Highmoon's Ponderings

Tuesday, Nov 19, 2002

After a pretty good flight, we arrived in Dublin Airport at around 6:00 AM. It was dark and pouring, quite fittingly Irish. About an hour and a half later we had had some breakfast, found our car rental agent, taken a bus all the way to the lot, gotten our car, and we were ready to go!

Danny’s face of incredible excitement (and fear!) at having to now drive on
 the left side of the road during the early-morning Dublin rush hour and in the rain.
Nov. 19, 2002

It wasn’t until mid-morning that it finally hit us that we were in Ireland. The rain cleared up a bit, and we were able to open our windows and drink on the magnificence of the Wicklow Mountains in the distance as we drove south.

Early in the afternoon we arrived in the medieval town of Kilkenny. This was such a cute little place, even with all the rain (yes, it started once more). Our B&B host had notified us that she was going to be out for the day (doctor’s appointment), so we decided to go into town and walk around.

We decided that Kilkenny itself was going to be our sight to see for the day, so we simply wandered up and down the streets, taking a break to have a lunch of tomato and Dubliner cheese sandwhiches. Yum! Kilkenny is beautiful; medieval and quaint, it seemed magical in the mid-afternoon mist. That was our first taste of the magic of Ireland.

We made it back to our B&B, the Hillgrove, settled in and took a 2 1/2-hour nap. By the time we woke up it was 5:30 p.m. and it was dark as midnight! We had forgotten that, being so far north, the days were really short. Undaunted, we went to town to a place recommended by our host, Mrs. Drennan, a place called Kyteler’s Inn, a 14th century inn in the middle of town, once belonging to a woman named Alice Kyteler who had been accused of witchcraft and fled town only to have her maid go to the stake for her. Wonderful history and great food, too!

Today it’s 14 years since my father, Miguel Angel Perez, passed away on Nov. 19, 1993.

I still miss him, violently.

Monday, Nov 18, 2002

We left for Ireland early Monday, Nov. 18, from Miami International Airport. We had to wait in New York JFK for a few hours to catch the Aer Lingus plane to Ireland, time that we used to write in our journals. Danny decided to practice the little Irish he had tried to learn, and realized that the only thing he could remember how to say was “two doors”.

Yvette & Danny inside the plane on our way to Ireland.
Nov. 18, 2002

For our honeymoon, my wife and I went on a 2-week trip around Ireland. It was an amazing experience, one that we treasure to this day, and one we wanted to repeat for our 5th anniversary. Unfortunately, we couldn’t swing it to make it Ireland this year, so that’s a bummer. To recapture that awesome trip, though, I will be posting daily entries about our activities in Ireland on each corresponding day 5 years ago.

Armed with our trusty journals and excellent guidebooks, we set out to conquer the land of a thousand welcomes, Ireland.

Rick Steves’ Ireland – Rick’s guide was our main source for info, from sights to food. It was accurate, fun and simply the best guide anyone can take. His travel insights are great to give you that “back door Europe” feel, and his listings of accommodations, eateries and sights is non-par. Guidebooks just don’t get better than this. We used the 2002 edition.

Fodor’s Exploring Ireland – Not quite a yearly guidebook like Rick Steves’, it is a guidebook packed with background info on Ireland. It includes walks, tours, and history, and made Ireland come alive for us. The great thing about the book is that it covers all of Ireland, where Rick only covers the highlights. Came in quite handy when we were driving all over the countryside. We used the 4th edition.

Follow the trip chronologically here:

1. Ireland: Departure
2. Ireland: Arrival & Kilkenny
3. Ireland: Driving & Rock of Cashel
4. Ireland: Dingle, Day 1
5. Ireland: Dingle, Day 2
6. Ireland: Dingle, Day 3
7. Ireland: Driving, Cliffs of Moher & Galway
8. Ireland: Connemara & Sligo
9. Ireland: Sligo, Antrim Coast & Giant’s Causeway
10. Ireland: Belfast
11. Ireland: Newgrange & Dublin
12. Ireland: Dublin, Day 1
13. Ireland: Dublin, Day 2
14. Ireland: Dublin, Day 3
15. Ireland: Dublin, Day 4
16. Ireland: Return Home & Addendum

Today is my 5th wedding anniversary, and after half a decade, I still marvel that she puts up with me. It truly must be love.

Here’s an amazing five years, and an even more amazing five more, and then some.

Why? Because writers always get the shaft and enough is enough. Check out this video to see exactly what the strike is about.