Ireland - Final Thoughts

As we sit in the Shannon airport waiting for the next six hours for our flight to London, here’s a few final, random thoughts on the country of Ireland:

The people we’ve encountered here have been exceptionally nice and helpful.  EVERY clerk that has taken my euros in exchange for goods and services has looked me in the eye and said "thank you."  The Irish are very proud of their country, and they're glad to share it with others.  Even the few people we met that were a little flinty still had a twinkle in their eyes that took the edge off.  The people we stayed with were gracious and went out of their way to ensure we had everything we needed.

If an Irishman thinks you’re well equipped for the task at hand, he’ll say that, “You’ll be grand."  Our taxi driver in Dublin told me that I would be grand driving the car in Ireland—I was not grand.

Traffic islands in the roadways are called traffic calming—I loved traffic calming.

All signs are written in Gaelic and English—our favorite Gaelic road sign was GO MALL, which means go slow in English.

Most people in Ireland offer a “You’re welcome” before you’ve had a chance to say "Thank you."

Litter is nonexistent in Ireland.

The countryside is impossibly green just like everyone says, and the stone walls are just as charming in real life as they are in the picture books.

The garbage cans are called bins, and the garbage man is the bin man.

I’ve had mostly instant coffee for ten days, but stirred with the fresh cream of Ireland, even this coffee snob can’t tell the difference.

I wish we had Supervalu grocery stores in the US.

Every grocery store and petrol station has inexpensive soft-serve ice cream—it’s very good.

There is a tour company here called The Paddy Wagon, and it has huge bright green motor coaches emblazoned with giant leprechauns.  I bet the poor bloke that drives one of those gets a lot of ribbing from his buddies in the pub.

To operate the residential showers in Ireland, one must first pull a cord in the ceiling to activate the circuit to the shower.  The power button in the shower itself must then be pressed to start the flow of water.  I was never very comfortable being surrounded by water and electricity, and I took quick showers.

The water heaters look like four-foot ceramic pastel hornets' nests.

Like Americans, the Irish love their sports.  The Gaelic Athletic Association is huge here and has many facets.  Hurling is a wildly popular sport in Ireland, and it’s been played for over 3000 years—I had never heard of it.  It looks like a combination of lacrosse, soccer, rugby, and hockey, and it is highly entertaining.  I was fortunate enough to tune into a match one night and was hooked immediately.

One needs a license to have a television in Ireland.

I always ask my crew at the end of every adventure, “What was your favorite thing?”  Deena, Deveny, and Joseph all chose the Dingle Peninsula, and it was my close second.  The wild, ancient mystery of the Burren stirred my soul the most, and it will officially be my favorite thing in Ireland.

We encountered some challenges as we toured this beautiful green country, but we persevered and had a lot of good times with great people.  Even though Ireland is a modern country, it still has an ancient and wild aura that we enjoyed experiencing together.  Jolly old England, here we come!