I’ve made two trips to Ireland so far in my life and there’s no doubt that I’d make another trip in the future. I love the landscape, the culture, the people, and the pubs! I love talking to the locals. Although they all speak English, it sounds like a foreign language because of how quickly they talk with their thick Irish accents.

My first time around Ireland was spent all in Northern Ireland. I was 25 at the time and it was July 2013. I was working for a cruise line at the time and had about 2 months of time off work in between my contracts. I chose to spend one of those months traveling Europe. The trip itself included Spain, France, England, and Ireland. Other than a few nights spent in a hostel in Barcelona, I didn’t pay for a hotel the entire trip because I was staying with friends I knew from working together on the cruise ship.

Because I was staying with friends in their hometowns, I ended up going places one would not typically visit. I skipped past Dublin and Galway and all of the other tourist hotspots and stayed with my good friend in her small hometown of Limavady in Northern Ireland. It was an experience like no other. I would always recommend to stay with and interact with the locals wherever you go as much as you can, if possible, for a truly authentic experience.

Derry

My friend took me all over Northern Ireland and I’m so excited to share with you all that I saw during my 3 nights, 4 days in Ireland. I flew into Belfast (from Liverpool, England - a very short flight) and my friend picked me up at the very small airport. It was early in the day so the first thing we did was go out for a “Traditional Irish Breakfast” which includes some or all of the following: Bacon, sausages, baked beans, eggs, mushrooms, grilled tomatoes, and some cooked potatoes made into a hash.

After that, we spent the day wandering around Derry, or LondonDerry. You can read about the history of the city’s name here. I’ll just refer to it as Derry for this blog post.

Derry is a really neat town to see and I learned a lot here about the Catholic and Protestant conflicts. I was surprised how much of that is still going on. It was really interesting to see all of the murals painted along the walls. I’m no historian and I love learning about the history of towns while I’m visiting them. So rather than me telling you the history, I will just recommend that you check out the Free Derry Museum and learn about Bloody Sunday. There’s also a lot of options for guided walking tours. If you’re in your mid-20’s traveling Europe and low on cash, you can walk closely next to one of these tours and eavesdrop for free.

After touring the town, we popped into a pub and I tasted my first authentic Irish Guinness! It is made better in Ireland. We had some drinks and I thought it was weird that there was a kid sitting at the bar with the adults but apparently that’s normal in Ireland. We attended a gaelic match which is their sport that combines football and rugby. I cheered on the local Derry team and then we headed to Limavady for a night out with the locals. The following morning, my friend’s family cooked us breakfast and tea so we were well-fed for our road trip along Northern Ireland’s Causeway Coastal Route.

The Causeway Coastal Route

If you have access to a car then I would recommend taking a day trip around the Causeway Coastal Route. Along this route you’ll find one of the most unique natural structures in the world that most people have never even heard of - the Giant’s Causeway. You’ll also have an opportunity to walk across a rope bridge for some scenic coastal views (you might even see Scotland!), sample some whiskey, and check out some castles.

Wandering the cliffside after crossing the Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge

The Giant’s Causeway

The Giant’s Causeway is a natural structure situated right along the coast that is made up of approximately 40,000 basalt columns. These are columns in a sort of hexagonal shape and the layout of the columns creates stepping stones from the mountain into the sea. It’s hard to describe through words so make sure you check out my photos to see how unique of a structure this is.

From what I’m told, scientists aren’t exactly sure how the structure was created. But there is an Irish myth to explain it. The story goes that the Irish giant Fionn mac Cumhaill (Finn MacCool), from the Fenian Cycle of Gaelic mythology, was challenged to a fight by the Scottish giant Benandonner. Fionn accepted the challenge and built the causeway across the North Channel so that the two giants could meet. Apparently, you’ll find a similar structure across the way over in Scotland called Fingal’s Cave.

My Irish friend said her family would come to the Giant's Causeway often for day trips and picnics growing up so she never realized how unique this place was until she got older. Along the causeway, you’ll find some walking paths that include fun features like the Giant’s Boot (which is a boot-shaped rock), the Wishing Chair, and the Camel. I would give yourself a good 2-3 hours to wander around and explore this area.

