Our last full day had us leaving Galway in the late morning and heading south to (eventually) drop the car off at the airport that evening. I mapped out a route that would let us see some...
Blog posts from Ireland
Leandra’s 50th: daytrip to Inis Mór
On the morning of our trip to the Aran Isles we woke up to very gray weather. Unfortunately for us, it turned into rain as soon as we headed out to the ferry terminal so we got pretty soggy on the...
Leandra’s 50th: Galway food & drink
We didn’t have reservations for Monday night so we figured going out a bit earlier would be helpful. The lower level of The Dáil Bar was crowded but the upstairs had plenty of tables to choose from....
Leandra’s 50th: Galway sights
We spent three days in Galway and explored a little bit on each day. Many streets were closed to cars, and the main restaurant streets were packed with lots of people out walking around. One of our...
Leandra’s 50th: Keshcorran Caves & Castlerea
On the way south to Galway, we stopped at the Keshcorran Caves, parking in a decent sized lot down a very narrow lane close to the town of Keash. After a short but steep walk uphill we had great...
Leandra’s 50th: Sligo food & drink
After we got settled into our apartment, we headed out to Hargadon Bros for oysters as I knew they had 6 for 14€ on the menu. The place was full when we arrived but after I told the hostess, Amy,...
Leandra’s 50th: Sligo sites & experiences
We booked the Atlantic Sheepdogs demonstration a couple days out and we woke up to drizzle on Sunday morning that turned to full rain throughout the entire experience. Our host, Martin, was engaging...
Leandra’s 50th: Castlebar and Turlough
My inspiration for the my Guinness drinking tour of five counties was a photo taken in Castlebar 30 years ago, so we had to stop at this town! We found a spot in one of the lots but only one of the...
Leandra’s 50th: Connemara sites
High on my list of things to do on this trip was visiting Connemara National Park. I remember coming here in 1996, so it was nice to return and see the place in its full green glory (rather than in...
Leandra’s 50th: Clifden food & drink
Marconi Restaurant (Clifden) The staff couldn’t find our 7pm reservation when we arrived but that didn’t stop them from being very friendly and seating us in the Garden Room as expected. The rosé...
Leandra’s 50th: Clifden sites
On the way north to Clifden from the airport, we made a quick stop in Athenry (A-thin-RYE) to view the castle and church (now a heritage center featuring paid tours). One of the largest medieval...
Leandra’s 50th: overview, travel and where we stayed
We celebrated Eric's 50th birthday in northern Spain and I also wanted to enter into a new decade overseas. From the beginning we knew that most of Europe would be too hot and busy in August (and...
Dublin: food + drink
Toner's — Located about a ten minute walk from our hotel, this pub was listed as the best place to try Guinness in Dublin so, of course, we had to check it out. On Friday night it was absolutely jam...
Dublin: daytrip to Wicklow
I found a crazy cheap rental car deal for the weekend so on Saturday we headed south out of town for the day toward Wicklow Mountains National Park. Light rain turned to light snow and as we...
Dublin: where we stayed
For whatever reason, hotels were quite pricey for the weekend we were in Dublin and we weren't finding any good deals near the river. Leandra found a great rate on a car rental, so I expanded the...
a little more about Ireland
Eric reminded me last night that I never created a page for our Ireland trip last November. This is partially because I spent December traveling back and forth to Florida and time just got away from...
our little rental car
One of my concerns about driving in Ireland was the whole driving on the right side of the car and the left side of the road thing. What I should have been concerned with was the width of the roads...
Dingle Peninsula
Even though it rained for most of our last full day in Ireland, we still enjoyed some scenic views of the Dingle peninsula coastline, Dingle Bay and the Blasket Islands. This is nearby where Eric...
Our Itinerary
2026 Trips
Parrish, FL (Jan)
Medellin, Colombia (Feb)
Wilmington, NC (Apr)
Madrid, Spain (May)
Asturias, Spain (May)
Galicia, Spain (June)
London/Cotswolds, UK (July)
Long Island, NY (July)
Western Ireland (Aug)
Vietnam (Nov)
Laos (Nov)
Cambodia (Dec)
Singapore (Dec)
2025 Trips
Tampa Bay, FL (Jan)
Buenos Aires, Argentina (Feb)
Villa la Angostura, Argentina (Feb)
Bariloche, Argentina (Feb)
Iguazu Falls (Feb)
Miami, FL (Feb)
Richmond, VA (Mar)
Boston, MA (Apr)
Kathmandu, Nepal (May)
Bhutan (May)
Doha, Qatar (May)
Bristol + London, UK (Jul)
Long Island, NY (Jul)
Slovenia (Sep)
Treviso, Italy (Sep)
Bologna, Italy (Sep)
day trips from Bologna (Oct)
Turin, Italy (Oct)
Greensboro, NC (Nov)