Hi Friends!!

Goodnews!  After a little longer “lay-over” in the US than we expected (2.5 months instead of a week or two….) we made it to Ireland! Unfortunately, we don’t have a very good photo documentation of our transition since it was a bit hectic…but I’ll see what I can do and then jump right into our first few outings!

Now you’re probably thinking, “Gosh that was funny when they moved to Israel and literally everything was so hard to figure out and Kelley kept getting lost in the mall and wanting to cry”……well, goodnews again….the transition to Ireland has been a piece of cake compared to that!

Getting here was a bit hectic since we were waiting for Matt’s work permit to arrive and the timing of it was a bit unpredictable.  So once we got the green light, we had to be ready to go – which meant booking flights, finding housing, and dealing with our beloved Franklin in a matter of a few days.  Thankfully, things fell into place and we headed out with our 4 duffles!  Although we managed to pack less stuff and have heavier bags than Israel…which I think correlates to more jackets and fewer bathing suits….

The best part of the adventure over was our flight from San Jose to Frankfurt!  There were literally 40 passengers on the gigantic airplane!  Everyone got their own middle row to lay down and sleep with room to spare!

The journey was long but overall uneventful, thankfully!  The final 2 hour drive to Galway was a bit rough after about 24 hours of being awake….but Matt was a champ and got us there safely!

For the first two weeks, we stayed in an Air B&B outside of town while we looked for an apartment closer to Galway City. Matt got right to work in the office while I got to work getting things figured out like cell phone plans, busses, finding cat supplies, and driving a manual on the left side of the road (<—thats exciting!).  Luckily this time around, there was no getting lost in malls, no language barrier, and no people carrying giant machine guns around large walls with barbed-wire.  Not to mention, everyone here is SOOOOO nice and incredibly helpful!

Okay, enough about the move – so sorry it wasn’t more exciting!

Our first big and exciting adventure was St. Patrick’s Day!  We were very excited to make it in time for the festivities and I even splurged a whopping 5 euro for some festive accessories.  Matt was a bit skeptical at first but eventually came around!

We started the day with the St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Galway City.  Growing up in small-town America, parades were a big to-do when I was growing up so I felt right at home cheering on the little herds of children representing their local teams and activities.  Matthew, however, grew up in bigger-town USA and was not used to such a spectacle!  Despite the rainy weather, spirits were still (pretty) high and we were filled with lots of warm and fuzzies about our new hometown.

and my personal favorite…..#dadgoals….

Following the parade, we walked around town a bit and popped into a few pubs.  The weather pushed almost everyone indoors, so it was a bit crowded but we made the most of it and enjoyed the festive vibe.

And then there’s the guy who can’t believe someone else has the same 2 euro hat from the store down the street……totally worthy of a selfie!

Being the party animals that we are (<— insert sarcasm), as the day went on we tried to wiggle our way into a few more crowded bars before eventually accepted that I am in fact very claustrophobic and Matt is in fact way better at pushing through a crowded bar than I am. So we wiggled our way out and settled for a few more beers at a bar we could sit down in and hear each other talk……are we getting old…??  We were home by 8:00 pm……okay, I think I answered my own question…..

Given our WILD night out (<— more sarcasm), we required very little recovery the next day and decided to hit the road to check out what lie outside the city.  We decided to head a little north to Connemara.  We enjoyed driving along the “Wild Atlantic Way” for most of the drive.  I’m trying to decide if it got its name from the wild and free countryside or the wild and “exciting” driving required on the skinny 1 1/2 lane roads.

We made our way north and stopped at the Kylemore Abby and took a peak around to scope it out for visitors – looks worthy of a return trip for sure.

Next we bopped up the road a bit and took a hike at the Connemara National Park.  We’re so curious what lies beyond the clouds!

Well that concludes the first few adventures!  Stay tuned for a much sunnier weekend a little further north in County Donegal!

(Want to stay on our site a little longer?  We’ve added some photo galleries and tabs on gear and travel tools we like to use…..check them out on the menu bar ^^^^ up top.  Enjoy!)