Like a game of Tetris gone horribly wrong, in the distance, I can see the rubble. A beast has torn through the landscape. A bomb has gone off and now children are using the remains as their playground of skipping stones. On top of the mismatched pieces of land, tourists stand, propping up their cameras to get the perfect shot of this stretch of land gone wrong. The Giant’s Causeway is Northern Ireland’s only UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated on the Causeway Coast. When you first descend on this giant, you too will be mistaken as the ancients were. However this landscape is not man-made Continue Reading
Olfactory Gold in Ireland
I have never been someone with “the nose”. I can’t break down scents to know exactly what types of flowers fill them. I couldn’t tell you one flower from the next. However, I do know when a scent is for me. Our noses are incredibly choosey when it comes to scents. It is perhaps one area of life where you will find those people who never have opinions forming absolute thoughts on certain scents. It either works with the chemistry of your body or it causes a ruffling of the nose. Scents are about as strange and absolute as some landscapes can be. Driving through County Clare, I found myself Continue Reading
Galway, Ireland Wishes You Were Here
Parades and crowds are not my pint of Guinness, you might say. The pushing, the shoving, cameras in your face, drunk men getting right up to your nose saying, “How are YYYOOOOOOUUUUUU doing?” tends to annoy me more than charm me. I arrived in Galway the day before Saint Patrick’s Day. I decided to get my sightseeing in for the day as I knew March 17th would be the day for people watching. Instantly I was charmed by Galway and its small town feel. It doesn’t overwhelm you like a big city, but it is also incredibly lively. It could be due to the fact that it is a major university town. You Continue Reading
Redhead Reviews Travel Grove
Full Disclosure: This is a sponsored review. While I was compensated for reviewing Travel Grove, my thoughts and opinions are my own. What is TravelGrove.com? Travel Grove is a travel search engine, compiling together searches for flights, hotels, car rentals, cruises and vacation packages in one spot. Travel Grove aims to find the best travel deals for users in a easy and convenient way. The goal of the site is to weed through all of the travel offers and information so you don’t have to, while finding the price you want. Features I did some playing around with Travel Grove’s Continue Reading
The Irish Spirit at Number 31 in Dublin
“You have arrived at your destination”, my GPS Susan keeps uttering. However, I would miss the only number I was looking for, 31 to be exact. I continued down my first “Irish lane” experience, where a wall sits dangerously close to your left and cars cram in on the right. You have nowhere to go but straight until you meet the regrettable dead-end. At the end of my dead-end were two saviors. Jesus doesn’t wear simple clothing. In Dublin, he wears a nice suit. Two gentlemen in suits kindly help me out of my pickle of a first driving experience in Ireland. Fresh off the boat, I know I probably Continue Reading
Packing For A Month and Not Looking Like An Unmade Bed
I used to tease my Mom growing up that she packed by set colors. For every family trip we would go on, she would select two to three colors for the packing “theme” so to speak of the trip. She would then toss in basics of black, white and tan. I used to mock that idea, thinking it would be a trip where it looks like you are wearing the same thing, over and over again. And the wise sayings, “You’re mother is always right” or “Listen to your mother” holds true in how I packed for a month in Ireland. Packing is generally a dreaded activity. I may moan and groan about packing, but secretly, I Continue Reading
Suzy Stumbles Over Travel: Week of February 28, 2011
As I try to figure out how to cram a month’s worth of clothes in one bag for my trip to Ireland on Wednesday, I bring you this week’s Suzy Stumbles Over Travel. In case you are new here, each week I ask writers and readers to submit their favorite travel posts of the week. I read, comment, tweet the post on Twitter, stumble the article on Stumbleupon and post a link to the piece on my Facebook page. The following Monday, I select five favorites to feature and the stumbling begins again. Just a few things to keep in mind, you must leave your submission in the comment box below. Please only Continue Reading