Ireland Trip

Who would've ever thought we would travel to Ireland with a three year old and an almost one year old? Not this lady. What a neat opportunity this is to see parts of the world we probably wouldn't otherwise, or at least wouldn't see for a really long time. The flight from London to Dublin is like a Southwest flight from Dallas to San Antonio, about 50 minutes. This was a perfect intro into European travel since our other trips will be longer transit times. But the boys did wonderfully on the flights, and were awake both going and coming. Overall they were amazing travelers the entire trip.

We arrived in Dublin Friday morning and rented a car. After about an hour of trying to put in two car seats, we took off for our first destination, The Rock of Cashel. Sidenote: I had tried to plan our trip to have no more than 1 ½ hour blocks in the car, and also for these to coincide with nap times. It worked for the most part, although we learned that Nate is NOT happy in the car unless he is sleeping. Thankfully Ireland is very easy to navigate by car. Most destinations aren't too far from each other.The entire country is only something like150 miles wide. So, back to Cashel...

Cashel is a small town with a really neat castle and cathedral as its main draw. They were very interesting, but the most amazing part to me was the view. It sits atop a hill so you get a great view of the Irish countryside. Ireland is really, really beautiful. It helped we happened to be there on some of the nicest days of the year (we were told this by several Irish folks). We would highly recommend Cashel as a destination if you find yourself on the Emerald Isle.

Next we drove down to Kinsale which is a coastal town in the southern part of the country. And if we thought Cashel was beautiful, the place we stayed in Kinsale as well as the city itself was off the charts. Our stay here for two nights at a B&B was the highlight of our short trip. This is the view we had from where we stayed.

Our host and accommodations were both great. We all slept in the same room which was interesting, but there was a living room to hang out in and the lady turned cartoons on for the boys each morning while she made us yummy breakfasts. Unless you are an adventurous eater, don't eat the black sausage that is served with the traditional Irish breakfast. It is made with pig's blood. EW. There were chickens that ran around in the yard, baby kittens, and teenage girls, all of which provided entertainment for Andrew and Nate. We spent time in the town checking out cute shops, looking at the boats in the harbor, riding rides in a carnival type thing they had set up, and had a nice dinner outside listening to a band play. We just loved Kinsale.

Next stop was headed back up north to Kilkenny to see Kilkenny Castle. Time actually spent inside the castle was about 15 minutes. Not too exciting to a three year old to look at artwork and historic artifacts. But the grounds around the castle were gorgeous and we took advantage of the nice weather by having a picnic lunch, some ice cream, and let the kids play on the playground for a while. Then we headed to our B&B in town to wind down as we were all a bit worn out by this point. This B&B was also nice, just a different experience from the one we had just left by the water.

The next morning after our breakfast we made a pit stop back at the castle playground to get the kiddos a bit of fresh air before a long day of travel. Then it was off to the Dublin airport. Trip #1 down and enjoyed, and several more to come.

Funny moments of the trip:

Listening to NPR-type Irish radio and Andrew asks "Is that God talking?". Apparently he thinks God talks like an Irishman.

Playing on some rocks at the harbor in Kinsale. Andrew starts giving us all roles to play: "Mommy, you be the bird. Daddy, you be the monkey and you fall off the rock". After being confused for a few minutes, we comply and then realize that he's acting out Angry Birds. This provided entertainment for all of us for a good 30 minutes. Maybe we need to cut back on his Ipad time...

Return trip at the airport in Dublin. The lady tells us we cannot take our carry on on the plane, it is too big. It was NO problem on the way there. Serg almost gives up but then threatens to take the stuff out and strap it to his body (shout out to Uncle Mike!), and proceeds to shove the carry on into the little box they provide and start stomping it with his foot to make it fit. He is wearing Nate in the Baby Bjorn through all this. After a while the lady gives in and says, "sir, just go ahead with the bag, just go." That's my man!

Having to pay our B&B host in Kinsale 15 extra Euros because Andrew peed all over the sheets and comforter. We think he was cold because he hardly ever has accidents normally and had one both nights while we were here.

The great train adventure from Heathrow to our flat on the return side of our trip. Serg had promised Andrew we would take a train home from the airport since we had to take a taxi on the way there. As I've said, this kid is big on trains. We didn't think this through and it took us a good TWO HOURS to get home. Picture rush hour on the tube, two train switches, all while lugging two children, two rolling carryons, a pack and play, multiple backpacks, a stroller that was acting up, and dealing with stairs, escalators, and lifts. It was the most ridiculous thing we have ever done, and we had to laugh about it so we didn't cry.

Cheers to international travel with small children. Talk about crazy!

Here's a neat map of Ireland. One place we wished we had time for was the Dingle Peninsula area. We had heard from several people it was definitely a place to go, but for our short trip just didn't seem feasible. Maybe next time! :)