may the wind always be at your back

After 30 minutes of being in the air, we touched down in Dublin. We were so excited that we danced around like little leprechauns all the way to baggage claim. We found a bus to get to our hostel, Avalon House and finally checked in around 11. We were really tired and we knew that we had an early morning, so we decided to get some much needed sleep.

We woke up the next morning to sunny skies, which made our free walking tour ten times more enjoyable. I wasn't sure where exactly we would go since there aren't a ton of landmarks in Dublin, but the tour guide did a great job of explaining the history and showing us the main points of interest. Afterward, we decided to explore the markets in the Temple Bar area. I decided to buy a copy of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (UK version!) for a few euros from a used book stand so that I could have something to read on our last flight home. We also bopped into an Urban Outfitters, which was extremely expensive compared to back home. After grabbing lunch at a pub, listening to live music and shopping a little bit more, we decided to catch a 4:00 Guinness Factory tour.

The tour was self guided and led you through the process of brewing Guinness. There were 7 floors of this converted old factory that displayed everything Guinness. Toward the end, we went to Guinness school to learn how to craft the perfect pint! It may sound silly, but this is no easy task. I was chosen to go first and our "teacher" used me as the example for his lesson. We had a lot of fun trying to make our pints perfect and even more fun drinking them up in the Sky Bar. We hung out and sipping our beers while watching the sun set over Dublin until it was time to go. We grabbed our diplomas and headed back to the hostel.

Once we were home, we changed quickly and then headed back out for dinner at Gogarty's, a pub recommended by my family. It was a little pricey, especially for Megan who ordered a double cranberry vodka which ended up costing 14 euro, but the live music was awesome and the food was pretty good too.

After that, we bopped around the Temple Bar area checking out different live music and ordering pints of Guinness. We especially liked a pub called Quays, where we befriended the two male musicians that were playing. They played everything from Galway Girl to Country Roads, which we thought was especially funny since we were from the blue ridge mountains in Virginia and they were from Galway.

We headed home and woke up a few hours later at 5:45 to catch our 6:45 bus to Galway, where we would board another bus that would take us on a tour of the west coast of Ireland. The company was called the Galway Tour Company, and I was determined to take our tour with them since it was the same exact tour that my parents, brother and his now wife took just three years ago. Their tour was led by a 5 foot tall 75 year old man named Desmond and they loved him so much that my mom e-mailed the company to see if we could get him as our tour guide too. It turns out that Desmond had retired, but luckily he was helping people board the buses in Galway and I got to meet him and chat for a few seconds. I told him that my family went on his tour and that my brother proposed to his wife on the tour too. I also explained to him that she was now pregnant and that they were having a son, who I jokingly said they might name Desmond. He was SO happy to hear about them and he remembered them perfectly once I showed him a picture. He made me promise to send pictures of the baby and then we said our good-byes.

 

Irish music playing, we boarded our official tour bus excited for what the day had to offer. The weather was partly cloudy and we were praying that it wouldn't rain (thankfully it never did!) Our bus driver's name was Damien and he was hilarious. Almost everything he said was a joke but we still managaed to learn a ton about the history of Ireland. We stopped by Dunguaire Castle, the Ballyalban Fairy Fort, Leamenah Castle, The High Crosses, Poulnabrone Dolmen, Blackhead and Fanore. But of course, the highlight of the trip was two hours at the Cliffs of Moher. The cliffs were hands down my favorite part of the ten day. Again, I had seen  a ton of pictures (especially since this is where my brother proposed to Ashley) but I never fathomed how magical a place could be. I thought of my family the entire time- I pictured John proposing and what was going through his mind, my parents and what they thought of this magnificent sight, and my sister who would love it the most and has yet to go. The bright blue waves were crashing hundreds of feet below me and we bravely decided to ignore the warning signs and got pretty close to the edge for some pictures. We wanted to stay and soak it all in, but after our 2 hours was up it was time to head home. I can NOT wait to go back, hopefully next time with the whole fam!

We arrived back in Dublin around 9:30, grabbed pizza for dinner, changed and got ready for another night at Temple Bar. We were pretty tired, but we were in Ireland, so staying in never crossed our mind. We knew we had to rally!

This time around, we were experts at spotting our the bachelor parties and making friends in order to get free drinks. For some reason, Dublin attracts hundreds of these "stag" parties and a lot of them dress up in theme. At one pub, I made a friend in one of the stag parties who was a full foot shorter than me but we were "partners in crime" having a blast tapping people on the shoulder and hiding. He kept calling me his best mate and I thought it was hilarious.. (I was hoping to meet a Gerard Butler-type but I guess that will have to happen next time). We had yet another amazing night frolicking from one pub to another to another. It was seriously like Disney World for people who like beer and live music and I can not wait to return.

The next morning we got breakfast, shopped around for last minute gifts for family and friends back home, and then packed up our things one last time. We got home around 11pm after a long series of flights, buses, and trains and walked into our room exhausted. I can not explain to you how good it was to be home. Apparently a fairy godmother visited our room while we were gone, because it was SPOTLESS. Beds made with fresh sheets, everything put away, clean floors and sink and mirror. We are seriously spoiled by the Montarina staff. In that moment, I FINALLY understood why my mom liked to come home from work to a clean house- it really did make all the difference. I took the most amazing hot shower, scrubbing the filth of the various hostels and loving the fact that I didn't have to hold a button in the entire time, and climbed into my nice clean bed. The Montarina is truly home.