Welp, this is it. The last two days of our whirlwind trip to Ireland.
Aw, I know random only-image-I-could-find-of-a-crying-Irish-thing. It IS sad. But hey, this post covers two days you guys. So like, you’re welcome. Seriously, this thing is like 20 pages in Microsoft Word. Like I legit wrote a novella about one-and-a-half days I spent in Ireland.
I provide value.
Let’s do this thing.
Our May 2023 trip to Ireland: Day 4
Day 4, I assume, began with us waking up and getting ready. I have to assume this because the first picture I have of the day is of us once again outside BlackRock Cottage.
As you might recall from my Day 3 post, this is how that day started as well. Because of on account of BlackRock Cottage is like a 5-minute walk from our hotel (Salthill Hotel) AND more importantly, serves all kinds of a stellar sort of breakfast.
While most of us were planning on ordering from the inside menu, Myles wanted to get a bowl from the food truck / shack situation out back. Here is the menu from said food truck / shack situation out back.
But as we were waiting at the food truck / shack situation, Owen and Nickie were grabbing a table inside and found out we could order from the same menu inside the restaurant. See? Look?
I wouldn’t lie to you.
To start today, Nickie and I both ordered a cappuccino. On account of I learned my lesson from the day before and didn’t wanna have cappuch-envy.
So pretty.
For breakfast today, I wasn’t all that hungry.
So I ordered a sausage roll.
Yeah.
I’m a walking conundrum.
So OK, here’s the deal. I didn’t get ANY OTHER pictures from breakfast but I have a really good, really gentlemanly reason for this.
As you may have seen from my earlier pictures, Myles, Owen, and I were all wearing sweaters and sweatshirts.
This indicates a cooler temperature.
And as you can see from this picture Nickie took of her and the boys whilst I was off doing this gentlemanly thing, Nickie was not wearing long sleeves.
So yeah. I went back to the hotel to get Nickie a sweater.
I know.
I AM a catch.
I know Myles got an Acai Bowl, Nickie got Scrambled Eggs and a Chocolate Croissant, and Owen I think a Plain Croissant.
I also know my Sausage Roll was all kinds of delicious and I miss BlackRock Cottage.
They should open one up in Massachusetts. We have a bunch of Irish people here. It would work.
As I was grabbing Nickie’s sweater, her and the boys were starting to head back to the hotel.
While I was waiting for them, I attempted to order a cab through my Uber app but even though it found me a ride, the time kept climbing for when they would actually get to the hotel. Which was problematic since it was already past nine and we had to be at our bus for our tour by 9:30.
So Nickie went over to the front desk and the guy behind the desk told us they had a little machine to essentially do the same thing but more reliably.
So I cancelled my Uber and Nickie ordered one on the newfangled front-desk-Uber-machine. Thankfully, this worked and our taxi was at the hotel in minutes. I mentioned this in my last post, but seriously lesson learned. Use other methods if you can beyond the Uber app to order cabs in Ireland.
We were on our bus by 9:24.
And since I got her sweater, Nickie agreed to hold my hand.
OK, so today’s tour was once again with Wild Atlantic Way Tours. This one was the Cliffs of Moher & Burren Day Trip from Galway tour and our driver for the day today was Damien. Today we were on the big bus and it was definitely an improvement over the one from the day before. I mean, the A/C worked so that was a step in the right direction.
The trip today was 1 hour less than yesterday’s, 8 hours compared to 9, but it was gonna be another packed day. So I mean – let’s get on with it then.
As I mentioned, our bus started up at around 9:30AM and our first stop was 30 minutes away. So being that time is just a construct and in Ireland, sleep became an anytime activity, I took a little nap on the way.
Which means you can have pretty much the same experience I had when we pulled up to our first stop. When I say, “go,” I want you to close your eyes slowly and then yawn as you open them back up.
Ready?
Go.
Yup, it’s like we just visited Ireland together.
That there is Dunguaire Castle.
Damien parked in the lot across the street and we were given 30 minutes to explore the castle and surrounding grounds. Now, we didn’t have any sort of ticket to go too deep into the castle but we still had a lot to explore.
Real nice, no? I mean, it’s no Grayskull. But still. Nice.
