Loving Seaview House Hotel in Ireland

The view from my room at Seaview House Hotel

After a day of travelling, I’ve made it to Ireland. I’m tired and bloated from plane food – but mostly I’m tired. I also just spent the last hour driving down narrow, winding roads and through the hills of Ireland (in the rain) convinced that I was lost. Really lost. In fact, there was one point where I considered picking up a hitchhiker thinking he could be my human GPS.

I was about to give up when I saw the sign to my little hotel, Seaview House Hotel. The rain had slowed to a drizzle as I drove up the crushed stone driveway, and I could see the lush gardens and the old house behind.

I pulled the tiny Micro I rented into the car park and hoped the inside was lovely as the outside.

It was.

My room at €80 (euros) a night was bigger than expected and from my window on the third floor, I have a view of the sea – I totally did not expect such a nice room. It’s full of antiques, which I normally don’t love, but it works here. The place feels like an old world hotel, yet the walls aren’t paper thin. I feel like I have privacy. It's everything I wanted and more.  I still can't believe how amazing it is.

Driving to the thotel in Ballylickey (just outside of Bantry), my plan was to eat the squished peanut butter cookie wrapped in plastic in the bottom of my purse and the leftover pretzels from the plane for dinner and go to bed, but I’m forcing myself to stay up to 7:30 p.m. so I can try their restaurant on the main floor.

Kathleen O'Sullivan, the host, tells me they’ve won lots of awards for it and I don’t want to miss out on homecooked Irish fare.

Who knows. I may even have a pot of tea by the fireplace afterwards as it seems like the natural thing to do on this rainy night in Ireland.