Baile Átha Cliath go Ros Mhic Thriúin (Dublin to New Ross)

Hey Everyone! Jean here! We made it to "The Big Isle" safe and sound =) It was a loooong trip and there were a few bumps along the road, but nothing too bad.

The plane ride was pretty good, though a little cramped for me. Mandy was able to sleep for half the ride but i don't usually sleep on planes, so i got to watch 3 movies - District 9, Adam (a relationship story about a guy with Asperger's

syndrome), and 50 Dead Men Walking (a story about a guy during the fighting in Northern Ireland)

Once we got off the plane at 6:30 AM and got our luggage, it was straight to the Budget rental kiosk to get our car (where the online quote was unfortunately not quite the price......ALL the insurance was more than it said it would be.) But we got our little Nissan Micra.......and i mean little! It's surprisingly big on the inside though for such a mite of a car! It's definitely a different experience to drive on the opposite side of the road. But the biggest oddity for me is looking at the mirrors. Nothing looks the same as home cause the angles are different. And due to the stories i have heard from Mandy and her brother John, I drove first!

One thing i did find out for sure after we got off the plane was that i should have declared something when i came to Ireland.......that i brought Poison Ivy over with me.....yeah.....it kinda stinks.....

We got on the

road and went straight into Dublin, where we found out we didn't have any good maps of the city despite the 3 maps we brought and the 2 that were given to us....... so i drove around the city for about an hour and a half "site seeing". Which means trying to see their street signs and figure out where the heck we were in relation to our destination, the Guinness Brewery/Storehouse. City driving can be hard back in DC, but Ireland city driving, on the opposite side of the road when you've never done it before...... priceless. I definitely scared Mandy a few times =)

At the Guinness Storehouse we saw how they made Guinness and it was a very appropriate first stop in the country for me. At the top of the storehouse is a 360 view 'Gravity Bar' with fantastic views of the city.

On the way to New Ross we stopped in Wicklow because i was exhausted due to not sleeping in god knows how many hours. We found some food at a Lidl (supermarket) to have for lunch and Mandy started driving after we found a beautiful place by the beach to take pictures. It took about 4 hrs to get to New Ross and when Mandy started driving it happened to be along a tiny ocean road!!! hahaha. It was fun to say the least but she did a GREAT job. When we got back on the highway i went right to sleep.

The Cottage we stayed at was very cute, quaint, and quiet.... except for the rooster that hangs

out outside the cottage door.....but i never heard him during my 14 hrs of sleep starting at 7pm!!!