Thing was built in 1520.
They didn’t even have Atari back then.
At least I don’t think they did. I’m not a big history buff so.
Not only were we able to walk around the castle all close-up-like, but there was also this little path that led around the castle on the water side.
I didn’t know it before this trip, but I guess I am a big fan of little paths that lead around castles on water sides.
Before we knew it, our 30 minutes was up so we headed back but man, it was turning out to be an insanely nice day. Again.
Like I said in the last post, people really misled us about the rain in Ireland.
Edited for television.
Our next stop was another 30 minutes away. But as we made our way there, Damien narrated the drive, pointing out interesting landmarks and peppering us with facts and history.
Myles and Owen were totally into it.
Ah well, at least I hope they saw some of the beautiful scenery along the way.
It was pretty cool how different the landscape looked today compared to yesterday. Our drive north yesterday to Connemara was absolutely beautiful but the greens were more muted. Today’s greens were much more vibrant and what not.
At close to 11AM, we reached our next stop. And this one was great.
On account of it included alcohol.
Our next stop was Monk’s.
Whoops. Sorry.
Monk’s in Ballyvaughan.
This was not only an opportunity to use the bathroom but the bar was open for coffee and soda and also coffee with alcohol. So I mean.
The boys each got a Coke, Nickie got a decaf coffee with Bailey’s, and I got an Irish coffee. So good you guys.
We had a couple minutes to enjoy our drinks outside…
…but Damien was on a tight schedule and if you recall from my last post, Wild Atlantic Tours don’t mess around. They will 100% leave you if you’re not on the bus in time. It’s all part of the experience, guys.
Thankfully, we were allowed to take our alcoholic breakfast drinks on the bus with us.
Our next stop was closer to 45 minutes away in the town of Doolin. We were able to walk around for a little bit before dipping into a pre-planned spot for lunch.
And Doolin was super pretty.
And also super fun to say.
Doolin.
As mentioned, this was our lunch stop and our tour reserved us a spot at Fitz’s Pub in Hotel Doolin.
We got seated at a table near a window. Obviously, they knew we were very important people.
It was probably because of my hat.
We of course were going to start with drinks. And our waitress informed us there was a local beer called Dooliner. And Nickie has always said, “When in Doolin, doo as Dooliners doo.”
So yeah, she ordered the beer.
I went with, surprise surprise, another Guinness.
To start food-wise, we ordered the JJ Corry Whiskey Marinated Wings with Celery Sticks and Cashel Blue Dip.
Which were quite nice. Saucy.
Nickie ordered a Caesar Salad but for some reason I didn’t take a picture of it.
Oh wait.
Probably because it was a salad.
Both boys got the Fried Whitefish in Dooliner Beer Batter (Fish and Chips…doy) with Beef Dripping Fries, Tartar Sauce, and Crushed Peas.
And I went with the Sustainable All White Fish Chowder with Leek, Potato, Pea, and Scallion and a side of Brown Bread.
This was real good. Like, rulll good. Clean Bowl Club over here.
But all in all, definitely a good lunch at Fitz’s. We finished up pretty closely to bus-boarding time and as I have said, these Wild Atlantic Way guys are pretty intense when it comes to being on bus-boarding time.
We were back on the bus by 1:30.
And we pulled out of Doolin by 1:35.
So yeah guys. Close call.
Our next stop post-lunch was our main stop. The main reason for this whole tour. It’s literally in the name of the tour you guys.
The Cliffs of Moher.
We pulled into the Cliffs at around 1:45 and Damien handed us our tickets for the visitor’s center that were included in our price of the tour. He told us we had 2 hours to explore the cliffs and to meet back in the parking lot at 3:45. Off we went.
To the cliffs.
The way the cliffs work is when you walk up the main path, you can either go to the left to walk along the cliffs or you can walk to the right to get a view of the cliffs from across the water. We decided to walk to the right first to get a good view before making our way left.
And that side was the Ed Sheeran side. On account of, look, the castle on the hill.
And from there, we had a pretty nice view of the cliffs.
And yeah, it was an insanely nice day outside. And we? Well we are an insanely nice looking family.
So we obviously took some pictures of ourselves.
