An Ireland Vacation Recap

Summary

The Nightly – “An Ireland Vacation Recap”

Hosts: Matt & KP
Date: July 18, 2026

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Episode Overview

In this special Sunday deep-dive episode of The Nightly, hosts Matt and KP recap KP’s recent trip to Ireland. The discussion covers the delights and quirks of Irish (and UK) cuisine, local animals, cultural observations, and favorite moments from a family holiday. With characteristic warmth and playful banter, the two friends examine everything from Weetabix and Guinness to horses and historical sites, offering listeners a cozy, late-night travelogue packed with humor and insight.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Reunion & Setting the Scene

• After a brief catch-up, the hosts get straight into KP’s return and Irish vacation.
• KP teases “pretty spicy takes about my people,” prompting Matt’s curiosity (00:59).

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2. First Impressions: A Culinary Tour

Weetabix Adventures

• KP recounts her excitement at finally trying Weetabix:

  “I put it in yogurt, instead of milk. Just kind of a fiber yogurt addition. How's that?” (02:44)

• Matt reacts with mock horror at violating Weetabix conventions:

  “If you'd have done that at a hotel in, like, the buffet breakfast situation, that would have— that would have blown some people's heads off. That yogurt on Weetabix is… yeah, that's a wild thing.” (03:04)

Tesco Observations

• Both marvel at Tesco's breadth of products and the different grocery shopping experience (02:30–03:51).

Irish Breakfast Culture

• KP finds the full Irish breakfast shockingly heavy:

  "If you went out for breakfast, it was like 9am—go ahead and have just a pile of potatoes and sausage. And that felt really heavy. So we were just trying to get something light." (04:00)

• Matt agrees:

  “It doesn't make sense as a breakfast. I actually think it's one of the worst meals you can have at that time of day.” (04:29)

Guinness for Beginners

• KP’s first-ever Guinness is an unexpected delight:

  “I tried my first Guinness. Kind of delightful. I thought it was really good.” (05:02)

• Matt teases her surprise:

  “Why'd you sound so surprised about this?” (05:07)

• KP’s description:

  “It looks like sludge… but you taste it and it's refreshing and you feel part of a community. Guinness triggers.” (05:09)

• Matt:

  “Weirdly, it does feel good for you as well as far as alcohol goes, because it is full of iron and other stuff.” (05:28)

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3. The Sweet Life: Candy & Cookies

KP’s Candy Tour

• KP is impressed by the variety:

  “I was up to my gills in candy.” (06:08)

• Least favorite: Wispa (“wasn't doing enough for me”)—especially due to milk chocolate (07:23).
• The hosts riff on “Wi Spa,” blending candy talk with a running joke about Korean spas and Scottish shops (06:43–07:17).

Favorite Discovery

• KP describes a mint chocolate biscuit:

  “It was what we would call kind of a thin mint, but it was better. It was just like thicker. It was incredible.” (07:23)

• Matt suspects it was a Viscount biscuit, popular with older generations:

  “That's a real, generally speaking, a reserve of the sort of octogenarian population.” (08:16)

• KP:

  “It looked like… one of the first cookies to ever be invented.” (08:22)

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4. Animal Encounters & Rural Charm

Animal Life

• KP delights in the abundance of animals:

  “Horses aplenty. Sheep aplenty. Cows… It was really lovely. And they have just so much room.” (08:34–09:00)

Horses and Fences

• Matt muses philosophically about horses surrounded by fences:

  “Famously they for sport jump over fences. And yet we keep them in places that are surrounded by fences. Why do they never leave?” (09:00)

• KP shares findings from her friend:

  “They… try and get into accidents all the time. Like their brain just finds the most inconvenient place to stand, to walk, to jump, to lean on… They have a real low ability to keep themselves safe.” (09:31)

Experiences on the Manor

• KP stayed at a “beautiful manor outside Galway,” where she encountered free-roaming animals, including a friendly dog and horses (10:02–10:25).

