Healing By the Sea
And tasting the best Guinness
“So you’re supposed to pray to St Anthony,” my mom texts back. It’s half past ten the night before my flight to Ireland and I am flipping my mattress desperately trying to find my passport. I grew up begrudgingly getting dragged to mass every Sunday, but have no clue what a prayer to the patron saint of travelers, miracles and lost objects looks like. Instead, I’m slowly searching around my room and muttering a cover of Ricky Bobby’s sweet baby Jesus prayer which feels better suited. Sure enough, my passport reveals itself wedged between the back of two drawers in my desk. Mother knows best!
Being the ‘yes’ man that I am, I hopped over to Cork to gallivant about town with my flatmate who was traveling ahead of a conference for her PhD (I live with a genius). Our agenda was strictly 1) fresh air 2) coastline 3) Guinness and 4) Gaelic football, not entirely in that order. After the weekend, I was going to meet with a friend of mine from college who happened to be touching down for her own trip, and then head up to Dublin for a day and a bit before flying back to London.
This newsletter contains
Irish vacay success + learnings
My claim for the best Guinness
My new fave sport - hurling!
A minimal packing list that won’t leave you feeling same-y
A few wellness travel tips
PLANNING A TRIP IS HARDLY CHILL
I tried to not go overboard by planning every second of the trip because I still want my friends to think I’m relatively casual and don’t need everything to be perfect. What a lie that is! If something doesn’t go my way — for example, every day we tried to take a bus to go out for this cliff walk I was desperate to see, it was cancelled — I have to say out loud that this doesn’t impact how much I’m enjoying the trip. I can’t help but be a bit disappointed when things like that don’t go my way, which is why I typically embark on a few hours of research ahead of any trip to make sure I squeeze every last drop of goodness out of a place that I can.
Some of the research paid off, like this incredible little patisserie in Cork that my flatmate and I had breakfast at two days in a row. On the first morning, we went for a balanced approach and shared a sausage roll, berry macaron, and a chocolate almond croissant, the latter of which I could have eaten for a week straight. I would absolutely suggest anyone who goes to Ireland or the UK has a sausage roll because they’re uber comforting; it wasn’t a huge must-have for me on this trip because one of my favorite bakeries in London, Jolene, arguably makes the best one.
Similarly, when I was in Dublin I had a self-guided pub crawl based on a cross-referenced list of the four best pints of Guinness in the city (save for the Factory) that I collated from a variety of chef recommendations and a few travel newsletters. Between Swan Bar, The Palace, John Kehoe’s, and Darkey Kelly’s, there were some pretty great pours but I’d say best overall taste + pub vibes was John Kehoe’s. While it was busy standing outside in the street, I was able to grab a bar stool and chill with my book and pint, which is really all I want in this life. Second place would go to Darkey Kelly’s for pairing it with a hearty steak + Guinness stew!
THE BEAUTY IN A BUST
Not all of it worked out the way I wanted, for better or for worse. I was hoping to center this travel edition on the vintage stores I had lined up to visit, but the ones I visited were more secondhand than true vintage + the one that I was most excited to scour actually closed a few months ago. I definitely felt a bit deflated after this, but when it comes down to it I am lucky to know of so many good charity shops and independent vintage sellers in London that align with my style and have pretty fair price points. Dublin vintage would have been an interesting study in a non-fashion capital context, but I’ll live.
This L eventually led me to a W: due to having more free time than expected by the lack of shopping, I took a quick train out of the city (as if I hadn’t done enough travel already!) to Sandycove and went to the Forty Foot, which is a public swimming area at the point the Dublin Bay meets the Irish Sea. Something I’ve grown fond of since moving to London has been the cold swim & sauna wellness culture that’s taken a few cues from our Nordic friends, and the Forty Foot was a perfect little rocky cove for me to take a few dips, feel the salt air and sea on my skin, and read my book.
It was probably one of my favorite parts of the trip — I love the sea! It was also a chance to people watch: a group of kids were running in the wildflowers; an older group of women were circling around for a coffee after their swim. A heron twenty feet away was eyeing the seagulls that circled the air, and I was eyeing the waters in hopes that a seal or dolphin would reveal themselves to me in the waves (no dice). I felt such a deep longing to share with someone, proud of myself for doing something like this for me anyway, homesick for Lake Michigan, remembering evening sea swims in Brighton… it all came crashing down in bittersweet emotion!
FASTEST GAME ON GRASS
I know I said Gaelic football (which is like rugby + football) was one of the trip’s top priorities, but it didn’t end up panning out. I might have gone down a more favorable route anyway!
