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simple living

How to get a taste of Northern Ireland in 1 day

June 27, 2017 by Meg 14 Comments

Take a bus tour up to Northern Ireland from Dublin. In one day: stop at several stops, learn a bit of Irish history and see beautiful views and coastlines.Visit Carrick-a-rede Rope Bridge, Northern Ireland. Take a bus tour up to Northern Ireland from Dublin. In one day: stop at several stops, learn a bit of Irish history and see beautiful views and coastlines.Visit Dunluce Caste, Northern Ireland. Take a bus tour up to Northern Ireland from Dublin. In one day: stop at several stops, learn a bit of Irish history and see beautiful views and coastlines.Visit Giant's Causeway, Northern Ireland - a UNESCO heritage sight. Take a bus tour up to Northern Ireland from Dublin. In one day: stop at several stops, learn a bit of Irish history and see beautiful views and coastlines.Take a bus tour up to Northern Ireland from Dublin. In one day: stop at several stops, learn a bit of Irish history and see beautiful views and coastlines.Check out the street art in Belfast City. Take a bus tour up to Northern Ireland from Dublin. In one day: stop at several stops, learn a bit of Irish history and see beautiful views and coastlines.Game of Thrones fan? Visit the Dark Hedges in Northern Ireland. Take a bus tour up to Northern Ireland from Dublin. In one day: stop at several stops, learn a bit of Irish history and see beautiful views and coastlines.

Take a bus tour up to Northern Ireland from Dublin. In one day: stop at several stops, learn a bit of Irish history and see beautiful views and coastlines.The great thing about travelling in Ireland is that it is easy to travel around the country. In fact, it only takes 2 hours to get from Dublin to Belfast. So with a 2 hour drive, you are technically in another country, even if you never leave the island of Ireland. The problem comes in when you don’t own a car. Some of the best spots along the coastline, are not easily accessible if you don’t have wheels to get there. While I am not against hiking, or walking, sometimes it is just easier to drive to your destination. It also means that you can see more than one place in a day.

We found a great Groupon deal to take a bus tour up to Northern Ireland from Dublin. In one day, you get to stop at several stops, learn a bit of Irish history and see beautiful coastlines as you sit comfortably in a bus.

I wasn’t sure if we were going to enjoy the bus trip. As you all know, we are not conventional tourist type, in fact, I make it my mission to avoid crowds and tourist traps wherever we go. But this day trip was a great way to get out town over the long weekend – and get a taste for Northern Ireland. At best I thought we would snap a few pics, and have a fun day out. I have to say that the tour guide we had on the bus was super informative, she made it feel like she wasn’t just reading a script – she cracked a few jokes, told us some interesting facts, and pointed out things we would have missed had we driven there by ourselves. All in all, I have to say that if you are looking to see parts of Ireland that require a car, then taking a bus tour should be your first choice – and I highly recommend taking Finn McCools bus tour – since it is affordable and well worth it (also out for Groupon deals to make even more budget friendly!).

[bctt tweet=”Tips on how to make the most out of your @Finn_tours of Northern Ireland. #discoverireland” username=”Thisisus_living”]

The day starts out quite early. We had to be at the pick up spot at 6:45am. Because it was too early to take public transport, we walked to a bike station, rented bikes and cycled up to the pick up spot just off O’Connell street.

The bus left on time, and we headed out of the city on the motorway. They stop at a petrol station just outside Northern Ireland, as a last chance to buy any snacks or beverages for the day.

*Tip: Rob and I made sandwiches and packed a picnic of snacks we brought from home. Bringing your own will save you money, as buying snacks at the petrol station, or at the tourists spots is bound to be overpriced. 

The first official stop is in Belfast City. We arrived in Belfast at 9am, on a Sunday, which meant it was pretty quiet. Most of the shops only open at 1pm on a Sunday! You get a little over an hour to walk around. The nice part was that it was quiet, so we got to take pics, without tons of crowds. We took the time to draw some money, and walked around city hall.

*Tip: Keep in mind that Northern Ireland does not work in EURO’s, so you would need to have pounds to spend at any of the stops. This stop is also the only chance you get to draw some pounds, which you could need if you want to do any of the add-ons during the trip. 

Northern Ireland bus tour: Belfast City Hall, great stop and chance to explore the city, as well as some cool street art. Check out the post for tips on why you should take a bus tour to explore Northern Ireland. #discoverireland

The next stop is at the Dark Hedges. This is one for the Game of Thrones fans. It is a strip of road that has these unique trees on either side. It was used in a scene in GoT, but obviously looks a bit different without all the special effects. To be honest this stop is overcrowded, there are people and cars/buses trying to access this road (as it is not cut off from the public, people still try use this road to drive through), so it is difficult to get a “perfect” pic.

