A Tough Day in Ireland Van Life Ireland Ep 5

Welcome back to Combi Life. We're on the road for a month-long road trip through Ireland with myself, Ben, local Last Faith and adventure dogs Alaska and George. After a few weeks of road tripping around Ireland's gorgeous wilderness, I can tell you that it's been one heck of an adventure so far. But it's not the adventure for me. But with a breakup, a breakdown and various other challenges along the way, it hasn't exactly been painless. Exploring the remote wilderness of Ireland is one of the main reasons we came here. The other reason was so that Faith could see her friends and family. That part of the trip starts now and whilst I'm excited for Faith because she hasn't been able to see her family since before the pandemic in this situation, I feel quite anxious and nervous about it. This should be interesting. Looks like a beautiful day though. You know what I mean? The sun is actually shining. When the sun is shining in Ireland, it's best to take a moment to enjoy it. Because chances are, 10 minutes later, it'll be gone. This Combi Life story begins like many a good chapter before. Frolicking in nature. Want to come up? Look at this tree. Is this a redwood? I don't know. It looks like it. Wow. What do you think? Is it a redwood? Sometimes I feel like when I'm touring Europe that I spend a disproportionate amount of time in forests like this. But honestly, I don't have anything like this where I'm from. It's so soft. It's so good to come here and to be able to wake up here, go to sleep here in these peaceful settings and explore the forest. It's incredible. Look how thick this moss is. It's literally thicker than the branch it's sitting on. A testament to how much rain they get in Ireland. It really hadn't been an easy few weeks on the moments that we had shared on Ireland Wild Atlantic Way, Faith was sure that this wasn't the right path for her. It's sore. It is sore. Where's that from? God, it's so hard surfing, bro. The outdoors doesn't like you much, does it? I've had the worst time when we ever get back in this land again. That's it. I'm done. Loves me. And so, it was here that she bravely recorded her breakup announcement to the Combi crew. Being a vanlifer and a YouTuber is full of uncertainty. And that's part of the adventure. But it's not the adventure for me. And you guys have been nothing but welcoming and lovely for me and George. Loved reading all the comments, all the positivity. And you guys are just an amazing bunch. And Ben and Alaska are really lucky to have you as their Combi crew. Take care of them for me. Maybe we should get a bigger van. And a toilet. And a shower. This is actually quite representative of what it's like being in a van with you. Me pushed up against the wall and you with all the space on that side. I told them I was leaving because your butt crack is out all the time. It's true. And you never appreciate my terrible puns. With that experience behind us, it was time to get cleaned up. Combi lifestyle. Because Faith's dad was working in the region and we were off to meet him. Welcome to Ben's salon. Human hair. Dog hair. Penny hair. Ben's there. Even Alaska got cleaned up for family time and Boomerang had a rare bath too. I'm not giving him a tip. That's what he's looking for. Oh jeez he's washing the whole van. Yay. That's your granddad. There's not much headroom. I find, I'm six foot and I find that I'm always slightly bending my neck. Smells really good. I don't know what you've done. It smells really nice. That's Febreze. Is it? Yeah. I squirted some Febreze just in case you came in here. Good move huh? Good move. You're welcome to stay anytime. We got a hammock. This was only going to be a brief visit before we headed across country to Faith's hometown. County Cork. County Cork. We made it. But first we needed to find a free camp spot for the night and we found a pretty cool one. Had a bit of a chill day today exploring the town of Kilkenny. There's a rather nice castle there and rose garden. It's very chilled and now we found this beautiful camp spot. Islanders not disappointed. Let me show you around. This is where we're sleeping. This is where we're eating. What do you think Alaska? What is this? Like a little forest? It's behind a church again. Oh look there's deers. Oh my gosh. No way. No way you're coming this close. What? What? No. Anyway on with the tour. This is where we get our water from. This is the well but unfortunately it doesn't work but it would be cool if it did. There used to be a well here obviously. You said that there's quite a few of these over Ireland but most of them are out of commission now. I don't know what to call this but it's kind of like a picnic area now. What do you think this was used for back in the day? It's obviously been here a while though. Dogs seem happy to be here anyway. This is our garden for the night. Thank you very much Ireland. Let's see what we've got in the fridge for dinner. Oh that's good. It's all pre-cut. That's so easy. Imagine if we eat it on the table. Yum. Chicken's amazing. What do they do to it? I don't know. Probably just drop it in the sink, rinse it