{"id":398,"date":"2024-07-21T13:57:00","date_gmt":"2024-07-21T17:57:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/travelbeatmagazine.com\/?p=398"},"modified":"2025-03-12T16:06:30","modified_gmt":"2025-03-12T20:06:30","slug":"who-knew-surprises-in-ireland-and-scotland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/travelbeatmagazine.com\/index.php\/2024\/07\/21\/who-knew-surprises-in-ireland-and-scotland\/","title":{"rendered":"Who knew? Surprises in Ireland and Scotland"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"The

The ruins of Cliffden Castle are seen from above. The castle and rolling hills are in Galway County, Ireland. (Cheryl Welch | Travel Beat Magazine)<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

After 16 days driving around the Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland and Scotland, we compiled lists of things we never knew we’d miss.<\/p>\n

Things we will miss from Ireland & Scotland:<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Soaring cliffs over the wild Atlantic<\/p>\n

Mountain waterfalls that seem to fall from the sky<\/p>\n

Bakewells<\/p>\n

\"Sheep

Sheep roam free among the cliffs overlooking Slieve League. (Cheryl Welch | Travel Beat Magazine)<\/p><\/div>\n

French press coffee (and having time to make it!)<\/p>\n

Castles and epic old buildings around every corner<\/p>\n

Golf courses everywhere (some of them playable)<\/p>\n

Sheep!<\/p>\n

Amazing Wexford strawberries<\/p>\n

Fabulous eggs and milk<\/p>\n

Spreadable jam on scones<\/p>\n

Hairy coos (coos=cows)<\/p>\n

Hilarious road signs<\/p>\n

Haggis, neeps and tatties (they’re actually pretty good)<\/p>\n

No tipping expected<\/p>\n

Hilarious toilets<\/p>\n

Baffling electrical and plumbing<\/p>\n

\"Hairy

Hairy coos are frequently spotted in the Highlands of Scotland. (Cheryl Welch | Travel Beat Magazine)<\/p><\/div>\n

Pretty money<\/p>\n

Brilliant accents<\/p>\n

Gorgeous scenery<\/p>\n

\u201cBrilliant!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cGrand!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDodgy\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWee\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBragh\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cCheers!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSmashing!\u201d<\/p>\n

Friendly and helpful people everywhere! (Except that one bus driver\u2014\u201che\u2019s a wee bit grumpy!\u201d)<\/p>\n

Double decker buses<\/p>\n

Real red phone booths<\/p>\n

Driving on the left<\/p>\n

Wildflowers, particularly foxglove<\/p>\n

\"Wildflower

Wildflowers dot the roads in the Beara Peninsula and throughout Ireland. (Cheryl Welch | Travel Beat Magazine)<\/p><\/div>\n

Hedges of fuscia and rhododendron (the \u201cweed\u201d they can\u2019t get rid of ?)<\/p>\n

Guinness on tap everywhere<\/p>\n

Heineken on tap everywhere (really?)<\/p>\n

Tennent beer with super tall head on it!<\/p>\n

Seafood chowder and brown bread with real butter<\/p>\n

Real Irish fiddlers, trad music Ireland \u2764\ufe0f?\u2764\ufe0f<\/p>\n

Pubs everywhere<\/p>\n

Roundabouts!?<\/p>\n

Gas stations with amazing fresh food<\/p>\n

Colorful homes and storefronts (in Ireland)<\/p>\n

Cool old stone walls and ruins<\/p>\n

Blocks of buildings and blocks of homes stuck together (in Scotland)<\/p>\n

Awesome public transit systems<\/p>\n

Patchwork fields of Ireland<\/p>\n

\"The

The Dingle Peninsula drive along the coast can be harrowing, yet well worth it. (Cheryl Welch | Travel Beat Magazine)<\/p><\/div>\n

Off leash dogs<\/p>\n

Pint o\u2019milk for 60 pence<\/p>\n

Parking your car facing either direction on either side of the road ?<\/p>\n

Amazing gin selection<\/p>\n

Thrilling, adrenaline-pumping drives on one-lane roads along sea cliff edges or hedge-walls (often with a bus barreling toward you)<\/p>\n

