Irish Mis-Adventure

The LONG road to Ballyvaughan

Yesterday I set out at noon with my two teens plus an extra pre-teen for what was to be an easy hop over to Ireland (a 35 min flight). The park and ride in Birmingham was sketchy and took so long to get to that we nearly missed our flight. After a run through the airport and teen daughter being detained by security for bringing perfume in her carry-on, we made it aboard. 

Since Ryanair likes to put you in the worst possible seats, I was placed in the middle of a "stag do" (Bachelor party)..a bunch of middle aged Irishmen returning from a weekend of barhopping. They kept insisting I try their beer and asking obnoxious questions. 

We finally made it to the rental car agency in Dublin and after a 30 min wait, I was informed I couldn't use my voucher because my husband's name was listed as the driver (he had to drop out of trip at last minute due to looming PhD deadlines) Spent another 20 min on phone with Hotwire who couldn't change the name or rebook the car. Europcar then kindly offered to rent me the same car I had reserved for 3x the price plus additional insurance (or be stuck with a 2000 deductible for a scratch). With no other options and a 2.5 hr drive to Galway looming, I bit the bullet. Loaded the kids, luggage and sat nav directions and headed off trying to remember how to use a left-handed stick shift while navigating heavy traffic and strange roundabouts. 

After 90 min we stopped to get groceries and find something to eat. We were in the middle of who knows where but there was a Lidl still open at 8:30 pm on a Sunday so that was miraculous. No Irish food though, we had to settle for a pizza that we ate by the side of a canal for ambiance. We drove through rolling hills for another 30 min before I asked teen daughter to scroll out on the Sat Nav to see how close we were to our destination. That is when we realized that there are apparently TWO Ballyvaughans and we sadly had been driving to the wrong one in the southeast corner of Ireland, not near Galway at all. Our new redirected Sat Nav directions required an additional 3 hrs of driving. Oh happy day (or night by this time)! With teen daughter keeping me awake with her Spotify playlist and the boys sleeping in the back, we covered what was probably amazing scenery and finally made it to our cottage at 1 am. After 4 hrs of sleep, I am awake with the birds and super bright early sun..hoping today will be better!