Carrick-A-Rede Rope Bridge

Don’t spend too much time at the pub the night before you cross the Carrick-A-Rede Rope Bridge. This is not something you want to do with a hangover! But you definitely don’t want to miss out. It’s not long (20 meters long) and it will only take you a minute or so to walk across but it is high (30 meters high) and it does shake.

Once you get across the bridge, you’ll be on Carrickede Island. There’s island is basically a giant rock so there’s not much to it except for some hills to frolic around on and stunning scenic views. Make sure you have your camera. I spent about 45 minutes wandering around and soaking in the views before I went back. And yes, you’ll have to cross the bridge once again to return back to your car.

Old Bushmills Distillery and Portrush

It’s worth mentioning that the Old Bushmills Distillery can be found along this drive. They offer 30 minute tours and tasting but for times-sake and the fact that I don’t really enjoy whiskey, I just observed the distillery from the outside. You’re only about a 10-minute drive from the town or Portrush. We stopped at this town and got an ice cream cone and coffee. We heard some live music and walked along the rocks located near the water. Portrush has a relaxing small-town feel and it’s a good place along your road trip to grab a snack or bite to eat.

Dublin

I did make a return trip to Ireland, now at the age of 30, in October 2018. My friend from Northern Ireland invited me to her wedding which was in Limavady. Since I had already seen so much of Northern Ireland on my first trip, I decided to fly into Dublin and spend a day or two in this city that I had never been to before. Through traveling, I’ve made a lot of cool connections traveling and it just so happened that one of my friends that I met on a trip to Cuba was living in downtown Dublin at the time. I was able to save money on a hotel and crash in his apartment located right along the River Liffey. I had 2 days to explore Dublin and I did my best to make the most out of my short time here.

The first thing I did was walk over to Trinity College, located in the heart of Dublin. I walked along the cobblestones of their courtyard. To me, there’s nothing like being on a college campus in the fall, especially one as historical at this college. Here, I did a Book of Kells tour. It is a self-guided tour that takes you through the old library. You will eventually get to a gallery where you’ll find the Book of Kells which is an illuminated manuscript Gospel book in Latin, containing the four Gospels of the New Testament together with various prefatory texts and tables. It's thought to be one of the oldest books remaining in the world. The book is thought to have been created in 1100AD which makes it Scotland's oldest surviving book.

Sunset on River Liffey in downtown Dublin

After this tour, I had another tour scheduled - The Dublin Free Walking Tour. However, only one other person signed up for the same time slot as me and the tour guides have a 3 person minimum. So I didn’t get my free tour from the locals so I did my own thing instead - which I’ve learned often turns out just as good anyways!

I walked to the Christ Church Cathedral and just walked around. Then, I walked to Saint Patrick's Cathedral and paid the money (about $10) to go inside and walk around. Definitely worth it to view and tour this historical church. After my church visits, it was time to hit the pubs.

There are pubs on every single corner but the one you don’t want to miss is The Temple Bar. I went to a few before the Temple Bar and I also walked along Grafton Street. Ireland does a top-notch job with their Christmas decorations and Grafton Street was quite the site to see. Now if you were paying attention, you’re probably wondering why I was observing the Christmas decorations in October. It’s because they love Christmas so much that they start decorating the streets as early as October. I love Europe in the fall and I love Europe at Christmastime so the combination of the two was absolutely magical to me. I listened to live music in the Temple Bar and danced and drank all the Guinness.

An Irish Wedding

The next morning, I made the drive from Dublin to Limavady so I could attend the wedding. The wedding started at 2pm so I thought that if I left at 7am for my approximately 3-hour drive that I would have plenty of time. That was not the case…
First of all, I had trouble finding my car. I left my rental in a city parking garage since there’s not really any on street parking in Dublin. Then I had trouble starting my car. I honestly can’t remember how I ended up starting it (well, because I didn’t actually start it - I found a construction worker who was the only person up in Dublin at 7am and he started it for me.) but it was some weird combination of turning the key first and pressing the gas second. I can’t really remember but this added an additional hour or so to my tip.

