I am not sure why, but I always wanted to go to Ireland. As a result, that is where we planned our honeymoon.
We didn’t want to do the touristy things, we wanted to see the real Ireland. The place that most people do not want to see because they are drawn to Dublin with the Guinness factory.
We arrived in Shannon after a six-hour nighttime fight and drove to our first destination, Ashford Castle. Driving was a little hairy at first, it felt so strange to be on the opposite side of the road from what we were used to. We did have our handy GPS tracker to help us get around the narrow windy roads.
Traffic circles. Wholly traffic circles. They are EVERYWHERE!
I must admit, that when the GPS would say, “right on the roundabout” we had no clue what it was trying to tell us. We couldn’t go right because we were on the left side of the road! We finally figured out that it wanted us to go all the way around and take the third exit.
Once the initial surprise of roundabouts wore off, we loved them. No stopping anywhere! We only stopped at one traffic light the entire 10 day trip. The cars never stopped moving, there was no question on who goes first. It was a smooth transition from one road to another.
I am so ready for the United States to follow Europe’s traffic systems, along with many other things like maternity and paternity leave, but that is a different topic.
Our first journey was to Ashford Castle. That place is ah-mazing! There is so much history, activities; it even has its own helicopter pad! The room we were in was one of the smallest in the castle, but you wouldn’t know it with the large bathroom and floor to ceiling windows.
Note: Make sure that whenever you are on your honeymoon, to tell everyone you are on your honeymoon. Free stuff awaits you!
One of the biggest differences that we noticed between Ireland and the United States was how we don’t want to save our history. It was nothing to go into a place that was easily over 300 years old.
Instead of tearing things down and writing it off as old and decrepit, they preserve and restore their old buildings and landmarks. I have said in previous posts that one of the main reasons why we bought our farm was the history behind it.
You cannot replace history, but you can tear it down and never talk about it again. This does not mean that history did not happen.
Anyways, some fun things we did while we were in Ireland was falconry at Ashford Castle, which was super fun. You walk around with a hawk on your fist, and then swing your arm. The hawks fly off and when you want them to come back, you cross your arm over your chest and these birds fly right at you. It was a little traumatizing in the beginning, just because they are so massive; have talons that could tear your flesh off and beaks that are hooked. Scary. However, they were extremely well trained, so no need to worry.
There is still so much more to say about our expedition in Ireland. Stay tuned for more!