Well, we made it! After long and pretty uncomfortable flights for all four of us, we somehow managed to meet up in the customs line at Dublin Airport. Perfect timing!
Getting into Ireland was incredibly easy. Customs was a breeze, our luggage came out without a problem, and all four of us were VERY grateful to see our suitcases. We have our own clothes and don’t have to deal with lost luggage. We all know what a nightmare that can be!
After grabbing our bags, we headed to the rental car counter, where a sweet man named Paul took care of us. He filled out all the paperwork, handed over the keys, and before we knew it, we were loading everything into our little white Toyota Corolla station wagon. And yes—all of our luggage fit! First victory of the trip.
As I’m sure many of you know, the driving obviously needed to be left up to the women. 😂
Speaking of left… YES, you drive on the LEFT here, while sitting on the RIGHT side of the car. That’ll wake you up after a long overnight flight!
Kelly took the wheel first and off we went. Unfortunately, as happens quite often in Ireland, it was raining by the time we got to our first stop, Ballinastoe Woods, so we didn’t get quite the view we were hoping for. No worries. We continued on.
And that’s when we got our first REAL taste of driving in Ireland.
I can only describe some of these roads as roads made for ONE car… except apparently they’re for traffic going in BOTH directions.
If you’re sitting in the front passenger seat, remember—you’re on the left side of the car, right where we’re normally used to driving. This gives you a wonderful up-close view of the Irish countryside. And by “up-close,” I mean bushes slapping against the side of the car and stone walls within touching distance!
It definitely makes you pay attention when you’re the copilot.
The countryside, though, is absolutely beautiful. And I think we already know what the theme of this trip is going to be:
Sheep. Sheep. Sheep. Sheep.
Big ones, little ones, white ones, black-faced ones… sheep everywhere! Sprinkle in some cows, a few horses and an occasional goat, all with a backdrop of incredibly green rolling hills, and you’ve got the Irish countryside. It really is gorgeous.
By this point we were hungry and tired, so lunch was definitely in order. We stopped at a great little restaurant called The Wicklow Heather. You could tell this place had been around for a long time, and the inside was amazing. I took a few pictures because it was just one of those places you want to remember.
Lunch was delicious. John ordered fish and chips, and I’m pretty sure they gave him the entire fish! The rest of us had soup and open-faced sandwiches, and everything was great.
Then it was off to our next adventure—and this time I was at the helm.
Let me tell you, there is NO sightseeing when you’re the driver in Ireland. You need to pay attention! There were definitely a few white-knuckle moments.
And then there’s the whole kilometers-versus-miles-per-hour thing. Another adjustment. When the sign says 80, they mean 80 kilometers per hour—and apparently the people behind you would actually like you to GO 80. Meanwhile, we’re doing about 40, trying not to hit oncoming traffic on one side or a stone wall on the other!
Kelly was now in the passenger seat and got to experience that beautiful countryside up close and personal a couple of times herself. 😂
We had a couple more things we wanted to see along the way, so we plugged our next stop into the GPS and off we went.
About 45 minutes later, we realized the GPS was TAKING US BACK TO THE FIRST PLACE WE HAD ALREADY BEEN!
So much for that plan.
We turned around, backtracked and finally got ourselves headed in the right direction. By then it was getting later in the day, and we decided it was probably time to start making our way toward the house.
Now, a normal drive from Dublin Airport to where we’re staying is about 4½ hours.
We had already been traveling around for about three hours.
And we still had another 6½ hours to go.
Oops.
The boys took advantage of the drive and caught a couple of cat naps in the back seat. And yes, the boys are in the back seat—because we actually want to get where we’re going. 😂
Even though we were exhausted, the drive was worth it. We saw so much countryside and so many beautiful places along the way.
Eventually, we stopped at a local grocery store/gas station that had pretty much everything we needed—including wine and beer, which, of course, were right at the top of the grocery list.
We loaded up our little car AGAIN and headed out for the final 20-minute drive to the house.
The road leading to the cottage is… well, I’m not even going to call it a road. Let’s just call it a very small, very narrow path!
But at the end of that path was this incredibly beautiful Irish cottage. And I really shouldn’t call it little because it’s actually pretty big.
And the view?
Stunning.
We can see the water, rolling green hills and little mountains in the distance. Everything is so lush and green. It’s exactly what you picture when you think of Ireland.
We unloaded the car, dragged all our stuff inside, brought in the groceries, and then I looked outside.
We have a resident kitty!
Sweet little thing. After a quick search around the house, we noticed a bowl outside and a bag of cat food on the counter.
Okay. Now we KNOW we’re in heaven.
We checked with the homeowner, who told us she’s a neighborhood cat who is friendly—on her terms. If you’ve ever owned a cat, you know that’s pretty much standard cat behavior.
Apparently she loves head scratches.
And food even more.
I have a feeling she’ll be a welcome sight around here every day… probably more than once a day if she figures out who’s handing out the food!
After one VERY long day, we made up a couple of snack plates, poured some wine and drinks, sat back and took it all in.
Then it was off to bed for some very well-deserved sleep.
We made it to Ireland. We survived our first day of driving. We have our luggage. We have wine.
And we have a cat.
I’d say we’re off to a pretty good start.
See you down the road!
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