One if by land, two if by sea

(At least, that's the number of people who get sick by that mode of transport)

Just returned from Ireland and it was great.
Long story short, there wasn't a way to get back to the airport from Gallway so we had to rent a car. At the rental car place, the guy there hooked us up with a B&B that was the same price as the hostel we were planning on staying at. That gets a thumbs up.
Food is super expensive in Gallway. I had a baked potato one night with various toppings for €10. That's a lot. That's like paying $25 for one Mexican entre. Thumbs down. Because of the prices, we tempered our appetites with MacDonalds. Boooo to culture.

We took a ferry over to the Aran Islands. This is the ride where Joe and I got sick. Frank managed to keep his sea legs (or at the very least, he kept his breakfast), but it was rough. I wish I could have taken a picture of the enormous waves that we tipping us back and forth. If you looked out one window, all that you could see was ocean, and through the other window, it was all sky. Big thumbs down there. Aran Islands are beautiful. They inspired me to be active again! We rented bikes and rode around for the whole day, discovering bones on beaches (I'm not kidding!), playing with the lonesome horses, and getting blown away by the fierce winds.

Thumbs up for horses. The islands were covered in white washed houses with bright red doors and brown thatched roofes, just like I hoped. Riding the bikes was the best way to see everything because they were so flat that it didn't take much effort, but we were able to decide how long we stayed places. Thumbs up for no tour groups. We hiked up to some cliffs while we were there and they were so gorgeous. No railings meant that we could sit on the ledge and watch the ocean beneath us. Surreal. Thumbs way up.
The final day we drove that rental car. Scary, let me tell you. Not only was it a manual, but Ireland drives on the wrong side of the road. Joe had to figure out the wrong side thing, in addition to the transmission being flip-flopped. First gear is furthest away from the driver. Very strange, but oddly fun. Thumbs way up. Frank was sorta sick and had lost his voice, which meant I had to navigate. Me navigating a nervous Joe was interesting. On some stretches of road, Frank sat up front and I stayed in the back, which prompted me to get sick. Thumbs down.
The weirdest part of the trip was Joe's backpack. When we were getting our checked bags, Joe's had been opened and he quickly discovered his granola bars were missing. I assumed that customs had searched it and food wasn't allowed in. When we got on the bus to town, he learned that my library book and his bathroom things were also gone. I checked with the airport to see if they had turned up lost, but while there were many other lost items, none of our were there. A strange collection to steal, but that's the only option left. Thumbs down.
That leaves Ireland with three thumbs which is more than I have so it must be good.
Now its back to work and trip planning. Six weeks is a lot to plan. We're getting there, slowly but surely. Seven more days of work. Yahooo.