Our RTW Travel FAQ, and a Visit to Dublin

We meet a lot of people on the road. In lines for museums, on the train, at the gym, at airport check-ins, in pubs, at the urinal.

Ok, not that last one. I’m pretty sure I’d pretend not to understand English if that happened. Unless it was Ryan Gosling. Then I might get chatty for awhile.

But I digress.

We’re pretty friendly so we gab with people. Usually the conversation starts with the classic “Where are you from?” We exchange particulars and it goes from there. I typically ask a bunch of questions about them, for two reasons:

I’m fascinated by what other people are doing, experiencing, and feeling, and…
I hate talking about myself. I’m not modest. I’m not even modest enough to suggest that I’m modest. I just don’t think that “me” is an interesting topic. I love to talk about CrossFit, startups, data analytics…see, you started glazing over. Now you understand.

Anyway, it’s almost guaranteed that during the conversation someone will ask how long we’re in the country. Our answer, which is usually, “a couple of months”, kicks off a now-predictable sequence of events. They raise their eyebrows, think for a half-second, and then ask: “How long are you on holiday?”

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We tell them, which kicks off a new series. Eyebrows go through the ceiling. Mouths fall open. They look at their travel partner if they have one. Then they get very serious, take a deep breath, and proceed to ask 20-30 rapid fire questions.

Walking around our neighborhood on our very first day. Here Mom and B are checking out St. Patrick’s Cathedral, which was right next door to our crappy-but-cozy apartment building.

Also in our neighborhood. I just dug it.

The courtyard of The Brazen Head, Dublin’s oldest pub. We had lunch there our first day and ended up going back several times.

A pub in the neighborhood. Now that we’ve been in Ireland a while, I completely understand the love of pubs. It’s cold, rainy, and glum outside, and the best medicine for lousy weather is a cozy place, a pint of Guinness, and some stew.

So in the spirit of helpfulness and internet-based generosity, I’ve compiled a list of “Travel Blews Frequently Asked Questions”. Some are not-so-frequent but great entertainment anyway.

Now let’s get to it…

Travel Blews FAQ

So you’ve seriously been traveling for over a year?

Yes. I’d like to think that you were distracted by my handsome features and didn’t hear what I said the first time, but you’re probably just not paying attention.

Where have you been?

*deep breath* France, Mauritius, the UAE, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Italy, Spain, Portugal, and Ireland. Coming soon, Mexico, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Hawaii, French Polynesia, and maybe some other stuff in the Pacific.

How do you not kill each other?

Barely. Very barely.

Are you rich?

Experience-wise, I roll like Jay Z and Zuckerberg. But I’m going to assume you meant “rich” as in “do you sleep in large piles of money?”, and unfortunately for me the answer is “nope”.

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You’d be surprised at how little it actually costs to travel around the world. We spend more because we like to be comfortable and stress-free, but we could spend much, much less.

When we walked into St. Patrick’s Cathedral, a kindly fellow in his 70’s or 80’s with a name tag on pulled us out of the crowd, asked where we were from, said hello to Braeden, and started showing us around and telling us all kinds of interesting details about the place. He unlocked the gates to the choir area and ushered us in, told us a bit about the choir and the altar, and then took some pictures. He was an awesome guy.

Showing B how to do a rubbing. The Cathedral had a section for kids with rubbings, toys, puzzles, and more. We thought seriously about dropping the boy off there for awhile while we went on a date.

The oldest section of St. Patrick’s, which used to be the Baptistery. The floor is original and dates from the founding of the church in the twelfth century. You thought your floors were in rough shape.

More of St. Patty’s. We passed it every day, so we took a few too many photos.

Jonathan Swift’s tomb inside the cathedral. I felt slightly duncey because I had no idea it was in there.

Pouring a pint together at the Guinness Storehouse

One of the floors of the Storehouse was devoted to Guinness marketing throughout the years. This area had playground-sized versions of all the zoo animals used in their ads. Braeden was fondest of the turtle, of course.

Decorative stack of casks in an exhibit detailing how casks were made

FAQ, continued…

Aren’t you afraid of [poisonous snakes/getting stranded/giant spiders/terrorists/plane crashes/insert other scary stuff here]?

When we lived in the US, I dropped our son off at preschool every morning. On the way out, I would walk through the glass doors and a thought would fly through my head:

“Those doors are not going to stop some asshole from blasting his way in here with an assault rifle.”

Then I would push the thought away. That thought would come, unbidden and unwanted, every day.

So no, we’re not afraid. We educate ourselves on the risks, which in most cases are the same or much lower than where we’ve lived in the U.S., and we plan accordingly.

Living in fear is not living, so I don’t go through life that way.

Do you miss the States?

I miss our family and friends. And good doughnuts. And occasionally gargantuan grocery stores with every possible food imaginable.

But most of the time, no. Ours is a beautiful country with beautiful people, but the world is full of beautiful people and places.

What do you think about Trump?

Next question.

What’s been your favorite place?

I don’t know whether we’re travel planning geniuses or just damned lucky, but we have been delighted by so many places that it’s hard to answer that question.

It’s easier to tell you what our least favorite place has been: Sihanoukville, Cambodia. I just shuddered a little thinking about it.

Getting a close look at an enormous carved wood Guinness pint

The halls of Kilmainham Gaol, where many of the leaders of the 1916 uprising were held and executed

An outer work yard of the gaol. The cross at lower left is where some prisoners of the 1916 uprising were executed.

The grounds of Trinity College, where we popped in to get a glimpse of the Book of Kells

One of the stalls at the Long Room Library, presided over by a serious-looking but well-coiffed John Locke. “What worries you, masters you.”

