Ireland Trip April 2026
Ok I am finally sitting my ass down and writing this blog 3 months late lol. Back in April I went on a week long trip to Ireland with my family and it was also my first time in Europe. My parents went to Ireland about 8 years ago and learned a lot about where both sides of our family are from and they wanted my brother and I to get the chance to experience that and also meet our extended family that lives out there. Despite my worries of going on an international vacation with my family for the first time (the last family trip we did was over a decade ago and it was kind of stressful!!) it was a very fulfilling trip.
Day 1 was kind of a wash because we were all exhausted after an overnight flight. I just can't sleep on a plane for the life of me. We rallied when we landed in Dublin since we had to rent a car and drive two hours south to Wexford to visit family but by the time we actually got to Wexford, ate lunch and walked around for a bit the tiredness really started to hit and we just kind of hung out in the hotel lobby having tea until we could get into our rooms (which ended up being at like 4pm). My mom tried to sleep in the backseat of the car even. I slept REALLY good that night.
Once we were back to normal the next day we linked up with my dad's cousin Bridget who showed us around town. Wexford is where my dad's family is from and I honestly didn't know much about it besides my grandma always talking about how much we'd love it. And it is nice! It grew on me. It felt Very European downtown and it's on the water too which was nice. Bridget showed us a few places around town with family history like where my great grandfather lived (now a pharmacy). We took a short drive to Johnstown Castle and the farming museum there (first of many many castles we will see) which was cool and even stopped by Curracloe beach. It's important to note that every single day except one was sunny and warm which is basically unheard of there.
Johnstown Castle
Curracloe
That night though we went to a party at my cousin James' farmhouse where the whole extended family was going to be there. My parents were stoked because they hadn't been back since the 80s and were excited for us to meet everyone and see how much of it had changed (not much!). Not gonna lie I felt a little awkward at first getting thrown into a room with family I'd never met before but after my cousin Vincent started giving everyone whiskey and we sat down for dinner it got a lot easier LOL. It was really cool meeting everyone, I got to talk with some cousins that are closer in age to me too and we shared travel stories. The funniest bit though was my cousin John who is 18 and just graduated high school was asking me if American college was "really like that with the solo cups and everything" (Vincent did a semester at University of Michigan years ago and kept saying it was one of the most fun times of his life lol). He then told me that American country music is insanely popular with his friends and they all went to see Luke Bryan in concert and it reminded me of when people I went to high school with discovered country music and drinking when we were all 16.
Like I said they do live on a working farm so of course we got a tour and got to see cows and horses (and baby horses!) and wide open fields and all that. Ireland is easily the greenest place I've ever been and there really are just sheep and cows and farms everywhere. Totally different vibe than what I'm used to. It was really pretty and my cousins were cool and was extremely fulfilling. I hope I get to see them again soon (and I did get some of their IGs so fingers crossed).
After Wexford we started a drive across the country (only a couple hours - Ireland is small) to get to Dingle which is where my mom's side of the family is from. We stopped at Blarney Castle along the way which is the quintessential Ireland tourist attraction. And it was cool, the castle itself is fun to walk through and the grounds around it are really pretty and well maintained. I'll admit I did not kiss the Blarney stone... I didn't realize that they basically dangle you over the side of the castle and the woman in front of me was like SCREAMING when she did it so that unfortunately killed the vibe for me. Maybe next time.
The Dingle peninsula is probably the most beautiful place I've ever been in my life. Even on the drive from Wexford to there we found ourselves just stopping constantly to admire the really picturesque countryside. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves - these are of the town of Dingle, the Slea Head drive, my new favorite pub Dick Mack's...
Inch Beach
From the drive to Dingle
The harbor in downtown Dingle
Another shot of the harbor
View from the Conor Pass
Another view from the Conor Pass (you can see little villages in the distance)
Dick Mack's Pub. They had a leather shop but the guy wasn't in that day :(
From the Slea Head scenic drive. They filmed a Star Wars movie around here
Down on the beach
Thousand year old structure on the Slea Head drive
Chilling with sheep on Slea Head
Ok the big reason why we were here was to visit the tiny village of An Clochán (Cloghane) which is where my great great grandfather on my mom's side of the family is from. And when I say tiny village I mean tiny village. One street, one church, one convenience store, one pub. Less than 300 people live there and you have to drive on a beautiful but lowkey scary road called the Conor Pass to get there (my brother the driver made it unscathed going there but got a little too confident on the way back and scratched the rental when he had to quickly pull to the side to let someone pass lol). When my parents were last in Ireland they met an old priest in the town who was also the town recordkeeper and recognized the family name and was able to show them around.
Conor Pass on the way to Cloghane
More sheep
"Downtown" Cloghane
Hi
Their old house was still standing but the craziest thing we saw was a small cemetery behind the main street had a stone marker with graffiti done by my great great grandfather over a hundred years ago that was still visible. Kind of insane.
The marker in question...
And the graffiti on the right hand side
We hit the Cliffs of Moher afterwards, not much more to say about this besides that they were insanely gorgeous. On the way we stopped for lunch in a cute little beach town called Lahinch and I saw a sticker for a neighborhood pub near me on a sign there which was a nice little taste of home across the pond.
Lahinch
Cambridge Mass mentioned?!?!?
Ok last bit of the trip was in Gort which is where my other cousin Mavis lives with her family. I've met her a few times before but it had been a decade since we'd seen her and her kids did not remember us LMAO. We drove over to Galway for a day (the only city we would spend time in on the trip) which was cool, did some shopping and I got a really nice wool sweater that's been sitting in my closet waiting for it to be cold out so I can actually wear it. Spent some time at the city museum and saw a few sights. Weather was pretty bad though so we didn't hang out for very long. Also got Dough Bros pizza which my parents were really hyping up and it was quite good.
#mysweater
Back to Gort. Mavis is a painter and has done a lot of landscapes in the area so she knew a lot of interesting places to take us. The common thread with a lot of these places are really cool castles and structures that have been standing for hundreds of years (and of course lots of farm animals).
Notice the lean on the tower!!
The highlight was one of her art students recommending us a castle on someone's farm that she hadn't been to yet. We had to drive to this guy's farm, get the key to the castle from him, and his dog led us down this mile long path through his beautiful farm to get to the castle. Along the way the farmer was out tending to his cows, and when we all had to squeeze through these little gates to keep going without letting the cows out, they did end up seeing us and all came towards us to see if we would feed them too. Because we didn't, on the way back they couldn't care less about us when we passed through their area again.
The farm in question
Windows XP, Ireland
Guys chilling
Castle feat. dog
Our fearless guide, Buddy the dog
And to close it out, some pics from the final night... beautiful sunset, rainbow and multiple pints at the pub with my cousins and getting a little too drunk in front of my dad and brother. Really amazing trip!! Can't wait to go back. Need to explore Dublin next time and maybe do another day in Galway. And hang out with my cousins again too of course.
