If I've said it once, I've said it one thousand times: I love my fiance more than words express. He puts up with me in the best of times and in the worst of times.
One could say I was born with less than the average person's patience. Mix that with a strong type-A personality, and you have a downright annoying person to ride in a car with.
And ride in a car with me is exactly what that saint of a guy did. In fact, he rode for four days in a car with me in my opinion, one of the scariest places to take a road trip on Earth. Ireland.
That's right, Ireland. Land of small cars and even smaller roads. So, how did we survive the terrifying roads of the Emerald Isle?
An even better question would be, how did I not get ejected from the car after being a growly troll in the passenger seat day after day? The answer is simple: GPS, Guinness, and potty breaks.
These three simple things made the two of us sane enough to endure a massive trek across Ireland. Endure is perhaps not the best choice of words. We LOVED Ireland. It was beautiful, greener than I had ever expected, and full of some of the nicest people we encountered in Europe.
On the other hand, the roads were enough to throw Andy and me into an unexplainable fit of rage and terror. Ok, let's be honest. I had more fits than Andy ever did.
Andy did most of the driving while we were on our Irish adventure. We had the pleasure of riding across Ireland in a Toyota Yaris. I referred to the little gem as the devil incarnate.
The Yaris resembled that of a pregnant roller skate and had it not been for our GPS, we probably would have driven that thing right off a cliff. If you plan to drive through Ireland, I HIGHLY recommend a GPS. It definitely saved our relationship and our butts from getting lost multiple times.
Granted, the GPS would get a mind of its own occasionally and drive us down some interesting road combinations. Sometimes, we would both end up screaming, fearing that we would get the car stuck or come across a pub that we would decide to stop at.
The pubs bring me to my second point, Guinness. Had it not been for our multiple stops at pubs to have a beer, I don't think I would have been calm enough to stay in the car. No, I am not encouraging everyone to go drink!!
A half-hour stop and a beer helped calm me down while cruising in our little death trap. The stop was what I needed, and the beer had the added benefit of keeping me from crawling up the windows for twenty minutes after we started driving again.
Ok, so potty breaks were just a massive scam for me to get out of the car when I was terrified. I never honestly had to go, but we almost always stopped at a pub, which led to more socializing with the locals, something I truly enjoyed doing.
We met many interesting individuals, and at least we dressed appropriately. Most people thought we were from Ireland and did not see us as tourists, which helped us blend in.
After we had made it through Ireland unscathed, we showed up at the car rental parking lot for them to inspect the Yaris. In the United States, most rental companies will go over the car with a fine-toothed comb.
Well, it is hard to inspect a car when on the sheet there are multiple circles to show dents. Andy noticed the sheet the inspector was looking at, and it had at least 20 circles all over the car to show dents and scratches.
If anything had been damaged due to scraping against shrubs or anything, there was no way to tell what was new or old. Even though you cannot tell, it is well worth the money to purchase full coverage on your car in Ireland.
With all the dents, bumps in the road, and crazy driving, the Yaris stayed intact long enough for us to make it safely through the country of Ireland.
Below is a quick video of one of the close calls in Ireland. Enjoy.
foggodyssey says
Guinness, bringing people closer to sex for over 250 years! :) So who did most of the driving while in Ireland? Love to know the route you took or a map of it.
ShannonOD says
I lost two hubcaps my three weeks in Ireland!! But the rest of the car was (mostly) intact...I blame the potholes and ridiculously high speed limits :-)
Dave says
I think Andy definitely did most of the driving!
Dave says
Did you have to pay for those hubcaps, or were they covered by insurance? :)
ShannonOD says
Thank god for full coverage insurance! ;-)
andyandshelly says
Andy did most of the driving. Shelly had her chance then our GPS "Goblin" took us down a 1-lane dirt road where a lady walking could not walk on the same road as our Yaris because it was too small.
We went from Dublin to Galway, down to Killarney, then to Cork, and back up to Dublin. So we only visited the southern half.
Have you driven there before?
andyandshelly says
That is why you pay the extra for insurance, haha. Did you see the sheet they filled out to ensure nothing bad happened?
Actually the speed limit is pretty tame compared to the rest of Europe, but the roads are so small and winding that it seems you are going extremely fast. Especially if you are in a sardine can like the Yaris.
ShannonOD says
I think what got me is that the roads ARE so tiny and unkempt that there is now way you should be able to go that fast - I pulled over frequently so that ppl could pass me in my little Micra ;-) lol.
Rose says
The roads in Ireland are very beautiful, but also quite terrifying. One of the worst things is when you can't see around a turn in the road because of the hedges on either side of you! The roads can also be very narrow- once we were driving to visit family down a tiny dirt road, and a truck started driving towards us. There was no room to pull over or pass, so we had to drive in reverse for a few miles!
Regardless, Ireland is still my favorite place.
Rose says
The roads in Ireland are very beautiful, but also quite terrifying. One of the worst things is when you can't see around a turn in the road because of the hedges on either side of you! The roads can also be very narrow- once we were driving to visit family down a tiny dirt road, and a truck started driving towards us. There was no room to pull over or pass, so we had to drive in reverse for a few miles!
Regardless, Ireland is still my favorite place.
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I would love to drive around Ireland, I have family there and although I have visited the cities would love to go the rural areas too.