Yas Island

Traveling in Ireland:

A decade ago I visited Ireland for the very first time.

Man, doesn’t speak in decades make you feel old? Shivers.

And a month ago I was back exploring the Emerald Isle with my family. Nineteen years old me slept in the airport, used a disposable film camera and only ate $5 fish and chips. Wow, have times have changed.

Though one thing hasn’t, my curiosity for the world and a desire to keep going back to places I’ve been and loved and to get to know them better. And that was certainly the case for visiting Ireland.

The gardens and estate around Dunbrody House

But I had another reason to journey halfway around the world to a different island than my adopted home of New Zealand.

When I was home in Virginia for Christmas holidays, I surprised my parents with a trip to Ireland. It was a place I knew they’ve wanted to explore for a long time but would never book on their own. Well, good thing I’m here to shake things up and make shit happen, right?

My parents are hardworking people who haven’t had a vacation in probably a decade, and even then they don’t go overseas. We’ve had our ups and downs over the years but they’ve ultimately been supportive of my crazy ideas and dreams, and it feels really good to finally be in a position to say thank you with the best way I know how – an adventure!

Hell yes to being an adult!

The Giant’s Causeway

 

As someone who has solo traveled for about a decade, traveling with others can be hard. Traveling with your parents, who somehow still see you as a bratty teenager, was often downright impossible.

But the good prevailed and usual and it was worth every crazy moment.

I didn’t let them have a chill holiday, instead of dragging them to every corner of Ireland to see as much as possible.

I have so many crazy moments, anecdotes and stories to share of cool spots we discovered in Ireland, but in the meantime, I just wanted to pique your wanderlust with 20 of my favorite photos from the trip. Enjoy!

Starting in the great city of Dublin and had to take the parents to see the Book of Kells at the Trinity College Library. A famous illuminated manuscript of the Four Gospels from around 800AD, it’s quite possibly one of my favorite historical books I studied in university, and I go every time I’m in Dublin and don’t regret it.

 

How amazing is this reading room?

There are many other attractions to visit Ireland if you are close to mother nature and enjoy the natural beauty from around the world this Celtic world will sound like a masterpiece for you.