Weekend in Ireland!

Friday, July 23
It was a long morning of traveling after getting only two hours of sleep. We got ready at 2:30 a.m. and then walked over to Edgware Road to catch a double-decker bus that took us up to Baker Street where we got off and waited for the EasyBus that took us to London Stansted airport. We flew Ryan Air to Dublin and then bought 3-day Dublin bus passes and took those into City Centre of Dublin. We got off the bus and were too tired to do much sightseeing but instead made our way to the hostel, Mount Eccles Court, so that we could check in and drop off our luggage. Our first impression was that Dublin was much more open and cleaner than London, but it seemed to be just another big European city. We were able to check in to the hostel (we stayed in a room with four bunk beds but the six of us were the only people in it) and we decided to take a nap so that we might be able to enjoy the rest of our day without being too tired. After our nap, we went into City Centre to grab some dinner at Madigans Drinking Emporium, which was a cute Irish pub. I had a yummy fish finger sandwich with fries. Then, we took the bus down to the Guinness Storehouse where we took a self-guided tour of the facilities. It was really neat to see how complicated and exacting the process is! The last part of the tour included pouring our own complimentary pints of Guinness and enjoying them in seats overlooking the city. When we had finished our beers we went up to the seventh floor, the Gravity Bar, which had huge glass windows and a gorgeous view for miles over all of Dublin! After taking pictures, we decided to walk around the city, especially the Temple Bar area, just to do some shopping and looking around. Temple Bar was very touristy but had some interesting street performers and open, cobblestone sidewalks and streets.
Our group got separated while shopping, so Brittany, Thao, and I made our way back to the hostel to regroup and make evening plans. We booked a bus tour for the following day into the Wicklow mountains and other surrounding areas south of Dublin and then we took the bus out to the peninsula/island to the east of Dublin, called Howth. The bus ride was about twenty minutes and we got our first glimpse of the coast, mountains, and green landscape that we had anticipated to find in Ireland. It was, of course, gorgeous! We took the bus all the way to its last stop on the summit of the island where we got off and ate at the Summit Inn restaurant. I ordered “bangers and mash” which was sausage, mashed potatoes, baked beans, and gravy since I thought it was the most original meal on the menu. It was very tasty but incredibly filling! After we finished eating we went outside to take a few pictures and to catch the bus back into the city. The ride back took us through the fishing town, Howth. Once we made it back to Dublin, we went back to the hostel to try to get a good night’s sleep before our day trip the next day.


Saturday, July 24
We got up around 8:00 a.m. to get ready for our bus tour. We walked down to the bus stop and got on our bus with Day Tours Unplugged and an adorable Irish bus driver/guide with an awesome Irish accent haha. (Brittany, Thao and I were all on the same tour and the other girls along with a group of MSU boys that were also staying in our hostel went on a different tour since ours was sold out by the time they tried to book it.) The tour was absolutely amazing!! We got to see so much of the Irish countryside and landscape and everything was picture-perfect! The bus took us on an eight-hour adventure to the Wicklow mountains, Sally Gap (where we saw the bridge in the movie P.S. I Love You!), Lough Tay, Glendalough (we got to walk around for an hour and a half on a trail through the hills and past the two lakes in the area as well as walk through the old cemetery of a monastery), and Avoca (the oldest hand-weaving town in Ireland, where we got to watch a demonstration of the weaving process). The tour gave us all the Irish landscape experience we were dying to have! When the tour was over we went back to City Centre (I ran back to the hostel to get Dave’s gift to try to ship it but it turned out to be 40 euros so I decided against it but still had to pay 3.50 for the box I didn’t use since I had already written on it). We did a little bit of souvenir shopping and then got dinner at a fish and chips fast-food type restaurant. Luckily, after dinner we ran into the other girls we were staying with so we all went back to the hostel together to relax for a little bit before we went out to a pub for a drink on our last night in Dublin. After searching around for a good pub with live music, we finally settled on Madigans again (where we had had lunch the day before) since they had a live musician and open tables. Most of us ordered pints of Bulmer’s, an Irish cider, and we enjoyed an hour or so just talking and listening to the music. It was a perfect end to our stay in Ireland! After our drinks we went back to the hostel to get some sleep before another early morning and long day of traveling back to London.


Sunday, July 25
Got up after three hours of sleep to catch a shuttle to the airport at 3:30 in the morning. We waited around for our flight, which boarded unusually late, but after that everything went smoothly and we arrived on time. Once we got back to London, we waited for the 9:00 EasyBus we had booked ahead of time, and we took that back on a very slow, long ride to Baker Street. From there, we hopped on the tube and came back to our flats. What a relief to finally be back to a familiar location after our long weekend of traveling! Back at the flats we all just decided to take naps, shower, and spend the rest of the day relaxing and working on our upcoming homework assignment. We were all due for a day of resting after having been on the go for what seems like the entire first two weeks of our trip. Ireland was a great time and I absolutely loved it there, but it’s great to be back on the familiar streets of London!