Later this week, Paul and I are excitedly off to a grand 3 week adventure to Ireland! We are super excited for this vacation!
I keep getting asked: "Why did you pick Ireland?" So I thought I would jot down the details.
As long as I can remember, I have dreamed of travelling Europe. I have college degrees in classics (greek and roman stuff), medieval Europe history, and early modern European history. So yeah, it's kinda my passion. :)
When Paul and I were dating, we would talk a bunch about all the things we wanted to do in Europe someday. We really wanted to go to Europe for our honeymoon, but we got married while we were still poor college students.
So here we are now, 11 years of marriage, and we finally have enough money saved to go to Europe. Woohoo! However, we don't have enough time and money for ALL of Europe (um...yeah, when you have multiple college degrees in European history and literature, you kinda want to see LOTS and LOTS of stuff), so we're going to explore one country at a time.
So why did we choose Ireland?
Choosing Ireland as our first European adventure happened kinda randomly. I have a passion for Europe, however, I have honestly never thought about Ireland before. I have lists and lists of places I want to see in England, Germany, Greece, Italy, France, etc., but I never read anything about Ireland before and it wasn't on my radar of interests.
1. Literature.
Then, one day, I read the book Daughter of the Forest (Sevenwaters #1) by Juliet Marillier. It was a fairytale retelling of the Six Swans, and I'm a huge fan of fairytale retellings. The book took place in medieval Ireland. And holy monkeys, the author did an amazing job making the Irish landscape sound magical. She mentioned plenty of historical places in Ireland, too, so I was suddenly for the first time ever interested in Ireland.
I told Paul about the book, and I casually mentioned that 'we should learn more about Ireland' for future Europe visits.
2. Movies and television.
Paul is super awesome and took my casual comment very seriously. It wasn't long before he found some movies and a tv series about Ireland to watch together.
First, we watched The Secret Kells. It's a beautifully illustrated film about the Book of Kells in Ireland. It's a beautiful film and it started making Paul and I even more curious about Ireland.
Next, we watched the TV series Moone Boy about an adolescent Irish boy in the 80s. It's hilarious! And it made us both eager to see the Irish countryside.
Finally, we watched one of Rick Steve's videos about Ireland. It was a GREAT way to see all the awesomeness of Ireland.
More reasons we chose Ireland...
3. They speak/write English.
By this time, we had fallen in love with the beauty and history of Ireland. Since we are very new to flying places, we talked about how we wanted to go somewhere where English was the main language, so that it would be one less thing to worry about. That was another reason we chose Ireland.
4. It's a small island.
Ireland is roughly the size of the lower peninsula of Michigan. We originally thought that seeing a small place for 3 weeks would mean that we would be able to see everything of importance. However, Ireland really is steeped in history and beauty. We have had to cross many things off of our list, which is a bummer. Who knew a small place could have so many amazing places to see?
5. It's mainly countryside.
Paul and I HATE cities. We also don't care for tourist traps, tourists, or crowds. For example, I would LOVE to visit England, however, I know it's quite urban these days, which gives me anxiety just thinking about it.
In Ireland, most of the population lives in Dublin or Belfast. We are avoiding both of those places except for airport days. So yeah, it's lots and lots of countryside and small villages and not as crazy touristy as other countries in Europe can be. You should see the directions to some of our airbnbs! They don't even have addresses and you share the road with sheep and cows. Sigh, the dream, am I right?
6. Not super tall mountains.
I LOVE mountains. That's why we live by the Appalachian mountains. Mountains give me joy. Sadly, if the mountains are too tall, I also get really really bad altitude sickness. Sigh...
Fortunately, Ireland has mountains, but they are roughly the same height as the Appalachian Mountains. Yay! The tallest mountains in the Smokies only give me a slight headache. I can deal with that!
Conclusion
Anywho, these are some of the reasons for why we're going to Ireland. We tried really hard to balance stuff between castles/cathedrals, hikes in national parks, and fishing. It should be a fun adventure, with lots of mild temps and rain! :)
Hopefully, we'll be posting our daily adventures with photos on this blog. Unless we don't have good internet. Or we're tired. Or lost.
Here's to Ireland and our adventure! <3 p="">
Next, we watched the TV series Moone Boy about an adolescent Irish boy in the 80s. It's hilarious! And it made us both eager to see the Irish countryside.
Finally, we watched one of Rick Steve's videos about Ireland. It was a GREAT way to see all the awesomeness of Ireland.
More reasons we chose Ireland...
3. They speak/write English.
By this time, we had fallen in love with the beauty and history of Ireland. Since we are very new to flying places, we talked about how we wanted to go somewhere where English was the main language, so that it would be one less thing to worry about. That was another reason we chose Ireland.
4. It's a small island.
Ireland is roughly the size of the lower peninsula of Michigan. We originally thought that seeing a small place for 3 weeks would mean that we would be able to see everything of importance. However, Ireland really is steeped in history and beauty. We have had to cross many things off of our list, which is a bummer. Who knew a small place could have so many amazing places to see?
5. It's mainly countryside.
Paul and I HATE cities. We also don't care for tourist traps, tourists, or crowds. For example, I would LOVE to visit England, however, I know it's quite urban these days, which gives me anxiety just thinking about it.
In Ireland, most of the population lives in Dublin or Belfast. We are avoiding both of those places except for airport days. So yeah, it's lots and lots of countryside and small villages and not as crazy touristy as other countries in Europe can be. You should see the directions to some of our airbnbs! They don't even have addresses and you share the road with sheep and cows. Sigh, the dream, am I right?
6. Not super tall mountains.
I LOVE mountains. That's why we live by the Appalachian mountains. Mountains give me joy. Sadly, if the mountains are too tall, I also get really really bad altitude sickness. Sigh...
Fortunately, Ireland has mountains, but they are roughly the same height as the Appalachian Mountains. Yay! The tallest mountains in the Smokies only give me a slight headache. I can deal with that!
Conclusion
Anywho, these are some of the reasons for why we're going to Ireland. We tried really hard to balance stuff between castles/cathedrals, hikes in national parks, and fishing. It should be a fun adventure, with lots of mild temps and rain! :)
Hopefully, we'll be posting our daily adventures with photos on this blog. Unless we don't have good internet. Or we're tired. Or lost.
Here's to Ireland and our adventure! <3 p="">
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