I did my due diligence looking up where to watch a Gaelic football match in county Cork the weekend my flatmate and I were there, and what was competitive yet accessible to us by bus from the city center. To give myself a little credit, it was as confusing to find where to buy tickets or any club information as I’ve experienced when trying to find Premier League/Women’s Super League tickets. It’s as if they don’t want you to know how to get a ticket.
On Saturday, we took a 20 minute bus to Douglas for what ended up being a free-of-charge local hurling match. If I remember correctly, I had (laughably) lowballed a crowd of 500 — I have played high school soccer at schools in the middle of nowhere in Michigan that were larger complexes than this. Realizing we were incredibly early, we went back to a pub close by and asked the bartender about the match, which he absolutely recommended we go to because hurling is “much better than football, it’s the fastest game on grass!” Give me a USP like that and I’m so down.
We had a pint of Beamish (the local stout) and worked up the courage to head back out there for what was absolutely an entertaining sport. I didn’t know a lick of the rules and walked away invigorated by the pace and physicality of the sport. It was like lacrosse with hockey sticks, but also baseball?? That they hit into either a soccer goal or football goalposts?? There were so many opportunities to score, and from any point of the pitch a player could be a scoring threat, so it was very fun to be a spectator on the sidelines.
WHAT I PACKED
In the lead-up, I was convinced I had bought a Ryanair ticket that only allowed an personal item — for a six day trip, this was a huge challenge that I was actually really game for. Overpacking is typically my means of operation, no matter how many days are in the trip! I went through a couple capsule trials, using measuring tape to determine how wide my stuffed tote bag could be while still falling under the parameters of the seat.
Honestly, I was quite proud that I was able to whittle down my wardrobe choices and still feel like I avoided an all-neutrals minimalism (I have really never been that girl, sorry!). I think the formulas were quite basic but I still had pops of color and texture throughout. As soon as I checked in to my flight the morning of, I realized I had in fact had a carry-on purchased this ENTIRE time… you wouldn’t believe how quickly I moved everything into a bigger bag! There may or may not have been a few extra pieces and another book that got tossed in for good measure.
I wore each piece at least twice. In retrospect, I think I could have done without one button up, swapping in instead another blouse or tee of some kind. I think I nailed it with the three pairs of bottoms: something slim/straight fit, something baggy, something leggy. I stuck to cool colors aside from my yellow vest + my multi colored cardigan, which was primarily oranges and reds. I maybe would have packed a knee high boot or something a bit more refined yet walkable as a third shoe, but with only six days I wasn’t complaining or missing out. It was warm, but not French Riviera warm, so I think the springy vibes were brought out a little more with my knotted Staud bag pictured above that I am simply in love with.
TRAVEL TIPS TO STAY FRESH
Super rich oils that cut any airplane dryness. I love everything about jojoba oil and will pat this in with a nighttime moisturizer.
A shower + elevating your legs for at least twenty minutes as soon as you get to your hotel/Airbnb. Lymphatic drainage is so important, whether your flight was under 2 hours or over 6.
Caffeine eye cream. I really don’t use it any other time than when I’m traveling!
I’ve recently hopped on this bandwagon, but if you get sunburned using Weleda Skin Food overnight is a lifesaver. My forehead was beet red, and practically went back to normal overnight & it hasn’t even peeled!!
Magnesium supplements (preferably with zinc) to help you sleep without feeling groggy like you would with melatonin. It’s an easier way to drift off and is also really good for your muscles!
Ibuprofen + TUMs have to be along for the ride — I can’t say I’ve had the stomach bug horror stories, but I eat what I please and as such am prepared for any potential consequences lol.
FULL CIRCLE MOMENT
While walking around one of the smaller towns in Cork, we popped into a cathedral as one does when it’s built in the 1600s. I lit one prayer candle as soon as we walked in for my late Grandpa Mike, as I usually do on these types of visits, and kept walking around the perimeter of the church. At the back, there was one final section of candles beneath a statue with a description, which just so happened to be friggin sweet baby St Anthony!!! I laughed and immediately lit another candle as a thank you to a saint I had no previous business knowing anything about. This king really do be having my back!
And my last thought…
WHERE TF WAS ALL THE LIVE MUSIC??
Every pub I went to advertised live music 7 nights a week, and yet only one of them actually played when they said they would!! Walk the walk, guys.
Overall, a lot of the things I loved in Ireland, I also love in the UK. Not that I would ever dare to entertain the thought that the two are the same, but I do happen to have an affinity for pubs with a good pint, seaside fish & chips, and a good accent!
Hope you’ve all been enjoying your MDW/bank holiday! We’ll cap off this week with a pre-summer Vibe Check :)
Ryann xx
such good vibes in this newsletter !
I fearrrr we need to return to make up for the forgotten and misleading agenda items!