Ireland Archives - asthejoeflies

Mar 17 2014

Some Lessons Learned from Travel in Europe

There's much more to Europe than the big cities (Mont Sainte-Odile) — There’s much more to Europe than the big cities (Mont Sainte-Odile, Alsace)

I was talking to some friends about an upcoming trip they have to Europe and got super excited for them. In talking to them, I was kinda flooded with a bunch of memories and experiences that Jess and I have had that I’ve never really written about on the blog. The reality is, I’d say at least 50% of our travel has been to Europe, but I’ve blogged very little about it because most of it was pre-blog and pre-miles obsession. But in honor of my friends’ pending trip, here are some things we learned on each of our Europe trips. And of course, I know people have different views on travel, so if you disagree or have thoughts contrary to my own, I’d love to hear them! These are just my own silly thoughts.

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Jan 11 2013

Shireland: Day 4 – Exploring Dublin

Trinity College

I just realized if I don’t finish this trip report now I’m going to forget everything we did. The great thing about the last part of our trip was I didn’t have to drive anymore! Dublin is a really cool city and somewhere I’d love to return. Here are our highlights from that day in Dublin, not too many pictures unfortunately:

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Dec 11 2012

Shireland: Day 3 – From West to East

Shireland: Introduction
Shireland: Day 1 – Aer Lingus Business Class, the Burren, and Moher
Shireland: Day 2 – Driving Dingle
Shireland: Day 3 – From West to East
Shireland: Day 4 – Exploring Dublin
Our third day in Ireland was a pretty long travel day – it takes about four and a half hours to drive from the west coast of Ireland, where we were staying, to Dublin on the east coast. We took a couple of detours along the way, but mostly we just enjoyed the greenery as we drove from coast to coast.

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Nov 23 2012

Shireland: Day 2 – Driving Dingle

If you’ve taken the redeye to Europe before, you know that first day you end up going to bed really (REALLY) early. I slept from 8 PM to 8 AM, which was good because we had a long scenic drive ahead of us on day 2. We spent our second day in Ireland driving the beautiful Dingle peninsula, which is said to be one of the most scenic places in Ireland. It did not disappoint.

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Nov 16 2012

Shireland: Day 1 – Aer Lingus Business Class, the Burren, and Moher

As I noted in the introduction, getting to Ireland didn’t cost us an arm and a leg – AND we got to fly in business class on Aer Lingus using British Airways Avios. This was very important to me because I needed some rest because we were planning to rent a car and drive a few hours the first day in Ireland. As with most transatlantic flights to Europe, the flight was a redeye and I needed some rest. Once we landed, we visited some amazing natural sights, the Cliffs of Moher and the Burren, and then drove south to our hotel in Killarney by way of ferry. Air, land, and sea, all in a day!

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