ireland – Bivy Life

This trip was a little different for me in a few ways. First, I was with a group of people including my girlfriend’s family. Second, it was a tour. I dont usually do the regular tour thing when I travel. I enjoy meeting locals and having them tell me where to go, but I have to say I was presently surprised by this trip. We went with a company called Driftwood. They do tours with groups of 15 or less people and go to places that are off the beaten path. The drivers are all locals who have been well trained in the history of Ireland and can give you a good feel for what Ireland really is like. We had two drivers on the trip and the first one was a police officer from Dublin. He explained everything from the education system to why there are so many castles in Ireland (btw, there are more than 30,000 of them). If this is starting to sound like an infomercial for Driftwood, then I’m sorry. But it is rare for me to find a tour company that I actually have good things to say about. Continue reading “Luck of the Irish – Southern Ireland” →

Recently I was able to spend a week in the beautiful western part of Ireland. Western Ireland can best be described as a combination of the greenest back country roads you’ve ever seen. But before I get to that let’s start at the beginning of my trip. I landed in Dublin which is the largest city in Ireland (1.8 million people). Ireland itself is a small island. The entire thing could basically fit over Indiana and it only has 4.6 million people. If you know anything about Ireland’s history you’ve probably heard of the famine and castles. Turns out that much of Ireland’s history is incredibly sad, but we’ll get to that later. Continue reading “Luck of the Irish – Dublin” →