Guest Post 1: Ireland in the Eyes of Emily

July 13-21, 2012

As soon as I heard Bradley was heading to Ireland for the summer, I knew I had to take the opportunity to go visit!  Never being out of the country, I had to go through the process to get a passport.  This should normally be a painless process, but coming from a line of procrastinators, I waited until the last minute.  And lucky for me, the passport agency had mistaken me for a diplomat, so I was able to get my passport, after a very stressful trip to D.C., in about two hours.

Our journey to Ireland involved almost all types of transportation, and once there we continued using all of the different modes available! 

Favorite part of the Jameson Tour!
Picking Jack Daniels as #1!

Arriving in Ireland with about an hour of sleep in 24 hours was probably not the best idea, and landing that first day and exploring the city are still a blur to this day.  Even looking back through pictures, I am not quite sure what happened, but the rest of the trip I am sure I will never forget!

Dublin is much like any other large city, bustling people and streets, lots of sounds and smells, and visually stimulating.  However, it is definitely a stop that I wouldn’t have missed!  We were able to squeeze in all of the major sights in a day through a hop-on/hop-off bus tour!

Me and Bradley at the Cliffs of Moher!

We took a train across Ireland to Galway and the countryside is like a picture from a book or movie.  There were green pastures spotted with black and white sheep the entire three-hour trip across the country. 

Galway was my favorite place by far, the people were so kind and it was almost like a storybook town.  The streets were cobblestone and lined with colorful buildings.  We stayed here for the rest of the week in a cute little boutique hotel. 

Buses were our main mode of transportation for the week and being prone to motion sickness, I had some difficulty seeing the sights while we were driving.  But we made plenty of stops along the way for me to soak it all in.  Ireland is a gorgeous country, from the Cliffs of Moher, to the Burren, and Aran Islands.  There is so much to see, do, eat, and experience.  We squeezed in a week what Bradley and his group spent doing over a month!  But we left with a great experience and some wonderful memories.

Looking back on our trip, it is hard to pick just one thing that was my favorite part.  I would say experiencing a different culture and meeting people from all over the world was my favorite part by far, and that is something that I will always remember.