FAQ, continued…

Which country has the best fo..

Thailand.

Sorry, I didn’t let you finish. But if you were asking about food, the answer is Thailand. We lived there for three months and I could lop my thumb off and count how many times we had dinner at home on one hand. The food is crazy good.

Italy was a very close second. Which means the food in Italy is so good that it’s worth taking a vacation there just to eat, without seeing anything at all. “The Colosseum? No thanks, just take me to the nearest restaurant.”

France and, to my amazement, Ireland, are honorable third place finishers. I expected the food in France to be good, but Ireland? Who knew?

Well, you might have, but I clearly didn’t. Shame on me. Are you going to finish that Cottage Pie?

Are the French really assholes?

Umm, no. We met exactly one person who was even remotely rude, and he was clearly in the wrong job for the wrong reasons.

[Sidebar: Orange Inc, you have a grouchy employee in your Quartier Latin store in Paris. You should probably move him to your call center where he’ll fit in quite nicely.]

After observing American tourists in Paris for just a few days, we do have a couple of pointers that should help avoid having the French – or citizens of any other country you might be visiting – treat you with disdain:

Learn a few words in the local language. “Please” and “Thank you” are good places to start.
Use those words.
Realize that other countries are not actually in the U.S., and the fact that people do things differently outside of the U.S. isn’t a bug, it’s a feature.

Is it difficult to learn the languages?

Nope. Except for Portuguese. It’s the hardest language I’ve had to learn so far, and I’ve spent many hours working on Thai, Vietnamese, and Khmer.

WTF, Portugal? Really? You’re RIGHT NEXT TO SPAIN. How did your language get to be so far from a Romance Language that it sounds more like Russian?

Seriously, though, Portuguese was a blast to learn even though I stumbled through the pronunciation. Most Portuguese folks that I talked to winced when I spoke like someone had dropped an anvil on their foot.

How do you stay in shape?

If you open that door I’m going to talk about CrossFit for an hour or two. You sure you wanna go there?

Braeden had read about Bella and Harry crossing the Ha’penny Bridge, so we went to check it out. I got more of a charge out of seeing the River Liffey, which I had heard about in so many songs.

The boy saw this Lego Batcave set in a toy store, and after making sure we could send it back with Auntie and Uncle when they visit at the end of our stay in Ireland, we surprised him by getting it. Braeden holed up in the living room with the set and we didn’t hear from him for two days.

Dublin

Oh, and we also arrived in Ireland, thank you very much. We spent a week in Dublin before heading off to Cork, Kerry, and Galway for six weeks, and the capital city was a great place to start.

Our apartment was near the center of the city, right next to St. Patrick’s Cathedral. It took a few days to adjust to the weather (WHERE DID THE SUN GO?!?) but after figuring out that we shouldn’t ever, ever leave the apartment without rain gear (we got soaked two days in a row to learn that one) we were fine.

We ate and drank in pubs. We explored the city. We checked out St. Patrick’s and headed to Kilmainham Gaol. We hit more pubs. We went shopping for long pants and hoodies (we’ve been chasing the warm weather, remember?) and stopped by Trinity College to take a look at the Book of Kells. We might have hit one last pub. I’m not sure.

Dublin is a fantastic little city and it reminded me of Boston: walkable, friendly, and comfortable. Every day we were able to see something fun and interesting, and we quickly got into the habit of ducking into a pub for a pint and some hearty Irish food to warm us up.

Our rock-star friend Stephen from the States hooked us up with a private tour of the Guinness Storehouse (THANKS, STEPHEN!) and we learned all about the history of Guinness, the brewing process, and sooooo much more.

I was expecting a fun tour, but really, the Storehouse is like Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory for adults. It’s huge – seven floors – and beautifully done.

Oh, and of course you get to sample some Guinness during the tour, and there are restaurants and bars galore on the top floor where devotees can order a pint or two, listen to live music, enjoy some hearty stew, and enjoy marvelous views of Dublin.

Visiting Knowth in County Meath. That rain in the background hit us about 10 minutes after I took this shot. Fortunately we were boarding the shuttle when it happened so we stayed (mostly) dry.

Dublin also has the Irish equivalent of Boston’s Duck Tours, expeditions through the city in amphibious vehicles. Dublin isn’t rich in architecture or sights like Boston, but what the former lacks in sightseeing Viking Tours makes up for with the comedic shenanigans of their “captains”.

Our guide, Captain Pad, entertained us from the moment we stepped on the bus/boat/whatever, and we howled with laughter as he guided us through the city streets, exhorting us to terrorize passerby with Viking roars. We had a ball.

On our last day in Dublin we picked up our rental car from Europcar, tossed the backpacks in the trunk, and headed north to County Meath for a brief detour. A short time later we were gawking at the ancient burial mounds of Knowth and Newgrange, sites that are 4,500 years old (yes, older than the Pyramids at Giza) and admiring the emerald-patchwork countryside.

Newgrange is another of those vaunted sites that I didn’t really think I would find interesting, but we went anyway because, well, everyone swears it’s worth the visit.

It is. The area is beautiful, the mounds are fascinating, and my imagination was firing away as we walked down the millenia-old stone corridor to the center of the structure. It’s unbelievable that people could build such things with very little in the way of tools, and I feel so fortunate that structures like Knowth and Newgrange are still around for us to appreciate today.

After a few hours at Newgrange, we filled our bellies at the excellent Visitors’ Center cafe with some stew and sandwiches, and then we turned the car south to our next destination.

Shanagarry, County Cork!

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