An Irish Getaway.

This weekend I had a fun little adventure in a country I've always dreamed of going, Ireland. Not only was it a trip, it was a road trip. I've realized through my travels that a road trip being viewed in a positive way, is an American thing. It's way less fun to take a road trip when your country is an hour wide... But luckily I took this trip with four other American girls I met in Paris! So we were all ready for this grand adventure.

We rented a car from the Dublin Airport and set off for the other side of the country! Our first stop was Galway. I had never heard of this town and the only reason we stopped at all was because of that Ed Sheeran song and the girls were obsessed. So we stopped and quickly realized that it was the cutest town in the world. We popped into the Office of Tourism and found out that Galway was "crowned" the friendliest town in Europe. No really! It was an official determination with a flag and everything. Whoever decided that was in their right mind because it was an amazing town and the people were incredible. It was a college town (I think) and one of the first weekends of the spring so kids were outside sitting in the grass and eating lunch. The streets were lined with street performers playing for the tourists and locals (but mostly tourists.) I was in love with the city and never wanted to leave!

Unfortunately, we did have to leave. On to our next stop: the Cliffs of Moher. It took us quite a while to get to the cliffs because we stopped every time we saw something we liked. There were many sheep and greenery and castles that we had to stop a few times. One thing I wasn't anticipating was how difficult the drive would be to get up to the cliffs. They drive on the left side of the road, which I got used to in good time, but they also have extremely narrow roads and high speed limits. For a local I'm sure this is great but for me, a first-time-left-side-of-the-road driver, it was stressful and took way more concentration and anxiety than driving should.

Eventually, however, we arrived! It cost money to see the Cliffs even though, ya know, they're cliffs? but I might even venture to say it was worth it. There was an extensive hiking trail along the cliffs that we didn't have time to explore but I'm sure every angle of the sea was gorgeous. I'd love to go back and fully explore this territory. Absolutely breathtaking and a must-see.

Our time on this side of the country had to come to an end, dusk was coming and we had to get to our AirBnb (three hours away, on the other coast of the country.) We stopped at a grocery store for supplies and checked into the greatest AirBnb ever. The hosts were sweet and we loved listening to them speak in their adorable accents. It was located on the beach so we could hear the ocean from our room. The next morning we all decided to wake up early enough to see the sunrise over the ocean. We did wake up and go out to see the sun, but we immediately found ourselves back in bed for a few more hours of sleep. After a morning of relaxing and a day perusing the beach, we took a drive to Malhide. Ireland is known for its incessant rain but we were lucky enough to come on a weekend with endless sunshine. Malahide castle is an amazing piece of construction but what made this a really great place was the grounds around it. It's a public park where kids come to play sports and families come to enjoy a day in the sun.

After a while here, we headed to Dublin for the evening. I was traveling with four mormon girls so they didn't share my enthusiasm for the Guinness Storehouse. We made a deal that I would go to the factory while they saw Dublin. I could write a novel about how thoroughly I enjoyed the Guinness Factory but I'll keep it brief.

The first floor is dedicated to giving you a crash course on how beer is made and the history of Guinness and it's unique techniques. Next you can choose to go into a Wonka-Factory-style room where they have pillars that blow out the aromas of barley, malt, yeast, and hop (representing the flavors present in the beer) for you to smell. The room is entirely white except for the beer taps that they use to pour everyone a shot glass of Guinness. We then move onto a room that makes you want to smoke a cigar. Leather chairs, tapestries, books on the desk. There's a guide who tells you exactly how your mouth works and where all your taste buds are on your tongue and exactly how you should be drinking the beer to enjoy it properly.

The next floor is entirely dedicated to presenting how the beer has been advertised over time. This includes posters, commercials, statues, instagram posts, seriously anything you can imagine, they used it to sell this beer. Next we could go to "Guinness Academy" where experts show us how to properly pour a pint of Guinness. We went through "training" and after, we got a diploma with our names and a long awaited pint. The next floor showed us how to properly pair food with beer, which I skimmed through to be honest. It was mainly a chance to get you to buy some food. The top floor was a 360 view of Dublin from seven stories high. With my freshly-poured pint in hand, I took a seat and enjoyed the view and the company of fellow beer-lovers.

After meeting up again, we headed to the AirBnb and spent the evening on the beach. We had the opportunity to watch the sunset over the beach, which was absolutely gorgeous. We were all so energized and spent almost an hour jumping and running around taking photos and laughing about everything. It was a great trip and I only wish we could have stayed longer!