It has been a little under a week since I have returned from the Emerald Isle of Ireland and I so wish that I could go back. Ireland is one of the most beautiful places I have ever been to in my entire life! I have traveled around the states a lot in my life, but this was the first time that I actually went to a different country besides Canada and Mexico. It was so exciting getting on the plane and flying half way around the world. That long seven hour flight couldn’t of gone any faster though. I was so excited to get there I wished it was only a two hour flight.
Once we landed we hit the ground running. We took a bus to our hotel, but we could check in because all the flights that went to Ireland from the states all got in no later than 9:00am. The hotel staff was very nice though. They held our luggage for us and brought it to our room after we had checked in. This freed us up to go and explore the city on a very cool bus tour the concierge recommended to us. This tour basically took us around all of the cool things to see and do in Ireland. It helped us get acquainted with the location and it also helped us put together a game plan for the next week.
While in Ireland we went to all the monuments, cathedrals, the Guinness factory, and most of the castles in the near by area. We saw the oldest jail in Ireland, as well as taking pictures of all the various churches and buildings around town. I would have to say the coolest part of our trip was the day trips that we took. The first one was to Cork to see the Blarney Castle and then on to the city Cobh, pronounce Cove, where the Titanic docked for the last time before it sank in the Atlantic. The second trip we took was to the city of Galway. Along the way we stopped at this towering cliffs that rose from the sea hundreds of feet. They are the tallest ocean cliffs in all of Europe, the Cliffs of Moher. They were so amazing, I took so many pictures of them. After this we went to a town called Claire where we had our first traditional Irish meal. After this we stopped at the Burren, an ancient sea floor off the coast of Ireland that is now above the sea and lacks any green what so ever. It is like a gigantic rock slab in the middle of all this lush green country. It was pretty unreal. After this we took a lengthy bus ride around the harbor to Galway where we caught our train and went back to Dublin. That was pretty much the end of our trip.
Looking back at the whole experience I don’t think I would have changed a thing. Maybe we could have stayed a few days longer so that we wouldn’t have been so busy every day, but I think that we did everything there was to do and any more time would have just been forced, trying to do stuff. However, we could have done another of those day tours to some other part of the country. Oh well, something for next time I guess.
Some things that really surprised me while in Ireland was how helpful and friendly the people were. You could ask any of the Irish people a question and they would answer you so politely and they would make sure you understood where you needed to go. I couldn’t believe how kind they were. If you were to do the same thing here in the state God only knows what kind of reaction or information you would receive. This trend of kindness was only elevated when we landed in Chicago and had to go through customs. There is this form that the immigration officer gave me in Ireland, she stamped it and told me to hold on to it. I did this, of course, being the over protective first time traveler. Unfortunately, on the almost eight hour flight I had forgotten about this piece of paper that was in my pocket. We get off the plane, had to get our luggage which I thought was a pain in the ass and I had never heard of before in my life, then we went to the customs gate. We went up tot he gate and I didn’t have that paper out, because I forgot I had it. I explain to him that we already went through immigration, we already got stamped, etc. Instead of being helpful and reminding me of getting this paper stamped he basically yells at me and lectures me. He basically was treated me in the same way that most immigrants say Americans treat them, rude and inpatient. This officers advice was just a mouthful of insults and un-helpful crap. I had only wished there was something in my power that I could have done. It didn’t help the fact that this guys little buddy next to him running the other line was chiming in throwing his insults at us too. This whole experience in the Chicago airport has made me lose all respect for customs officials and it has made me never want to travel through that airport again. Unfortunately, this will never be felt by anyone and no one will ever know how unsatisfied I was with how I was treated. No wonder people from other countries can’t stand Americans. I could barely stand us!
Will I travel again even after I had this horrible experience with these lame customs agents….definatly. I have actually already started my research for our next destination, Spain and Portugal. It won’t be for a few years, but you can never start planning too early. If you want to see pictures from our Ieland trip just check out my Flickr site, there is a link on my front page.