Beaches with sea glass galore<\/p>\n

Cottages with gardens and flower boxes<\/p>\n

Electric teapots (and the assumption of tea as a household necessity, coffee optional and instant coffee the default grocery option ?)<\/p>\n

Not \u201cgrocery store\u201d: Co-op (in Scotland)<\/p>\n

Not \u201cgas\u201d in your car: Diesel or petrol<\/p>\n

Not dollars and cents: \u20acEuros (Republic of Ireland), \u00a3Pounds (aka \u201cquid\u201d) & pence (plural of penny) up north<\/p>\n

We still aren\u2019t sure what time it is at \u201chalf six\u201d ?<\/p>\n

Outlandish speed limits on wild roads plus crazy bright \u201cGarda\u201d (Irish police) cars = no threat of speeding tickets. Only fear of death.<\/p>\n

\"Cottages,

Cottages, barns and shops with colorful doors, flower boxes, and other adornments make the countryside of Ireland cheery. (Cheryl Welch | Travel Beat Magazine)<\/p><\/div>\n

Palm trees in Ireland\u2014who knew?!<\/p>\n

Scottish tea cakes = mallow cups<\/p>\n

Skeleton keys\u2014wtf?!<\/p>\n

Abundance of fire blankets, fire extinguishers, fire alarms, and planned meeting place signs co-existing with doors that lock you inside unless you can calmly unlock to escape using the correct skeleton key (this is to motivate you to utilize the abundance of firefighting equipment provided.)<\/p>\n

Water closets (and \u201cW.C.\u201d signs to \u201chelp\u201d you locate them)<\/p>\n

Things we will appreciate more in the US:<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Paper towels in bathrooms<\/p>\n

Single faucets (instead of scalding H + frigid C)<\/p>\n

Full width roads<\/p>\n

Shoulders on roads<\/p>\n

Signage that makes sense<\/p>\n

Salt and pepper (big flakes or fresh ground… the finely ground powder pepper is… well, awful)<\/p>\n

Mustard and ketchup (instead of ketchup, vinegar, and brown sauce\u2014what is brown sauce??!)<\/p>\n

Splitting the check? No problem!<\/p>\n

Eggs over easy (“Easy over? What is this easy over?”)<\/p>\n

Doors with turning locks and normal keys<\/p>\n

Showers with full pressure and adjustable steady temperature without pull cords, timers, or switches<\/p>\n

Electrical switches that go UP for on<\/p>\n

Electrical outlets without switches<\/p>\n

Ovens without wall switches<\/p>\n

Washclothes<\/p>\n

Dryers that dry (and don’t have ‘water traps’ to empty)<\/p>\n

Ceiling fans<\/p>\n

\"Pubs

Pubs with traditional music are found throughout Ireland. You’ll never go hungry or thirsty or lack for fiddle tunes in this country. (Cheryl Welch | Travel Beat Magazine)<\/p><\/div>\n

Central heat and air (instead of mishmash of radiators and electric heaters)<\/p>\n

Golf carts (not one broken \u201cbuggy\u201d or 18 holes pushing a \u201ctrolley\u201d!)<\/p>\n

Shopping bags included with purchase<\/p>\n

Long dark nights (instead of sunrise at 4:30 am, sunset 10:30)<\/p>\n

Having our own cars all the time<\/p>\n

Hair dryers<\/p>\n

Flat sheets<\/p>\n

Softer mattresses<\/p>\n

Good pillows<\/p>\n

Warm dry weather<\/p>\n

Flavored coffee creamer, half & half (they only use milk here!)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We share the highlights and hilarious quirks of these ‘brilliant’ countries.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":407,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[122,123,414],"tags":[128,124,417,416,415],"class_list":["post-398","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-europe","category-ireland","category-scotland","tag-europe-1","tag-ireland-1","tag-northern-ireland","tag-republic-of-ireland","tag-scotland-1"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/travelbeatmagazine.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/398","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/travelbeatmagazine.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/travelbeatmagazine.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/travelbeatmagazine.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/travelbeatmagazine.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=398"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/travelbeatmagazine.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/398\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/travelbeatmagazine.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/407"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/travelbeatmagazine.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=398"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/travelbeatmagazine.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=398"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/travelbeatmagazine.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=398"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}