Also, renting cars in Ireland can be a bit tricky. This manual explains a lot of this in more detail. The trickiest part for me was that it’s extremely pricey for a one-way car rental in Ireland. They also charge a hefty fee if you rent it from Ireland but return it to Northern Ireland since it's basically like two separate countries. I did not want to pay the fee so I chose to drive from Dublin to Northern Ireland and then return back to Dublin. There’s also an additional fee for a GPS which I did not pay for but it probably would’ve been helpful for me. Not only was I driving through a foreign country but I was also driving on the left-side of the road trying to make it on time to a wedding using... A MAP!

So once I finally got my car started, I was ready for my drive. I drove right into Friday morning rush-hour traffic in the heart of Dublin. All I needed to do was find my way out but trying to figure out which streets were one-way (most of them) and which side was the correct side of the road was a nightmare. So it took me an additional hour just to make my way out of the city. And yes, since I was using a map to navigate my way across Ireland, I got lost a handful of times.

So I did make it to the hotel where the wedding was located at about 1:45pm… 15 minutes before the wedding. All I had to do was check-in, take a shower, put on my make-up, dress, jewelry. Sounds like a difficult task but one I have done plenty of times before. So while I’m getting ready, I log onto the wi-fi to let my friends know I made it and to save me a seat. My friend messaged me back and said, “Are you at the hotel or church?” and I said, “I’m at the hotel where the wedding is…” and she said, “No, the reception is at the hotel. The wedding is at the church which is about 20 minutes away.”

At that point, I took my time to finish getting ready and went to the hotel bar where I had myself another Guinness because there was no way I was making it to the wedding ceremony. I didn’t think anyone would notice and that the focus would be on the bride and groom, right? Well, apparently during the wedding there was a speech about how people came in from all over the world to celebrate… England, Australia, Scotland, Ireland, and even one person came all the way from the USA. Oops!

It really wasn’t a big deal though because an Irish Wedding is a 2-day celebration! During the reception, we drank and drank and drank some more. I am always impressed with just how much the Irish can drink. But you should know that if you attend an Irish wedding, it’s not an open bar. I didn’t incorporate this into my budget. Most American weddings have open bars and you just tip the bartender. When I told the bride this, she responded with, “Could you imagine if me daddy had to pay for all this drinkin’?!” She had a good point.

So we ate lots of different versions of potato dishes for dinner and a local dance company came in and had their Irish Dancers perform for us. Then we had an intermission where everyone had to clear out (we went to the hotel bar… I had an Irish Coffee because at this point, I was getting pretty tired) and they prepped the area for the dancing. We went back in about an hour later and we danced while a band played for us. Around midnight, the band started packing up. We were all drunk, shoes were off, and I was ready to crash. I thought it was wrapping up but turns out it was just another intermission. When asked where I was going, I told everyone to bed because it's over. They told me it wasn’t over and that they were just switching from the band to the DJ. We continued drinking and partying another few hours. The following day, the wedding festivities continued with a dinner and another dance party at the local pubs.

I drove back to Dublin the following morning to drop my car off. I’d love to tell you some more crazy stories about my adventures in Dublin but the 2-day Irish Wedding really did me in. I always encourage surrounding yourselves with the locals, which I did plenty of in my 3 days on this Irelad trip. So on my final day in Ireland, I had a quiet afternoon in a sports bar watching the NFL - Go Steelers!

Summary

Ireland is easy to get around and easy to love. My recommendation is to check out Northern Ireland, if you have the chance. I would also mix it up between spending some time in the major cities (like Dublin) and also giving yourself an opportunity to explore the countryside. Rent a car at least for one day and see how it feels to drive on the opposite side of the road. Keep an eye out for rainbows - they are everywhere. Check out the popular Temple Bar but also explore and find some hidden gems of pubs that aren’t overcrowded with tourists. The Corner Bar in Limavady is one of my favorites! Also, do what you can to befriend a local so that you can get invited to an authentic Irish wedding one day. And pay the extra money for the GPS.

Ireland