Tip: You only get 10 minutes or so, so get out the bus quick and try get ahead of the crowd to take a pic before it gets too crowded. 

Northern Ireland bus tour: The Dark Hedges. A scene from Game of Thrones. Check out the post for tips on why you should take a bus tour to explore Northern Ireland. #discoverireland

A quick stop to take a pic of Dunluce Castle is the next stop. It was pretty windy, and because the castle is a little farther away, my cellphone pic just didn’t do it justice.

Northern Ireland bus tour: Dunluce Castle. Check out the post for tips on why you should take a bus tour to explore Northern Ireland. #discoverireland

The main stop for the day is Giant’s Causeway. Our tour guide, Tara, gave us the “full Irish story” of this UNESCO world heritage site, and 8th wonder of the world as we were driving there. I won’t give too much away, but I will say that it involves a giant named Finn McCool. We stopped here for a good hour and half, and had our picnic lunch with a view of Giant’s Causeway.

Tip: It is a unique spot, but I recommend if you have time to walk down towards it, and then loop back going up the stairs and walking along the cliffs. It gives you a nice view of the Causeway from above.

Northern Ireland bus tour: Giant's Causeway. Check out the post for tips on why you should take a bus tour to explore Northern Ireland. #discoverireland

 The next stop is at the Carrick-a-rede Rope Bridge. You have a little over an hour to explore, and if you would like, you can walk across the rope bridge for £7. Unfortunately, the rope bridge was closed when we went, due to extremely high winds. It is however, a beautiful stop – we walked along the cliffs on both sides of the car park, and really will have to go back to brave the rope bridge!

Tip: Finn McCool’s offers a discount if you buy your rope bridge ticket from the bus driver – but you need to pay in cash, and they only accept pounds!

Northern Ireland bus tour: Carrick-a-rede Rope Bridge. Check out the post for tips on why you should take a bus tour to explore Northern Ireland. #discoverireland

From here, we drove to Cushendun, and did a quick stop here to see another famous GoT scene, as well as Ireland’s most famous goat! On a clear day, you can get sight of Scotland, but we didn’t get to see it on the day we went. Still, it is a quaint little village, with beautiful views.

Northern Ireland bus tour: Cushendun. Check out the post for tips on why you should take a bus tour to explore Northern Ireland. #discoverireland

On the way, back to our last stop, our tour bus had to detour due to a car crash that diverted traffic. In usual circumstances, you would expect the bus driver and tour guide to get a bit flustered, however this did not slow them down one bit. They cracked a few jokes about getting us lost in the Glens, and we ended up seeing a bit more than we thought we would. Even with the detour we still got home in time, and I loved how well it was handled.

The last stop is back in Belfast. This time we managed to walk down a few side allies and find some great street art while we were there. I definitely think it gives you a nice flavour for the city, but not nearly enough time to properly explore Belfast – so we are keen to head back and really stay a few days. I see that Finn McCools have added a new tour that gives you more time to explore Belfast, so perhaps that may be a good option for us too.
Northern Ireland bus tour: Belfast Street Art. Check out the post for tips on why you should take a bus tour to explore Northern Ireland. #discoverireland

Let me know in the comments: Have you done a bus tour? How did you find it? 

Unlock the simple life,

~Meg~

p.s. If social media is your thing (snap! It’s my fave too!), you should totally follow me on Instagram.

p.p.s. I try post varied content once or twice a month, to be sure you don’t miss out on the new post you should sign up and get all the news straight in your inbox – Sign up now!

Filed Under: Travels Tagged With: discover dublin, discover ireland, ireland, irish travel, irishlife, simple living, travel, travel tips, travelling, travels

All you need to know about bringing a pet into Ireland

April 10, 2017 by Meg 20 Comments

All you need to know about bringing a pet into IrelandAll you need to know about bringing a pet into Ireland

bringing a pet into IrelandWhen we decided we were keen to move to Ireland, we first looked at how our furbaby was going to get over there. You see, we might not have any human babies but we do have Jack, and well, he is our baby. Jack is part of our little wolf-pack, and so he definitely was coming over – no matter what.

I mentioned in the previous post that there is no quarantine period when you send your pet over to Ireland from South Africa. However there are some steps you need to take in order to ensure a seamless transition into the country. Here is all you need to know about bringing your pet over to Ireland with you:

Talk to your vet.

