Ireland

April 28th-Dublin
Getting to Dublin was the most stressful experience yet. Once we got to the buss stop to catch the bus in London, mind you it was 2 am, we had this strange old man staring at us on the other side of the benches. It may not have been as creepy if it had been the middle of the day but this wasn't a good time to have someone staring at you. After 15 minutes of awkward eye contact, he came up to me and Caitlin and started talking to us but in a very thick, (Romanian- because he told us) accent. Great start to the day. Once we finally got to the airport, we tried checking our bag but it was 5 kilos too heavy (we didn't mean to check it for 15 kilos because we knew it was about 20) so had to repack and wear more layers on board. It was funny because we had to do this like 3 times before it was finally 15. I was about to cry and Caitlin was about to wear sweatpants over her jeans which would later be hilarious to me but I wasn't in the best mood at the time. Once we finally had our bag light enough, we went thru security and to make matters worse, I had to have my bookbag search because I forgot I had a bottle of lotion, toothpaste, and my foundation in there. This was the first time I've ever expressed anger towards someone so blatantly. We had about 10 minutes to get to our terminal which was in a completely different building and the lady was SLOWLY going through my bag and opening everything. Now I know its protocol, but come on!!! She had on plastic gloves and was touching everything and then told me I had to pay 1euro to buy a packet of plastic baggies and put my liquids in there to go thru security again. She took the rest of the baggies that I had paid for which was pretty stupid too because then I couldnt use them again on my way back even though I had paid for them. But we were late for the plane and at this point, I didn't really care. FINALLY, we got through and started running for the terminal. I was convinced we were going to miss the flight and with RyanAir that would probably cost us like 1000 euros or something ridiculous....(I hate this airline). But of course, there was a 10 minute line before we got thru the gate so we were fine. All that stress for nothing. When we got to Dublin, we took a bus to our hostel, Globetrotters (ranked 4th in Ireland). We were greeted by the sweetest Irish lady at the desk. Our rooms were really cute too. We were at the very top and had a private kitchen, down comforters, and our own bathroom! As soon as we dropped our luggage off, we hopped on a tram (called the Dart in Dublin) to Dun Laoghaire out of impulse (only because it was mentioned in one of my all-time favorite movies, P.S. I Love you). However, to our surprise, there was nothing there but a small harbor and a church. After we walked around for a little, we went back to the city and ate a quick lunch before going to the Guinness Storehouse. It was a pretty cool place I must admit. There were lots of different floors that explained the process for making Guinness and a little bit of the history.  My favorite part about the tour was the Gravity Bar. You go up this elevator to the very top where there is a 360 degree view of the city and a complementary pint of Guinness. It was probably one of the coolest bars I've ever been to (this includes the Cave Bar in Madrid, of course). A little tipsy from our ONE beer, we went to see the St. Patrick's Cathedral and the famous Temple Bar. And get this, they have a Leprechaun Museum (who could have a guessed) but unfortunately it was closed when we went by it. Oh well.  Later, we went back and rested at the hostel for a bit before going to find somewhere to eat. We went to bed fairly early because we booked a tour for the next day (MacCooles) and had to get up at 6:45 am to catch the bus to Galway (on the West Coast of Ireland).

April 29th
At 7:15 am, we boarded the bus headed to Galway for our tour. The ride was a little over 2 hours (Believe it or not, but Ireland is about the size of Maine) from coast to coast. From there, we caught another bus that took us to the Connolly farm located in the Burren Mountains. Our tour guide was really friendly and seemed to know a lot about the land. I got to feed a baby calf and there were baby lambs as well. Very cute. We hiked up the mountain behind their farm and saw quite a bit of scenery. You could see the water and the Aran Islands right off into the Galway Bay. (I, especially, liked the Aran Islands because they are pronounced like my name!!) Our tour guide had us lay down on the mountainside and listen quietly for this sound of this bird that lived nearby (not sure what this meant but it was still relaxing). We also observed the famine walls and their remains from a distance. When we climbed back down, we had some amazing homemade apple pie. It was fun to walk around the farm because the old man who lived their, MK,  was a sweet Irishman who seemed very excited to have visitors because he was following us around while we were taking pictures and giving us props! He also let us pet his dogs and told us some interesting stuff about the farm. When we left the farm, we made our way through Poulnabrone Dolmen, an ancient burial tomb (2500 BC) and Lisdoonvarna, where the biggest singles matchmaking festival takes place each year. It was interesting. Our bus driver told us how in the old days, when people went to this festival, the matchmaker would pair them with someone and they would go away together and sometimes get married when they barely knew each other just because the matchmaker told them to. (or something like that). Then after eating a quick lunch, we finally got to go to the Cliffs of Moher (my favorite part of the tour). They were a bit scary (almost 700 feet tall) but one of the most beautiful sights I've ever seen. The only thing I didn't enjoy were the millions of flies (kamikaze flies) that were in our eyes, hair, and clothes. It. was. disgusting. But that didn't bother us much considering where we were. We did jumping pictures (me and Caitlin's tradition wherever we go) but I wasn't too thrilled about this because we had to jump kinda close to the edge to get a cool picture and I was scared but later on, I was glad we did it. From there we boarded the bus and headed back to Galway City. On the way back, we passed several beautiful, old places. We saw the castle of Dunghaire which dates back to 1525. We also drove along the Burren Coastline and had a better view of the Aran Islands, the Connemara Coastline, and Galway City itself. When we got dropped off, we had an hour until our next bus picked us up so we explored a little an date dinner. I noticed that Galway has a much younger crowd that Dublin because of the colleges. When we got back to our hostel, around 10 pm, we had a nice little surprise. Our room had a leak so we were moved into a private suite which was pretty much like a hotel room with 2 twin beds, a tv and our own bathroom. It was nice because television in Spain sucks so I actually got to watch a little bit of normal tv in the  comfort of my own bed! yESsss.

