Hiking Strandhill, County Sligo, Ireland

Traveling across Ireland is one of my all-time favorite things to do. This is my 4th time visiting Ireland in 8 years. It was great to visit my favorite towns on this journey, but it was also really cool to explore some areas I've never been to. After having done some research, knowing I had spent little if any time in NW Ireland, and having a friend from up there in County Donegal, I decided to hop a train and head for a little town outside of Sligo called Strandhill. I just love to visit small towns and, to be honest, it doesn't get much smaller than Strandhill. A great little beach/surfing village, it boasts two pubs, a burger shop, an ice cream stand, lots of places to rent a board, and some fantastic hikes.

Knocknarea; Maeve Trail; I started my hiking there with a climb from sea level to the top (1100 feet of elevation) of a small mountain that sits behind the village known as Knocknarea. If you start at the beach you walk through town for about 1.5 km before you start the hike through a farmer's field, up through a pine forest, up over 500 wooden stairs, and across the top of the mountain to the cairn at the top. The views are absolutely stunning! If you have a car you can also take the less traveled trail (Knocknarea; Rathcarrick) to the top on the back side of the mountain. This is more of a regular hiking trail without the steps. No matter which trail you take, try to head out on a clear day early in the morning if you want any solitude as this is a very popular hike. There are also two hikes from the boardwalk. One heads south the other north.

Culleenamore takes you south and east through Shelley Valley which is the most incredible sand dunes. Then once you get through the dunes it takes you out along the inlet back around to the beach and back to town. The sand dunes are crisscrossed with trails that will give you a nice view of the sea and the bay to the east. There are some rocks one has to cross along the beach on the way back to town but it's not too bad and super pretty. The wonderful thing is that most of the tourists will walk a bit, either along the rocks or through the dunes, but few make it to the bay to the east and even fewer make it to the inlet to the south. I recommend walking through the dunes first, then once you reach the bay hang a right and walk around the point to the inlet then back to town along the beach. Check the tides and try to reach the sea at low tide as it'll make it easier as the beach will be exposed instead of clambering over the rocks you can walk the edge of the water. I just loved this walk once I broke away from the other folks out walking that day. So much beauty, so much solitude.

Killaspugbrone: This walk, which takes you to the north along the Atlantic is also a really great hike. You'll go out along the ocean, out to a little point past the end of the airport runway to an old church and graveyard built right along the sea. You can then make your way back the way you came or continue on to the main road and back to town. If you're feeling extra froggy you could actually combine this walk with Knocknarea as you'll come out on the main road right at the entrance to the frontside trail to the summit. I loved all of these walks so much. There's just something special about where the mountains meet the sea. There's something special about this little town with seemingly so little to offer. But, its gift is giving one the ability to connect with the earth in all its boundless wonders. Take some time, take in the fresh, sea air, and enjoy a breathtaking hike along the shores of the Atlantic in the far-reaching Northwestern part of the Emerald Isle. You certainly won't forget it if you do.

Atop Knocknarea

http://gostrandhill.com/explore/hikes-walks/

An Apping We Will Go

Apps. Tools of the travel trade. I have no idea how people traveled back in the day, but I would have been lost, literally, without my apps. This blog is going to enlighten and amaze you (ok that's a stretch) with the apps I use(d) to plan and then travel around the world.

Google; I realize this is not an app however it is the number one tool when planning a trip and a must for finding the perfect app for your purposes.

Rome2Rio: my go-to app to figure out how to get from point A to point B in one fell swoop. I LOVE this app. To use it just put in from where to where and it will spit out every option available. The plane, train, bus, ferry, donkey, or a combination of all of the above to take you to that dream location. For example; let's say I want to go from Athens to Pompeii. Once I input that information it will spit out several options. Plane; x amount of hours and an approximate cost. Car; x amount of hours, route, and the approximate cost. Train, bus, ferry. Which is what I did. It'll tell you bus B to train station A then train Z to Ferry port D. It will include times plus bus and train numbers when available. Now that you have all the viable information you can choose a mode of transportation and start looking into which bus system, ferry, and rail companies you'll be utilizing, and from that info, you'll put your travel itinerary together for that leg of your journey; piecing together connection times between the differing modes. Or of course, you can just catch a plane or drive but of course, I never do anything the easy way.

Hopper; I guess it's unnecessary to say after each app listed "Man I love this app!" So I guess I won't but, man I love this app! Plane travel made easy peasy. Again, enter departure, destination, and date and it will give you a month-type calendar that has a color-coded schematic where you can see and then choose the less expensive flying dates that work for you. It gives you a comprehensive list of airlines with prices from lowest to highest and includes flight times etc. It also gives you predictions as to what the prices might do on that flight in the future. And, my favorite feature, once you input the flight info you can ask Hopper to "watch this flight " It will now watch the flight for price increases and decreases and notify you of any changes. Including letting you know to buy now!  Now, you can, for 5 bucks, book right through Hopper and it will give you a confirmation number for their site as well as one from the airline. If you're making a lot of bookings, as I did while circumnavigating the globe, then booking through Hopper gives you a place to keep all your flight info in one concise place that's easily accessible.

HostelWorld and Booking.com I use both of these apps in unison with one another to find the cheapest available accommodations. And yes Booking.com does include hostels. Just put in the filter "priced lowest to highest" and it will list hostels first. The most important aspect of these apps is the reviews and location maps. Make sure you utilize these features. Definitely make sure you ALWAYS check the location of your accommodations with where you want to be and things you want to see and do. I didn't happen to book a place called Dingle Gate but, I could easily have and then missed the fact that the name indicated it was in or on the edge of town. In reality, it was actually 20 miles outside of Dingle. Imagine your dismay when you're traveling on foot and your accommodations are in the middle of literally nowhere. Now, once you find a place you like you can book through either site. I lean towards

booking.com as I use it so much that I often get extra benefits. However, you can also use these apps to find accommodations and then book directly with the establishment. Often you can get better deals this way. Or you can find rooms that aren't listed on the site. If Booking.com shows a certain type of room is not available on their site then email the establishment and deal directly with them; 9 times out of 10 they have what you need and often on the cheap. Now on to the all-important reviews. Cross-referencing reviews brings into play another app I use on the regular,

TripAdvisor; TripAdvisor has many different uses and you can research and get opinions about everything under the sun on this app. But I use it almost exclusively to cross-reference reviews for my accommodations. I cannot stress enough to you, my fellow traveler, research and then triple-check the reviews that come along with hostel, hotel, or B&B'. Different things are important to different people. So pick and choose the places that highlight the things most important to you.

Eurail App; This is a must, must, must for Eurail pass holders and, to be honest for non-passable holders who will be traveling with the rail system in Europe. This is one of the most comprehensive travel apps in existence. So simple to use and incredibly accurate. I'll be doing a Eurail travel blog at some point but just a quick word of advice; pay attention to the concise list of travel times, changeovers, and connection times. Also, if your going to a non-major destination town be sure to know where the train's final destination is as a comprehensive list of all the towns along the route will not be on the board at the station. You must know the final destination of the line your destination is on.