OK, so it was nice out. But it was also getting kind of hot. And the wind promised at the top of the cliffs? Nowhere to be found.
So while the boys and I wanted to make the walk over to and alongside the cliffs, Nickie made the call to hit the visitor’s center. So the four of us made the walk down…
…and we dropped Nickie off at the visitor’s center.
Today was a very VERY busy day, so a lot of the walk we were surrounded on all sides by other visitors. It’s like every time I thought we had seen all the people we could see, then came…
…
I’m so sorry, but I have to do this…
…
Then came…
Moher.
I’ll be here all week. Try the duck.
But, despite all those people, we (both me and Owen) managed to snag some pretty incredible pictures.
So beautiful.
The cliffs were nice too.
Hey-oh!
We made our way back to the Visitor Center to meet Nickie at around 3:05 and both Myles and Owen immediately found their way to the Puffin’s Café to get a vanilla shake…
…and a lemonade.
Nickie also picked up a couple souvenirs for us to bring back to the folks at home. We then walked outside to check out the other little shops. We didn’t really have any plans to buy anything but I really wanted to visit them because they were essentially caves.
Caves with t-shirts inside them.
But yeah, we didn’t buy anything out there. But it was cool that I did come across a t-shirt with the same design as the triskelion tattoo my brothers and I all got when my Dad passed away.
The triskelion actually carries with it a number of symbolistic meanings, with one of them being birth, death, and the afterlife, which was why we chose it as the one we all got when my Dad passed. You may also see some writing on my arm above the triskelion. That says “Goody,” which was what we called my dad complete with a backwards “y,” which was how he wrote his y’s.
At one point, while Nickie and the boys were still in the shops, I went out and sat on a wall and was treated to these four girls talking about how they could not comprehend having Christmas in a warm-weather climate. Like literally, this was a 15-minute conversation about how weird it would be to ride a bicycle in shorts on Christmas Day.
After Nickie, Myles, and Owen emerged we still had a little bit of time before we had to meet up with the bus so we went back into the Visitor Center to check out what else it had to offer. And whoa – Myles and Owen – watch out. You’re gonna get your feet wet.
Ha, no you guys. That’s just a projection.
Now, at Cliffs of Moher there was a whole puffin theme going on. I mentioned the Puffin’s Café and throughout there were nods to puffins all over the place. However, when we told Owen we should look out for puffins, he was like, “there’s no puffins here…IDIOT.”
OK, he didn’t call us idiots. At least not with his mouth.
His eyes though.
Anyways though. I mean, obviously there were puffins. The café was called the Puffin’s Nest. There were stuffed animal puffins everywhere. Dude was left confounded. Myles also pretended to be confounded as well.
Solidarity.
At 3:30, we headed outside close to where the bus was meeting us and found a picnic table. And since I hadn’t had ANY whiskey yet, I opened up the flask.
As mentioned earlier though, the bus was scheduled to depart at 3:45 so we didn’t sit at our little picnic table too long before taking off.
But yeah, that was the Cliffs of Moher. It was beautiful obviously. But I can’t imagine needing any more time there. I will say I know the tour company has a tour that drops you in Doolin and allows you to take 5 hours to walk the path from the Doolin Pier to the cliffs and explore. I could see that. But being at the cliffs proper? I’d say two hours is more than enough time. You could probably even get away with 1-1.5 hours if you’re pressed.
After we left the cliffs, the itinerary essentially has us just sort of departing and heading back to Galway but in actuality, we still had a couple more stops. We drove on through Lisdonvarna and I mean of course everything continued to be pretty AF.
And our planned stop was at a little vista where we had a nice view of the Burren, which is a pretty impressive landscape.
Also pretty impressive?
Rawr.
After we boarded the bus again, we stopped a little ways again down the road and Damien told us this spot was a perfect picture spot but we could only stop for like 2 minutes. So anyone who wanted a picture had to be quick.
Owen and I were up for the challenge.
And man, was this worth it. Beautiful stuff.
We also told Damien we had heard about a sign we may be passing that would be of interest to Bostonians like us. He said he knew what we were talking about and that he would make sure to stop for us.
Check it out!
We were READY for Game 7. Which btw was tonight. More on that later.
