A rainy holiday in Ireland made for dramatic footage for one man and his video equipment on a family vacation driving around the lush green island.
Matt Coakley, along with his wife Holly and 11-month-old daughter Cecilia, spent ten days traveling around Ireland, in May 2015, and filmed (when it wasn’t raining) from above. The results are truly stunning.
The countryside in Ireland is certainly dramatic, but what exactly were you looking at?
Here are your answers:
Sandy Cove, Skibbereen, County Cork
Dingle Peninsula, County Kerry
Cliffs of Moher, County Clare
Benbulben Mountain, County Sligo
Slieve League Cliffs, County Donegal
Dunluce Castle, County Antrim
Carrick-a-Rede, County Antrim
Coakley told IrishCentral how he ended up on the road around Ireland with his family in tow.
“Not long after we met four years ago, my wife Holly and I started talking about wanting to go to Ireland together. In March another of my YouTube videos became successful, which gave us the opportunity to fulfill our dream and travel to Ireland.
"So in early May Holly, myself, and our 11-month-old daughter Cecilia flew into Dublin and spent the next nine days traveling around Ireland.”
The Coakley clan really got around during their short visit and managed to do it in comfort and style by all accounts.
“We had purchased a self-driving/B&B vacation package, so we were able to travel where we wanted. We opted to do a big loop, going first to Co. Cork, then working our way north, loosely following the Wild Atlantic Way, ending with a quick jaunt through Northern Ireland and then back to Dublin,” Coakley explained.
Obviously the trip went beautifully (see video), but we asked Coakley out of everything they experienced what was his highlight of the visit.
“The two days we spent at Sandycove House in Castletownsend, near Skibbereen,” Coakely said “It was so peaceful, with some of the prettiest views from both our room and the breakfast room, and plenty of opportunity to walk along the coastline.
“We also loved An Chistin Beag, in Skibbereen. It was very good, with inexpensive food in a relaxing atmosphere.”
He added, “And no one paid me to say these things. It's all because we personally enjoyed them.”
Amazingly, Coakley and his family are now making these videos into a longer adventure, creating videos for of their trip RV-ong across the United States this summer and fall. You can follow their adventures at the site www.BlankByDrone.com.
Coakley hopes that making these videos can become something more permanent for his family.
He said, “If it continues to go well we will keep going. We would love to come back to Ireland and make individual videos of each county. That may be ambitious, but gotta dream big, right?”