy!

London Calling

After 112 days, 12 countries and 23,379.5 nautical miles, the ship arrived in Southampton on May 2. It was hard to believe the voyage was coming to a close and our close-knit shipboard community would scatter home to all corners of the globe. After a somewhat tearful goodbye, I disembarked the ship and got on a shuttle headed for London.

Big Ben and Parliament in London.

Disembarkation was bittersweet. It was sad to leave behind newfound SAS friends but I was also excited to return to London. I studied abroad in London in 2007 and had not returned since! Seven years is a long time to be away from a place you love and I was excited to be back in the city of fish and chips, union jacks, and “mind the gaps!”

I spent a week in London going to all my old haunts including museums, restaurants and shopping areas. I am happy to announce that I finally went on the London Eye, something I did not do when I was studying abroad in London (a $50 Ferris wheel ride was too expensive for my student budget!). In London, I also visited the V&A Museum and saw an exhibition on wedding dresses through time, the British Museum, the Portrait Gallery and sites such as Trafalgar Square, Buckingham Palace, the royal parks, Westminster and Parliament. Of course, a trip to London wouldn’t be complete without a visit to my favorite stores including Primark, Top Shop, Zara and Harrods which had an exhibit on Prada called PRADA WORLD. Very cool!

If you are one of my family members, you have probably heard the story about why I have never been to the White Cliffs of Dover. For those who don’t know, when my family came to visit me in London after I completed my 2007 study abroad experience my sister wanted to see Stonehenge instead of the White Cliffs of Dover (much to my father’s chagrin). My dad recounts the visit as the time we paid to see a pile of rocks in the middle of the English countryside and were told by the guides that “they don’t know why the rocks are there or who put them there, but we went to see it!”

View of the Cliffs on the train ride to Dover.

Well, since I had never been to the Cliffs I decided to go check them out during my recent stay in London. I took a 1.5 hour train ride from London to Dover and trekked up to the cliffs. I can confidently say that the Cliffs and Stonehenge are equally as exciting. The cliffs are a beautiful, chalky-white color which look very nice when the sun shines but at the end of the day, they are cliffs. J Dover is a quaint seaside town and I visited the Dover Castle as well as explored the downtown area. It was a nice day trip out of the city.

View of the Cliffs and Dover Castle.

After a week in London, I was off to Dublin to meet my sister Cady and two friends Kacey and Caitlin for a week-long excursion around Ireland. More on Ireland in the next blog.

View of Parliament and the River Thames from the London Eye.

London Eye along the Thames.

View of Parliament and Big Ben from the London Eye.

Big Ben & Westminster Abbey seen from the London Eye.

View of the London Eye.

White Cliffs of Dover.

View from the top of Dover Castle.

Downtown Dover with a view of the Castle.