An Irish Road Trip: The Adventures and Mishaps of Three Girlfriends

Back in mid-October 2014 I went on an fun/stressful Irish road trip with two of my best friends from NYC -- Kate & Cece.  Fun, obviously, because I was reunited with two of the most amazing friends a girl can have.  Stressful, because driving on the left side of the road makes you tense enough, but add in winding tiny narrow country roads and let's just say it makes for some interesting memories and storytelling.  Our adventure began in Dublin (where we were blessed with two days of no driving).  Soon after arriving and settling into our hotel (Ashling Hotel Dublin) we headed over to the Guinness Storehouse to get our pour on.

Dublin

Kate showing us how it's done.

For our second day in Dublin we took a hop-on hop-off bus tour.

Dublin

Cece and me on the bus. 

This is as close as we got to St. Patrick's Cathedral.  Poor Cece.  All she wanted to see in Dublin was the cathedral, but we had bad luck.  There was a graduation ceremony going on, and we were denied entry.  

Posing by the River Liffey

Another church Cece couldn't visit -- this time a wedding was taking place.  Who would of thought it was so hard to enter a Catholic church in Ireland?

Post bus tour Guinness and water...again this trip was planned before I was pregnant, and again I was really looking forward to having some Guinness (my favorite beer) in Ireland.  Yet, I'm guessing she'll totally be worth the vacation booze sacrifices I've had to endure :).

On Day 3 of our vacation we picked up the rental car, and keys in hand began our infamous road trip.  Now, I hadn't driven in about 4 years.  Living in Manhattan and then Zürich we've had no need for a car and have just used public transport instead.  Don't get me wrong.  I can drive.  I drove a ton in Florida, but quantity does not equal quality.  To paint a picture of my driving skills for you, by the time I sold my car all but one side of it had been replaced due to accidents.  I essentially sold a new used car.  In one of my accidents, I took out the entire driver's side from bumper to bumper due to a run in with a dumpster in a parking lot.  That's right.  An inanimate non-moving object.  My spacial orientation is severely lacking to say the least.  Knowing my own limitations, I was rightly nervous about Irish driving.  I even had nightmares before we left.  I had a reoccurring dream where all of a sudden my rearview and side mirrors disappeared.  While I was frantically searching for them, I failed to pay attention to the road ahead of me and collided with a cow instantaneously killing us all, cow included.  So you could say I was just a tad anxious about the driving.  Voicing my fears to my kind friends they took pity on me and drove the first day.  Not to say they weren't nervous as well.  None of us had driven on the left side of the road before.  Everyone was tense in the car, driver and passengers, but we survived it as a team.  So somehow, through the grace of God, we made it to our first destination the Blarney Castle.

Blarney Castle

Kate getting the gift of gab.  I didn't kiss it when I was 5 and I didn't do it at 30.  Once a chicken always a chicken.

After kissing the stone and walking the gardens we headed back to the car to complete our journey to the adorable town of Kenmare.  We stayed at a fantastic airbnb called Poppyfield House.  Once we settled in, we grabbed some dinner and headed to the pub before calling it a night.

Kenmare

Poppyfield House 

Kenmare Pub 

Kenmare at night

Day 4 of our trip was dedicated to driving the gorgeous Ring of Kerry.  If you can recall, all of us were nervous about driving.  Unfortunately our fears came to fruition, and all of us encountered a driving mishap on that fateful day.  Kate's mishap happened in a tiny town called Cahersiveen...

Kate & the Parked Car

Kate had been doing a fantastic job.  She was confident, she was staying on the left side of the road, we were all feeling good with Kate at the helm.  Then it came time to park our fancy Mercedes-Benz.  She picked a spot between two parked cars, but poor Kate misjudged the space and mashed up our bumper against the other car.  The Benz, I'm sad to say, took it much worse.  While the victim car just had a small scratch, our left side front bumper was all sorts of jacked up.  On the bright side the headlight still worked.  But that's want rental car insurance is for.  Luckily we were fully covered so it was no big deal (for the record, Kate is a great driver and did an awesome job the rest of the trip).  After we grabbed some lunch I decided it was time to face the music and have my turn at the wheel.  It didn't last long...

