Lunch Break-Back To My Roots

Sampling dishes and diners in and around Miami County

Before planning our great European two-week adventure, I had originally signed up to visit Paris with the travel group I found on TikTok alone. I knew, however, that once I mentioned that I had made the last-minute decision to leave the country, my best friend Kaylee would feel compelled to come along. I couldn’t be more grateful to have shared the experience with her, and without her suggestion of buying cheaper plane tickets, I wouldn't have been stranded an extra week after our group trip ended.

After weeks of procrastinating and some last-minute planning, we landed on visiting Ireland after Paris. That being said, to no fault of her own, Kaylee ended up with what we now think might have been the flu for the second leg of our trip. Therefore, most of the Irish festivities I spent alone.

I’ve always had a soft spot and curiosity for Gaelic culture. From the age of seven to around seventeen, I was actually a competitive Irish dancer with McGovern Irish Dance in Dayton. While competitions were a large part of my life, and where I learned many important lessons, performances were also what kept me joyful and invested in the extracurricular activities for so long. Irish culture has always been full of music, life, conversation, and a rambunctious atmosphere that I fell in love with.

I’m an only child, and I’ve always been independent. However, exploring a new country, using public transport, finding accommodations, and trying to make the most of every moment was really difficult. Every day, I left the Airbnb, prayed that my online bus ticket worked, walked to the nearest bus stop, and took a rickety ride to random locations within a two-hour radius. We began our adventure with two nights in a Galway, Latin Quarter, adjacent hostel. Night one, we flew in from Paris, rode a Citylink bus three hours from Dublin to Galway, and crashed. The next day, we did some minimal exploring and shopping around Galway, and I dragged a very sick Kaylee to a pub, a cathedral, and a 6:00 pm candlelight mass.

The pub meal was pretty phenomenal. We both ordered the seafood chowder, which was equipped with every single type of urchin, fish, shellfish, etc. The more I ate, the more textures I was discovering. And of course, it was fresh. The creamy soup was paired with a deliciously dense soda bread and an Irish coffee. I wanted to be an Irish coffee girl so badly, but it tasted like actual fingernail polish remover.

I dragged Kaylee along to the Cliffs of Moher, where we had a visitor center lunch. I ordered the grilled cheese, which was not quite as good as the one in Paris. That one remains unmatched. I also ordered coleslaw, which was a pale pink in color due to the red cabbage, and was smothered in mayonnaise. Interesting, but not something I would order again.

Later in the week, I visited Doolin on my own. What I thought would be a booming little village was actually more of a summer town. So, after walking on the road, alongside beautiful farm fields and empty closed storefronts, I made it to a peaceful pier overlooking the ocean. It was freezing, but the washed-up coral and sea life hidden between the rocks were fun to discover.

However, I regretfully anticipated the Doolin day trip to be more eventful, and spent about 3.5 hours in the only open pub waiting to walk half a mile to the next bus, which was then an hour late. In those 3.5 hours. I had another round of fish and chips, which were great, but London’s were still unmatched. A cider that I absolutely adored, a tea, and a brownie. I just kept ordering things because I felt bad for loitering. The open fireplace was, however, really comforting and enjoyable to loiter in front of.

My final outing in Ireland was back in the Latin Quarter. After wandering around aimlessly, I finally settled on a small pub, ordered a Guinness, obviously, hated it. I ordered the same cider I had in Doolin and talked to the ear of an old man off. The icing on the cake was the live folk band playing in the corner. With my Guinness and pub visit, I felt complete, and as I left Ireland the next day, I was pretty satisfied with my travels and the end of my great adventure abroad. Until next time, of course.