Boston, MA

The beginning and end of our Ireland trip put us in Boston. We arrived around noon and had plans to take a quick water taxi to the City. It was pretty simple to catch a bus to the ferry terminal. We chose Rowe's Wharf because they store your luggage for you until your return trip. Well - it was definitely different than we were expecting! There were 4 of us on this tiny little boat, getting sprayed by the waves of passing ferries. 

The boat dropped us off close to the North End. We asked our boat driver's advice on where to grab some lunch and he directed us to the Black Rose, near Quincy Market. It was a great suggestion - our lobster roll and clam chowder were delicious!

After lunch, we found our way along the freedom trail to see Paul Revere's house and - most importantly - stop at Mike's Pastry! Our friends had brought back some canollis for us a while back, so we wanted to grab a few for our trip. The line was long, but moved quickly. I got the espresso cannoli and Jason had the chocolate chip. Both were AMAZING, but mine had a slight edge. I don't think you can go wrong through. Just remember, CASH ONLY! 

We wandered back through Columbus square and took the water taxi back to the terminal to catch our flight to Shannon.

On our flight back back from Dublin, we had one more night in Boston. When we arrived a little after noon, we caught a quick taxi ride into the City. We immediately dropped of our stuff at the nearby Courtyard Marriott Downtown and set off to wander around Boston Commons, the Public Gardens and the cute shops and alleys of Beacon Hill. We missed looking around in Trinity Church due to a wedding taking place - next time!

That evening, we took it easy, grabbing a quick dinner and settling in to watch Game of Thrones. Our flight out was at 8am the next morning, so it was an early night for us.

Boston was adorable. We had fun wandering around and exploring in the short time we had. In the initial planning stages, we were supposed to have one more day in Boston to explore Harvard and more of the North End, but due to the fact that we were flying on positive space tickets, Aer Lingus asked us to move our Ireland flight back by a day - shucks! (We added Cork & a few more activities in Dublin to our itinerary because of this.) Boston is a bit easier for us to get to than Ireland, so I feel confident that we'll be back to explore in more depth next time.

Up Next: I'll be heading to Portland for a cousin reunion here in a few weeks! Can't wait for a little dose of the Pacific Northwest.

5th Year: In Review

YEAR FIVE!!! It seems like another lifetime when Jason was still working at Ernst & Young. We had another amazing year of travel and, of course, all of our travels are possible thanks to Southwest.

There was a ton of international travel this year (a trend I would like to continue), and all of our trips were thanks to amazing airline perks - Southwest Rapid Rewards Points to get us to Tulum and Russian River Valley, Positive Space tickets to both Puerto Rico and Ireland and the good 'ole standby flights to Italy and for other random domestic trips! Here's a recap - month by month.

August: Orlando, FL - fun spontaneous day at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter!

September: Tuscany, Amalfi Coast & Rome, Italy - 

Italy is one of my favorite places ever and this trip didn't disappoint. I found a new love of Rome here and we're even planning on making a return trip to Italy within a year!

October: We took a fun day-trip to visit Galveston State Park with Indy. He LOVED the beach!

November: Culebrita & Old San Juan, Puerto Rico -  Jason won some "gold passes", so this trip was free AND confirmed. We love Puerto Rico - it's such a great little escape.

January: Tahoe, CA - Disaster of a trip. We've love to go back when it's warm though!

February: Ubud & Legian, Bali - Amazing 30th birthday trip!

March: Tulum, Mexico - Jason's 31st birthday trip! We are both obsessed with Tulum. Hoping for a return trip ASAP!

April: Russian River Valley, CA - Amazing Trip with the Linebergers. Hoping to make this an annual thing!!

May: Dingle, Kinsale, Cork & Dublin, Ireland - Just an amazing trip - easy, yet so beautiful. And yes, everything really was THAT green!

Boston, MA - A few days to sample some of the most famous sites in Boston and eat some delicious food!

