Learning to Drive a Stick: Day 8

It is my eighth day driving a stick. I'm driving from the passenger side of the car and driving on the left side of the road. Oh, and the streets in Ireland are only wide enough to fit one car. But it's a two way street.

We rented our car in Galway on Monday morning. They have the same rules here about renting cars; if you are not 25 years old or older then you have to pay exhorbitant fees. That's where the problem arises. I am 24 and Preston is 25. I can drive a stick down the boulevard and Preston can maneuver the La Serna High School parking lot. Sometimes.

I had faith in Preston's manual driving skills, until we got to the car park. He stalled the car first thing. We knew at that point there was no way he was going to get it out of the city centre of Galway. So here we go, breaking the rules. I seat myself on the right hand side of the car, release the clutch, and press on the gas.

Smooth start. I drive us up to the roof level of the parking structure and play around with shifting gears. There isn't a lot of room but I at least figure out shifting up to second and then back down to first. That is the most we can do without flying off the roof. It is time to venture out into the city centre.

We made sure to completely map out our route to the nearby Tesco (the grocery store). One way streets, weird places to turn, and plenty of pedestrians.

In the end, we safely made it to Tesco after circling around several roundabouts. After parking, I realize an important part of driving a stick: reversing. I choose a parking spot where the stall across from me is open. But when we come back from stealing wifi from Tesco and McDonald's, we find that someone has parked in the stall in front of our rental car.

No better time to practice reversing with a stick, right? Stressful but successful. Didn't hit anything and didn't stall. I'm happy we got the Excess car insurance.

The upcoming hour is the true test. For starters, this rental car has five gears. I have only driven my dad's truck, which has three gears. While trying to figure out what gear I should be using at what speed, I have to squeeze through the most narrow streets I have ever driven in my life. There are cars hurtling toward me on the right and sturdy stone walls on the left. Remember all that stress sweating while catching our flights to Ireland? Stress sweating has made a comeback.

However, narrow roads aren't the worst of it. Add some winding and some uphill driving and it's the perfect nightmare for an unexperienced manual driver.

Surprisingly, with all of these factors throughout the day, I only stalled once. (That was the part where it was narrow, winding, and uphill). I may have been in third gear when I should have been in second. In this spot, I even pulled off reversing to get turned around. All while going uphill! I deserve a pat on the back.

Throughout our day we made a couple stops. We briefly saw the Dunguaire Castle. We attempted to find The Burren, but since wifi was scarce we couldn't find where it was located. (We load maps and routes onto our phone via wifi and then take backup screenshots to navigate). We were too late to visit the Doolin Caves, but we did get to go to the Cliffs of Moher.

The Cliffs of Moher were stunning. They were so high above the water and in the distance all we could see was the ocean's horizon disappearing into the fog. Plenty more selfies were taken, as they are with everything we visit and every activity we do.

Remember in the film, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, when Harry and Dumbledore go to retrieve the locket from that cove? Turns out they filmed it at the Cliffs! I saw the rock where they filmed the scene. It is a beautiful location and many films have been shot here.

It's also extremely dangerous. The entire length of the cliff has a paved path and an unpaved path. The paved path has a low slate wall separating you from the unpaved path and the cliff. But you can easily climb over it. And everyone did. And some people were crazy mother-f*%&ers and were sliding down onto grassy ledges on the cliff to take pictures. No wonder people always die from falling off of cliffs.

I didn't want to drive in the dark with my current conditions, so we continued to our B&B in Bunratty. We stopped for directions once at a pub and practiced some more reversing with some tight U-turns, but we made it. Parked in a tight spot on some gravel and checked in.

The night's activity was the Medieval Bunratty Castle Banquet. It was a ten minute walk down the road, but it was pitch black and narrow with ditches on the side. We donned out trusty headlamps and off we went.

The banquet was for a small group, definitely no Medieval Times. The entertainment was filled with old music and costumes and stories. At one point they threw one of the guests into the dungeon and made him sing a song to the earl in order to be released. (The earl was also a guest that they picked at random).

It was a fun night with honey mead, parsnip soup, ribs and chicken, and an apple desert. There was also red wine. Barely a

pitcher full. But I had not had a meal yet that day.

I only had four small cups of red wine (plus the cup of honey mead upon our arrival. Did you know honey is thought to bring fertility and that is why it is called a honeymoon?). But I am already a lightweight in the first place.

There was no intention to get drunk, but that's what happens when drinking on an empty stomach. I was giggly for the rest of the night and everything was probably much more amusing (both for me and for sober Preston).

The next morning we woke up late. We assumed that we had missed breakfast at the B&B, but when we went to check in the dining area we found that that was not the case. We were welcomed by a sweet and chatty woman with a strong Irish accent.

"Oh, you two lovebirds stickin' to bed. I thought you were never going to get up! Come on and get some breakfast."

She unveiled an area filled with fruits, cheeses, and meats. We thought this array was our breakfast selection, which would have been plenty.

"Here you have some fruit and ham and such," she continued, "but let me make you a full Irish breakfast to line your stomachs after a night of boozin'!"

No exaggeration. This is exactly what she said as she gave me a nudge with her elbow. She even asked how we like our eggs, soft or turned over, and if we would like tea and coffee.

This was the best breakfast of our trip yet. Real bacon, egg, sausage, tomatoes, mushrooms, and white and black pudding. The white pudding made me think of my mom's stuffing at Thanksgiving. The black pudding was okay (yes, I know it's blood) and everything else was perfect. The tea and coffee were each served in their own pots, ceramic for tea and steel for coffee.

Unfortunately, this was also the morning we found out about Belgium. Since we don't follow the media as much as we normally would, the Irish woman told us all about what had happened with the bombs and the casualties. It doesn't make me nervous for our trip

here in Ireland, but it does concern me for when our flight back home comes around.

When it was time to check out, we rang the bell and she hurried out to bid us farewell and give helpful directions.

She was so Irish. It was perfect.

"Now you come back next year! I'll see you then!" I signed the guestbook and we were off.

Having a full Irish breakfast was just what I need to start my three hour drive to Dingle, which is where we are currently. Plenty more winding and narrow roads, but they aren't as scary as yesterday. I've braved taking the car up to fifth gear, and downshifting is (nearly) a cinch. Three more days of driving and I'll be a pro at shifting. At least, with my left hand I will be.

Now we are taking it easy in Dingle. We are running low on clean clothes, but the owner of our B&B let us use his washer a dryer. So we saved a few euros there. Apparently laundromats aren't really a thing here. They have laundrettes where you drop of your clothes and they do your laundry for you. I'm not a fan of strangers touching my dirty underwear.

Tonight we decided to splurge on dinner since we haven't been eating much the past few days. We went to a seafood restaurant because Dingle is a coastal town. It was a splurge that felt good. Preston had a seafood platter with mussels, crab claws, calamari, and fish and chips. I had a crab platter with crab claws, crab cakes, and crab quiche. Not to mention a seafood chowder that was heavy on the seafood. So good!

On the walk back home we picked up a couple scoops of ice cream at an Irish ice cream shop, called Murphy's. Preston got a scoop of cookie ice cream and a scoop of brown bread ice cream (it has chunks of brown bread in it!). I got a scoop of brown bread ice cream and Irish Coffee ice cream (it has whiskey in it!). A very fun way to eat an Irish inspired dessert.

These have been two very long days with the driving. I'm so proud of how well I have done. Now we just have to teach Preston how to return our manual rental car to the Cork Airport. I don't think driving through the airport in first gear is going to work out too well...