Erin's Memories of her Trips to Ireland: 17 Days of St. Patrick

White sheep on green grass. That's what my dad remembers when his military plane refueled there back in the 60s.

He was drafted and shipped to Germany. From the air, he said the island looked like a tiny emerald in the big ocean.

People who travel to Ireland don't easily forget the experience.

During my first trip to Ireland, I got a window seat. I wanted to view our landing just like my dad had twenty-odd years before. That was 1988, the year of Dublin's millennium.

I was among a group of about 200 American students from all over the country that studied in an exchange program. The majority of our time was spent at Gormanston College, just north of Dublin in County Meath. 

Luckily, my parents allowed me to spend my home stay portion of the exchange in Northern Ireland with the Arkinson Family. At the time, that part of the world was occupied territory.

It was illegal to take photos of the British soldiers anywhere. However, this cheeky American girl managed to snap a shot of the Brit standing outside my bedroom window.

Ireland was my first love. (Well, second if you count chocolate.)

Since then, I went back in 1990 for an extended stay with the same host family in the North. Fortunately, one of the family members is a priest. So in 2008 when my then-fiancé announced he wanted us to be married in Ireland, I replied "I know a guy."

We were married in Donegal in a wee church in a wee town called Sessiaghoneill.

Having spent only three trips, I have traveled most of the country. And every time I go, I realize how much I don't know.

Ireland tours

Here in Shorewood, travel agent Colleen Dooley-Harding, owner of Lake View Travel on Seil Road, suggests taking a tour for just that reason.

"When you take a tour, they tell you all the history, they tell you all the important facts," she explained.

I agree. And I disagree.

On my first trip, the last thing this teenager wanted to do was be on a tour bus with a neon sign on my back screaming "American tourist here!" We discovered that some restaurants had separate menus for tours with higher prices. Plus, a lot of the other tourists we met were obnoxious and gave us a bad rap.

So I swore I would never do that again.

Then when I took a group of family over for our wedding, I realized how much a tour had to offer. We had rented cars and drove ourselves. That is not for the faint of heart.

I am an intrepid traveller. Proudly, I have driven from Rome (where lines are street art and speed limits are mere suggestions) to Paris (circle, circle, circle) through Mont Blanc (seven miles, two lanes, pitch black).

I've driven New York, L.A. and yes, even been cut off and flipped off in Philly, the worst of them all. But driving along the left side of the road is a whole new stress. I kept hitting the wind shield wiper every time I wanted to turn.

Tours of Ireland today are so much more expansive then when I first started going. And after a discussion with Colleen, I realized that they are priced about the same. For people going for the first time, or folks who don't want to drive, I concur. A tour is the right way to go.

Northern Ireland

"Most people who think of Ireland, they think of the south," Colleen said. "Boy, from the middle on up is gorgeous."

She and I reminisced about Donegal in the northwest coast. It is part of the Republic of Ireland. That is some of the most beautiful coastline in the world. The depth of the colors in the ocean is uncanny.

We also agreed that Northern Ireland is a great place to visit. Still under British rule, guests have to change money to the ridiculously expensive pound sterling. (Thank you, Maggie Thatcher.) Otherwise, it is worth the trip. Save money, though, and choose hotels in the Republic. Save the North for day trips.

Colleen's daughter had lived in Derry, one of my favorite cities. It is the site of Bloody Sunday, the 1972 peace demonstration that U2 sings about. British soldiers opened fire, killing 14 teenagers and students. Some were shot in the back. Others were injured when they were run down by military vehicles. It is a very sad, gray city. But it is very rich in history.

The priest who performed our marriage, Father Patrick Arkinson, served on the Bogside in Derry during my first visit in 1988. Boy did he have stories to tell. Upon our return just a few years ago, he gave us a guided tour that my husband says was the highlight of his trip. Besides the wedding, of course.

Father Patsy took us places during peacetime that he was not able to show me all those years ago during the occupation. Going back to the same churches, same houses twenty years later revealed a story totally different. I didn't recognize anything. Since the Good Friday Peace Accord in 1998, there is calm today, not fear.

Anyone who wants to learn about the history of what the Irish call The Troubles, Derry is the place.

I love going north when I visit Ireland. Like Colleen said, there is so much beauty to see. I like to avoid the major tourist locations like the Ring of Kerry or Tralee. Pretty. Nice to see once. But I don't like being just another tourist.

Going to more remote places, like central and northern Ireland, means fewer tourists. Here is a perfect example. My husband stopped in a pub in Derry to use the loo, as they say. He asked the bartender to point him in the right direction.

Then the row of men there heard his accent and chatted him up. He had a great talk with some old boys who had wear on their faces. My husband may very well have been the first American they had met. They bought him a quick pint. He loved it. That is a special memory for him.

Belfast, Colleen said, is another beautiful city. Again, it's a place I haven't been to since the '80s during high troubles. Still, I agree. There is so much to see in these forgotten cities. These areas have some of the most interesting murals you will ever see.

One of our favorite places, of both Colleen and my family, is Giant's Causeway. It is located along the Northern Irish coastline between Derry and Belfast. It is not far from Bushmill's, and handy at that. Enjoy the beauty of the cold, misting ocean. Then pull in for a hot whiskey in Europe's oldest distillery.

I could go on and on about the options when traveling to Ireland. And on.

"The memories that people take away with them are not only of the sights and sounds of this wonderful country, but of the warm welcome they received everywhere," Travel Agent Denise Schmidt of Romance Travel Shop wrote for a group she sent last year.

No matter where you travel in Ireland, how you go, what you see, or where you eat, you will have a life long memory.

Just like white sheep on green grass.