Fear and Awe—The Horse Paradox

• “They seem very friendly and nice and they enjoy human interaction. But on the other hand, they do terrify me.” –Matt (10:38)
• KP relates: “I feel the same way. I was really scared of them and now… I’m learning to be really calmed by them… I think it’s good to have that healthy fear. Cause they are huge.” (10:54)

Bar Stories: Midnight Horseback Rides in LA

• KP’s surreal story:

  “At midnight, out the window of this bar, I see three horses walking on the street of LA… We started getting up on the horses and… [the owners] just do this to get them out and get them some, some socializing.” (11:14–11:57)

• Matt: “Yeah, that is bizarre.” (12:28)

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5. Culture, Castles, and History

Ireland’s Attractions

• The highlight was the Cliffs of Moher and a countryside tour including history from the 1916 Rebellion:

  “Cliffs of Moher were so beautiful… We stopped at a nice little pub. The history doesn't look great for you guys, I gotta say.” –KP (15:36–15:58)

• Castle experiences ranged from ruins to being locked out by local politics (16:23–16:47).

Social Life & Travel Styles

• KP would return for a trip with friends—a different vibe from family travel:

  “My 67-year-old mother is not sort of in the club… I want to explore some of the rest.” (16:59)

• Matt recommends Northern Ireland, especially Belfast and Titanic-related sightseeing (17:42–17:50).
• Both hosts reveal themselves to be longtime Titanic enthusiasts and tease a future episode on that subject (18:15–18:20).

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6. Memorable Quotes & Moments

• On Weetabix:

  “Just sort of a block of beige and that's what I needed at the time.” –KP (18:31)

• On Guinness:

  “It's almost a smoothie. Yeah, it's a nutritional smoothie.” –KP (05:37)

• On Candy:

  “It was what we would call kind of a thin mint, but it was better. It was just like thicker.” –KP (07:23)

• On Horses:

  “If you're a horse that liked that Scottish joke especially, please get in touch.” –KP (09:31)

• On the Full Irish Breakfast:

  “It doesn't make sense as a breakfast. I actually think it's one of the worst meals you can have at that time of day.” –Matt (04:29)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• 00:59–03:51: Weetabix adventures, Tesco, breakfast culture
• 05:02–05:44: KP’s first Guinness and Irish drinking culture
• 06:08–08:32: Candy and biscuit explorations, “Wi Spa” joke
• 08:34–10:25: Irish animals, manor stay, friendly horses and dogs
• 11:14–12:28: Midnight horse encounter in LA, surreal travel stories
• 15:36–16:47: Tourism highlights—Cliffs of Moher, pubs, castles
• 16:59–17:50: Reflections on group travel, Northern Ireland recs

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Notable Moments & Listener Call-To-Actions

• Matt and KP repeatedly invite listeners to email in if they appreciate niche jokes or are (humorously) horses themselves (07:17, 09:31).
• KP's shoutout:

  “I'd like to shout out the lovely makers of Weetabix. Thank you for just a solid start to my day.” (18:31)

• Matt's rival shoutout:

  “I'm going to say goodnight to the Megs of Cornflakes, who are their main rivals, but actually they work really well together as a pair.” (18:57)

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Conclusion

This episode is a heartfelt, funny account of KP’s Irish holiday, full of camaraderie, travel tips, and quirky observations about food, animals, and culture. The hosts’ easy chemistry and willingness to digress—whether on ancient cookies or late-night horse rides—make the conversation both informative and comforting, ideal for end-of-day listening or curious travelers seeking a laugh.

Next up: Titanic superfan confessions!

Transcript

[A]

Audio for sleep by hatch.

[B]

All right. I'm Matt.

[A]

And I'm kp. Welcome to the nightly from Hatch, where your late night thoughts go to.

[B]

Here we go again.

[A]

Mat. What in the heck is going on with you? It's been so long.

[B]

What isn't? What isn't and hasn't been going on? It's been forever. Yeah, it was a lot to catch up on.

[A]

Absolutely. I know. Well, should we get right into the first and foremost of it, which was I was closer to your neck of the woods.

