Welp 5 days turned into 13 days in Ireland after a first time ever event. Thats right...I missed my flight. Funny story really...ok its not. I was under the impression that my flight was for 1 in the afternoon and not 1 in the morning. I mean I had no reason to think that I would actually book a flight that left at 1 in the morning unless I was going a very long distance. So to my surprise/disgust I realized my error after my cousin and uncle dropped me off.
Luck was definitely on my side for this one....or maybe I just cashed in on some good karma, but there was only 1 phone I could call in order to try and get a hold of someone in my family to let them know of my botched attempt to fly home. That person was my cousin, but she didnt have the phone. Turns out she left it with her mom who happened to be sitting next to my mom at the hotel. So after explaining the situation it was decided that I would just stay for the rest of the trip they planned out.
So I took a cab back to the hotel and the adventure began....errrr resumed.
Prior to the bulk of my relatives arriving, I spent a few days with my cousin. We went and say the Airtricity All-stars take on Manchester United at the grand opening of Aviva stadium in Dublin. The game wasnt much to watch (7-1 blowout by Man-U) butI did take joy in watching Wayne Rooney do absolutely nothing on the field except miss wide open opportunities and cry a whole lot.
During the days really I didnt do much other than hang out in the parks and read my newly acquired Douglas Adams book entitled The Restaurant at the End of the Universe. I figured I d save some sight seeing for when my family arrived since I had a couple days to spend with them.
In Dublin I walked a large chunk of the city and also made a visit to the Guinness Storehouse. I enjoyed watching my mom try to drink her first Guinness ever but ended up saving her after she was close to halfway done. My uncles and I pretty much drank the bulk of the free beer since the women really couldnt stomach it. Also during the stay in Dublin I got to play a traditional links golf course situated in Portmarnock. It was about 20 mins outside the city and situated right on the coast. It was such a nice course and a ton of fun to play. Dublin also had its fair share of pubs. One night we stumbled on a gem of a place and were able to get a table that had its own Carlsberg and Guinness beer taps. It was nice to avoid standing at the bar and I showed off my perfect pint pouring skills.
Now jump ahead to after I missed my flight. That day we headed down to Waterford to see the crystal factory. It was pretty interesting to see how they make the different things, but I still think it is really overrated. People who buy things there tend to have more money than sense.
From there we headed down to Cork where we stayed the night at a really nice hotel situated on a small river. It was the only day I got to use a gym. After only 1 night there we took of to see the Blarney Castle. It was a very cool place with tons to see....too much really. The main attraction was of course the blarney stone itself. Kissing the stone is supposed to give the gift of eloquence. I m still not feeling anything. After touring around the grounds we grabbed some food and headed to Killarney. We arrived there in the evening so just spent some time in a pub. The next day we woke up early and did the Ring of Kerry. Its a huge loop with tons of ruins and scenic areas to stop. That took us around 12 hours or more and was pretty incredible. Lots of cliffs and bays and mountains and rocks, etc. The whole area was pretty much like anything I ve ever seen. After we figured we probably would have rather taken 2 days to do it because there is so much.
The next day we go another early start and headed up to the Moher Cliffs. They are currently finalists for the New 7 Wonders of Nature. They were pretty awesome. Ridiculously high off the water but worth seeing nonetheless. From there we drove around and stopped at random ruins that we came across on our way to Galway.
Galway was where we spent the most time. The first full day there my uncles and I golfed at a place that was literally in the middle of nowhere. It was a fun parkland style golf course that was relatively new. It provided a good challenge and was quite the entertaining day...as is everyday hanging with my uncles. Later in the afternoon we met with the women and grabbed some dinner at an old castle that was turned into a pub.
The next day we took a tour of the Aran Islands. On the Islands are some old forts and other ruins. Also they say that there is enough stone on the islands to build a road to the US. There are hundreds if not hundreds of thousands of rock walls. The walls have been there for many generations. Its also one of the designated areas where they speak Irish (Gaelic) as the first language. All in all a pretty cool tour.
The next morning we got an early start and headed to Cavan for our stay at the Cabra Castle. After lunch almost everyone played golf on the castle grounds course. My 2 cousins when horse back riding and then in the evening we had a fancy dinner in the Castle restaurant. Later that night we had a room party since there was a wedding going on...that we temporarily crashed but it was too lame. So we went back to the room and my uncle set up a bar with all the alcohol he purchased from the store up the road.
The next day we got up and played another round of golf and then headed back to Dublin to the Airport Radisson. Not much happened from there as everyone was pretty tired from the trip. My cousin was also becoming quite sick. Her along with her mom and dad missed their flight back to the US because she had to go to the hospital. Still havent found out what was wrong but I m hoping she is ok and its nothing serious.
So everything really worked out well. I m back in Copenhagen with that empty feeling that comes with ending a vacation and leaving the ones I love. Its back to the tedious grind of job searching. I hate unemployment with a passion.