under the tap. That's what you get when you're trying to vlog. That is what happens when you're trying to vlog. So George is obsessed with stones and he'll go carry the stones around the beach and then dig them up and scratch them and carry them around and he's no interest in anything else when he has a stone. Doesn't care about dogs, doesn't care about anything. Because he's a poodle historically they were bred for collecting eggs. We're gonna try him with an egg and see what he does. I've got a feeling that George is just gonna smash this instantly. Has he ever had an egg before? No. You're gonna have to show him that it's fragile. Okay we see how he goes. I give it about three seconds before he smashes it. What's that George? What is it? Pick it up. Careful George. You got it? Oh good job. He's got it. It's lasted longer than I expected it to. What's that George? Whoa. Almost got smashed in my hand. How is he? He's biting it but not breaking it. He seems so gentle. Come on George this is what you're bred for. He's jumping on it. It's not a hard boiled egg is it? No. Is it a success? They are bred to go and find eggs and bring them back right? Which is what he's doing. But he's not being very gentle either. You happy George? Yeah you happy? Uh-oh we just had a crack. He's just bitten it. Oh now he's realized his stone is really tasty. Never had an egg before. No more egg for you. After an egg-cellent morning we didn't want to yoke around any longer so we hatched a plan. Honestly my brain was scrambled with all the recent events and I'm not exactly sure why. Maybe I was shell-shocked. Still we've got a few more days left to egg-splore Ireland and next up is Faith's hometown Bolting Glass in Wicklow County. I have great egg-spectations. I know I'm such a yoker. This narration is gonna take some beating. Writing it was exhausting. This is the 1100s and closed in 1530s-ish. But it's still here. It's still going strong. No respect. Next door is the Protestant church. Faith has only been there one time but she was baptised. She could go to school because she wasn't allowed to go to school. That's my nursery. I have a baby boo. That's my primary school. Oh it's bigger than it used to be. There's 32 people in your whole school? Yeah. What? There's five people in my class in my year. Five people in your year? No wonder she always wants to be in central attention. It's all making sense now. We used to swim in here when we were kids. I wouldn't recommend it. You end up with dysentery or something. This is where little Faith grew up. Look at it. I thought it was a rock. Little Faith used to play in this garden. Vegetable garden down there. Get a horse in the field. You had a horse? Yeah, we had a few horses. Does anyone live here now? No. Empty, disused. Yeah, it's terrible. Is that all part of the house? Yeah, it's the house in like an acre of land and there's sheds, there's a pigsty and one's a stable for horses. Plumbing could do with some work. Original wood floorboards though. Isn't that staying for George? Too big. The best part of the house is the rosebush. It's still here. Obviously Faith doesn't stay in this house when she visits home. She stays with her lifelong friend just around the corner. Get it George, get it, get it, get it George. Yes. Here we are, my home away from home, full of kids. Yeah, you did it. Nice. Oh, two in a row, good job. It's amazing to be home after so many years, haven't been back since before the pandemic. Roxy. Remind me of Alaska when she was a puppy. You have to travel around Ireland for a long time, get to come home and have a rest and see everybody and it's great. Good job. Faith's hobby is boxing but she thought she'd share her passion with the kids. Teaching the kids how to box. You need to learn self-defence at a young age so this is what we're doing. That's really young age. Wyatt's first. He's almost three. Come on Wyatt. Ready to learn. This one. So it's going to be one, two, right hook. Okay. Strong young men. The kids were loving boxing with Aunty Faith but Alaska wasn't quite so keen. Oh, did Alaska bite you? Yes. Oh, that's never happened before. Are you okay? Alaska's protecting me. Are you okay? I've never seen that. Alaska, it's okay. Are you protecting me? I'm okay. We're playing. Oh, it's okay. It's okay. Alaska, are you protecting me? I'm just playing. It's okay. It's okay. Don't worry. Never seen Alaska be protective like that. And swiftly moving on with the tour. I used to work in that pub for three years when I was a youngin, 15 to 18. Still does a great carvery, bacon and cabbage. I think we should go try that. I think we should. As well as a banging carvery, this also gave us a chance to catch up with one of Faith's old colleagues. If you ever want to come to Ireland and you're looking for a convertible, call Steve Staines. What a whip. I'm used to tiny spaces but this is literally hopping. Ultimate arsehole driving convertibles in the rain. Oh, man. Are you sure? Yeah, yeah. You're going to be back here. Don't do it. You're going to break the roof off. It's as strong as the state of mind What the hell is that? Oh god Oh my god He took me over Oh my god