But yeah, that was the tour. And yeah, it was a good one. I’d honestly have a tough time if you asked me which of the two tours we did that I would recommend over the other. I think as far as main stops went, I preferred Connemara to the Cliffs of Moher but everything else was better in the Cliffs tour. We loved stopping for Irish Coffees, stopping for lunch in Doolin. Dunguaire Castle. The Burren. Plus, I mean…the A/C worked in the big bus.
So I mean. I’d recommend…
We were back in Galway by 5:30. And the next order of business was figuring out dinner. We walked around a little bit, trying to figure on a spot. But eventually, we landed on heading back to the Salthill Hotel to have dinner in the restaurant off the lobby.
You see, we had yet another night like Day 1 / Day 2 where we would be going to bed kind of early in order to wake up for a Celtics game at 1:30AM. As I mentioned earlier, it was Game 7 tonight between the Celtics and the Heat. Obviously an important one and we didn’t wanna miss it.
So back to the hotel we went.
The other reason it made sense to get back to the hotel is we still had a bottle of Moet to drink. As you might recall from that Day 1 / Day 2 post, I had surprised Nickie with flowers and a bottle of champagne in the room for our 20th anniversary and up to this point, we haven’t had a chance to drink it.
So yeah, tonight ended up being our anniversary dinner at our hotel.
There were a few restaurants we could choose from in the hotel but we landed on trying to get a seat out on the patio at the BlackRock Bar since it was such a nice night. I called down to ask if they would have any issues opening up our bottle for us and they assured me it was no big deal.
So we walked downstairs and they seated us right out on the patio, overlooking the water.
It was a beautiful night and I was feeling pretty lucky. I mean, not only was I out here, in Ireland, on this beautiful night with my incredible family but I was also celebrating 20 years with this beauty?
I hit the jackpot, guys.
The waitress asked us if we wanted 4 glasses but despite our insistence, Owen said he was not interested in any champagne. So 3 glasses and a Coke it was.
Myles said this was his first time trying champagne and he said he liked it. I mean, to have a nice bottle of Moet be the first champagne you taste is a pretty sweet deal.
We started our meal off with the BBQ Pork Spare Ribs with Mixed Leaves and Peanut Salad.
And this was a very good way to start our meal. The pork was juicy and flavorful and the sauce had some good flavor while still being mild enough for everyone at the table. Plus, I love the little bowls of water and lemon these places bring you for you to wash your hands in during a messy meal.
Myles also started off with some Seafood Chowder and Brown Bread.
In keeping with a days-old tradition, I followed up my champagne with a gorgeous glass of Guinness.
Nickie ordered a BlackRock Burger (topped with a Tomato, Lettuce, Mayo, Melted Cheese, Grilled Onions, and Bacon on a Toasted Brioche Bun) with Chips.
Owen also got the Burger minus pretty much everything I noted above except for the Cheese and Bun.
And Myles went in for the Beer Battered Fish and Chips with a side of Mushy Peas.
I got a Pizza they had on special but I don’t fully remember what it was. I mean, Pepperoni obviously and there’s some Crushed Red. And I think Onions and Garlic?
I do remember it being pretty spicy actually, but as you can see it came with a side of this mayo-based dipping sauce which helped to cool it down a little. This was a heck of a pizza though.
In fact, everyone really liked everything they ate tonight. BlackRock Bar was good stuff.
And we weren’t even done yet. I mean, we were celebrating.
So of course we got dessert.
We ordered the Chocolate Brownie topped with Fresh Cream and Vanilla Ice Cream to share.
Well sort of to share. Owen ordered it and I said I was going to have a bite. And of that he was not a fan. On account of, according to him, I take “big bites.” But I mean, I’ve bought a lot of ice cream for Owen throughout his life. So he owes me.
The sundae was of course yumtown. It was a warm brownie. With cold ice cream. Of course it was good.
I also got…
…
A whiskey.
But that’s all I got for you. I literally have no idea what kind of whiskey I ordered. Whatever you guys. It was whiskey. I’m sure I enjoyed it.
But that was essentially Day 4 you guys. A pretty awesome day. Castles. Cliffs of Moher. The Burren. And topped off with all kinds of awesomeness with this family that I love so much.
