I am finally blogging our Europe trip! We booked our flights in Oct 2018 and finally had our trip in September 2019. I figured… why not share details of our travels during a time when travel is banned, to bring happy memories and hope into our lives! Over the next couple weeks I will (finally) be sharing about all the places we visited during our two weeks in Europe! A little later than I imagined, but wedding planning took priority the past couple of months! Speaking of wedding planning, I finally booked all the vendors a couple weeks ago and felt so relieved. Let’s hope all this social distancing clears by end of June! Anxiety is increasing a little, but fingers crossed!
What will you see?
- Itineraries – recommendations on what to do
- Food Guides
- Travel tips – What to pack, where to stay, how to use public transportation, etc.
First up:
Dublin and Howth Ireland!
What to do in Dublin
Guinness Storehouse –
You can’t go to Dublin and not visit the Guinness Storehouse! You can buy tickets there, but you will have to wait in a long line. I highly recommend buying ahead of time here. Tickets are about €25 per person – includes a Guinness at the top floor and a small tasting on the proper way to drink a Guinness!
While you are at the Guinness Storehouse learning how the Guinness is made and how to properly drink it – be sure to may the extra €6 for a “Stoutie”
Trinity College and The Book of Kells –
It is free to enter the campus, but you’ll have to pay a small fee to enter the Book of Kells. It is beautiful, but unfortunately a library full of tourist takes some of the beauty away. I will admit it did not blow me a way, as I had always imagined.
St. Patricks Cathedral –
Temple Bar –
Temple Bar is indeed a bar, but also refers to an area with dozens of bars! It reminds of a colorful and Irish Nashville. Tons of people, bars, color flowers, and live music!
Comedy Crunch –
Oh, my gosh! This place was one of my FAVORITE unplanned parts of our whole trip. Jake loves deer (its the theme of the trophy for his fantasy football group). We were exploring the streets of Dublin and Jake saw the bar “The Stag’s Head” and said “We have to go in!” We did… only to find out in 5 short minutes a stand up night, Comedy Crunch, was starting. They sat us front and center…
We laughed our way through 4 Irish comedian acts and the last lady BUTCHERED ME. I guess thats what happens when you’re stuck sitting in the front at a comedy show… We loved hearing Irish comedy and months later are still laughing and telling stories about this night! The best part, it wasn’t even on the itinerary I made for the trip!
Other beautiful sites:
- Christ Church Cathedral
- Dublin Castle
- Jameson Distillery
- Phoenix Park
- St Stephen’s Green
- Vintage Tea Tours
What to do in Howth
- Howth is a cute little town on a peninsula about 30 minutes by car and 45 minutes by train from Dublin. It is a beautiful fishing village with a golf course and hiking trails.
- Jake really wanted to golf so he booked a tee time at Howth Golf Club. A beautiful walking course situated up on top of a hill with many scenic views.
- Not a golfer? Then, try hiking! Here are some trails I recommend: here and here. One of the hiking trails actually cuts through the Golf Course!
- On the northern harbor, there are many cute restaurants and cafes to try after a day of hiking or golfing. They are also walking distance to the dart station located on Howth.
Irish Food
Unfortunately, I am not a big fan of Irish food or Guinness, so this will be my only country I don’t have a lot of feedback on where to eat. With that said you still need to try a Guinness, Irish Coffee and some beef stew or Shepherd’s Pie while you are there!
We did eat at a a brewery called Porterhouse! The food was great, but not actually authentic Irish food. It had multiple floors and live music!
How to Do I travel there?
- Airport: The main Airport is the Dublin airport.
- Their train system is called the DART and they have many bus lines. I recommend getting a LEAP card upon arriving at the airport (more information below).
- Ireland does not have UBER or LYFT. But, they do have Taxis. Honestly, they have a great bus and train system so you can get away with not using a Taxi. We stayed in an Airbnb in Sutton, it was a 5 minute walk to the train that took us into downtown Dublin and a quick walk to the bus that took us to Howth.
Leap Card
- If you are in Dublin for a couple days and 1. Plan to visit neighboring towns (Howth) or 2. Staying just outside the city, I highly recommend getting the 3 day Leap Card! It is only €20 and available for purchase at the airport.
- Once you go through customs and come out into the main lobby of the airport you’ll see this little SPAR to your left (on the second floor). You can purchase the leap card from there!
- There are many buses to and from the airport. I would recommend looking up your bus/train route to your hotel/airbnb before the trip.
- Then, you can use the Leap card (72 hours, unlimited) on all local buses and trains!
If you decide to get the leap card at the airport, you can cross the walkway to the other side of the street and immediately use it to hop on the Airport express 757 to downtown. We used it and got off right near by the Connolly station to take a train to Sutton (where our Airbnb was).
Other tips:
- As you may know (and can tell by many of my photos) – it rains a lot in Ireland. Bring an umbrella and rain coat. Don’t want wet feet? Bring little rainboots like these or these. Small rainboots are a lot easier to pack than big ones!
We had a blast in rainy Ireland. I do wish we would have been able to go to the western part of Ireland, I think I would have loved it more than Dublin! You can’t do it all in one trip though, because you always need to leave a reason to come back, right?!
Coming next on “Kimmy’s Joyful Travels” will be Switzerland! We visited Lucerne and Interlaken. You will see fondue, chocolate and hiking!
Questions? Comment below!
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