sunsets in Donegal

Happy Thursday! You’re so close to the weekend! Can you feel it?! Are you taking time to check-in with yourself and give yourself the care, love, and attention you need? If not, it’s perfectly okay to set aside time for yourself to do whatever you want/need to do during ‘me time.’ Maybe it’s yoga, meditation, running, reading, tending to a pallet garden you built, sewing some pillowcases for your home decor, making a dress to match your homemade mask, or even playing animal crossing with family and friends. Whatever you want to do during your assigned ‘me time,’ make sure you’re doing it and giving yourself a break.

If you didn’t get a chance to read yesterday’s post - “the Kingsroad” - you can click here to read all about goofing around on the Kingsroad with my girlfriends from college! Also, if you didn’t get the chance to cast your free daily vote for me to be the next #MaximCoverGirl, you can click here to vote or click here to read about why it’s important to me (and then vote!). You can vote once every twenty-four hours for free, and I am so grateful for your support! Voting for the Quarter-Finals round ends TONIGHT July 16th at 11 PM EST, so I’d appreciate any and all support I can get to make my way to first before tonight’s voting ends! Thank you for everything so far!! If you’re all caught up on the adventures thus far and Maxim Cover Girl voting, then sit tight, strap in, buckle up - whatever you choose!

Last post we spent some time exploring The Dark Hedges, or for you Game of Thrones fans, The Kingsroad. Northern Ireland, especially the areas outside of Belfast, has so many fun Game of Thrones-themed things that it’s strange to not see any GoT-related items when you travel through rural Northern Ireland, which feels much more like Ireland. I should take a moment to say that what I mean by that is the Ireland we might think of as outsiders who did not grow up there: rolling hills, green everywhere, mostly farmland, not much to brag about in terms of cities. Having lived in Dublin, I can say that my opinion of Ireland has changed but only in the best ways.

One of my favorite memories from my girlfriends’ and my Irish road trip had to be when we were in County Donegal after a long day of driving. We’d been in the car nearly all day, taking the Wild Atlantic Way around the country, but since it was summertime and we were in Donegal, the northernmost county of Ireland, the sun did not set until close to 11:30 PM. Being that it was getting really late and we were close to our Air BnB for the night, the reasonable thing to do would have been to head straight to bed. Not us, though. As we were driving, we saw a sign with an arrow that read “BEACH” that pointed off the main road, so we all saw it, took a moment to pause, and then asked each other, “Should we.. watch the sunset.. on the beach?” The response was a resounding yes. We sped up, cheered like wild women, and barreled off the main road to a beach in Donegal. We parked, and the three of us hurried out of the car and onward to the beach. The sunset was probably the most beautiful sunset I’ve ever seen. The sky was all pinks, purples, and blues, reflecting off the low tide at our feet.

We gazed in awe, took photos together and of each other, and asked one other Irishwoman on the beach if she could take a photo of all three of us together. She said no, and we were all pretty surprised. Kinda rude, right? She wanted her own photos, though, so I get it. Anyway, we stood there on that beach for awhile, watching the sun set behind the Donegal cliffs on the other side of the water. When it was finally time for us to head back to the car and to our beds for the night, we took one final look, watching the most beautiful sunset I’ve ever seen come to its conclusion. It still wasn't entirely dark by the time we left, but it was close to midnight and time to find ourselves our home for the night.

Have you ever witnessed a sunset that absolutely just took your breath away? Let me know! Subscribe in the e-mail submission box below and reach out, follow me on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, and reach out to me on the “contact” page. I’m so happy you're here and that I’ve been receiving a lot of really incredible stories, questions, and feedback from a community all over the globe! Other people’s stories that I’ve gotten to read via e-mail, text, tweet, DM, etc. recently bring me such smiles, and I am so grateful for all of it! I hope I get to hear all about whatever stories you’ve been thinking about as we’ve been on this virtual journey together! Also, I've said it before and I'll say it again, if you have any restaurants/eateries/pubs/coffee shops/ice cream joints/theatres/lookout spots you would recommend in other countries or even in your current home town or city, I'm absolutely 100% all ears!! I couldn’t do this without you! So THANK YOU! From the bottom of my heart, truly, thank you.

And please, if you have 10 seconds to spare, I would really appreciate your daily vote for me to be the next Maxim Cover Girl 2020. Click here to vote! Voting for the Quarter-Finals ends TONIGHT, JULY 16th, at 11 PM EST! The race is close, and I need to finish first in order to advance, so I would really appreciate your help and support as I continue to try and become the next #MaximCoverGirl by moving ahead into round 7/the Semi-Finals of the competition! Thank you for all your support! I wouldn’t have made it this far without you! Click here or on the photo above to vote!

Sincerely,

Johny

P.S. - If you want to catch up from the beginning on this series of travel adventures, here's a cheat sheet to the posts (in order in which they were published):

1. Won't you join me?

2. grateful for starbucks and sandymount strand

3. Once Upon a December in the National Gallery

4. plant a smooch for that gift of gab

5. may the 4th be with you: Dingle style

6. cinco de mayo: the best Mexican food in Dublin

7. pizza in roma

8. mussolini’s window and the philosophers’ metro stop

9. father to a murdered son, husband to a murdered wife

10. it's the vatican, not the vatican't

11. spoiler alert: i did not lose my hand

12. more pizza and gelato and Neptune, oh my