[B]

You were, yeah. Let's not muck about. Let's get stuck into this. I want to know what your thoughts are. I know you've got some pretty spicy takes about my people.

[A]

Well. Well, I didn't meet too many of your specific. Well, I guess I did. Yeah. I was in Ireland.

[B]

Okay. Yeah, probably not then.

[A]

For those that are listening, I was in Ireland for a week and some change and I got to try a lot of the across the pond stuff that I had been hearing so much about. First one I whatsapped you about was Weetabix.

[B]

Yes. Huge and actually good bit of trivia for you, kp, please. The main Weetabix factory is not an hour's drive from me.

[A]

Well, they should be giving Weetabix out for free. Just popping them out.

[B]

Well, yeah, I guess they probably do. So basically, for anyone who doesn't know, Weetabix are wheat bricks. Bricks, yeah, sort of. Yeah. A house brick made out of wheat wouldn't be a great house brick because they do. They go wet with milk. They do go very soggy. And yet if they're not wet, then they're hard to eat. They're very. I don't know, how would you describe it? They sort of fall apart, don't they? Yeah, yeah.

[A]

It's like you take a bite out of some drywall. It's just sort of. I wouldn't do it dry. Yeah. Fibrous. Very fibrous.

[B]

Very fibrous. It's a breakfast cereal, by the way.

[A]

Yes. Yeah, we got some at Tesco, which I know is very, very convenient place to shop.

[B]

Absolutely, yeah. Did you get your club card? Was it worth getting the club card for your short visit?

[A]

Didn't get the club card, but everyone was quite nice and we didn't see. Well, you know, we didn't. We didn't know if we saw anything too new. I was really focused on the Weetabix and I don't know if I did it wrong, but I. I put it in. Yogurt, instead of milk. Just kind of a fiber yogurt addition. How's that?

[B]

I don't know how I feel about that. I feel like if you'd have done that at a hotel in, like, the buffet breakfast situation, that would have. That would have blown some people's heads off. That yogurt on Weetabix is. Yeah, that's a wild thing. Although I think I quite enjoy that. What I am interested in here, kp, is out of everything that you've seen

[A]

in Tesco, I had to start with the Weetabix. Yes.

[B]

Because bear in mind, Tesco is. I mean, I don't know the size of Tesco that you went to, but theoretically there could have been, you know, all sorts for, obviously, groceries, but also greetings cards, DVDs, CDs, clothes.

[A]

I should have gotten some of the DVDs. Yeah.

[B]

Maybe not DVDs. My God, is that VHS tapes? Cassettes, yeah.

[A]

But they have it all in this dusty corner with an ancient man gardening it.

[B]

So what was it that drew you to the Weetabix?

[A]

I think that the Irish cuisine had a lot of hearty foods. And so I think we were eager to just sort of get a plain fibrous material to put on our yogurt in the morning. Because I think if you went out for breakfast, it was like 9am Go ahead and have just a pile of potatoes and sausage. And that felt really heavy. So we were just trying to get something light in that we could make in the hotel room.

[B]

Okay. Yeah. I do respect that. I've actually had this conversation many times before about the full English breakfast as a concept. It doesn't make sense as a breakfast. I actually think it's one of the worst meals you can have at that time of day.

[A]

I kind of have to agree. It's heavy. I like to start with just a light feeling. Get me hungry for lunch. Because lunch is my favorite meal.

[B]

Yeah. Yeah. Just a couple of pints of Guinness.

[A]

And they were starting early that I liked.

[B]

Bet they were. Yeah. And did you. I did see the WhatsApp as well. You did try your first Guinness?

[A]

I tried my first Guinness. Kind of delightful. I thought it was really good.

[B]

Why'd you sound so surprised about this?

[A]

Because it looks like sludge when you look at it. You look and see sort of just a. Onion soup is the color that it's giving, but you taste it and it's refreshing and you feel part of a community. Guinness triggers.

[B]

It's sort of. It does. Weirdly, it does feel good. For you as well as far as alcohol goes, because it is full of iron and other stuff.

