I've always wanted to be the kind of person who can just book a ticket somewhere and go! Ireland has always been on the list of places to go but I never had like one particular place in Ireland that I wanted to go and see while in Ireland. Recently, I had the wonderful opportunity to go to Ireland for about 24 hours. I knew that it was a very short trip but I wanted to make the most of it.
My flight was at 6:30 am and because I don't have a car, I had to take a bus at 4:30 am. The bus ride was calming and peaceful. It was nice. Once I got to the airport, I went through security, which was an absolute breeze, got to my gate, and boarded a bus. It felt weird but there was a method to the madness. The bus led us to the plane and there was a back entrance and front entrance which helped load the plane quickly and swiftly.
Honestly, I was a little worried about the airport since I had a rough experience previously but it was actually pretty smooth going. I was happy that my horrible memory of having a panic attack in the middle of an airport was erased by the thrilling experience of going through security and the gate quickly and quietly. The flight was also really quick. It was something wild like 55 minutes or something.
I got to Ireland by 7:30 am, so I had the entire day ahead of me. I walked around the airport a little because I couldn't figure out what to do or where to go. It should be mentioned that I didn't have anything planned. Not a thing. I didn't really have a list of things I wanted to do or places that I wanted to try. I just knew that I wanted to grab a Guinness and I knew where I was staying but I couldn't check in until about 3 pm. So I grabbed a bus and got to the city center of Dublin.
It was a very long ride because it was practically rush hour but I was able to get off at some random stop and walk around a little. My mission was to get a coffee. It was also very cold and sort of rainy. I was the silly person who didn't prepare well to move to England and forgot to pack a long sleeve or jacket so I was just walking around in Ireland without sleeves on my shirt. I was, still very much am, a certified mess.
So on my way to coffee, I stopped in and bought a jacket. I got coffee and I walked around and saw some very beautiful things. I did get a little overwhelmed. I think it was just a situational thing where my phone was dying, I was tired, and the train station wasn't where the map was telling me it was. Something weird about this trip was that my map couldn’t figure out where I was. It wouldn't update and so the directions that I kept getting to get to places were not right. For example, the map was telling me to walk around a building and take a long tunnel in a parking garage to get to the train. So I spent an hour just walking around this building and taking this long tunnel and guess what? That's right! No train.
So I went to a pub at 11 am and drank my Guinness and tried to find a solution and a plan. I figured that I would just walk to the next train station, which was all across the town. But I made it and I did it and I rode the train for an hour to Skerries Ireland, where my hotel was. This town is a little beach town and it was absolutely stunning. I walked the beaches, walked the length of the town, and had a lovely fish dinner next to the ocean. There was farmland on the other side with miles and miles of green land and farm animals. I instantly fell in love with the countryside.
I love Ireland. I could do without Dublin honestly. I'm not a big city girl. But the countryside is incredible. I have been told to go to Cork next so I do plan on doing that in the upcoming months. I cannot wait to go back to Ireland. Since it is so close and so cheap to fly over there.