April 30th
Today we woke up and had the usual Full Irish Breakfast--this consisted of beans, eggs, toast, tomatoes, sausage, fresh fruit, oj, coffee, cereal, juice, hash browns, and ham. Nomnom. Anyways, we decided today that we would try to explore the Wicklow mountains which aren't too far from Dublin but the lady working at the desk said its hard to get out there without a car so she suggested we go to a small town about 30 minutes away called Howth instead. It turned out to be a cute little town and we met some nice people at a few of the small outdoor shops right next to the tram station. We got some coffee to warm up a little and looked at some of the jewelry shops. Although the weather wasn't as great as it had been, it never really rained too much to stop us from hiking along the coast for a little while. We walked around and took a few pictures by the cliffs. I was so jealous because along the path, there were these beautiful houses that overlooked the water..they were awesome. When we got tired, we took the easy way back through some neighborhoods and came back towards the tram station. We ate a quick lunch at this cute cafe by the water and went over to the harbor to watch the seals swim around. They were so funny. They literally look like water dogs and they just stare at you (probably waiting for some food to fall in the water) but it was cool because I've never seen wild seals before. Then we walked back over to the market area with all the outdoor shops and it was so funny. This cute lady that we had talked to earlier came over to us and was all excited that we had hiked for as long as we did and even hugged us. (That's another thing about Ireland, they treat everyone like family and as if they've known you for a long time) So we did a little shopping and headed back to Dublin and rested for a bit. Later, we went back over to the Temple Bar area and got burgers at a local restaurant. Tonight was our night to explore the nightlife and we went over to this bar called, Whelans (also in the film P.S. I love you) and  hung out for a bit. We had a couple beers and watched people dance and all. The funny thing about the Irish that I noticed is that they love to drink. It was only 9 or 10 and some people we were wasted already. We had one guy who would just stare at us and if we looked back at him, he would walk over and start dancing but he had that look in his eye where you just knew he was drunk. It was hilarious because no one seemed to care what they looked like while they were dancing either. As Caitlin mentioned in her blog, they were dancing the way you dance in front of the mirror by yourself. Just ridiculous but they knew how to have a good time. We waited a while for the band to start up which, a few guys that we met told us was supposed to start playing around 11:30 but we waited until 12 and nothing seemed to be happening. So, we walked over to Temple Bar and did a walk through but being a tourist attraction, it was packed and not an enjoyable atmosphere since you could barely move. So we just decided to head home since we were tired.

May 1st
We woke up around 9 and had our last full irish breakfast and packed up our things and headed for the airport. Overall, I'd say the trip was a success and Ireland was my favorite part. If you ever go to Ireland, try to make a trip into the countryside--that is the part worth seeing because I've never seen anything like it. It was good getting back to Alicante because it feels more like home but I'm glad we left for a little while. :)

Similarities/Differences
--Ireland is much more home-y and welcoming to travelers
--The landscape is absolutely beautiful
--The partying takes place a lot earlier than in Spain
--The tourists are a little less diverse
--People seem to be very proud to be Irish and know a lot about Ireland's history
--Gaelic is everywhere on the signs (its their official language and children are required to learn it)
--They take breakfast very seriously
--Guinness is probably the most popular (we saw a restaurant that had 3 taps of Guinness and only one of everything else)
--People just seem happier here
--Beer drinking is intense