Crash Landing in Ireland!

Our slow travel holiday to Ireland got off to a rocky start with last-minute flight cancellations, missing reservations, long layovers and delays.  Luckily for us, Ireland with its gentle beauty and kind people quickly erased the memory of our misadventures and healed our frazzled nerves...

Boarding Our Flight To Dublin

We arrived in Ireland mentally battered and bruised after a horrific travel screw-up kept us awake for 24 hours before our travels even began.  We spent hours on the phone with airline representatives trying to come up with a plan to rectify our situation.  The results of which left us flying a red-eye flight to Dublin through Manchester with a 6-hour layover, rather than Toronto-Dublin directly.  Not only did it cost our family extra money for the plane ticket from Dublin from Manchester, but it also cost us a precious 8 hours of sightseeing where we had planned to explore Ireland's ancient Boyne Valley, North of Dublin.  I was so stressed out and disappointed.  This is the part of travel I struggle with the most; being flexible.  It seems the wisdom of Ireland has much to teach me on how to "go with the flow ".  Ireland was also to teach me how to overcome my travel disappointments because I found the Irish people are the kindest people I have ever come across; always willing to talk to you about your woes and you end up rolling with laughter.  The Irish are so genuine and truly helpful when you are in need of directions, advice.... or even a stiff drink!  

Nissan Scenic; Our Sweet Irish Ride

After picking up our rental car from Dublin airport AVIS (who provided us excellent service above & beyond our expectations this trip!), we headed to Kealys Pub at the airport, where we met with our cousin Wendy for some dinner and a pint of Guinness.  With that first sip of sweet stout beer in its native land, the hearty food and the great conversation our heart rates came back down to normal again, and we could gather our bearings.  Pure magic; that ale is!  After the mini family reunion at the pub, we swooped back to the airport to pick up our friend Jennifer who was flying in from Norway to come along on our Irish road trip with us.

Family Reunion In Ireland Makes It All Better!

Round Tower Of Glendalough

Our destination for the night was Glendalough,  about 45 miles south of the Dublin airport.  We planned to stay as close as we could get to the ancient monastic city, but not spend a lot of money because we were arriving late in the evening and just primarily needed a place to lay our heads for the night.  Our choice was a family room at the HI international hostel in Glendalough.  TIP: If you are a budget traveller, or you are looking for a quick stop to just sleep for the night this place is perfect: €20 per person for a room that had two twin beds, a bunk bed and our own washroom.  Free Wifi and optional breakfast for €5 extra.   www.hihostels.com/hostels/glendalough

Race Against Time To Get Jennifer From The Dublin Airport

Again our pulses were racing because we had an hour and a half from when we picked up Jennifer at the Dublin airport to when the front desk at the Glendalough hostel closed at 10pm!  I knew we would have had a tight timeline to get to our hostel after we picked up Jennifer, so I brought our trusty Garmin GPS (nicknamed Sangeeta) from home in my carry on bag.  I programmed the coordinates for the Glendalough hostel into Sangeeta before our trip, and it said we would arrive in 1 hour, 10 minutes.   No problem we had 20 minutes to spare, right?...and GO 🏁    I am so glad now we brought Sangeeta along with us because the car NAV system was a pain in the ass to figure out and it took us a few days to get it to work properly with all the settings the previous drivers had entered into it.    

Yes, This Is A Two Lane Road!

TIP: Driving in Ireland is hard:   
                 * you are driving on the left side of the street 
                 *you are driving on narrow roads that are often ONE LANE
                 *we happened to be driving a manual transmission (left side) 
                 *Irish drivers drive REALLY fast 
                 *get all the extra insurance you can for hassle-free rental             
Plus, we had a super wide seven-seater SUV because we had 5-6 people and their luggage to transport, not so practical on tiny Irish county roads.   It also didn't help that we were all exhausted from the day of travel.  
The large motorways in Ireland were easy to navigate; wide two-lane roads in each direction with excellent signage.  But as the day turned into dusk, and we entered the Wicklow mountains, 15 miles South of Dublin, the roads became dark and VERY narrow.  Half the time our passenger side mirrors were dragging through the shrubbery lining the sides of the roads and scraping down the sides of the car to let oncoming traffic pass!  We also had to stop and pull in our side mirrors to squeeze past cars and trucks coming in the opposite direction.  I think we also bounced off a few curbs.   Again, get your extra insurance-it's worth it!

The Irish Humour Is The BEST

In the end, we made it to the Glendalough International Hostel with 5 minutes to spare!  We purchased our continental breakfast tickets for €5, so we didn't even have to think about finding food first thing in the morning because the hostel is in the countryside. Once we found our family dorm room with two single beds and a bunk bed; we put on our sheets and all four of us literally crashed into our beds that night with the window wide open to breathe in that fresh Ireland county air.  


I can't remember the last time I had slept so deeply, recharging my spirits for the adventures that lay ahead in Ireland!

Do you have any travel tales of woe?  Tell me about them and how you overcame them in the comments below...

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