| Mina |
Jan 8th, 2003 08:41 PM |
Hi Jessica (and Sarah!)<BR><BR>You are going to have a wonderful time. Ireland is just amazing for a single gal...perfect really (although I have yet to try Scotland!) I was absolutely floored by the hospitality of the people I met there...some literally went out of their way for me; from getting up out of chairs and bringing it over for me in pubs to skipping work to drive me around for hours. There were times I was really speechless! <BR><BR>About pub life: a lady who posts here by the name of Ann said something I think is very true...that a misconception that many Americans have is that as soon as they will walk into a pub, they will make tons of new Irish friends. She said that the only people that happens to are people who go into bars in the US and can make friends easily. That being said, I think you have a huge advantage in pub life being a solo gal. People are more apt to approach solo travelers anywhere!<BR><BR>Pubs are intimidating at first (going into a bar as a solo female is always a bit unnerving, in my opinion.) Don't go sit at a table...go sit at the bar. Sometimes it takes longer than others, but sooner or later, someone will start "chatting you up". :) Always offer to buy a round. I found though, that I had a really really hard time buying men rounds, even younger men (forget about older men, although you should still offer...virtually impossible in my experience). I tried to insist at least once but if they refused, I thanked them, and that seemed to be fine. I managed to buy a drink once for a man (after he bought me a few, and I only managed because I insisted the bartender take it when the man wasn't looking) and he genuinely looked dismayed. After that, I stopped insisting after one time (although it's hard accepting all the time, being an independent woman, you know? ;-) ) Most nights, I'd buy one drink for myself, and after that, it was hard to buy...it was unexpectedly the cheapest vacation I have had to date because of this.<BR><BR>Ireland has wonderful seafood, so you should not have a problem. I ate seafood more than meat! Try mussels...they're often wonderful. If you like goat cheese...wow...just tons of good choices there. I did think that good veggie choices in restaurants were in short supply, but I'm a big meat eater, so I didn't really look hard. Maybe someone else can offer help in this arena.<BR><BR>I went to Galway, Doolin, Dingle, Kinsale, Adare. I'd say skip Adare. Go to Kinsale if it strikes your fancy, but just know it's a bit more expensive than some places. If I had to do it over again, I'd do the first three places, and also go up to Sligo or Donegal. For someone your age, I do highly recommend Galway. A college town, it's got a young vibe, and you can hang out very late. There's even a burger joint open 24 hours if you're hungry! (Not McDonald's, by the way, although there is one in town). Fly in and out of Shannon, unless you really want to see Dublin.<BR><BR>Definitely drive - unnerving at first, but fun. September is a good month! Hopefully it will be like this past Sept, when it was the driest September in umpteen years! Please let me know if you have more questions...I would love to help where I can.
|
