Ireland, the emerald isle: land of leprechauns, guinness, potatoes, jameson, and…hurricanes, apparently. What was formerly hurricane Lorenzo has become a strong tropical depression and had made its way up to Ireland and the UK. It was forecast to make landfall in Ireland approximately 9 hours before our scheduled arrival. Great.
Secretly I was hoping we would get diverted to Iceland so I could buy some more lakkris, but that would end up delaying the Game of Thrones portion of our trip in Northern Ireland….so maybe that would be bad (but the lakkris…).
Ok, so that didn’t happen (probably for the best) – but it was quite bumpy the final two hours of the fight as we approached Ireland. That meant I couldn’t pee for the last two hours of the fight, which was the worst for my tiny, shaken bladder.
We arrived an hour early (thanks, Lorenzo, I guess…?), but had to wait an hour for our gate, so….no gain, really.
Dublin’s terminal two is tiny and clean – we had no wait going through passport control, and we didn’t have to shuttle anywhere to get to our sweet rental car.
This is the most amazing car we have ever rented for a trip. We learned from our past failures – five adults in an SUV for a car-focused trip is just awful. We have an amazing van, dubbed the “seven seater people mover” by a local rental website.
I am STOKED to drive this giant vehicle on the left-hand side, down narrow Irish roads and without a backup cam, while running on 0 sleep. This will definitely end well.
We picked up our other companions arriving on a later flight and piled into our seven seater people mover for our 2 hour journey to Northern Ireland. Lorenzo was clearing out and the rain was intermittently strong and splashy. Because we’re on the left, the wipers and indicator are swapped. It is the way of my people to always use the wrong one whenever I drive on the left. I focused very hard on keeping left and using my signal appropriately instead of changing my automatic wiper setting and was largely successful.
I didn’t look up road signs before I left, I just assumed we’d be following other cars for the most part. Not so true on the smaller roads! Speed limits are posted almost nowhere – you have to know the meaning of the white sign with the black line through it, which means “follow the national speed limit.” (and not “Dab here”). National speed limit – right. Whatever that means. I guess I’ll just drive the speed that doesn’t turn the speed indicator in Waze red.
It changes from kilometers to miles when you cross the border into the UK, and the people mover definitely only has kilometers on its speedometer. Kilometers aren’t real to me so this is extra-exciting as I try to not speed.
All of these Irish roads are zig-zaggy, and I am very tired, so I am pretty sure I’m driving our giant van very much under the speed limit. We went down one narrow road that was basically 1.5 lanes wide which waze deemed a “shorter route” – I think it meant maybe a shorter route off the mortal coil.
I have a tendency to hug the left-hand side of the road on the first few days of opposite-side driving, meaning my navigator is on the lookout until I learn to properly use all the mirrors. I only ran over the curb one time. Going about 30. As you do. In my defense, it comes and goes seemingly randomly. Europe was not made for cars.
We finally arrived in our first destination, Strangford, in Northern Ireland. We’re staying at the Cuan (pronounced closer to “Coon” I guess), which is where many of the Game of Thrones cast stayed when they were filming scenes at Winterfell castle nearby. The couple who run it are warm and hospitable and are very proud of the association with the show.
We wandered around in the chilly wind until our rooms were ready. There’s a ferry that docks here and a few old ruins sprinkled in between the modern houses.
The tall tower in the town is the remain of Strangford Castle. It had a neat tiny door. We couldn’t go inside…it lacked a doorknob, and was indeed locked.
More importantly, we found an ATM that will give us pounds inside of a little convenience store. The ATM was an artifact from ancient times – it used dial-up to complete our transactions and took approximately 15 years to dispense our cash. Amazing.
After a sweet, sweet nap, we headed down to our Game of Thrones banquet feast, where the proprietor of the inn served us a wonderful feast based off the feast at Winterfell in the first season. They have cloaks and prop swords and everything is served on a stone slate so it’s closer to authentically medieval.
The feast was phenomenal!
Cider, carrots, potatoes, fish cakes, and chicken 
Delicious sweet cream and blueberries 
The pinkest northwoman!
Since it’s our first night, we knew we’d sleep the sleep of the dead. We attempted to stay up late and found American Pie 2 on tv in all of its uncensored glory. Somehow, we made it to 11 before falling asleep and then all waking up at 4am for a few hours…
Breakfast at the inn was again Winterfell-themed (since we are in Winterfell) and was a delightful spread of cheese, meat, eggs, honey, and blackberry preserves. It was based on Catelyn Stark’s breakfast in the first book.
Our seven-seater people mover is still parked (legally!) across the street in one piece. Later today, we’ll be off to Winterfell castle!
