Except that that was why I was searching for the Reeks — to get lost, sort of. In Dublin a few days before, a bookseller had told me a legend: During World War II, a couple of American soldiers had gone missing in the Reeks when fog engulfed them and they were never heard from again … As I later learned, his story was inaccurate (actually, a Portugal-bound military plane went off course and hit the Reeks), but still, it captured my imagination. I saw myself wandering the same foggy hills, surrounded by the ghosts of those before me — but outfitted, of course, with warm clothes, food, water, headlamp and sleeping bag. I had to go. After all, this really was why I’d come to Ireland in the first place: to lose myself, over the course of a week, in a country I knew nothing about.
Or rather, to lose myself in a country so familiar to me (and, I’d argue, to anyone who grew up in the United States) that its reputation had eclipsed its reality. From St. Patrick’s Day parades to the peace process, from Guinness fetishism to the potato famine, from “Dubliners” to “The Commitments” to “Riverdance,” Irish history and culture have been such a steady backdrop that I never felt the need to think about Ireland as an actual place. (Or places. “Ireland” is, of course, both Northern Ireland, part of the United Kingdom, and the independent Republic of Ireland.) Instead, Ireland seemed like a wholly imaginary source of fantastic good times, tinged with poignant historical misery and populated by characters so vibrant and strange that within minutes of meeting them (and I was 100 percent sure I’d meet them) I’d get sucked into their Wildean dramas.
At first, as I pulled out of the Enterprise parking lot in Dublin, and onto what felt to me like the wrong side of the road, my heart raced with every careful shifting of gears, and I fretted about where I was in my lane. Was I drifting? Or overcompensating? Often, my right hand would flutter in midair before I remembered the gearshift was on the other side. And when, just half an hour outside Dublin, I found myself hurtling down one-and-a-half-lane roads, tension gripped my upper body as I negotiated my way around oncoming cars.
The rewards for such anxiety (and the subsequent neck aches) were immediate and unending. The Irish countryside was remarkable, a constant flow of the expected green hills and greener valleys, and once I got comfortable with the Fiat’s flip-flopped controls, I began to enjoy the way the roads snaked tight around corners, through virtual tunnels of trees and bushes. When I’d reach the top of a hill to find a truck barreling my way, I could take a certain pride in the swiftness with which I’d stomp the brakes and find a smidgen of shoulder to pull onto. Then I’d fumble around for the gearshift with the wrong hand.
To finish the article, check out the original post by Matt Gros s. Check out this great NY Times slide show on Ireland.
Renee Blodgett is the founder of We Blog the World. The site combines the magic of an online culture and travel magazine with a global blog network and has contributors from every continent in the world. Having lived in 10 countries and explored nearly 80, she is an avid traveler, and a lover, observer and participant in cultural diversity.
She is also the CEO and founder of Magic Sauce Media, a new media services consultancy focused on viral marketing, social media, branding, events and PR. For over 20 years, she has helped companies from 12 countries get traction in the market. Known for her global and organic approach to product and corporate launches, Renee practices what she pitches and as an active user of social media, she helps clients navigate digital waters from around the world. Renee has been blogging for over 16 years and regularly writes on her personal blog Down the Avenue, Huffington Post, BlogHer, We Blog the World and other sites. She was ranked #12 Social Media Influencer by Forbes Magazine and is listed as a new media influencer and game changer on various sites and books on the new media revolution. In 2013, she was listed as the 6th most influential woman in social media by Forbes Magazine on a Top 20 List.
Her passion for art, storytelling and photography led to the launch of Magic Sauce Photography, which is a visual extension of her writing, the result of which has led to producing six photo books: Galapagos Islands, London, South Africa, Rome, Urbanization and Ecuador.
Renee is also the co-founder of Traveling Geeks, an initiative that brings entrepreneurs, thought leaders, bloggers, creators, curators and influencers to other countries to share and learn from peers, governments, corporations, and the general public in order to educate, share, evaluate, and promote innovative technologies.
