Also see Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4, Day 5, Day 6, Day 7, Day 8, Day 9, Day 10, Day 11, Day 12

Day 13: Inisheer, Aran Islands
When we woke up, the professor told us that one of the Aran Islands tour companies had canceled boats again due to the water conditions. The other did not. Did we want to go? Heck yes we did. This was our last chance to see one of the islands, and how bad could the ferry ride really be?

Turns out, pretty effing bad.

The advertising touted a 20-minute boat ride to Inisheer, the closest island and the one we were planning to visit. I had been struggling with motion sickness the whole trip, but I figured twenty minutes, I can do that. So we got on the boat, the Happy Hooker, and 45 minutes later we made it to the island. FORTY FIVE MINUTES! That is not twenty. I, and everyone else, felt every single one of those minutes too.

The water doesn’t look so bad here, but don’t be fooled. It was an angry beast.

Before I got on board someone had suggested focusing on one spot, and that’s what I did. I burned a hole into the side of that boat with all my staring. I felt sick for sure, but I didn’t vomit. I felt shaky and weak and at one point I lost all feeling in my hands and couldn’t uncurl my fists, but I didn’t vomit. Several others did. It was a regular barf fest on board, and it was the longest forty five minutes in the world. By the time we got off, we were all truly scarred. We couldn’t even enjoy our time on the island because we were in so much dread of the return trip.

Inisheer was pretty bleak, there wasn’t a whole lot going on, and we couldn’t figure out where to go. We just wanted to sit and not be disturbed until our tummies recovered. Eventually we stumbled upon a stray dog, who we named Seamus. He became our guide and led us to a little tea shop.

We sat for a long time sipping on tea and discussing options for avoiding the impending return boat ride: swim back to the mainland, marry locals and live on the island, fake an injury and call for a rescue chopper, invent teleportation. When we exhausted our options, we walked out to the rocks and laid in the sun. Part of the coast of the island was nothing but a puzzle of giant boulders that made a lovely place for a rest:

Then we went to the beach and walked around there for awhile.

We decided we were hungry, mostly because a few people had lost their breakfast on the boat, but we were all a little nervous to eat because that practically invites barfing when you’re about to board the boat of doom. But we walked to a pub anyway and gave it a shot. Then it was time to go wait for the ferry. But first, this lovely shot of an old Irish couple. They’ve probably lived on that island their whole lives:

We all sat on the dock and tried to prepare ourselves mentally. I know I sound dramatic, but we were all really not looking forward to another 45 minutes of the barf fest. When the boat got there, we armed ourselves with barf bags, settled in and begged for mercy.

I found my spot on the wall and commenced staring. And it worked! No barfing. And no numb hands either, though I did feel pretty weak and awful the whole time, plus about 30 minutes post boat ride. When we got off at the dock, there was a line of people waiting to go to the island. I just looked at them and shook my head. I think they got the message.

We went back to the hostel, grabbed something to eat, then took a van to the Shannon Airport hotel. It was so much fun to see my name everywhere, and I never tired of taking pictures of the Shannon Airport and the Shannon Room and the Shannon College of Hotel Management, etc.

We checked into our rooms and totally decompressed. It had been a long two weeks and we were exhausted. We had dessert in the hotel restaurant, packed up all our stuff, then chilled out in front of the TV.

To answer a question asked by many: yes, I loved the bag I ended up buying for this trip. You can see it in use here (sort of… it was usually slung behind me like that):

You can also see what some of the other girls used. Mine was a bit larger than theirs, but it met my needs. It was comfortable but spacious. I was able to carry everything I needed and never had to dig for any of it because there so many pockets and dividers. I also brought along a backpack that I used as a carry-on and during a couple day trips when we were traveling between hostels and might not see our luggage for awhile. I also brought a smaller cloth purse…

…that I used for going to the pub at night, and also for little outings when we were in a bus all day. I’d put the small purse inside the orange bag, and when we got out at a stop, like the Cliffs, I just grabbed the small purse. The whole bag situation worked out very well.

Tomorrow I’ll tell you about the long trip home, show you some souvenirs and answer any other burning questions you guys ask in comments.