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The Emerald Isle – Arriving in Cobh.
On Wednesday May 29th, we took the tube to Heathrow hours before we needed to be on our flight to Ireland in case of anything unexpected. If you ever travel with me, that’s how I roll. I like to be at the airport early, especially the first time I fly from that airport. Plus I’m one of those weirdos who actually likes airports. We left from Terminal 2 – the Queens terminal and it was WAY nicer than the terminal we landed in. We wandered around the terminal shops after clearing security and had breakfast while we waited for our flight.
On the plane ready to head to Ireland!
We flew Aer Lingus from London to Cork which was super cheap, roughly $100 per person. There were limits to the size of luggage you could carry on, and those limits varied from the limits in the US. I had researched that ahead of time (shocking I know) and knew our backpacks would meet those requirements. If you wanted a snack or beverage on the flight, you did have to purchase it, and I think I had to pay a small fee to select our seats.
We landed in Cork mid-afternoon, cleared customs and went in search of an ATM to get Euros, (the UK and northern Ireland use the pound, while The Republic of Ireland is part of the European Union and uses the Euro) and find the rental car desk. We had to wait for over an hour to get our car as they were waiting for a car to be returned – the one we were supposed to have had not been returned on time. So, they upgraded us and gave us the next car that was returned, which just happened to be an Audi.
Our transportation for one week of our Ireland tour Then, it was time to leave the airport…gulp…at what ended up being right around rush hour…driving on the wrong side of the road and the wrong side of the car (wrong for a US driver anyway – quite right in other parts of the world!). We were headed to Cobh (pronounced Cove) for the next three nights. Cobh is only 17 miles from Cork, but those 17 miles were HARROWING for me. We had planned for me to drive and Mike to navigate. That is typically how we work best (see previous post about my map reading abilities). I had completely wigged myself out about driving in Ireland. The roads are narrow, so many of the articles I had read said whatever you do, don’t drive. And then the whole roundabout thing…for a girl that grew up in the middle of the prairie where you might have to go round a cow on your way to town, roundabouts don’t make much sense to me. Cattle guards? Those I get. Roundabouts – foreign concept. So we left the airport, went through several roundabouts before exciting the airport, and then were trying to get onto one of the national primary roads in Ireland (meaning it is a bit larger than other roads, but not quite like our interstates). We were in 2 lanes of traffic going into the roundabout. I was in the inside lane, gripping the wheel so hard my fingers were going numb, and maps was telling us we needed the 2nd or 3rd exit (can’t remember which). For those of you as unfamiliar as I was with roundabouts, exits are each point in the round about that traffic can exit. If you are in the inside lane, you can’t take the first exit – that is only for those in the left lane. If you are in the left lane, you can either exit, or continue around the roundabout. Facts I didn’t at that time know. We were confused and for some reason thought we needed to exit there in the first exit (even though maps was saying 2nd or 3rd), so I did that. From the inside lane. Next to me, in the left lane, trying to go straight was a garbage truck. With a very unhappy driver who thankfully was paying attention to the tourists in the car next to him and honked but let me go. Without running right into the side of my car. So within 10 minutes of leaving the airport, I almost got us into an accident and an accident that would have had the garbage truck run right into Trey…
A somewhat wide road in Ireland. There is actually a little shoulder on this one.
We somehow got on the right path, and white knuckled our way to Cobh. Friends, Irelands roads are NARROW. I know everything you read will tell you they are narrow, but they are NARROW. And driving on the left side of the road and the right side of the car was so disorienting for me. I felt like I was going to go off the very narrow road (there really are no shoulders), or into the other lane of the very narrow road the.entire.drive. I don’t remember much of that drive. I just remember thinking those were the longest 17 miles of my life and I have driven 17 miles in white out conditions on a sheet of ice. We finally made it too Cobh and found our Air B&B. Cobh’s streets are somewhat like Duluth Minnesota’s or Houghton Michagan’s streets. They are all on a pretty steep incline leading up from the water. Where they differ is in how wide they are. The street in front of our super cute row house would be considered a one way in the US. In Ireland it was a two way, and cars were allowed to park in front of the houses!
