When you travel to the extent that I do, it takes a lot for a place to surprise me. However, with its majestic mountains, rolling green hills and charming countryside, it’s clear why Game of Thrones settled in gorgeous Northern Ireland. A weekend was enough to give just a small taste of what this place has to offer and is on my short list of places to return.

But, Northern Ireland is a tricky place for me that I don’t think I’ll ever quite get right. They are part of Ireland but use the British pound, love the Queen / hate the Queen, drink Guinness and have English accents. The only thing that makes sense is the side of the car they drive on–thank goodness it’s the same everywhere in Ireland.

Easyjet is (not my favorite) a low cost airline based out of the UK that often give exceptional deals to/from the UK from key cities in mainland Europe. We flew from Amsterdam direct to Belfast for 50 bucks each, round trip! If you can pack light, you benefit from additional savings by not paying for luggage. With two full days in and around the Belfast area, I knew on what I wanted to focus: Game of Thrones sets, Carrick-a-Rede bridge, Giant’s Causeway and the Titanic Museum.

Game of Thrones and The Dark Hedges

You can spend an entire trip touring the Game of Thrones sets but when your boyfriend started his GOT journey on the 5th season (I know I KNOW) then you have to settle for the main attractions that also offers a little something extra. What is great about the spots we went to was the public access to them. My personal favorite were the Dark Hedges which is the King’s Road in a few seasons. TV magic makes this little road look like such a treacherous path but in reality, it’s a delightful little road leading to a restaurant at the top of a hill.

Giant’s Causeway and Carrick-A-Rede Bridge

Tip number one for doing these both in the same day: plan ahead. The bridge only gives out so many tickets to cross per day and when they sell out, they stop. Not knowing this, I stopped at Giant’s Causeway first to see the sight that has left so many people wondering how it got there. And it was quite a sight to behold…after making quite the hike from the welcome center down to the sea. I decided to not pay 20ish euros for the welcome center tour thingy and opted to walk right down to the Causeway, free of charge. If you’re driving, you will pay a fee for parking which is your “entry fee”. But because my boyfriend had already been there, dropped me off to save our pounds for finer things like Guinness and ciders. I have to say I liked it but wasn’t spectacular. The view surrounding it was much easier on the eyes 🙂

The Carrick-a-Rede bridge was super cool!! After hoofing it through the Causeway to make it to the bridge before closing, I was immediately bummed when I learned of the “first come first serve” policy. And my heart sunk when we pulled into the parking lot to read a “Sold Out” sign out in front. Nonetheless, my heroic boyfriend was bound to give me every experience I wanted from the weekend. He parked the car and we made it to the ticket desk. After much persuading and begging and negotiating, we were not successful to gain access to the bridge. But we walked there anyway to see what it looked like and I vowed to make it back again to walk across. Still pretty cool to see 🙂

Bushmill Distillery

But let’s ask the question, “Why were you so late to the bridge?”

Excellent question! Because we love to tour distilleries, especially ones we love to drink so much. And Bushmills Distillery just so happened to be in the same neighborhood as the Causeway and Bridge…so we took a last minute tour! Super neat and we had the complimentary tasting after. I would highly recommend making a pit stop if you like whiskey and if you’re doing the other two stops as well. JUST PLAN IT OUT!

Titanic

In 1997, Titanic was released and my world was immediately consumed by the story of Titanic and Leonardo DiCaprio #lovehim #celebcrush #sharethedoor

The Titanic museum allowed me to go back in time to high five ten year old me for making it to a place she never thought would be possible. This museum takes you through what it was like on the Titanic and other ships built by the White Star Line. You can see where the blueprints were first drafted, offices of the key ship designer, Mr. Thomas Andrews and where the call came in that next morning to declare she sank. I was giddy. You can choose from three different tour packages (Naturally, I paid extra bucks to do everything because I planned to be there the whole day); no matter what you choose, do not miss the opportunity to go on the last remaining ship from the White Star Line, The SS Nomadic. Quite a treat to walk on the actual ship and hear stories from passengers and employees from when she sailed.

And if you’re a crazy super fan who plans trips around one event, then you’ll know to visit the museum on Sunday for the afternoon tea!! Be ready for a first class experience when you walk in with champagne, a live band and yes, you see it on the photos…a replica of the grand staircase from the Titanic first class dining cabin. Naturally, I wore my heart of the ocean necklace during tea so the locals knew I was legit and belonged.

I can not wait to plan my next trip back to Northern Ireland to see more of what the charming area has to offer. And maybe I’ll get the whole euro or pound, monarchy love/hate and what accent should you have culture figured out. Until then, I think we can all agree the best thing to come out of all Ireland is Guinness 🙂

Cheers!