Dingle Bay.
Just been over in Ireland for the last week and a half with my mum, sister, and my niece and nephew. It’d been 5 years since we’d last been and again we stayed with Mai and PJ in County Kerry, and for the first time I actually flew there rather than driving and taking the ferry. To be honest – it wasn’t that much quicker, since once landed I had to wait a bit at the airport before getting a coach from Shannon to Listowel, which also took quite a while. PJ picked me up in Listowel at about 3.30pm, so it basically took me ten and a half hours door to door!
The others weren’t going to be arriving until later that night, but their flight was delayed by a couple of hours, so didn’t get to Shannon until after midnight, which meant they had stresses with the car hire since they were supposed to close at ten o’clock, just after their original arrival time. I didn’t bother waiting up for them all, so slept through their arrival at the house and saw them in the morning!
We didn’t do anything that next day – everyone was far too tired! But on the next day, Friday, I went with Vikky and the kids to Ballybunion, and took a walk across the beach. The kids bought waffles from one of the beach shops, but it was so windy as they tried to eat them, and Chloe struggled to keep her hair out of the Nutella topping!
Mai and PJ experience VR.
In the evening, Brandon had brought his VR goggles with him, which let to much hilarity as both Mai and PJ tried it out! The graphics in the games and settings are still quite basic, but it’s crazy how quickly your brain accepts them, and it feels like you’re part of that world.
Chloe.
On Monday, the weather wasn’t too great, so we drove down to Tralee to go bowling. It was quite a small place, but luckily wasn’t too busy, and had quite a garish look to it. But what I found really odd was that you paid by the hour, not by the game. So with 4 of us playing, we were able to get through one complete game, but we ran out of time whilst playing the second. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a bowling alley where that’s how you pay for your games! After we finished, Brandon had a go on some of the games in the amusements section – Chloe didn’t want to spend any of her money doing that so just watched!
The next day we drove over to Dingle – we had planned to to leave earlier than we did, in the end getting away just before noon. We got to Dingle just before two, and by the time we’d found somewhere to park and then walked down to the harbour, we realised that we’d missed the boat trip we thought we could do, but I got on my phone and found one online from Dingle Boat Tours that went around the bay which was shorter, so started a bit later in the afternoon.
Brandon, Chloe and Vikky on a boat trip in Dingle.
It was a pretty decent boat trip – I reckon if we’d have taken the original one, it would’ve been too long. As it was, I’m not sure it held the kids’ attention even for just the hour, so it worked out for the best!
The next evening, me and Vikky went out to Christy’s Bar in Listowel to experience a traditional Irish music night. We’d seen it advertised whilst having lunch in there earlier, and I wasn’t totally sure what to expect, but it was really good. It was quite informal, and basically they were just jamming together whilst everyone else in the bar listened. Also, the majority of them were pretty young – I think probably late teens and early twenties – and they were all really skillful.
Irish music night in Listowel.
Brandon, Chloe and Vikky on Ballybunion beach.
Then on our last day, we had one last visit to Ballybunion, and walked on the beach, taking a bit of a paddle in sea. I found it interesting that this year the kids didn’t really want to do stuff – they just seem to have outgrown having fun! The previous times we’d been to Ireland, they wanted to be on the beach and go in the sea all the time, whereas now they’re older, they’re just not interested at all! I think once you get to the last few years of being a teen, you then start to realise that it’s okay to look like you’re enjoying yourself!
Chloe, me, Vikky, Brandon, PJ, Mai and mum.
Also on the Thursday evening we went around to Tom’s for a tea – it was supposed to be a quick visit, but he’d laid on a bit of a spread for us! We should’ve expected it really because the same has happened every time we’ve been!
We travelled back home on Friday. We got back to Shannon airport just after 4 o’clock because the others were taking a plane back to Birmingham around seven, whereas my flight wasn’t until nine, so I had to wait a while before I could check in and go through security. And then to round it all off, my flight was then delayed by a couple of hours so I got back home a bit later than planned!