I hit the road solo for the 3 week ultimate Ireland road trip along the Wild Atlantic Way. You hear all kinds of stories about driving in Ireland. Yes, the roads are narrow, winding, and often filled with sheep but don’t let that stop you from renting a car and going out on your own. If I can do it – anyone can!
“Over the course of 3 weeks I slowly changed. I went from giving myself pep talks and being terrified every morning to get into the car and start driving, to anticipating the day’s drive and being super excited to be on the smallest, craziest roads. I eased up on my white-knuckle grip on the steering wheel and actually got comfortable and let the blood flow back into my fingertips. I started listening to music and sang along at the top of my lungs. I waved at people on little back roads as if I knew them. I passed other tourists and scoffed at their timid driving ability. By day 5 – I was wearing a perma-grin and yelling at slow tourist drivers. (officially apologizing now if you were one of them and I dropped the F bomb at you)”
Follow along on the journey as I learn to drive on the opposite side of the road, meet locals, hike, drink Guinness, ride electric bikes, jump off cliffs, and kayaking in some pretty unusual situations! Plus tips on how you can do the same.
Ireland’s Wild Atlantic Way takes on the status of one of the longest coastal drives in the world at 1,600 miles. It joins the ranks of other great coastal roads like Nova Scotia’s Cabot Trail, Big Sur, Maui’s Kaekili Highway, and South Africa’s Garden Route. Drive down narrow one-lane roads to see secret beaches, towering […]
You hear all kinds of stories about driving in Ireland. Yes, the roads are narrow, winding, and often filled with sheep but don’t let that stop you from renting a car and going out on your own. If I can do it – anyone can! I traveled through Ireland on my own for 3 weeks […]
I was anxious and nervous as I waited for the guy from Hertz to give me my keys to my rental car. After all, I was taking off on my own driving around a foreign country for 3 weeks exploring the infamous winding, narrow back roads of Ireland. All of this was going to happen […]
If Ireland was looking for a date on the internet, I think it’s profile would go something like this: I love adventure – the stormier the better. No cliff is to high to jump off of, no ledge too narrow, and the bigger the waves the more I’m stoked. I like it when the wind […]
Yes, there’s a place in the world actually named Dingle. It makes you smile doesn’t it? Located in Ireland and part of the Wild Atlantic Way there was nothing in the world that would stop me from traveling to the Dingle Peninsula. It is located in County Kerry; and not only was I excited to […]
The waves were lapping up against the shoreline in that comforting rhythmic fashion that coastal living brings. The sun had already dipped below the horizon and had left a perfectly clear night sky glowing in pinkish orange and midnight blue. “It’s going to be a great night for star gazing, “ Jim said as he […]
Amanda adjusted the bike seat and explained the gears on the electric bike. As I got ready to peddle off out of Clifden, she looked ahead at the dark clouds and asked, “Do you have rainpaints?” “No…not really,” I replied looking at my water resistant pants knowing darn well that resistant and waterproof were two […]
I really hate crowds and ‘popular’ tourist sites. This makes being a ‘professional traveler’ a bit difficult at times. When my Ireland itinerary took me to the uber touristed Cliffs of Moher in County Clare, I wondered if I would really like it or if all of the people would annoy me. Luckily Ireland Walk […]
I found myself alone in a strange landscape as the taxi drove off in the rain. I looked around at my foreign landscape and could see for miles – and for miles there was nothing or no one. Not even a tree. I felt like Katniss at the beginning of the Hunger Games – but […]
I imagined giant trolls roaming this treeless Ireland landscape. Big round boulders dot the bog land like a giant rock garden for the trolls. The sky was gray, and the fields were brown, and I was feeling an overwhelming amount of blah as I looked out my car window. This area in Galway County was […]