The steep streets of Cobh. I was thinking this one may have been a one way until I saw how the car in the foreground is parked… We got moved in to our home for the next three days, and then ventured out to find the grocery store with Mike driving this time. He did much better than me. I love to visit grocery stores in the different places we visit, and Ireland didn’t disappoint. It was fun to see what was the same, and what was different between there and the US. There food seemed to be much more locally produced than ours, and their eggs are not kept in the fridge. We loaded up on supplies for the next few days and headed back to our house to settle fully in.
This is on our walk back to our Airbnb from the water. Walking down to the waterfront was easy going – walking back, not so much!
After we were settled we took a walk down by the water to find supper. And we promptly fell in love with the town of Cobh. On this side of our trip looking back, I can say I’ve never been anywhere like it. It still has the small town feel while being somewhat touristy. I say that because it doesn’t seem to be the place tourists want to go to stay. They likely will stay in Cork and take the train to Cobh or come in on a cruise ship and wander around Cobh for an afternoon before taking the train into Cork. So of all the places we went, even though it’s a cruise ship port, it didn’t feel as touristy.
Cobh Waterfront 
Cobh Waterfront 
St Colman’s Cathedral 
View of Cork Harbour
After a full day of trains, airports, airplanes and driving on the narrowest roads I’ve seen (to this point), we were glad for our Airbnb, a space we could call ours, and returned there fairly early in the evening to play a couple games of cards before heading for bed. Trey was so excited to have his own room here cause someone in the family snores…we won’t publicly call that person out.
Next time, I’ll take you with us as we explored Cobh!
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Exploring London
Last week I talked about getting to London, our first experience with public transit there, and finding our way to our hotel in our sleep deprived state. After checking in to our hotel around 11am on May 25th, we each took a much needed shower before heading out to find some food.
Trey studying the menu for our first meal in London
We had heard that you should try to stay awake that first day and just go to bed early. So with that in mind, we ate our first obligatory London pub meal of Fish, chips and a Guinness (none of them were fantastic in my opinion). Then we headed out to explore the Canary Wharf area. About an hour into exploring, and after a very strong Starbucks espresso, it was clear that Mike was not going to make it much longer without a nap (he can’t sleep on planes). So we headed back to the hotel and napped for 3 glorious hours. We woke up feeling like we had worked an overnight shift but decided to hit the tube and explore instead of wasting the whole day.
Looking toward Westminster and Big Ben
While planning this trip, I was a bit terrified at the thought of the tube. Not that I would have admitted that to Mike or Trey. I had rode the subway in NYC when I was a teenager, but never anything like it since. I was worried about how we would figure out which lines and stops we would need. Turns out, I worried for nothing. The invention of the smart phone and maps makes that process super easy. Type in where you are going and your phone tells you exactly which lines you need, and, if you are changing lines, where you need to do that at. #mindblown. How did we travel before we had smartphones? Be aware that if you close your map when you are on the tube and need to change lines, you may not have service that far underground. Not that we experienced that first hand and panicked or anything…. Also be aware that there are very good maps all over the underground if you, unlike us, close your map while on the tube. No need to panic.
The London Eye
So we headed for all that is Westminster. We decided not to take in any of the attractions that evening, opting rather to just walk around and get acclimated. We took one of the foot bridges over the Thames and were lucky enough to find an outdoor festival of sorts. Later that evening I believe there was going to be live music, which we didn’t stay for, but we did get dinner there and then I found an ice cream cart (of course). We walked past the London Eye before making our way back across the Thames, to gaze up at Big Ben. Big Ben is currently under construction, but was still amazing to see. Then we rode the very full (and hot) tube back to Canary Wharf and walked around that area before heading to our hotel for the night.