[A]

I think it's almost a smoothie. Yeah, it's a nutritional smoothie.

[B]

It's the closest they get in Ireland. Yeah.

[A]

Yes, I think that might be true. So those were my kind of cuisine top lines. I tried some candies that I thought were okay. You guys have a lot of candy choices, which I liked.

[B]

I'm surprised you say that because I stereotypically, I always thought your side probably does more on the candy front than we do.

[A]

Maybe. Maybe we do, but maybe it was just new ones that were catching my eye. But I was up to my gills in candy.

[B]

Well, as somewhat of a connoisseur, obviously I'd like to hear what your top ones were and your least favorite ones, actually, that's just as interesting.

[A]

Least favorite, I mean, and this is a personal choice is I don't really like milk chocolate that much. And so I tried like a whisper. Wispa.

[B]

Yeah,

[A]

a wee spa.

[B]

It's. Yeah, I mean, a whisper. Yeah. But I quite like. I quite like.

[A]

There's a Korean spa in LA that's very famous called WI Spa and that's where you can get kind of scrubbed down and they'll still just pumice the skin right off of you. You get down to the lower levels of your skin. So wiispa.

[B]

It's also a small. A small shop in Scotland.

[A]

Oh, WI Spa.

[B]

Do you know what that is? I don't even know why I said that. It must be the heat getting to me. That's a joke that. I mean, maybe one or two listeners might get that. There's a shop chain called Spas over here.

[A]

Ah, good.

[B]

And you get the little one in Scotland. It'll be a wee spa.

[A]

If you got that joke, please email and make Matt feel better.

[B]

The nightlyatch co. Please hurry up. Get in touch.

[A]

Hurry, hurry. I didn't love that one. It wasn't doing enough for me. But I did love. And I don't even know what the name of them are, there was some sort of cookie with a mint chocolate coating and a little bit of white in the middle. Blew our minds. It was incredible. It was what we would call kind of a thin mint, but it was better. It was just like thicker. It was incredible.

[B]

Not an after eight.

[A]

That sounds maybe familiar. Are they mint chocolate cookies?

[B]

Maybe not cookies, though. They're more like. Yeah, after dinner. Like thins, I suppose. What kind of. What size are we talking? What was the packaging like?

[A]

Packaging? They were in Foil. So each one was individually wrapped.

[B]

Oh, a Viscount biscuit, maybe a minty biscuit. Yeah.

[A]

Okay. Incredible. Loved it. We went, we rolled through those. They were great.

[B]

Interesting that. That's a real, generally speaking, a reserve of the sort of octogenarian population.

[A]

I was going to say when I picked it out, it looked like it's been around for just. It was one of the first cookies to ever be invented.

[B]

I think that quite possibly could be true. Yeah.

[A]

Yeah. And then over on the non food areas, I mean I thought that the animal life was incredible. Horses aplenty. Sheep aplenty.

[B]

Yeah, yeah. Got loads of them.

[A]

Cows.

[B]

Cows.

[A]

It was really lovely. And they have just so much room.

[B]

They've got heaps of room actually. And that's something that keeps me awake at night is horses. Famously they for sport jump over fences. And yet we keep them in places that are surrounded by fences. Why do they never leave?

[A]

You know, that's interesting. But you gotta train em to jump like that.

[B]

I still think they could probably like if they really put their minds to it, if they, you know, they could just jump over a little fence that's. I don't know if you are a horse. Get in touch.

[A]

If you're a horse that liked that Scottish joke especially, please get in touch. That would be good. My friend that has. Horses does say that they, they really just try and get into accidents all the time. Like their brain just finds the most inconvenient place to stand, to walk, to jump, to lean on. And they will do that. They don't. They have a real low ability to keep themselves safe. I was, we had some on the property that I was staying at. We stayed in kind of like a beautiful manor outside Galway.

[B]

Wow.

[A]

Yeah, it was really lovely. And there was just animals free roaming. So you would sort of open your door and there was just a dog being like, hey, it's been a long time. Right, let's get up. Huh? Let's go ahead and get up. We're walking the property. I know, it was really cute. She was just a little Scottish terrier or something. And she would walk the property with us as if she had some stuff to show us.

