Luck of the Irish
Hopefully with the luck of the Irish, we will have sunny skies and countless memories! Rolling green hills and cloudy, rainy skies always bring back fond memories of Ireland. Mary Frances longed to visit the Cliffs of Moher, as well as our fellow Americans. Peaceful landscapes and tasty Guinness make a very happy Andrew![divider class="" ]Planning:As one would expect, Ireland (and England!) only have a few good months before the weather intervenes. Before the seasons turned for the worst, we wanted to visit our friends Blake and Lauren in their new home in Dublin! Since both of us have already been to Dublin, we all decided to venture to the east coast and see the famous Clifs of Moher. That being said, we booked our flights on Ryanair (a first for us!) and counted down to the weekend!Total Cost:Flight: 221Lodging: 55EActivities: 15EFriendship: $0[divider class="" ]How: FlightDublin holds a very special distinction - unless you fly from Heathrow, Ryanair is going to be the go-to airline. From Luton, there are only three flights a day: morning, early afternoon, and late night. For the return flight, we would have to fly early morning, mid-afternoon, or nearly midnight. Not ideally, but the price we pay for living so close! Before Blake and I moved, we often joked how we would see each other for less than $30. Unfortunately, we did not view the flight times…In order to get to the Clifs of Moher, we utilized Blake and Lauren’s expert driving on their own fancy gokart! Although Ireland provides a scenic drive, it is three hours from Dublin and I do not think we were fully prepared. Driving is quite boring and I wish we spent more time with our friends than on the road! However, unless you wanted to go on a tour bus, there is no other way to get to the Clifs![divider class="" ]Lodging:Due to Blake’s keen research, we scored a fantastic deal on our BnB in Lahrinch, Ireland. It is cozy little seaside village around 15 minutes from the Clifs. While it is known for stag and hen parties (not sure on that, but we saw a lot of them!), the tiny village is full of charm! Our BnB hostess was extremely nice and even offered us tea and biscuits as we warmed up from the rain! The room overlooked mini cliffs and we could even see the beach. Surprisingly, we could see surfers battling the cold and sea! Our BnB was conveniently located three minutes away from Lahrinch![divider class="" ]Activities:As stated above, we obviously wanted to see the Cliffs of Moher. Despite the long drive, it is well worth a visit!Once we landed on Friday, Blake and Lauren were kind enough to pick us up from the airport! I viewed it as an engagement present! We got a lovely tour of their new home and they have such a nice flat! Blake and Lauren were so kind and even hosted our first engagement party - complete with prosecco! It was lovely.On Saturday morning, Blake and Lauren took us to their favorite neighbourhood brunch place. While they still did not serve proper American bacon, it was still really good! Then, we began the long drive to the West Coast. Along the way, we stopped at the fancy Obama rest stop. Other than that, it was a long drive and we filled it with Irish and British humour and longing for home. Mary Frances and I were immediately jealous once we heard they had Chickfila recently!Once we got to Cliffs, it was typical Irish weather - cloudy, stormy, and cold! I even had to borrow Blake's jumper! We trudged our way to the Cliffs and stood in awe of its immense glory. It is impressive. We even got a proper Irish welcome - rain!! Unfortunately, we could not take any cool "falling off the cliff" pcitures because the ground was so wet, we might have actually fallen off! To avoid the rain, we went inside the café and had some nice hot chocolate. We dried off and waited out the storm. We went back outside to the Cliffs for quick pictures, then hopped back in the car to head to our AirBnB.While in route to the AirBnB, we got stopped on the side of the road by this weird truckers protest? Basically, close to 100 truckers decided to drive on the tiny one lane roads and we just sat on the side of the road until it ended. It was extremely weird... Anyways, we arrived at our charming AirBnB, owned by the most helpful couple, and it included an ocean view!For the evening, we hit up our local village - Lahrinch - and tore it apart! Just kidding, but the many stag and hen parties did! Since we all were clearly missing home, we decided to watch an American football game via an app connected to Blake's parents' TV. We watched Alabama - until they started crushing the opposing team.On Sunday, we decided to do the other super touristy thing on the drive back to Dublin -.The Burren. It was suppose to represent the beginning of man, but all I saw was a bunch of rocks in a formation of a table... However, when we were walking through the Dublin airport, I could now say I have been to the top three things to do in Ireland![divider class="" ]Food:Friday was nothing to report. Except do not eat airport sushi.. as obvious as that sounds, when a certain someone is hungry, sushi always sounds good.Our food on Saturday was delightful! For breakfast, Blake and Lauren took us to their neighborhood diner where I had wonderful french toast and “bacon.” From there, we ventured to the Cliffs and had a late lunch/early dinner at a great pub in Lahrinch. Since we were so close to the sea, I ordered fish and chips! Obviously, when in Ireland, one must order a Guinness! Seriously though, it tastes so much better here! It is all about the freshness!!Did we experience the luck of the Irish?Yes, as usual, Ireland and our friends charmed us with their tasty food and charming scenery. We wish the weekend would have been longer, but all good things must [to be continued….][divider class="" ]Top 13 Photos:[photogrid ids="568,567,566,565,564,563,556,557,558,559,560,561,562" captions="no" columns="three" fullwidth="no" ]