But we had to get to bed early-ish tonight so we could wake up for Game 7. We were in bed by 9:30PM.
And good news for you guys.
I’m just gonna keep going right into Day 5. Let’s do this.
Our May 2023 trip to Ireland: Day 5
So Day 5 began, as I mentioned, at 1:30AM.
On account of the Celtics-Heat Game 7.
We once again gathered around the laptop.
And I mean, there’s really no sense in belaboring things. I wish I had better news but, unfortunately, they lost. Which meant their playoff road had ended.
It was a bummer. So we went to bed at 4:30AM a little sadder than we were when we woke up.
Womp.
And like, ok…so we were in bed at around 4:30AM.
And we had to be on a 7:30AM train that morning to get back to Dublin.
Yeah.
This is nuts you guys.
So being that we had a train at 7:30AM, we need to make sure we had enough time to get ready, get the room fully packed up, get to the station, and (hopefully) get some breakfast before we boarded.
So we were up at like 6:00AM.
After going to bed at 4:30AM.
But it worked. We were at Galway Station by 6:45.
And like I said, we were hoping for some breakfast. Luckily, there was a Starbucks right in the station.
It didn’t officially open until 7AM, but the dude behind the counter let us in a few minutes early.
Such a nice dude behind the counter.
Look at our food from Starbucks, you guys.
All pretty standard stuff but I ended up getting this sausage sandwich thing that seemed kind of unique and something I’ve never seen in the states.
And I remember liking it a lot but it Nickie wasn’t the biggest fan. In fact, we had originally planned to split both this and her croissant but after she took her first bite, I saw the look on her face and offered to eat the rest of it on my own while she took the croissant.
We ended up boarding a train at around 7:30AM and being that we were all EXHAUSTED, we all proceeded to fall asleep within minutes of sitting in our seats. So that means I have zero train pics.
Sorry.
But look on the bright side. I also have zero train pics.
We arrived at Heuston Station in Dublin at 9:50AM.
And though the overall plan for today revolved largely around the fact that we were catching our plane back home later, we did also have reservations to tour the Guinness Storehouse.
I mean. It made sense. I had become such close friends with Guinness on this trip it seemed only right I got to know it on a deeper level.
When we were at Heuston Station back at the beginning of the trip before heading out to Galway, we saw the Guinness Storehouse was pretty close so we figured we would just walk over.
No big deal right?
He said ominously.
Within ten minutes, we already saw our first black gate.
That was a little after 10AM.
There were many other black gates to pass.
At around 10:06, I passed this sign.
Which, yes, of course brought me to the lostcatsofthepast Instagram page which, yes, I now follow because, yes, it is awesome.
And at 10:07, I passed this sign.
Which, like, what? This is Ireland you stupid sign.
So yeah, the first bit of our walk? Obviously great. But this walk ended up being a tadddddd longer than we expected. At around 10:22, we reached the final black gate. THE black gate.
At least I think that’s THE black gate. Like I said, there were a lot of black gates and every black gate we passed, we were like “wait, is this the gate?”
But yeah, I think this one was the actual gate.
I think.
So now all we had to do is find the keymaster.
Nice.
Anyways though, that gate was legit right outside the entrance to the Storehouse. So let’s go for a visit, eh?
And I just want to mention one more time. We booked reservations for the Guinness Storehouse weeks in advance. If you want to visit, I’d recommend you do the same. Or you could not listen to me.
You never listen to me.
We never do anything anymore.
Are we one of those couples.
I’m sorry.
It was a really hard day at work. It’s not you. How about we go dancing tonight?
Oh right. The Guinness Storehouse.
We showed our tickets at the entrance and in we went. The full museum was seven floors and, like, there are A LOT of walls with words on them.
But yeah, these floors take you through the history of Guinness and the story of its founder, Arthur Guinness.
And it takes you through, of course, the brewing process. Which included the eighth wonder of the world –
THE BACKSIDE OF WATER!
Disney reference FTW.
Seriously though. This place? Hoppin.
Look. More wall words.
And look at this thing. It’s like a big pint of Guinness.
I mean. I’m thirsty but not that thirsty. Amirite guys?
