Written June 2017

August 8: Galway, Ireland

Sites: The beauty of Ireland was breathtaking; the cities not so much. Galway was uninteresting other than the fact that we visited people and areas from Lance’s mission. I remember Lance being especially reminiscent when we saw the bus station where he picked up Elder Nate Ogden, and the falling-apart city building where they met for Church. We stopped to see the Jenson family, and I remember feeling kind of awkward because of their awkwardness. They were nice, though, and it gave me insight to what life could be like as one of the only members of the church in your city. They were jealous of our soon-to-be hometown of Orem, Utah.

While in Galway, we also made our way to Gort, where Lance served with Elder Rapier while teaching a large population of Portuguese-speaking foreigners. After many wrong turns, we finally found his former rental home — which was for sale — and peeked through the windows and tromped through the back yard, all while Lance shared his memories. Outside of Galway lie the Cliffs of Moher, where we spent an entire afternoon wandering, photographing, napping, and watching other tourists do the same.

Lodging: In Galway we stayed at the Sleepzone Hostel. This place was big, busy and not quite what we had bargained for. In our guidebook (which you can tell we relied on heavily), the hostel is advertised as an alcohol-free zone. Yet upon arrival the teen who checked us in offered us a drink and wanted to talk about all the party spots. We stayed in another mixed dorm, though this one was smaller with maybe four bunk beds. Our roommates (young girls) were not nearly as courteous, came in and out late at night, and had alcohol. Lame. Luckily we only stayed one night. I remember feeling like an old foggy because we were married and going to bed at like 9 p.m. In the morning we went downstairs for the free breakfast and after seeing the chaos of young and crazies, we decided it wasn’t worth it and left.