The rumors are true — I visited Ireland once again! It was a little over five years since I was last there.
For any loyal readers, you know the reason I started the blog was to write about my travels during my time abroad at Maynooth. While this trip didn’t involve a lot of studying, I still loved being back on the Emerald Isle for a few days.
The first part of the trip took place in Dublin. After a delayed flight and a lot of time spent in the airport, I got off my bus in Dublin and met up with my travel buddy, my brother. It was his first time in Ireland and I graciously volunteered to act as a tour guide.
The first stop was grabbing a pint at the Guinness Storehouse. This would be my third time touring the place where they make the black stuff. A few things were different, I think in part due to the pandemic, but it was still just as enjoyable as the first time I toured it. Once again, I learned how to pour my own pint. I nailed it! Shoutout to Phillip, our Guinness expert who guided us through the six steps. We enjoyed our first pint there before heading up to the famous Gravity Bar.
The skies were blue and sunny that day — the perfect conditions to see all of Dublin and the Wicklow Mountains in the distance. After soaking in those views (and another pint) we grabbed food before heading back to our hotel. For dinner, we met up with our other brother before hopping from pub to pub for the rest of the night.
The next day we took a quick train to Howth, a beautiful little town just 20 minutes outside Dublin. Sure, it was cold, but the sun was shining for the second day in a row! It felt like a miracle. We skipped on the cliff walk this time around and instead wandered around the pier.
We took a train back and decided to check out EPIC The Irish Emigration Museum. It’s a museum dedicated to Irish emigration from as early as the 1600s. It was cool to learn more about the history of my ancestors and how common emigration from Ireland still is today.
Following the history lesson, I was thrilled to meet up with my friend from study abroad for dinner! It had been a few months since I last saw Laura (we ran into each other in Chicago, first met when I studied at Maynooth in 2017). We caught up over some food and that was a blast. Then my brother and I proceeded to have another pub night.
We may have ended up staying out later than we should’ve…but the craic was good. Dublin has always been good to me and I am so happy I got to visit, again!
Following Dublin, we took a trip out west to Galway. More to come on part two of this trip!
(And yes, I am now the proud owner of a film camera. I was excited to capture this trip on film! How fun!)
Erin Goes Everywhere 
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