The 3rd floor of the museum is dedicated to all things Guinness advertising and, like, Guinness has definitely adopted a certain style of advertising.
They even let you play the Guinness harp.
A very VERY cool museum for sure. Like, museums are great and all. But museums focused on beer? That’s some learning I can get behind.
And speaking of beer, each of our admission tickets came with a free pint! While this can be used in the tasting room, we had to skip the tasting experience due to time constraints so we decided to use our free beer ticket up on the top floor at the rooftop bar. Which provided panoramic views of Dublin.
When we got up to the bar, the bartender led us through how to pour a perfect pint while getting our drinks. Check out this beautiful situation.
Also, while we were at the bar, Nickie wasn’t 100% on having a whole Guinness so the bartender also let her try the Hop House 13 Lager they had on tap and she liked it a little more so she went for that. Which meant she got the beer she liked and we got an extra pint of Guinness.
Score.
Owen also got himself a Coke. Pfft. Lame.
Nickie still held her Guinness for the pictures though. Because she’s all about keeping up appearances.
After we finished our beers, it was time to start our goodbye to Ireland. Our next stop was the Dublin Airport so we ordered up an Uber despite, again, that definitely not being the best way to get a car in Ireland. This time, it was hard to tell where the dude was picking us up so it took us a bit to find each other.
But find each other we did and we were at the airport by 12:15ish. And this place? It was a madhouse.
And things were a bit disorganized here. So we checked in already and had our boarding passes but we still had to use a kiosk to print out our luggage tags. Which, obviously, fine…no big deal. But then, after we tagged our luggage, we had to wait in line to weigh our bags and drop them off. Now, this whole process seems like it was intended to remove the need for an agent to help you with your bags.
However, when we got up to weigh our bags and drop them off, the machine told us it needed to page an agent to come check our passports. And there was only one woman working about 6 or 7 of these stations.
So instead of just going directly to an agent, we had to first wait in line for a kiosk, tag our luggage, then go wait in line to try to drop off our luggage before waiting for an overworked agent to do the thing the rest of this process was intended to remove.
Air travel has really become awesome.
After we got through security, we still had to do the whole US preclearance thing. But, according to the board, our preclearance time wasn’t for another hour or so. So we did the only thing that made any sense.
We hit the candy store. And we bought A LOT. Gummies. Chocolate. Even some Tayto. Which is not candy.
I picked up for myself a very large Dairy Milk Triple Chocolate bar. Here is a picture of it from later when I took it out on the plane.
Thing was big. Like, “Joey’s Toblerone” big.
And real good, obviously.
And while I could 1000% subsist on candy, “society” tells me I need to also eat real food. So we had to get lunch.
I guess.
The kids wanted Burger King so we told them we would grab a table at The Fallow in Terminal 2, which seemed really the only choice for a somewhat standard restaurant experience. We waited in line for about ten minutes or so for a table and once there, ordered off the digital menu.
We started off with some beers…
I ordered this Buttermilk Fried Chicken Sandwich with Bacon and Cheese (I think it was called the Stag, maybe?) with a side of fries.
And Nickie got a Grilled Chicken Sandwich with a Side of Sweet Potato Fries.
And honestly? This place wasn’t bad. I mean, were these the best chicken sandwiches we’ve ever had? No. But they were tasty and mine wasn’t dry or anything, which is always a concern. And this place definitely prioritizes speed. Everything was out very quickly, which is you know…important for an airport restaurant.
Speaking of speed. The kids showed up, eventually, with their Burger King. But by the time they arrived, we were almost done. Pfft. Fast food? More like slow food.
Amirite?
After we finished up with lunch, we went through the US preclearance situation and made our way to our gate. And, like, they really do a good job of making you excited to get back to Boston.
I’m not 100% on what a “Fenway Park sigh” is but eh….I appreciate the effort.
Look. Our plane!
We were once again flying Aer Lingus for our trip back to Boston. Our flight today was departing at 4:45PM. And the anticipated flight time was about 5 hours or so. So, my plan was to watch a couple movies to pass the time. And I mean, what better movie to watch than…
It’s about Ireland, you guys.
