For my very first trip abroad, I stayed in Dublin for a week with two friends who were also figuring out this whole ‘travel while broke’ thing with me. It was not glamorous: we packed multiple boxes of meal bars so we would only have to buy dinner (and drinks. mostly drinks), wore the same three outfits for a week, and took public transportation everywhere.
Cost: Flights for this trip into Dublin were outrageous at $650 because:
- My spring break aligned with St. Patrick’s Day. This was both appealing and revolting.
- We bought the tickets two months before our departure date because we were sweet, sweet, naïve little dum dums.
BUT it is cheap to stay and eat in Ireland, just carbo load on Guinness, so it balances out on the back end.
Accommodation: We booked a stay in Abigails Hostel in Dublin for $35-50/night in a 6 bed female dorm. This place was right on the River Liffey and a short walk from the Temple Bar district which was most excellent for stumbling home. The prices varied for weekdays vs. weekends but this price range hasn’t changed since we stayed there .
IT WAS SAFE AND CLEAN AND NOBODY STOLE OUR SHIT so kindly place your “I’m not sharing a room with strangers” comments straight into the garbage and light it on fire. We stayed with two German friends, a solo traveling teacher, and a Harvard grad just taking time off to travel. It was legit. If you’re worried about your belongings, hostels always have lock boxes/safes to rent for your stuff and 24-hour front desk security.
If you can choose when to go: 100% of the year. Don’t even look for an excuse not to go.
I think its worth mentioning that since writing this post I have been to 7 countries, and the Irish are still the nicest people you will ever have the pleasure of meeting. Fun fact, one my friends has such a precious baby face that she was booped on the nose by a waitress asking to see her passport to check that she was 18. Can you imagine if all confrontations started this way? Iconic.
What we did
There isn’t a solid itinerary for this trip since we stayed in the same city for a week, so here is a list of things that we somehow accomplished for less than $200:
Jameson Distillery Tour
Pretend to understand the chemistry of whiskey making just long enough until they give you a whiskey tasting: you start with Jameson and they let you compare it to a tasting of scotch and bourbon so you can tell the difference. Tbh I loved the scotch more than the Jameson but don’t tell the gingers or they’ll get mad.
Guinness Storehouse Trip
An obligatory trip to Ireland’s Mecca: you have to go learn how to properly pour a Guinness (above) and have a drink in their Gravity Bar. This is a cylindrical bar like a lighthouse but with floor to ceiling windows to give you a 360 view of the city with its floor to ceiling windows. The windows even have landmarks printed on top of them so you know what part of the city you’re looking at. Its the tits.
Giant’s Causeway
Day trips to the Giant’s Causeway (a ‘natural’ rock formation phenomenon clearly made by wizards and pictured above) make stops at the Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge (terrifying), time to stop for a drink and lunch in Belfast (switching from euros to pounds is the economic equivalent of being dumped in a text message), and see Dunluce Castle. Some of Game of Thrones was filmed at these landmarks, so obviously just start shouting DRACARYS every chance you get.
Cliffs of Moher
This was my favorite part of the trip: The ride across the entire country to get to the cliffs was outrageously beautiful, and Galway is a cool city with a distinctly coastal, small-town vibe. Fun fact: tourists get fucking BLOWN off the cliff every year because life is actually one big horror movie with no discernable plot other than to try not to die at tourist attractions. Just stay on the path, people (in an un-religious way, please). I am pictured above firmly planted on the ground with double middle-fingers up to keep scientific tabs on wind speeds. The view below is of a pit stop on the way back from the cliffs.
Temple Bar District and Trinity College Bars
THE Temple bar is extraordinarily expensive to drink at and its always crazy packed, but the live music in this whole area is what your Gerard Butler wet-dreams are mad of. Note that if you don’t immediately buy a drink when you walk into a bar you will in fact get kicked out, we were even kicked out of a bar once for not drinking enough which is the most Irish thing that has ever happened. There is also this hot chocolate shop in the Temple area that I need to buy stock in.
Obviously we ended up at a drag show
This is pretty self explanatory. I will never have enough adjectives in my brain to successfully describe it in all its glittery glory.
Day Trip to Howth
We took a train to this beautiful coastal vacation town right from Dublin. If you like biking around, this place is for you fam. You can walk around quite a lot of this place, grab a pear cider, and eat fish and chips right on the water without a bike, but I would recommend it if you can. This is a cool day trip if fitting in a tour to another major city or landmark isn’t in your budget.