After sleeping like rocks, we woke up Sunday and went to The Breakfast Club for breakfast. Our first traditional English Breakfast! I didn’t realize that tomatoes and beans were part of a traditional English breakfast until this trip (we did not try black or white pudding). Then we made our way to Greenwich port to ride the city tour boat to Westminster port. It was drizzly and windy so was a great way to see some of the city. Once we arrived at Westminster port we went to the Churchill War Rooms where we spent a couple hours. Was pretty interesting to walk through that time in history. We had purchased the 2 day London Pass. There are hundreds of attractions that are included with the pass, way more than you can see in 2 days, but if you are going to take in multiple attractions, it actually is more cost effective to use the pass (trust me, I calculated it out in a spreadsheet while planning…see previous note about engineers rubbing off on me). Both the tour boat and Churchill War Rooms were part of that pass. Having the pass didn’t mean that we never stood in lines, but typically meant we were in a different line than just general admission (if I remember correctly)
Churchill War Rooms – and the line to get in…
After our time in the War Rooms, we rode the tube back to Canary Wharf and found a little pizza place near our hotel called Franco Manca. Seriously some of THE best pizza I’ve ever had. And if you know me, you know I have an ongoing love affair with pizza. So good that I am still dreaming about it, and would consider a trip back mostly for the pizza.
THE best pizza – maybe even the best I’ve had
Monday morning we woke up after a not great night of sleep (Mike and I – Trey slept great). We hit the tube early and arrived at the London Bridge station shortly after 9am. We failed to realize when booking our trip that this Monday in late May was a holiday in the UK (was Memorial Day back home in the US). So London was busy! We had started our London Pass with the boat ride and Churchill War Rooms on Sunday, and since I had purchased the two day pass, we needed to get a few things in today. Once we arrived at the London Bridge station, we were met by a man selling hop on/hop off bus tickets. Since they were included in our London Pass, we decided to take a ride. We took the bus destined for Buckingham Palace, but ended up touring central London for about 3 hours. We saw Hyde park, Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey (which had a ridiculous line to get in to it), Harrods and a bunch of other shops and museums. I’m pretty sure the tour guide said if you were getting off at the Harrods stop not to forget your earbuds or your credit cards! Mike made sure we stayed on. The tour ended back at London Bridge station.
A sunny day on the Hop-on Hop-off tour bus 
The line to get into Westminster Abbey. No, we did not stand in this line. This actually doesn’t even do the line justice. From there we went to The Shard and road to the top (72 floors). What a view of London! I was nearing hangry so they fed me pizza (it always works to cure hangriness) and then we toured the HMS Belfast. What a cool ship. I can’t imagine living on that for months or years at a time. We waited around that area for Bobs Lobster to open at 4:30 only to discover it was closed for the summer bank holiday (our friend Laura had been in London the year before and highly recommended Bob’s Lobster). So back to Canary Wharf we headed. We ate dinner at a BBQ place that was only ok.
View of the Shard from the street 
View of London and the HMS Belfast from the observation deck of the Shard
Tuesday was our last full day in London. We slept in a bit (we are on vacation after all). Then after another breakfast at The Breakfast Club, we headed for Camden Market on the underground. Actually we took the DLR which was right outside our hotel and the underground. Look at us figuring out how to switch transit types! When Trey was researching things to do in London, Camden Market showed up and was on his list of must sees. Camden market is in Camden town (odd) and was one of the busiest areas we were in. It has tent based shops like our US street fairs but also brick and mortar stores. The food portion of the market smelled amazing. Trey had some homemade noodles that spent some time getting happy in a cheese wheel. We also tried dutch pancake bites with milk chocolate, bananas and strawberries. Delish. All.of.it.
Camden Locks 
Enjoying the nice day at Camden Market 
Riding the Tube back into London
When we had seen all we cared to of Camden Market, we hit the tube and headed for St Paul’s Cathedral. The architecture in that cathedral is STUNNING! We climbed a gazillion steps to nearly the top of the dome for a great view. I almost died, but the view was worth it. Strangely enough it was my idea to put ourselves through torture. I forget that I have super short legs compared to the giants I live with. Giants that like to do insane things like run up stairs. Anywhoo. The view from the top was amazing. St Paul’s in general was amazing. Thinking about the building process when most of those buildings were constructed makes the architecture that much more interesting.
St Pauls Cathedral 
Proof I made it up all.those.stairs. 
View from the top of St. Pauls 
After finishing up at St Paul’s we headed back to Canary Wharf, and enjoyed our favorite pizza spot again. I know it’s likely against culinary rules to have pizza 3 times while in London, but I was guessing I wouldn’t find good pizza for the next week. And if you haven’t figured it out yet, I like pizza.
