Dear reader,
As you may know, the day that Jeroen and I start our great trip to Ireland is coming closer and closer. On the 3rd of July (this sunday!!!), we will leave the city of Apeldoorn, and then, the Netherlands behind and drive to Letterkenny. This is now less then a week away, but we've started preparing waaaaayyyy back, when our plans were still dreams. I thought I'd take the opportunity to tell you about the planning we did: how did we prepare our moving to Ireland?
How it started
It was as early as spring 2015, that we started dreaming about Ireland. I had to start thinking about what kind of study minor I wanted to do, and where. My university gives it's students the opportunity to study abroad, at one of it's so called 'partner universities' all around the globe. I knew back then, that I wanted to specialise in animation, and I got a list of universities that offered a minor in that field. When I saw Letterkenny on that list, I secretly knew right away that I wanted to go to Ireland. It just felt so right. The country, the people, the culture. So I proposed the idea to Jeroen, and hoped he'd feel as excited as me and would want to go with me. Luckily he did.
Meeting Letterkenny
After a lot of thinking and dreaming, we already started to prepare for our big step. We flew to Dublin, and after a few days of wandering around in that lovely city (really, it should be on your list!), and drinking quite a few pints, we took the bus to Letterkenny. Luckily there are a few bus companies that offer a direct connections, and the mcGinley coach brought us to the north within about 4 hours. It was a lovely ride and we got to see quite a lot of the beautiful country.
We spent about a week in Letterkenny, to discover the town and it's surroundings, and to see if it would be a place that we could feel at home. After only two days, Jeroen told me he already felt quite at home, and I did too!
Planning, planning, planning
After we came back, we started making plans, and lists with everything we had to take care of. Things like insurances, storing/selling furniture, booking ferry tickets, getting the erasmus funding etc. I won't bore you with all the details, but if you are curious or you are planning a trip of your own, I'll be happy to share the specifics with you ;) This is a little look into our planning book:
Moving house
We were living in an apartment in the city center, and our contract ended March this year, so we had to cover the last months before moving to Ireland. Luckily, my parent's neighbour and friend Germaine was such a darling to let us stay in her lovely house while she was away on a trip herself. It has been absolutely perfect and it gave us the opportunity to plan our trip in a peaceful house that we've had to our own the last 4 months.
Since our temporary house is fully furnished, we already decided what we wanted to store and what we wanted to take to Ireland by March. Some of our furniture is stored at family members who had a little room to spare for us, and some things we sold. The houses in Ireland are usually fully furnished, so we don't have to take any of our own. Right now we are just about done with packing the things we do need (like clothing, kitchenware, deco items, bedding etc).
A new car
Now for planning how to get to Ireland, our plans have switched from here to there. In te end we decided to buy a right hand driven car with enough storage space here, and drive to Ireland with it. This way we don't have to think about the luggage rules and regulations on a plane, and we'll already have a car that is suitable for driving around Ireland safely. So we said goodbye to Jeroen's first baby, the rumblin' red Mazda, and welcomed a very convenient and probably boring station car into our lives. It's not the most flashy car, but it's perfect for us as it has a lot of space, plus it drives like a ray of sunshine! And it's still a red car :p
How to get there
So, on Sunday the 3rd of July, we will drive to Dunkerque (in France) first. We booked a hotel there so we'll have a more relaxed journey. The next day we will drive to Cherbourg, from where the ferry to Ireland leaves. That evening and night we are travelling with the luxurious ship called Oscar Wilde, and the next morning we will be in Rosslare, in the south of Ireland. From there we will drive to Letterkenny and arrive somewhere in the evening.
We booked a few nights trough Airbnb (bed&breakfast), and we already have 2 house viewings on the next day. If we like what we see we could move in right away, otherwise we can stay a bit longer in the bed&breakfast, until we find something nice. Off course I'm going to keep you updated if we agree on a house.
That's it for this blogpost! We are going to document our trip, so make sure you keep an eye out for a new post! :)
See you next time!
Love,
Leyla
