Beautiful Beautiful Ireland...

Tonight is my last night in Ireland and I am missing it already. This trip has been so wonderful for me. My CouchSurfing host was just awesome and he made Ireland such a treat for me. Kevin planned out a full week on the road tenting Ireland, he took care of all our gear, picked out some touristy spots and added in many favourite places of his own. When I first decided to visit Ireland I did not envision this would be the way I would see it but I cant think of any better way now.

Soooo, Ireland. Holy man it is crazy beautiful here. We were able to drive so much of the Southern and Western areas of the Country and it was crazy gorgeous. The green, the mountains, hills, sheep, stone fences, cliffs, the coast; it was all very close to how I envisioned it (minus the palm trees and surf beaches) and it really did take my breath away. Im not exactly the most vocal person about some things, especially when I am in awe I just like to be in my own mind soaking in all that is around me. Im sure Kevin wondered what the heck I thought of his home many times but it was just so hard to talk about. You can only say “its beautiful”, “wow” or “I love it” so many times before it just becomes redundant. The fact was it was too pretty for me to put words too. I love Ireland.

During this trip we spent most of our time in the South West part of the country. We drove for quite a few hours every day visiting many small towns and villages along the way. The three Counties we visited were Cork, Kerry, and Clare. The regions within those that we saw were Beara Peninsula, Lakes of Killarney, Ring of Kerry, Dingle Peninsula, and The Burren. Some of the great places we were able to stop and see along the way were Cliffs of Moher (absolutely stunning), some beehive huts, Priest Leap, some gorgeous lakes, Aries (the most remote village in Ireland), Healey Pass, Gap of Dunlow, a huge ring fort, castles (including the Blarney Stone Castle which I did indeed kiss), Dunbeg, Slea Head (the most Westerly point in Ireland), Dunquin Beach, of course some Cathedrals, Lihinch, Ailwee Caves, Poulnabrone Dolmen (the most photographed site in Ireland), and we even stopped into a pub in Doolin to see a traditional music session (which I really loved). The list could go on and on really. Needless to say we did lots of fun things and visited some great places along the way. Ahhh I have loved this trip and everywhere I have visited!

Tenting around was lots of fun. We headed out and found our own places (rather than camp sites) and especially during the first few nights we had gorgeous spots around the coast where we were completely secluded and left with only the beautiful land; I loved it, it was peace at its finest. We had one really bad night where there was a bit of a wind/rain storm and I woke up eating the top of the tent, im pretty sure Kevin still hates me for sleeping perfectly through the night when he was awake for nearly the whole evening. Our last few nights we didn’t set up shop till really late so we ended up camping out in farmer fields. Those were interesting nights surrounded by cow patties and slugs, and having the farmers wake us up wayyy too early telling us to move along. Anyway, the whole tenting bit was definitely the way to go; we had so much fun and made lots of memories with our night time cookouts and laughing our way to sleep.

I would like to think it is the norm but Im betting I got very lucky with my CS host. Him and I had such an awesome week together, we were able to see so many places and experience so much of Ireland. The two of us are very similar in many ways which was really great; we are both fairly mellow with a really nonchalant attitude about what we were going to do or where we were going to go next, he made for a great travel partner. I spent every waking minute with the guy and didn’t even hate him near the end, for those of you who know me and men that kinda speaks volumes. But yes the two of us shared many many laughs and lots of life stories. I am grateful he came into my world at this time and Im glad we were able to teach each other quite a bit over this short time (oh how I love learning). Anyway, I will definitely miss Ireland when I leave but I will also miss Kevin a lot and having such a great friend around all the time. Thank (tank) you a million times over Kevin for all you did for me during this trip, you really did make it special and I appreciate you so much. When I am lost in life I will look for my own red and white poles to guide me, I hope you do the same and I hope they don’t turn yellow or blue along your journey.

Its not just Kevin though (although I do think he is bizarrely nice) but the people here are lovely in general. The men here are such gentlemen (im actually pretty sure when I decide to get married ill be moving to this neck of the woods to find me an Irish man). Every time I walked down the street and there was a man walking towards me he would move out of the way and say “mind the lady”, and each and every time that would happen I would giggle to myself feeling so spoiled and special. Its funny but you forget at home that that is once the way men treated women, it feels so good. I cant get started on the whole Irish men bit but I will say I love them, I felt like a lady the whole time I was here and only met the most respectable men, it was great. I loved the random conversations too, people just wanted to chat to you about nothing forever, it made for a slower way of life and I really fell in love with that especially near the end. The towns here are adorable, the streets are lined with colourful stores that are hundreds of years old; they still shut down on Sundays and they still welcome you with a smile and a hello each and every time you walk in, ah its lovely. Aside from the terribly weak coffee I did not have any complains about Ireland, it is a wonderful place in this world with some of the most beautiful and diverse landscapes. I am so grateful that I was able to visit here and make many many beautiful memories from this journey. Goodbye Ireland you will be dearly missed!