[B]

She'd have loved that joke.

[A]

She, I could tell, I could tell she was waiting for that one. And then the horses would just ride up on you. But they were like leaning against the barber wire all day trying to see you. But they didn't seem to mind.

[B]

I do like horses, I think. Well, it's, it's sort of. I got mixed feelings about them. I guess I do, I do. Like, they seem to have a really good temperament, most of them. They seem very friendly and nice and they enjoy human interaction. But on the other hand, they do terrify me.

[A]

I know. Well, that's massive. Yeah, I feel the same way. I was really scared of them and now this year my friend has some and I'm learning to be really calmed by them and they're really lovely and I think it's good to have that healthy fear. Cause they are huge.

[B]

Have you ever. Do you ride them?

[A]

You know, I rode one time. This was a year and a half ago at midnight. I was at a bar. It was like a little going away party for me as I was about to travel. And at midnight, out the window of this bar, I see three horses walking on the street of la. And I go out, I'm like, we have to see what is the deal with these horses that are on a main street. And we're like, hey, what's going on? And they're like, you want to ride them? And I was like, sure. So a bunch of, you know, bar patrons just started getting up on the horses and I tried to pay the guy. I was like, thank you so much, that was cool. And he was like, no, we just do this to get them out and get them some, some socializing.

[B]

What do you mean get them? Where are they normally?

[A]

I know that. I mean, it was really confusing because we're like in the city. This isn't like, oh, they must be right on that pasture. This is like, I have no clue.

[B]

Also, I feel like you could, I mean, you could just take them for a walk around wherever they live. But they haven't got to go, right? Come on, let's get you down to the cinema. You've not been out for a while. Get you down to a bar.

[A]

It was fever dreamy. It was like, are we making this up? What happened then? We went back inside and we were like, what was that? Because they're not even doing it for money.

[B]

Yeah, that is bizarre.

[A]

I don't know.

[B]

Okay, well that's cool. It's good experience.

[A]

I mean, I guess if you're trying to make a horse that's like, can deal with anything. It's like, yeah, go let bar patrons at midnight.

[B]

That is true.

[A]

And then the horse is all chilled out.

[B]

Ever ridden a cow?

[A]

I would love to ride a cow. Have you?

[B]

No, but I feel like that. I just feel like it'd be nicer if it's not as. Not as well, not as well known as A thing. Is it? But I suppose people ride. What's a bucking bronco? That's a big cow, isn't it? Nope, nope.

[A]

Bronco's a horse.

[B]

Well, every time I, you know, you go to a bar and they've got the. They've got the. It is a big cow. A mechanical cow.

[A]

A bull.

[B]

A bull. A mechanical bull. That makes sense. A mechanical bull.

[A]

Okay. But a bucking bronco is a horse. But a. A bull is a bull.

[B]

Yeah. And a mechanical bull.

[A]

Yeah, that's a mechanical bull. Okay, I see. Do you guys. You like. If someone wanted to go to the rodeo, you just don't have those that much, right?

[B]

No. I don't know if. About 30, 40 years ago, I think cow tipping used to be a thing.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

But that's kind of the closest we've ever got to a rodeo, I think. It's not really.

[A]

Yeah, yeah.

[B]

And of course, in sort of party places like in Benidorm in Spain or anywhere, they have a lot of the mechanical bull.

[A]

Yeah, I did. I did just ride one of those last month. Maybe second time I've ever done it.

[B]

I saw that on your Instagram, actually. It was impressive.

[A]

Thank you. Good effort. Yes. They're not messing around. They're really. You get a guy running that thing who's got a real evil streak in his heart, and you're flying, you're hurting yourself.

[B]

They do strike me as quite dangerous.

[A]

Yeah. Because I didn't know. I thought it was kind of like, oh, they all go the same speed. But no, a guy is like. He sizes you up.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And then tries to get you off of that thing.

