It was a nice trip. A bit stressfull, and a lot of driving around, but overall we enjoyed the trip.
The highs/top outings during our trip were:
- Millions of stone pillars, near the ocean (giants causeway)
- Pet a sheep
- Two days living in a small pod. BBQ, hottub, rabbits, gathering wood for a fireplace (Kinelarty luxery glamping pods)
- The (very similar to a dutch) beach
- Impressive cliffs (cliffs of moher)
- A pint with a curry
The lows (for me):
- Belfast. I have to be honest, I struggled with this city, mainly because of the atmosphere created by the murals. Many of the tours focus on wall paintings about past conflicts, and the figures portrayed were involved in very violent events. Seeing them displayed so prominently, almost celebrated, and called ‘volunteers‘ felt unreal to me. In my mind, ‘volunteer‘ was being used as a synonym for people who committed acts I find deeply troubling. When I told my friends that my first step to improve the city would be to paint over all those walls, they couldn’t understand me at all.
The strange thing is that the people were incredibly friendly. It was the only place where someone shared his whole life story with me while we waited for the bus, and the only place where asking for directions led a woman to start in Welsh and then switch instantly to English when she saw my face.
Very warm people, but for me, the city itself felt heavy and depressing. - Very long rides, long times in the car. Lots of days we spend between 2 and 6 hours in the car. A lot and quite stressfull.
- Spanish timetables. Eating late, like in Spain, is not the Irish way. Finding a place to eat after 22:00 was not a nice experience, and we ended up lots of times eating fastfood or chinese.
- Last day. Stress. Wake up early, drive 3.5 hours to the airport to return the car, take a bus to the airport, check in, and take the plane. No breakfast, no lunch, only coffee, and after arriving take the bus home and walk for 15 minutes with 4 huge bags. Not the best way to end the holiday, thats for sure.
