If you’re a consistent reader, you know I like to keep my travel stories brutally honest. When I started planning my trip to Ireland and Northern Ireland, I was only going because my friend had just bought a house there. She is an amazing human, and we actually used to be roommates so I thought I’d pay her a visit while traipsing around the Emerald Isle drinking as much Guinness as possible. By the end of the trip, I had sworn off Guinness but was calculating how feasible it was to buy a home to retire in Belfast. I had no expectations and I left completely enamored with the natural beauty. Here’s what I did, and hopefully, you’ll fall in love with the land too.

Flights

When I’m traveling, I pick a destination and keep an eye on flight prices during the shoulder season (the months before and after peak travel time) for a few months. The shoulder season is the few weeks before and after the tourists usually visit. This means you’ll still be able to get good weather but mostly avoid the crowds. I found a round-trip flight to Dublin for $400.

The Dates and Itinerary

I picked the end of August, which wasn’t quite to the shoulder of the summer tourism season, but I’d brave the crowds for a cheap airline ticket. The plan was to land in Dublin, Ireland, and stay there for a few days, then rent a car and drive up the east side of the coast into Northern Ireland. I would stop along the way to Belfast to meet my friend and stay with her for a few days. Then I was going to drive down the west side of the coast until I got back to Dublin. Easy peasy, right? Actually, not. They drive on the left side of the road, but what could go wrong?

The Travelers

I planned the trip as a solo adventure, but then my two friends decided to tag along. The more, the merrier! This was also great because I was nervous about driving, and now I would have other people in the car to tell me when I turn the wrong way. Plus, most of my plans consisted of drinking at pubs and drinking at tours of distilleries which is tricky as a solo female traveler so this was also going to ease my travel stress.

The Trip

On our first day in Dublin, I took us to the wrong O’Neills Pub. Apparently, there are tons of places with a similar name, so I was at a bar asking for my room when actually our place was at O’Neills Guesthouse a few blocks away. This kept happening to us every time someone sent us somewhere; therefore, I suggest getting the address and exact name of the place of your accommodations. I was annoyed that I kept getting lost, but then I remembered that I wasn’t traveling alone, and getting lost was just a bit more fun when your friends are there to poke fun at you when you finally make it to the right bar. We did the free walking tour of both the south and north sides of the city and tipped the tour guide nicely after he told us which bars had the best Guinness pours. The plan was to bar hop, but by 9 pm local time, I was knocked out the first day. On the second day, we rented bicycles and did more exploring. We also toured the Jameson Distillery, which offers several tastings and a free drink at the end. From there, we headed to the Guinness Distillery for their tour, but I definitely needed to eat if I planned to keep drinking. So we headed to the second floor from the top which has a few restaurants and an incredible view. I got fish and chips, and then we started our self-guided tour which also included more tastings and a free drink. After that, we headed over to the Sky Bar on the top floor which was packed yet gorgeous. It reminded me of a greenhouse theme in which plants are everywhere. It was like a hipster’s wet dream. This time we made it to the bars in the evening but apparently, we went too late because, by 11 pm, bars were calling the last call. Our plan was to bar hop, but even if bars were still open, they wouldn’t let new customers in. The funniest part was that it started to rain steadily so after being rejected from the bar after bar, we just stood under an awning like wet cats laughing. So essentially Dublin nightlife was a bust but in all fairness, it was a Tuesday night.

The next day we picked up our car rental and after meticulously inspecting and documenting every scratch it already had, I set off driving. I got about ten minutes in before I hit the curb. I tapped out after twenty minutes and had my friend take over after we stopped to check out the Malahide Castle and Gardens. He ended up hitting the curb five minutes into the drive and I felt less bad about my driving skills. Dublin is only two hours from Belfast so we figured it would be an easy drive. However, my friend got hit hard by jet lag, so I had to take over while they passed out. This meant it was just me trying not to crash, yet with them asleep, I felt more relaxed because my friends weren’t feeling my anxiety and responded with their own anxiety. I yelled at them to wake up when we crossed into Northern Ireland, but they groggily said “yay” before they went back to sleep. I woke them up again when we safely arrived at Hillsborough castle which is actually run by the British royal family. We could see the huge difference in the pomp and circumstance of the grounds and decoration. From there, we headed to my former roommate’s home, where we caught up as we got ready for a Gaslight Anthem concert at a huge warehouse in downtown Belfast. It was a surreal experience enjoying a concert with such politely behaved people. They all stood in rows about two feet apart; no one crowded each other or rushed the stage. I was also able to walk to the very front to take a photo and people kindly ducked to make sure they weren’t in the shot. I got turned around coming back from the bathroom and a tall stranger kindly pointed out my friend to me. Definitely the best concert crowd experience ever. After we headed to the local bars, we hit up a gay bar hosting drag karaoke before bar hopping. Here, I found bar after bar packed with attractive strangers and live performers. Wednesday night in Belfast was a success.

Thursday, we got a late start but ended up visiting the Titanic museum. The ship was built in Belfast so there was this immense pride and then a deep sense of grief when the Titanic sank. The interactive museum has a slow start focusing on Belfast instead of the Titanic but once you get to the ride where you tour how the ship was built, it picks up. You also get to see the calls for help the Titanic operators sent out and that was heartbreaking. Even though you know it’s going to happen, you are still emotionally wrecked by the end of the tour. At least my friends and I were.

