The Family is Going on Holiday

We're going to Ireland! We have plane tickets! I can't wait!!! It's three months away, so I'll have to calm down at some point or risk being exhausted and unenthusiastic by the time we actually leave.

We fly in to Dublin where we have two days to check out the city. I want to visit Trinity College and see the Book of Kells, go to the pedestrian triangle and shop for tweed and sweaters, and have beer. Lots of beer. Guinness brewery is in Dublin, and offers tours so we will definitely do that.

Next, we take a train to Belfast. We stay one night in Belfast, then rent a car and drive up the coast of Antrim where we stay in a cottage for one week. There's the Giant's Causeway, the Nine Glens of Antrim, Bushmill's Distillery, Dunluce Castle, and many other things to see. After that, we'll drive down to the Sperrins and Fermanagh lakelands and stay another few days. There you can check out more historical sites and see Celtic crosses, castles, tour agricultural areas, take a lake ferry, a boat tour of the caves; and there is also bicycling and walking.

We intend to see all of Northern Ireland, which should be pretty easy since it's roughly the size of Oregon, maybe smaller, but it's old; really, really old. And that is so cool.

I am very excited to see the Book of Kells. I studied the art in this book when I was in school for graphic design. I can't believe I'm going to see the real thing. It was written by monks around 800 AD, and gorgeously decorated. It is called an illuminated manuscript because it is lit up by the beautiful illustrations that intertwine with the text.

The Irish seaside will be amazing. The Irish people will be cool to talk to in pubs and such. We are staying long enough, I think, to get a feel for the place. I'm looking forward to checking out a place with so much history.

After a decade of not going anywhere or doing anything, I am expanding my horizons and traveling to another part of the world. I am, finally, living up to the blog name The Occidental Tourist, which is why I chose it in the first place, because I've always wanted to travel.

P.S. It also helps to marry the right man, which I totally did!