Awful Good - a Visit to Dublin

I departed from Seattle 2+ hours late on Sunday because of a blackout or something in the Dublin airport that created delays. On my Aer Lingus flight I randomly sat next to a person with my same name who is now a new friend. She is a retired wildlife biologist and artist who has a business selling her beautiful drawings of nature. She gave me one of her bookmarks with birds she has drawn.

The Dublin airport is beautiful and customs was a breeze once I got into the correct non-EU passport line. (Regular security on departure took me less than 10 min to get through early morning - even with them going through one of my bags).

I slept some on the plane and was still pretty tired when we landed but I knew I could not nap if I was going to beat out jet lag (btw, I won). I only had about 6 hours to explore Ireland. 

My first task was to figure out where the Maldron Hotel shuttle bus was doing pick-ups from. I met a nice local who advised me to just walk there…it was great advice as the walk was only about 15 minutes and the weather was ideal.



Once checked into my hotel I took a FreeNow (like an Uber) to Howth Cliffs for a stroll. My driver, a Polish guy named Edward, dropped me at the end of a random road and told me to walk down it and at some point I would hit a trail…I watch a lot of crime shows so in my head I’m thinking, “this is how I die,” but also at the same time, “what a great adventure”. Edward was right. As I stood on the edge of a winding trail overlooking the Irish Sea, with a cool breeze blowing and the sun beating down on me, I felt invigorated…and grateful.

The town of Howth is small and quaint with a relaxed local vibe. The marina made me think of home and some epic stone houses sat on the rocks just above the water where people were fishing from and diving for things.

I love public transportation so I figured out how to take the Irish Rail from Howth to downtown Dublin. In contrast to Howth, Dublin has a fast-paced, vibrant city vibe while also feeling very chill (I loved it). Modern buildings are mixed in with old, beautiful historic buildings and there are bars everywhere. I turned down a street and heard loud, live Irish music blaring out of a packed Temple Bar Pub (not a local hangout I was looking for but whatever), found a seat, and drank a pint of frothy, delicious Guinness (possibly made in the storehouse down the street) while chatting with an American from San Diego.



I told some people this trip is like a European taster menu. When I travel I usually like to find a long term home base and explore from there but I loved my short visit to Dublin and will definitely be back!

I’m writing this all on a plane to Zurich to meet up with some lovely German friends I met last year during my stint as a support vehicle driver for a motorcycle tour. Until the next update…Slán go fóill!


Note on regional flights in Europe: they are STRICT on bag weight and size for carry ons. My backpack only weighs 20 kg and the lady laughed at me when I asked if I had to check it - their carry on weight limit is 7 kg.

Daily Faux Pas
On my flight to Zurich I ordered a coffee. The lid was weird. The flight attendant told me to keep the lid on when drinking. I wasn’t sure why she was telling me that. In the U.S. the little flapper on the lid pushes back toward the center of the cup and clicks into a notch. This lid was backwards. So I broke off the flapper and took a sip. Very quickly, I realized the cup is designed to produce a French Press style of coffee which I learned from taking a huge sip full of grounds. The mesh side wasn’t to cool off the coffee, it was to drink from...