Traveloteacher

Here are the reasons why we, a decent, law abiding family of four, decided to sleep at Dublin Airport. The first Lufthansa flight from Dublin was scheduled very early in the morning, with the check in starting at 5. This meant we had to get up at 4. The four of us exceeded the capacity of the rooms in most of the hotels in the airport area (children stop being children at the age of twelve in European hotels!) so we were supposed to book two rooms at a price that definitely exceeded the money we were willing to spend for such a short stay. There might be other people sleeping at the airport so we won't be standing out. If we get arrested, we'll sheepishly apologise and promise not to do that ever again, after which they might let us go find a room, well, two rooms in the nearest hotel. But it turned out to be an awesome experience, which we shared with people of all ages from different parts of the world. We ended up at a Starbucks on the third floor, where there are large armc...

Dia duit! The weather on our trip was unbelievably good for April. Every single day it was sunny with occasional showers. That is, until we arrived in Dublin. Actually the first evening was fine, but the rain that started in the morning didn't stop for three days and it was cold and windy and grey all the time. The city itself is bigger than I imagined, or read about it. It is compact and easily walkable, but not when it's raining incessantly. What impressed me most was the striking Memorial to the Great Irish Famine, a poignant testament to one of the greatest tragedies in the history of Ireland. The Trinity College Library is also very impressive with its rare books and manuscript collections. It brought to mind my visit to St. Gallen, Switzerland, where there is an equally beautiful, although much smaller library, where we were made to put some huge slippers on our shoes. As a sensible shopaholic ( can these two words even go together?) I can't but mention Grafton Street...

Yes, it's a beer, and a very good one, indeed. But it's also a charming medieval city, and although I spent only a couple of hours there, I think it's the nicest city in Ireland. It's small, it's walkable, with beautiful well-preserved buildings and a splendid castle overlooking the River Nore. The streets, called slips, are narrow, which, come to think of it, reminds me of little towns on the Adriatic coast and its islands. Butter Slip, one of the smallest in the city, is named after the butter stalls that lined this alley. Kilkenny was named after a 6th century monk St Canice. Kil or kill means church in Irish. For those interested in learning Irish , Dia duit means hello.

At first we thought we can easily squeeze both in our tight itinerary, especially since the Lakes are part of the Ring of Kerry, and then drive to Cork, see the sights and on to Waterford for the night. It turned out that such a schedule was absolutely impossible, so we put the Ring on our next time list. The Ring is about 200 km long, and one day is hardly enough to see its amazing beauty. The upper part, the Lakes of Killarney, is also part of the Killarney National Park. Its most famous spots are the Muckross House and the Abbey, The Torc Waterfall and the Ladies View, or to be sincere, these were the ones we saw. Now if I had to decide which of these was the most beautiful, I'd say it's the Muckross House with its lush gardens. The coolest, though, was at the Ladies View, because it was there of all the places we visited in both Northern Ireland and the Republic, that we saw this world-famous leprechaun signpost . Speaking of leprechauns, you know what you should never do ...

Having the craic was a must, or actually, to find out what this strange word really means. So it was in Killarney, a touristy town in the south, that we went on a pub crawl. So to speak. The problem was that we had our two kids in tow. Under 18's are absolutely not allowed in pubs. It wasn't a big deal for my older son who was only four months shy of his 18th birthday, but the younger, who's 14, just couldn't pass as a grown-up. And we simply didn't want to leave him alone in the hotel room. No one wanted to babysit him. We all wanted to have the craic. So we put a baseball cap on his head, and told him not to look people in the eye. OMG; as I'm writing this, I'm thinking what despicable, lousy parents we are!!!! So if anyone, anywhere is reading this, please leave a comment, and tell me what we did was just what all the other parents would do in this situation. Or tell me we should be sued. In which case I'll delete this entry. Anyway, we did it, our c...

I didn't know a lot about the Cliffs of Moher before the trip. It definitely was a must see, but I didn't expect much, as there are so many amazing cliffs on the islands of the Adriatic. But I wasn't prepared for what I saw. The Cliffs of Moher are spectacular, to say the least. As you climb the first cliff from the visitor center, you feel safe as there's a concrete fence to keep you from falling into the foamy sea, but once you have disregarded the polite request to not go any further, you unexpectedly realize that you suffer from the fear of heights. All of a sudden you don't dare to look down any more, so you try to walk far from the edge by letting the tourists who're already going back take the precarious seaward side of the precipice. There's something that forces you to go beyond and to face your fear, so you go on until it's only you and the waves crashing against the rocks, the sea gulls shrieking in the distance and the wind roaring. Except th...

Upon saying our goodbyes to the owner and his missus and after patting their cute little springer spaniels, we left Moycullen and headed for Galway, one of the five European Rising Stars, according to Fodor's . It was a warm and sunny day, one of those lazy Sundays, when everything seems to be in slow motion, with no hurry and no rush. The exact opposite of what we're used to. Given the circumstances, who wouldn't like Galway, with its old historical center and quirky little shops, situated where the River Corrib meets the sea. It's called the cultural capital of Ireland, but since we were there in the morning only, we didn't get to feel the other, more vibrant side of the city, neither did we learn what mighty craic really means. Well, not yet, and not there. I can't leave Galway without mentioning The Claddagh Ring . The Claddagh is a fishermen's village and the Ring is absolutely stunning. Its design features two hands holding a heart with a crown upon i...

Connemara is one of the most beautiful regions in Ireland. It's in the west of the country, one of the very popular spots for hiking, cycling and horse riding. As you might have guessed, we didn't have time to visit the National Park and we didn't see the famous ponies. We were just driving around for a while with a short stop in the little town of Clifden. Since our five weary travelers, who hadn't slept a wink for the previous 48 hours or so, were eager to hit the sack as soon as possible, we made it an early night. When traveling, we're early birds, always leaving hotel rooms as early as possible, so it was no wonder we wanted to have breakfast at 8. However, this was impossible here at Portara. Breakfast was served when the hostess said, at 8:30 with no changes possible. We didn't mind because half an hour made absolutely no difference, but on the other hand, doesn't it seem a bit strange that you can't have it your way at a place where you're a ...

Not in my wildest dreams would I be able to imagine what an ordeal was awaiting us on this trip to Ireland. Still, I'd go through it again since everything turned out fine in the end. We all came back home safe and sound, and that's what matters. When the lady at the Lufthansa counter for the flight to Dublin said that there was absolutely no chance to board the morning flight, I wasn't disappointed at all, since I knew there were two more flights that day. After four hours, a feeling of uneasiness rose within me as we were told there were only six available seats and 11 people on the waiting list before us! In the end, we managed to get two seats, so again, it was quickly decided that Dominik and I were going to Dublin. Again, a quick and crazy exchange of passports, tickets, hotel reservations, cell phone chargers, suitcases, sterlings and euros. And yet again, I wasn't prepared for the split up, I still blame myself for not having a spare bag with the bare essentials...