Jen & the Panic Attack

The Ring of Kerry is known not only for its beauty, but also for its extremely narrow winding roads.  You know, the ideal reintroduction back into driving after a 4 year hiatus.  Yeah not so much.  Needless to say it didn't take long for the first signs of panic to set in when three minutes into driving, I saw a semi-truck coming towards me.  You may not know this, but when I'm panicking I start to invoke the help of mah girl the Virgin Mary.  So as this semi-truck sped past me I started to nervously recite The Hail Mary over and over again, as I severely overcompensated and pulled so far left that the passenger side was brushing against the roadside bushes.  As branches are banging against her window, Kate calmly turns to me and says, "Jen, I think you need to pull just a smidge more to your right"...Okay, okay, I can do this...Hail Mary, full of grace, Our Lord is with thee...But I'm not just thinking these words,  I'm saying them out loud.  Slightly unsettling for my helpless passengers.  For some reason I start to think it's better just to go fast so I can get this shit over with as soon as possible.  So I start to recklessly speed around bends and over one way bridges, all the while still driving against the roadside bushes.  Now Cece chimes in and again calmly says, "Jen, anytime you want to pull over it's OK, I'll drive"....Okay, okay, okay, Hail Mary, full of grace...Cue the hyperventilation.  At this point both Kate and Cece are worried for their lives as this crazy woman on the brink of a full blown panic attack is recklessly speeding along the Ring of Kerry.  Finally Cece just says, "Jen, pull over here right now."  I finally slow down enough to pull over, and immediately start to hysterically sob/laugh all while still hyperventilating with pursed lipped breathing.  Luckily my friends weren't mad.  On the contrary, they found it all quite amusing.  Oh how they laughed and laughed.  But it's OK, I was laughing too.  I am a ridiculous person after all.  So my total driving time on our Irish road trip was a whopping 10 minutes before I got permanently voted out of the driver's seat.  That has to be some sorta record.  Cece thankfully took over and all was good with her until dusk hit...

Cece & the Herd of Deer

We had wanted to avoid driving the Ring of Kerry at night, but we had no such luck.  On our way home dusk hit and along with it came the deer.  Unfortunately, Cece's one fear was hitting or getting hit by a deer.  So after we passed a wildlife refuge she began to worry.  Trying to give her false reassurance I told her, "Don't worry Cece.  The deer can't jump over the gates.  They won't be on the roads".

Dozens of deer in the wildlife refuge

As darkness fell the rain began.  The Ring of Kerry is hard enough to drive in daylight, yet add in rain and complete darkness on those unlit country roads and the stress goes up a notch.   So as the tension builds, we are all on the look out for those glowing eyes.  Just then a herd of deer came prancing out onto the road and decided to cross right in front of us.  Cece who was driving very cautiously was able to slam her brakes and prevent disaster.  She pulled over, had a little cry, we all said a little prayer (a lot more religion on this trip than I thought there'd be), and Kate took over the rest of the way.  Finally we arrived at Kenmare and headed straight for the pub to help ease the stress of the day. 

Despite the driving mishpas, we did enjoy the Ring of Kerry that day.  Here are some of the pics from the scenic drive...

Ring of Kerry

On Day 5 of the trip we headed out to the village of Bunratty.  Along the way we hit up bits of the Ring of Kerry that we couldn't see the day before due to driving in the dark.

Ring of Kerry:  Take 2

\

Ladies View

Torc Waterfall

While in Bunratty we stayed at Bunratty Villa B&B.  The owner was a sweet older lady who served us tea and cupcakes upon arrival.  So adorable.  That night we attended a medieval banquet at Bunratty Castle.  Which was obviously on the super touristy side, but we had fun anyways.  Afterwards we had some drinks and laughs at the original Durty Nelly's.

Bunratty

Bunratty Castle

Medieval Banquet

Durty Nelly's

We ordered 2 Guinness and a glass of water...this is what we got.

Day 6 of our vacation was the last.  We drove back to Dublin to fly home the next day, and on the way stopped at the Cliffs of Moher.  A great end to a great trip!  Can't wait for the next adventure with these two.

Cliffs of Moher

It was windy