We spoke to our vet before deciding to send Jack over and decided against giving him any drugs while he flew. We wanted him to be able to wake himself up and breathe easily – as these are concerns some Pugs have. Our vet also said that you should take into account your pet’s age. Jack was turning 3 at the time, so he was still young enough to travel. Our vet said that pets over the age of 8 or so, or pets that have ailments, it makes travelling with them a bit more tricky.

Allow 90 days for medical clearance.

In order to obtain access into Ireland, you need to take your pet to your local vet and get blood taken to check that they are up to date with their vaccinations (most importantly, the rabies vaccination). Ireland doesn’t have a problem with Rabies, in fact, your pet won’t need this vaccination whilst he lives in Ireland. So they are extra careful that any pet coming over to Ireland is fully vaccinated against Rabies. The trick with this blood work is waiting for the results. It cost us around R2000 to get the bloods taken and sent off. Your vet sends it off to a lab (In South Africa it goes to Onderstepoort), then you wait to receive the certificate that your pet is cleared to travel. When we sent off the bloods, Onderstepoort had been on a strike and was backlogged by one month. It took 2 months to get the certificate. *Important: You need the original that gets sent to your vet. From the day that the blood is taken, you have to wait 90 days before you can travel. This was a bit confusing for us, and the reason I ended up having to wait 3 weeks after Rob left to be able to send Jack and myself over (Also, it is 90 days, not 3 months).

Your pet needs to arrive within 5 days of yourself.

Either five days before or after you arrive. Any longer and it could be seen as you are trying to import a dog that is not your own. The problem when you are moving countries, you might not have a place set up yet. Although we had friends who paid for kenneling here in Ireland while they searched for a home, we didn’t want to put any unnecessary stress on Jack (so we made it kind of stressful for ourselves instead!). Rob flew over first and found a place for us to stay – then Jack and I flew over a day apart (I arrived before he did).

move your pet to ireland

If you can afford it, use a professional.

Although I am sure you can fly your pet over on your own, the hassle and stress of making sure you have all the right paper work is just not worth it in my opinion. We used Keringa Pet Wings (friend’s used them prior to us). I have to say, they were incredibly patient and understanding with all my questions and concerns. You simply fill in a form online and they will send you a quote to fly your pet overseas.

The quote includes costs for vet checks before he leaves (not the blood test), made-to-order crate for transporting, boarding while waiting for the international/connecting flight (we flew Jack from Durban to Johannesburg then onto Dublin – with a stopover in Frankfurt). You need to measure your pet and then they will make a crate that is the perfect size for them. The costs vary based on when you send them over, stop overs and boarding, as well as crate size. We paid R18000 to send Jack over mid November 2016.

keringa pet wings

Traveling and Crates.

I was super worried about this one. Jack had never flown before, nor had he ever been in a crate. This dog literally has a better life than most humans! He sleeps in our bed, under the duvet with his head on the pillow. I am convinced that if I don’t find a job, Rob and I would stop eating just so that Jack could keep eating his fancy, vet-approved meals. So I was super worried how the crate and flying would go. He loves travelling in a car (he loves the adventure and looking out the window), but honestly, he is happiest when he is with us.

pet travel

But I have to say that Keringa Pet Wings were amazing. He arrived on the other side, walked out of the crate and was his usually happy self from the get go. Here is a little video clip of Jack when he first arrived in Dublin:

http://thisisusliving.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/IMG_7947.mp4

If we were ever thinking of moving back to South Africa, or anywhere in the world for that matter – I would highly recommend using Keringa Petwings (and no, I wasn’t paid to say that!). Even if you just want to ask a million questions, they have been in this business for over 20 years – ask them anything, they can offer you some great advice.

I hope you found the tips informative, let me know if you have any other questions!

Unlock the simple life,

~Meg~

p.s. If social media is your thing (snap! It’s my fave too!), you should totally follow me on Instagram.

p.p.s. I try post varied content once or twice a month, to be sure you don’t miss out on the new post you should sign up and get all the news straight in your inbox – Sign up now!

Filed Under: Irishlife Tagged With: ireland, irish travel, simple living, south africa, travel tips, travelling, travels

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About Meg

Hey! My name is Meg. I am an astrologer with a focus on Astrogeography and evolutionary astrology. I am a South African currently living in Ireland, using Astrogeography in my own life has been so helpful that I started doing readings to help others move and travel based on their astrology. Read my story here

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