Ireland Travel Blogs | Travelogues | Travel Journals

Well less than 24 hours to go and still haven't packed a thing! The backpack is still in the cupboard and I have no idea when I will pack! Oh well, I guess this is all part of the excitement and adventure (or laziness ;-p )! Decided to go to Berlin straight away and spend two days there. Hopefully I will meet some nice people there to break me into the German way of life gently!!

Seat 36K, Flight EI125, My journey has begun.   Technically, my journey both started months ago and also hasn’t started yet, depending on how long you want to draw the timeline. I suppose like anything, it truly began years ago when the first seedlings of an IDEA implanted themselves in my brain, quickly setting and spreading roots that eventually grew so strange as to choke out all other IDEAS about how to spend these few years of my youth.  The destination even was a...

Nestling below Cashel hill overlooking Ballyness Bay, Gortahork is a small busy Gaeltacht (Irish Speaking Region) village in Northwest Donegal (in Gaeilge the town's name means The Field of Oats). There is a bronze statue of a man scything grain in the grounds of the old Tech, a bit 'wooden' as poses go but a great photo opportunity! It has the typical rural Irish feature of a long main street and a wild scattering of houses dissappearing up laneways and side roads. (It was the Viki...

Upon our arrival in Limerick, our Globus bus driver, Timmy met us instead of the tour director. He said that our director wasn't able to pick us up because he was "out late the night before and had a hangover "and hence was still sleeping! At first we thought he was joking but found out later in the trip that it was the truth! The bus took us to the Jury's Inn Limerick and our rooms were not ready since it was before noon, so we were allowed to keep our luggage in a room near the fr...

I left Bristol and headed by train through Wales to Holyhead.  Here I was to take a Ferry across to Dun Laoghaire in Ireland.  That wouldn't have been an issue at all if it wasn't for the plan to do it all at night.      The train from Bristol was the easy part.  I made my way to the station by foot after a quick bite to eat.  There wasn't much to see out the window as the train rushed by villages and towns that were to me no more than a collection of l...

If you feel as if your mind starts to rot and cravings to travel are becoming just unbearable to deal with, here’s a recipe to treat your hungry travellers heart. Rather simple really.   Ingredients:   à Rented car; you’ll need a credit card, or cash, or a friend with these two. à Road map (one you ‘borrowed’ from your work) à Your camera (no way without it) à A CD full of proper songs for road trip; recommendations: Eels- Mr. E’s Beautiful Blues, Green Day- Ho...

When Jeff told me that he was coming to Dublin I was really looking forward to it, even if it would only be a few hours on a stopover. He said he would be just as happy if we only sat drinking in the airport bar until his flight had to leave. We decided to go into town and see something if at all possible. So we dumped his bags off and jumped on the bus. On the journey into town, it was as if I had known Jeff a lot longer than the 4 days that we had known each other over in Paris. In the las...

i was supposed to fly out of shannon on the 11th - i happened to check the news around 3am and saw all about the new terror threat on trans atlantic flights. this of course was not welcomed news, at this point i hadnt spoken to my parents in nearly 8 weeks. so i decided that there was no way i was flying home the next morning without atleast getting in touch with them. a few phone calls later it was decided that i would stay in ireland for another week or so and fly home on a later d...

  After driving in Ireland for the past five days Angie and I were ready to be stationary for the next two days before flying home.  Driving in Ireland can be very stressful and being stuck in a car day after day can make you stir crazy even though the views are fabulous.  I am hyper; I can’t sit still for long!  So I was ready for Dublin!   But before we could get to our hotel, we had to drop off our rental car.  That was a fiasco as the traffic to Dublin o...

Up about 6am and shower, dress and pack to move on. Breakfast in nothing special, but the coffee was good. Off to Cardiff where we stop about 9:45am for an hour stop. Our tour director didn't even mention the Castle almost across the street. We could see the wall, with a nice garden on this side, but had no idea it was there. We continued along southern Wales coastline to Fishguard where we waited for nearly an hour and a half to board the ferry.  The three and a half hour voyage ...

Ok, these are some pics which much like my doggy blog have nothing to do with traveling but i'm lookin for another award!! haha

Probably the best thing about Dublin is the Guinness. People are right when they say it doesn't travel well. And having a pint from the actually brewery was to die for :) I discovered another lovely irish beer called Kilkenny. It tastes like the offspring of a Smithwicks and Boddingtons. And of course how could I leave Dublin without visiting the Jameson Distillery! The food was pretty good, I mostly just ate fish and chips, and mushy peas (I thought of you Dave!). The pubs are great, they ...

I managed to find a cheap return flight to Dublin for only 30 pounds, so off I left for a week in sunny Ireland. Was picked up at the airport by Carol who was kind enough to let me stay with her and Rony for a couple of nights. They have a 9-month-old boy Matthew, so it was great to meet him too. They live in a lovely part of Dublin - Portmarnock, which is on the coast and has a gorgeous beach nearby.Before I left for my 3 day ‘Shamrocker’ tour of Ireland, I had a day to wander around ...

  Arrived in Baile Atha Cliath (Dublin) via Budapest (Hungary) • Frankfurt (Germany). What can I say about Dublin: brilliant, fantastic, magnetic! I love it! I loved my time in Scotland but I simply adore Ireland. Definitely you must go! People are the friendliest in the world, best beer on the planet, great parties and good time (“craic” as they say). So after a few days in Dublin, went south to Limerick. I took a bus and managed to see the countryside and believe me I’ve neve...

I have heard so many beautiful things about Kinsale and it is only about 15 minutes away by bus from where I work.  But for some reason, no matter how many times I have planned to go there, the plans just wouldn't push through. Finally, 2 weeks ago, my friend and I made a spontaneous decision to go to Kinsale.  It was Jazz Festival Weekend in Cork so the bus to Kinsale was packed.  And it was a Sunday so the buses came only every 2 hours. We decided to stay...