We absolutely loved our time in London. Way more than we thought we would. It was an easy city to navigate, there was so much to do, and overall we felt safe while we were there. I would guess this won’t be our last trip to that city.
Waiting at Heathrow for our plane to Cork!
Stay tuned for Ireland! -
Landing in London
Happy Friday! Way to make it through another work week…
When we started talking about where to go on Trey’s graduation trip, topping his list of places in Europe was London. He had wanted to go there for years, and had even occasionally pulled out a fairly on point British accent. Since Mike and I are not huge city people, we decided to start the trip with London and end with Ireland which we were guessing would be more relaxing.
In the Bismarck Airport, ready to board our flight to Minneapolis and then LONDON!
On May 24 2019, Trey’s actual last day of high school, with our bags packed (3 backpacks and a very small purse), we had Grandma’s Uber take us to the Bismarck airport. We had a 4ish hour layover in Minneapolis, and then boarded our first ever international flight early evening. Around 7am on May 25th we landed at London Heathrow, a bit tired as sleep was elusive on the plane, in desperate need of good coffee and smelling like an airplane (you know the smell, sort of stale, sort of sweaty – it’s a good combination, they should probably bottle the scent).
After getting off the plane (hallelujah), we followed the arrivals signs to Passport Control/Border Control. The lines (queues) are long leading to passport control, but they move quickly, and passport control is automated (you stand where the feet marks are and scan your passport, then the magic gates open), unless the picture on your passport looks WAY different than you (like mine), then the automated machine thingy makes you talk to a real live person.
After we made it through passport control, we followed more signs to where we would have picked up our checked luggage (if we’d had any), finally found a bathroom (US airport bathrooms should up their game), found an ATM to get pounds from and then followed the signs for the underground. Before we could board the underground we needed to purchase an Oyster Card which we would use to ride public transit through out London. The Oyster card is a small card, similar to a debit card that you load with money and use to pay for public transit around London. It’s simple to use, just needing to be tapped against the entry and exit points when you are entering and exiting stations, and is simple to ’top up’ when your balance gets low. You can also turn in your visitor Oyster card at the end of your stay in London and get any unused pounds returned to you. The process of getting the Oyster card at the terminal seemed a bit confusing, but likely was due to 1. no coffee and 2. no sleep. We also could have ordered it ahead of time to be delivered to our house and then would not have needed to stand in any queues prior to getting on the transit of our choice.
The best thing about using the underground? Your map app tells you exactly which lines you need to be on. The worst thing about arriving on a weekend? The line we needed to get us from Heathrow to central London was closed for repairs. Which meant we needed to either take the Heathrow Express which would have only taken about 15 mins but cost us over £300, or take the TfL rail which would take about an hour but cost much less. We took the longer (hour) ride at a much lower price and enjoyed our first glimpses of London.
We chose to stay in the Canary Wharf district of London which is east of Central London, mainly due to reviews of the area (see previous post about hours and hours of research), and finding a hotel that didn’t break the bank but had 2 beds and met my hotel review standards (yes, I am a bit of a hotel snob). I had looked at a budget friendly hotel near the Tower Bridge, but was not able to find a great room option for 3 people and really didn’t want to book 2 rooms. We also were arriving on a holiday weekend which made hotels a bit harder to find.
Riding the escalator out out of Canary Wharf station
The Canary Wharf tube station was only a short walk from our Hotel, so we strapped our backpacks on and took our first of many walks through London. At first with me leading with the help of maps. As would be evident throughout the trip, I should never be in charge of leading if we are using the walk feature in maps. I can’t be trusted with it… moving on. From the time we landed at Heathrow until we made it to our hotel room was about 3.5 hours. If I hadn’t tried to navigate us from the tube station to our hotel it may have shaved off 25 mins…kidding! But for sure 5. By the time we made it to our hotel, we had been up for well over 24 hours. Trey and I had slept some on the plane, but Mike had not. We decided to shower so we would feel human (and be less stinky), and set off in search of our first London meal.
The tall buildings in the distance are all in the Canary Wharf district
Stay tuned, in the next post I’ll take you with us as we travel through London.
