October 28, 2011

Trip 9: Ireland and Northern Ireland

Trip date: October 21 - 24, 2011

The Republic of Ireland is a sovereign state whereas Northern Ireland is a part of the UK. Both "Ireland"s are very green, very jaywalking savvy and filled with a surplus of pubs.

All in Attendance: Pat, Tom, Gordon, Mike, Cesar, Tyler, Mario, Philip and Kristen

On Friday night we fly from the Zürich Flughafen to Dublin, Ireland with Aer Lingus. Flying from Zürich is easily the most painless way to start a weekend trip and it certainly is a nice break from traveling to and from Milan. We stayed at Mount Eccles Court for 12 euros a night. It was a really nice place with comfy beds, breakfast and free internet.

After checking in we talked to the Temple Bar area for some food and some drinks at a pub. I spent the night chit chatting with some French travelers before returning to the hostel at 3. A sad note about Ireland nightlife is that places all close between 2-3 o'clock. The flip side of this is that everyone is completely inebriated by 11 so there's no hesitation to dive in nose deep into partying as soon as it gets dark. Stumbling girls on the cobblestone paths in 5 inch heels are extremely commonplace. As are drunken fist fights. In fact, fights are encouraged and egged on by the passersby. Oh Ireland.




The next morning we got up, ate too many free hard boiled eggs courtesy of our hostel and then set out wandering. We took a free New Europe tour which was filled with charming tidbits of information on Dublin and Ireland’s fight for independence. The tour finished at a pub called O'Neills where I got a delicious beef stew with mashed potatoes. I've become a huge fan of having a big lump of mashed potatoes in my thick soup since the borscht I ate in Krakow.

After a bit more wandering through the lovely Dublin streets, we returned back to the hostel to get ready for the pub crawl we signed up with from the New Europe tour. The pub crawl took us to 4 pubs and then to The Kitchen, which is a nightclub owned by Bono.

The night morning we woke up early to pick up our Budget rental cars from the airport. The group split into two; Pat, Tom, Mario and Tyler went South to go see the Cliffs of Moher whilst Cesar, Philip, Gordon and myself went North towards Northern Ireland to see the Giant's Causeways.




Now I should mention that Cesar has never really driven stick and that Ireland drives on the crazy-side of the road. He has also been sleep deprived by staying out late 2 nights in a row. With that being said, he was our most qualified driver by far and somehow I became the navigator (where I did en excellent job until Belfast). Also, many Ireland highways where the speed is 100km/h or 60 miles/h are as narrow as bike paths. They weave and make tight corners and there's no shoulder. Every car you successfully pass going the other direction an Irish miracle. Honestly, I don't know how the streets arn't littered with clipped mirrors. Also, for some reason, Northern Ireland uses the imperial "miles" system while the rest of the island uses kilometers. Good thing we had engineers in the car eager to quickly calculate conversions since our odometer had no mile gauge.

Oh and then there's the hazard of traffic circles. More so, it's the hazard of yielding before entering the traffic circle when you're not use to slowing down on a standard car.

There were probably 3 instances where I was certain we would crash but as karma would provide it - we made it everywhere safe and sound sans scratch.

Places we went include:



The Giant's Causeways was on my bucketlist so I was super eager to have gone. The coast along Northern Ireland is stunning. Ireland also really lives up to the "green" reputation. The grass is unreal there. We had planned to also go on the Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge but we didn't because we were sopping wet from the rain and it cost a few pounds just to walk across.

We made our way to Belfast where we stayed at the Linen House Hostel for 7 GBP a night. I should note that Belfast roads are very poorly labeled and inner-city driving on the crazy side of the road leads to driving around in several circles again and again and again. Thank God Cesar is a calm driver because lesser people would've probably murder me in my seat since I was doing a God awful job at navigating. We did luck out since were the only people in our 8 room dorm. On Sunday night, the eve of my birthday, most businesses were closed. So we opted for some long and cozy conversation in the unsurprisingly open McDonalds where I rang in my 21st year of life popping chicken nuggets into my tummy.

On Monday, my birthday, we did a quick round of Belfast and got some good old fashion diner breakfast which included some delicious potato bread. I bought a new dress at a lovely vintage store and we set back out towards Dublin. We made a stop in the town of Drogheda, near Dublin for some lunch at our final pub.


Somewhere along the trip, we realized that we had improperly managed our time and that our check in time was coming up close and we hadn't even return the car yet. So we scrambled and scrambled and after flailing around like a mental patient at the airport and bossing my way to the front of the security line - Gordon and I managed to meet up with the group from the Cliffs of Moher. Somehow Cesar and Philip didn't manage to make the check in time and had to catch a flight the next day.

Highlights:
  • It's been so long since I've been able to sing loudly and poorly in a car
  • Gluten allergy? No problem. Bulmer's is super popular and available.
  • This is my first trip to a European country where I can speak the language

Things I learned:
  • Trust the Chilean to drive
  • Irish history is full of instances where they get screwed over
  • Jaywalking is a standard in Ireland
  • In Ireland, It's okay to be sloppy drunk in public at 10pm
  • Pubs in Ireland actually look like Canadian "Irish pubs"

Things to do when I come back:
  • Go to the Cliffs of Moher
  • Learn to drive stick and be the roadtrip driver