From there, it was another emotional rollercoaster because we signed up for a Black Cab Taxi tour. The drivers tell you about the history of “the Troubles,” which was the UK’s way of downplaying what was essentially a civil war in Northern Ireland and only recently was “resolved,” but the tension was still palpable. I can’t even offer a brief history because it’s all so convoluted, but essentially, it’s a fight between Catholics and Protestants that has been going on for hundreds of years, and the reasons why it still continues have evolved over time. I had a hard time wrapping my head around the history because I couldn’t tell the two apart. They were both groups of white people who practiced a similar form of Christianity but the history of brutal violence against one another was horrendous to hear. Our cab driver shared stories of how he survived bombings and shootings and pulled the bodies of friends and neighbors from collapsed homes as one homegrown military group targeted the other. If nothing else, take this tour to get a sense of what growing up in a warzone looks like. To this day, older generations still look down upon Catholics and Protestants “mixing,” as in dating and getting married. We ended up at the peace wall which divides the Catholic neighborhood from Protestants which we got to sign. If you do anything, you must do this tour.

The next day, we all hit the road for the nature part of our road trip. My former roommate decided to join us, which was a godsend because she drove and everyone felt much more relaxed about not crashing. Originally, I was doing this all alone, but now there were four of us and my tight itinerary had turned into suggestions. We kept stopping to look at stuff our local driver extraordinaire had heard about and it did not disappoint. We drove through little towns, stopping for coffee or Irish coffee at some of them. We also visited locations where Game of Thrones was filmed. We visited the Carrick-a-Rede Bridge which is a wooden rope bridge in a national park that is very shaky, and devastatingly beautiful to walk across and take in the views. We stayed in Londonderry, which is full of Catholics, so they actually call it Derry because they don’t like to acknowledge the London part and the fact that they are ruled by the UK. You can find dozens of monuments marking historical events like the Bloody Sunday clash between protestors and British soldiers. How it really went down depends on who you ask. Then we headed to Cong, which is this adorable little town near a river and it’s where “The Quiet Man” was filmed. I had never seen the movie, but the entire town seemed to base its tourism marketing program on the film, and I enthusiastically played along. This is also where I left my wallet which had my passport and international driver’s permit in a gift shop. Luckily the shopkeeper saw my friend walking back and came running out to have her give it to me. We crossed back south into Ireland again and ended up in Galway for the night, which is a college town and was absolutely lit. Think of those epic Halloween college parties at UC Santa Barbara that used to happen over a decade ago before it got shut down. I would have loved it in my 20s but in my 30s, it was a bit of a hot mess. So we stuck to bars that played trad music, which is the traditional stuff you hear in movies, and that had room to sit. We did cave in and head to Coyote Bar which was a knockoff of Coyote Ugly (both the American bar and movie) but had just enough dose of nostalgia for us American tourists.

The next day we were back on the road to Dublin. We stopped at a stud farm since the Irish are known for their racehorses along the way. In Dublin, our unofficial tour guide bade us farewell, and we headed to the suburbs, our last stop on this trip. Our accommodations ended up being located in an upscale neighborhood that reminded us of Brentwood. We explored the local park which felt like a forest adventure and we spent most of our time at an adult mini-zipline we found. We visited our final pub and toasted to the end of our Irish adventure.

The Food

Irish food gets a bad rep, but the meals were outstanding. Each morning we had an Irish breakfast which was a fried egg, blood pudding, ham, sausage, bread, grilled tomatoes, and some other vegetables like mushrooms. It sounded heavy, but each time we had it, the food tasted a bit different but still utterly delicious. We usually had our lunches later in the afternoon at pubs, and American bar food is hardly appetizing, but Irish pubs know a loyal customer needs a solid food base to keep drinking, and they didn’t disappoint. The seafood is fresh so I essentially ordered a variety of fried seafood throughout the trip: fish, squid, and shrimp. We had the best food in the little restaurants we found in the towns. I had the seafood chowder in one spot 10 feet from the ocean and chorizo pasta in Hillsborough. When it came to the alcohol, there was a noticeable difference in taste. The Guinness tasted fresh and light, and Jameson felt smooth, and by the end of the trip, every time I smelled it, the whiskey made my mouth water. Guinness had the opposite effect on me. I had it for two days straight and while it was good, the drink was too heavy, and I couldn’t stomach it after that. The weird thing to note is that it’s hard to find food after 8 pm in most places. I’m talking about both small towns and Dublin’s city center.

Back Home

The trip was a true journey with the group dynamic having us change plans daily, but it made every day a surprise that we knew we couldn’t have planned for. We ended up skipping about a third of the things on my itinerary, but we replaced them with adventures we would never have found on our own without my former roommate (and her mom, who kept calling to check up and recommending spots). This trip reminded me to adjust to the travel style of others and just enjoy the moment for all that it is, planned or not. When it comes to those things I missed, I know I’ll be back to visit my friend, and maybe, eventually, I’ll be calling Belfast my home.