Northern Ireland

I am so sorry everyone that I haven't been posting in a while. Work and traveling has been extremely hectic. Please don't hate me if it happens from time to time. 

At the end of March, I had the immense pleasure of returning to Ireland. This time, however, I spent more time in Northern Ireland than in Dublin. I did pick up a couple more tips for Dublin though. 

Dublin Tips:

1) Take a taxi over the bus. It may be more expensive, but it was such a huge hassle to try and navigate with it around the city.

2) Don't forget to stop at Temple Bar District

3) Know where your stop is when you get on and off the Bus Tours. We got off at the first stop and had no idea where we were!

The following pictures are all of Carrick A Rede from the Paddywagon Bus Tour I took again. 

The following pictures are all from the Giant's Causeway.

Do the Audio Tour if you can. Its really dorky but it will tell you a lot about this great mystery. 

Don't forget to see Belfast! This is a city on the North part of Ireland that still belongs to the UK. We didn't stay here long, which is sad. Don't forget they pay in British Sterling not Euros here. 

And finally, take a horseback riding tour! It was a great workout and the stables are just a little South of Dublin. Still accessible by public transportation! I really enjoyed looking at all of the amazing views and learning the basics of horseback riding again. 

Recent Posts

Top Apps and Websites for European Travel

Bus Tours of Ireland

Tips for Dublin, Ireland: St. Patrick's Day

Disney Castle Inspiration

Bus Tours of Ireland

For St. Patrick's Day, I went to Dublin, Ireland, which you can read about in this post. Then, I went again at the end of the March (post to come later). However, on both trips I took a bus tour to discover the famous places outside of Dublin. I took a couple notes and wanted to give you guys my two cents on the topic.

First, here are a couple of bus tour services I noted while traveling. I chose Paddywagon Tours for my experiences. It is on the cheaper side of the service but I liked it. I think these might be more expensive than Paddywagon, but I honestly haven't researched them. Here you go:

Galway Bay Executive Travel

Irish day tours

Cie tours 

White tours

Second, I have laid out the Pros and Cons of using a Bus Tour in Ireland.

Pros of Bus Tours

You can sleep on it in between sites

You get random facts from the tour guide that you wouldn't have known just driving around by yourself

You can drink at every stop

Most bus services include tickets to the different sites

Cons of Bus Tours

Let's be real, there are idiotic people on the tours and they do get annoying

There is little leg room because they cram so many people into each bus

You don't get to control how long you stay at each stop

Pros of Driving Your Own Car

You can pick and choose where to go

You get the experience of driving on the left side of the road

You can stop the car whenever and for however long you like

Disney Sing-a-longs all day long and no one to judge you 

You get the experience of driving on the left side of the road

Cons of Driving Your Own Car

You get the experience of driving on the left side of the road

Very dangerous roads (I'm not kidding. Most of these only have enough room for one car on a road, but they allow cars from both directions on them!)

Won't know what you are looking at without a little research

Well, there are my opinions. If you guys have any other questions, please feel free to ask! Have a great day!

You may also be interested in:

How To Use Google Maps to Plan Trips

Tips for Dublin, Ireland: St. Patrick's Day

European Hostel vs Hotel

Northern Ireland

Tips for Dublin, Ireland: St. Patrick's Day

Oh my goodness you guys! I was in Ireland for St. Patrick's Day and it was AMAZING. Well, not the day of, but I did celebrate the weekend before. Honestly, this was not my normal "Tour Like Crazy" weekend. We mainly just beep bopped around and socialized the entire weekend. It was so nice to have that kind of vacation. Every single one of my trips has been: do such and such by this time, eat, do this, do that, sleep, etc. It was a never ending checklist of things I HAD to do because what if I never came back? For Ireland, I didn't feel that way. I don't know why. I hadn't planned on going back (although a co-worker and I are impulsively going back two weeks later). But it ended up being the best weekend ever because I didn't feel rushed. I just went with the flow. I did pick up some tips that I thought I should pass onto you though!

Tips for Ireland

Taxis are typically easier to use than the bus system. They are building a Tram system right now to go around the center of the city, but there are so many stops on Public Transportation.  So, it takes two hours to get across the city.

The main airport is good distance outside of the city so prepare for that! I nearly missed my flight because we forgot to take that into account.

Most pubs close their kitchens down around 9:00 PM, but if you do eat something at a pub, get the Fish and Chips!

Do a bus tour to view a lot of Ireland. I'll be doing a separate post on this later on!

Guineas Storehouse: buy tickets online! It's typically a little cheaper and the lines are shorter when you show up.

Jameson: You should book in advance for a guaranteed spot! We showed up thinking it was like Guiness where there would be plenty of room. However, all of the tours were booked. You can shop at the gift store and do your own personal tasting at the bar though.

Cliffs of Moher
These cliffs rise around 400 ft above the Atlantic Ocean and is one of the most popular tourist attractions for Ireland. I highly recommend this. It had breathtaking views of the Atlantic Ocean and the fields around. If you would like to learn more about the cliffs, look here.

Baby Cliffs - smaller versions of the Cliffs of Moher (was included in our bus tour)

Temple Bar Area - where the tourists go.

George Street - a lesser known bar area that is right across the street from the Temple Bar area

Know your accents- I was talking to a couple I met and I thought they were Irish! However, they were actually British. #fail



These are some of the restaurants we ate at. I highly recommend them!

Gallagher Boxty - great authentic Irish food and great atmosphere

O'Neils - They do Sunday Buffet. Its a Pub with hundreds of beers to sample

Acapulco - Mexican with great Margaritas!



Learn something new about their culture. The Irish have such a rich culture. For example, did you know their ancestors believed in Faeries? Not our sweet little Tinkerbell's. Their Faeries didn't like to be messed with. They even had Faerie rings, which were raised, circular, flat hills. Their ancestors would avoid them because if you messed a Faerie, they got you back twice as hard. You can read more about them here if you want!

I'll be doing another post on my second trip and the bus tours soon. Have a great day!

You may also be interested in:

How To Use Google Maps to Plan Trips

Northern Ireland

European Hostel vs Hotel

Bus Tours of Ireland