THREE DAYS IN DUBLIN

One of the best things about going to school in England is its proximity to so many other countries. Several are very inexpensive to get to. My friend Celete and I flew to Dublin for £10 quid. I can't even get a bus ticket to New York for that. We spent three days in Dublin before taking the train to Belfast (post to come). 

Where we stayed 

We booked a hostel and got a decent discount with my STA travel student card. That card is a magic ticket , it saved me $700 dollars on airfare to Newcastle. It's just $25 for the year long membership. Barnacles Temple Bar is smack dab in the middle of the historic Temple Bar area which was super convenient for Celete and me. It was clean , safe, had free wifi and breakfast, and the staff was very friendly. Only disclaimer is if you're someone who can't sleep through noise I wouldn't recommend it because since it is located next to "The" Temple Bar it is quite noisy until the bar shuts down. I got used to it and sleep like the dead so I was happy with our location. 

What we did 

We did a lot of the tourist stuff which I would actually recommend. The Jameson and Guinness tours were worth it and both have student tickets. We walked ALOT and that's honestly the best way to see the city. It's very walkable, we could have walked for days and still not see everything. We booked a day trip to the Cliffs of Moher. I would highly recommend doing that. The weather didn't work with us that day but the views were still amazing. It was also nice to get out of the city center and deeper into the country. Pictures couldn't do it justice, the Cliffs are breathtaking; we did a couple walks off the beaten path and climb to the top of one section to get optimal views. My Hunters were the best investment. We visited Trinity University and saw the Book of Kells and the old library. The Old Library was cool but to see it you have to pay for the Book of Kells exhibit which I was apathetic about.

What we ate 

Dublin's food game is on point, you'll never run out of places to eat. Our hostel had breakfast so we saved on that meal but had some solid meals throughout our stay. We splurged one night and went to this place called the Blind Pig (check out HERE). I found it on a Pinterest post. It's a restaurant styled as a 1920's speakeasy. There's no address listed and the location changes. You get the address and the secret password to enter once you have made a reservation. The cocktail menu is hidden in old books and the place is dimly lit in candle light to add to the vibe. The place was cool but the food was delicious. It's probably one of the few meals that I've had in life that actually made my mouth sing it was that good. 

Overall I found Dublin to be an amazingly vibrate and diverse city. It was really cool walking through the streets and hearing so many different languages spoken. The people are some of the friendliest I've met in life. I would love to go back and rent a car and see more of Ireland outside of Dublin and visit Cork. If you Get the chance definitely make Dublin a stop on your travels.