No trip is complete without something going sideways

Sept 22nd-23rd

Thursday was our final morning in Dublin. I really believe that something is bound to go wrong or not turn out how you intended on any longer trip, but they always make great memories! The motto when we get stressed or frustrated is "I'm sure we will laugh about this later....?"

Anyways...

We had a normal morning and went to pick up our rental car, since we were to leave Dublin and drive across Ireland to County Donegal for our third night. Of course, we had bank/phone service/credit card problems and ended up loitering suspiciously in the Enterprise parking garage for over an hour, making a lot of phone calls and trying to brain storm how to get this rental car smoothed out. There were some head in our hands moments but we finally figured out a solution (** thank you Angel Mortenson, sorry for waking you up).

Of course, this whole rental car fiasco made us creep up on our hotel check out time. I called them on the first round asking if we can have just a half hour late checkout for a rental car issue. The kind staff at the hotel graciously accommodated. I had to call them again and ask for yet another few hours extension, which they also made work for us even though the hotel was fully booked that night, bless them.

We ended up being a few hours behind schedule leading for Donegal and the 3.5 hour journey did feel longer than it should have by then. HOWEVER, the drive was beautiful and we saw endless sheep and cows and green hills which was a therapeutic break from a chaotic morning, and was also a stress reliever for me as andrea drove on the left side of the right from the right side of the car for the first time in many years. She did great though and was an expert in no time. (Thanks for driving, Andrea 😂).

It's not uncommon that an unfortunate and unforeseen turn of events will occur when traveling, and truly the make or break part of that experience is being able to travel with people that you know will be tolerant, adaptable and take them in stride alongside you, and know it is just part of life. I definitely felt blessed that our friendship has withstood many a stressful travel moment that later became a good story!

bonus: Andrea ended up not having any phone service even though we both have AT&T, and still doesn't. We also both forgot all of our outlet converters.

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We finally reached our cottage in Donegal and it was truly the cutest cottage I've ever seen and a cozy end to a very long day. The place was set In beautiful green farmland and had a lovely fireplace to wrap up the night. We had a lovely dinner at Thatch in town - a recommendation from the Airbnb host, and had a laugh over the days events.

Our cottage in Donegal. Such a beautiful place!

Delicious fresh caught sea bass at Thatch