[B]

Yeah. So, yeah, he will sort of weigh up your potential ability level and also how much you've had to drink. How much he's had to drink also plays a part.

[A]

I've got to start, like, limping. As I go up to set his sights lower, I got to look really feeble, like, cough. Like it's my last days.

[B]

Yeah. And talk about being an orphan in Victorian London or something.

[A]

Put down my little bowl of gruel and then try and get up on that bowl and then impress everybody.

[B]

So what was your favorite actually? What were you doing in Ireland? What was the occasion? Was it just a little holiday?

[A]

This was just a family trip every few years or so. We like to see a couple country we haven't been to if we can. And so we chose Ireland this round.

[B]

Nice. So what was. Obviously you didn't, or. I'm hoping the main tourist attraction wasn't the purchasing Of Weetabix from Tesco.

[A]

It was not. It was not. The main attraction was. I mean the cliffs of Moore were so beautiful. That was like a tour of the whole countryside also. So we learned a lot of history on that too. We stopped at a nice little pub. The history doesn't look great for you guys, I gotta say.

[B]

It's all in the past now.

[A]

Absolutely.

[B]

All friends now.

[A]

Absolutely. And the. We took like a cool walking tour of the 1916 rebellion. We just got some good history in there and then some good drinks. Kind of an ideal vacation. Yeah.

[B]

Couple of castles maybe.

[A]

Saw em. Yep, saw em. Absolutely. Checked. Checked that off the box.

[B]

Were they. Were they proper ones or were they like. This is sort of where a castle used to be. You can kind of see a few rocks.

[A]

Yeah, pretty much that. There was one that was intact, but there was some drama in the local government where it was closed and the town was really rebelling against that because it was a tourist location. But we went outside. You can't go in, but we went outside and it was nice.

[B]

Nice. So overall, what do you reckon? Would you be going back to Ireland or is it. I don't know if I think I'm sort of with anywhere I go once I've done it, I kind of go, oh, that's that. I'll do something else next time.

[A]

Yes, I think I would definitely go back with friends. I was with family so I was like, there's a certain coziness that we had the whole time. Cause you know, we just don't. We're not like partying all night together. My 67 year old mother is not sort of in the club, but if

[B]

can be an island.

[A]

Yes, absolutely. That is true. We did some pub hopping and that was really fun. Everyone was really nice. I met people, they bought me drinks. It was lovely. But I'd say I want to go. I want to explore some of the rest.

[B]

Have you been to Northern Ireland or did you just go?

[A]

No, just. Just south. Yeah.

[B]

I would recommend Northern Ireland as a good spot for the next one. Great. Yeah, great place also obviously home of the Titanic and stuff.

[A]

So right there, my siblings on the street. My siblings stayed and went with their partner to Belfast after. And that did seem cool. I want to. I love the Titanic. I was a real Titanic freak as a kid. Just spouting facts all the time.

[B]

Have we spoken about that before?

[A]

I don't know. Does it seem familiar to you?

[B]

No, I don't think so, but I can't believe we haven't.

[A]

Were you a Titanic kid.

[B]

Yeah, massively. Yeah.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

Yeah. Like, to an embarrassing degree. Yeah.

[A]

We're gonna get into that next step.

[B]

Right. That is, put that on the list. We're gonna talk about that soon, but in the meantime, I think we should say our goodnights. Kp. So anyone you want to shout out in particular?

[A]

Yes, I'd like to shout out the lovely makers of Weetabix. Thank you for just a solid start to my day. It's just no frills, it's not trying to do anything special, it's just sort of a block of beige and that's what I needed at the time. So thank you to the makers of Weetabix.

[B]

I actually concur with that, I think. Always good. And. But you know what? I'm going to say goodnight to the Megs of Cornflakes, who are their main rivals, but actually they work really well together as a pair, which I think I replied to you at the time on WhatsApp. I said, get yourself some Cornflakes as well. Put them on top. So good night to Kellogg's Cornflakes. Not sponsored. And good night to you, the listener.

[A]

Absolutely. Good night all.

[B]

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