And given the long flight time, I actually was able to squeeze in two movies. I continued the whole “Oscar-nominated” bit by also watching…
Both were really good. I think I’d give the edge to Fabelmans as my favorite of the two. But I really enjoyed both films.
At about 2.5 hours into the flight, the meal service came around. We were given a choice between chicken and beef. The beef was again (like on our flight out) kind of like a beef stew sort of thing but the chicken was more of a chicken curry this time around.
It was served with a Jasmine Rice, Pasta Salad, Brown Bread and Butter, a White Chocolate & Raspberry Mousse for dessert, and their whole Jell-O cup of water thing they have going on on Aer Lingus. And yeah, I mean, this wasn’t anything like high gourmet or anything but I kind of dug that chicken. It had some real spice to it and I had been wanting Chicken Curry our whole time in Ireland and never got around to it. So this scratched that itch and what not.
After we finished our meal, our flight attendants came around with some hot tea. Which was nice.
After I finished up with The Fabelmans, Owen asked if I wanted to play the trivia game they had on the seatback monitors. And like, I guess the rest of the plane? Not really into the whole trivia thing.
Yeah, I was “poopay.” We like just finished season 3 of Ted Lasso. So.
They actually had a lot of games we could play against each other. We played a little bit of pool as well.
And Nickie joined us in a game of Texas Hold ‘Em.
Weirdly, there I think I was “droopy drawers” and Owen was “wayne.” Which makes sense.
At around 10:00 Ireland time (5:00 Boston time), we were served a snack.
That there is, I guess, a Flapjack?
But as you can also see from that image, it was a Cheese and Cole Slaw Wrap. Which was something I have honestly never heard of being a thing. But erm…this thing was real good. I kind of wanna eat more cheese and cole slaw wraps now.
I’m a cheese and cole slaw wrap guy now, I guess.
We landed at near midnight Ireland time but in Boston time, it was only like 7PM.
Time zones, guys. Right?
We were tired. Is what I am saying to you now.
And since we did the whole preclearance thing in Ireland, getting off the flight and to our luggage was pretty much just like getting off a domestic flight. We grabbed our bags and my mom, awesomely, offered to pick us up but I was nominated to drive her car home since driving out of Logan Airport is a bit of a nightmare. Cops yelling, cars beeping. It’s terrible.
And…well. Guys, I was tired. After we got our stuff in the car and piled in, I got into the driver’s seat and pulled away.
As my mom was still getting into the car.
I know. Awful. She stumbled and I freaked out, proceeding to jump out of the car without putting it into park. It rolled forward but, thankfully, all the yelling at me from the backseat made me realize my mistake quickly and I jumped back in, putting the car in park before racing around the car to check on my mom.
Fortunately, she was ok and there was nothing that came of it or anything. But man, did I go into a shame spiral for the next few days. So I mean…pro tip, maybe don’t drive a car after not sleeping for three days in Ireland.
Who knew? My poor mom though – coming to help us and, like, I almost vehicular homicide her. I’m the worst.
We did make it home in one piece though. So winning, I guess.
And Nickie managed to snag a picture of everything we brought back.
And that’s that you guys. That was our trip to Ireland. A beautiful country full of wonderful people, honestly. And I would love to plan a trip in the future to spend a little more time exploring more of that it has to offer. But it was a great trip. Thank you so much to my in-laws, Sharon and Alan, for once again staying at our house and watching the pups. Thanks to my mom for both dropping us off and picking us up at the airport – and again, sorry I almost ran you over.
Thank you as always to my incredible boys for still being into traveling with your parents. I know that won’t always be the case so I appreciate you letting us continue to make these memories with you.
And of course thanks to my wonderful wife, Nickie. I hope you will never tire of travelling with me. Because I know I will never tire of you. You make all of these wonderful places we visit even more special. I love you.
Thanks to all of you for following along. I know this was a shorter one than usual but we still did A LOT and I hope you enjoyed the posts. And stay tuned – we have our Disney Land and Sea trip coming up soon. We will be doing a 4-night cruise on the Wish followed by a few days at Walt Disney World with like 20 people. So get excited.
Until then – take care, everyone and enjoy your summer!
Last post – Day 3
WeHeartDisney 