European Vacation (Part I)

Ireland.

Our trip to Europe didn't start out as smoothly as we had hoped.  We flew Aer Lingus (which overall, I enjoyed but it still had some issues).  We were delayed out of Chicago.  Lola fell asleep in the airport (which was cool....until we had to carry her like that all the way onto the plane).  Billy left his iPad on the plane we took out of Louisville...which ended up taking a trip to Minnesota, where someone contacted us weeks later and then mailed it back to us.  YAY! So there was that.  ;)  Anyway, I digress.  Because of the delayed flight, we got off to a late start in Ireland.

We landed in Dublin, had a bit of a snafu in the airport when an elderly lady fell down the escalator (a few steps, not like the WHOLE escalator) into Billy's lap.  Because she was hurt, nobody would let Billy leave until medical personnel arrived.  This delayed our start even longer.  I'm telling you, we have some crazy stories.  Writing about them now is bringing back so many memories!

Here's what is cool about our trip to Ireland.  I met a gal through mutual friends WAY back when Myspace was THE thing.  She was always so funny and we had a lot in common.  We became friends.  We even switched over to Facebook and became even better friends.  She lives in Cork, Ireland.  I was so excited that I would finally be able to meet her in person.  We rented our car and drove to Blarney Castle to meet her.  Blarney Castle?  Well, it's so cool.  Kissing the Blarney Stone....not so much.  I was in line to do so but totally chickened out and let Billy do the honors. HA!

We finished our castle tour and went to a lovely dinner with my friend and then we hit the road to Dublin to stay in our hotel for the night.  We were soooooo tired because we didn't really sleep on the plane.  We ended up having to pull off the road to take a little nap. We eventually made it back to Dublin for a short rest before getting up early to head to Germany.  Oh.....the trip gets better with that story.  It's yet to come!

In summation, Ireland is beautiful. Go if you can.  Aer Lingus, while using an older (seemingly run-down) plane on the way there, was a pretty good airline. In fact, we are probably using them again in the fall.  Blarney Castle?  AWESOME.  The stairs up to the top are windy and narrow and kinda scary.  But it's worth it.  And kiss that Blarney Stone!!!  I wish I did (stinking regrets....hate living with them).  I needed some luck of the Irish then (I still need it now....)! We spent a little more time in Dublin before we came home so I will talk more about that later.  But we had such a wonderful time, Ireland is magical, and meeting my friend was the BEST.  I love her dearly! :)

So who has been to Ireland?  Anyone?  Anyone planning to go?  Please tell me!!!