The Guinness does taste better there

Traveling to Ireland had been our tentative plan in 2020 before the pandemic. Since then, we had opted for a few different destinations, but this past fall, we finally followed through on a two week visit to Ireland. We decided this was the year for this long awaited trip as my wife’s football team, the Pittsburgh Steelers, were playing a game in Dublin. In our realm of travel planning, that made for a good enough reason.

This was a vacation we were very much looking forward to. The past year had been a bit of a struggle in all kinds of ways, so we decided to be indulgent in a few spots including upgrading to first class for the flight overseas. On account of lots of time spent on planes in 2024 and some points sitting around, we got our vacation started in style at 37,000 feet with Champagne, lots of room to stretch out, some great good, and amazing views. Nowhere near Dublin yet, but the vacation was already well underway!

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So much of the craic

Writing this jet lagged in the middle of the night as my body tells me I should be getting up for another day of adventures in Ireland not realizing that I’ve landed back home after a day of flying.

Oh Ireland and Northern Ireland… I left loving everything about you. How your Guinness tastes so much better than what is served here. How the waves sounded crashing ashore along the Atlantic coast. How a conversation with the person sitting on the barstool next to you could brighten a rainy day. How you treated a now prairie boy to day after day of amazing seafood. How even a terrible storm and the loss of power for a day became a reason to hunker down and enjoy many a whiskey from Galway with my favourite person in the world.

Beaches, cliffs, cows and sheep. Single pot still whiskeys, all the Irish red ales I could find, and cheering for the home team at a soccer match in Dublin. The soda bread, a night in a Galway pub with new friends from Quebec, and driving the twisty roads in county Donegal.

It was all perfect and as the two weeks went on I could feel myself falling in love. I got everything I hoped I would from this trip, but it wasn’t enough. Ireland…. I’ll be back for more some day down the road.