In the next year, we have plans to:

Have a cousin reunion in Portland, OR (just me)

Take a long weekend with the pup to New Orleans, LA

Enjoy fall in my hometown of St. Louis, MO

Celebrate our anniversary in Broken Bow, OK
Spend Thanksgiving in London

Attend multiple wedding events, with the grand finale in Comfort, TX
Head to NYC to visit friends

Explore the great outdoors in San Juan Islands, WA

Soak up paradise in Kauai

Attend a family reunion/wedding in Portland, OR

I am also planning a glorious road-trip around Southern England for late summer - to include London, the Cotswolds, Bath, Cornwall, Dartmoor, Stonehenge and a trip to the Harry Potter Experience! Very excited about this!

Dublin, Ireland

We drove into dreary Dublin around noon. While it didn't rain, the clouds shut out most of the light. We popped into random shops on Grafton street and wandered in to Fallon & Bryne for a quick snack. We walked through Dublin Castle and Temple Bar before we had to head back to our hotel (The Shelbourne) for our high tea reservations in the Lord Mayor's Room.

It was an Alice in Wonderland themed-tea. Each item matched the theme - the food and drinks were labeled "eat me" and "drink me" respectively. I think they switch up the theme every month or so. I picked the white tea and Jason, the irish coffee tea. Both were delicious (and unlimited), but we really enjoyed our glass of Veuve Rose. The whole sitting was 90 minutes and food and drinks were brought periodically. We had sandwiches and then 3 delicious tier's of sweets, but out of all the food, the best part was the traditional scones with clotted cream and jam. It was a super fancy experience and a fun way to splurge! 

The Shelbourne was fantastic - definitely one of the best places we've ever stayed. The location overlooking St. Stephen's Green was fantastic, there were multiple bars to hang out in, the room was amazing - the Irish constitution was even signed in the hotel! The funniest part was pulling up to the valet in our little stick-shift Nissan in the company of Ferraris and Porsches. 

That night, we wandered to Temple Bar to see what all the fuss was about. We ended up wandering along the River Liffey and seeing Ha'penny Bridge and turning right around. While it was interesting to see all of the crazy stag and hen parties, we split some fish and chips and Leo Burdock's and headed back towards our hotel. We grabbed a few drinks at O'Donoghue's, which was much more laid-back.

The next morning, we walked to Trinity College right at opening time. We were the first in to see the Book of Kells (which, while pretty, wasn't really that interesting) and quickly walked to see the Long Room Library that inspired the library in Hogwarts! The smell was just fantastic and we enjoyed just wandering around by ourselves before the rest of our time slot arrived.

We also hit up a few of the must-see sights this morning - St. Patrick's Cathedral and St. Stephen's Green.

We had booked online tickets for the Guinness Storehouse Tour and I'm glad we did! We bypassed a line of 100+ people and made our way to the kiosks to print off our tickets. The tour was surprisingly fun! I really liked wandering around the advertising and marketing floor. We grabbed lunch at one of their many cafes and it (sadly?) ended up being one of the best meals of our trip! The food in Ireland wasn't anything to write home about, with the exception of the fresh seafood...

Anyways, the tour included a pint of Guinness and we chose to redeem ours at the Gravity Bar. There was a 360 degree view of Dublin, which we were able to take advantage of due to the beautiful weather! We chatted with a nice couple from Shannon for a while, but had to leave because we had reservations for a whiskey tasting!

Teeling is the only functioning distillery in Dublin. (Jameson actually makes their whiskey in Midleton - where we visited the day before!) We had been looking forward to trying their whiskey, so we upgraded our tasting to include some of the premium whiskeys. 

At the end of the tour, you get to sample the whiskey, but there is also a bar to purchase cocktails from. This bar isn't accessible unless you book the tour, so it was a nice, uncrowded place to spend a few hours. I had the BEST cocktail here and we bought a bottle of the Single Batch to bring home with us.

That evening, we had a pre-set theatre dinner at Ely Bar & Brasserie, which is set underground in the wine caves! Afterwards, we made our way to the Abbey Theatre to see Othello. Both were lovely and a great way to end our time in Dublin.

The next morning, we frantically rushed through security (thanks to no nearby gas stations and a TERRIBLE experience with the rental car company) and took advantage of custom's pre-check. This makes it so that when you land in Boston, you just walk off the plane to baggage claim - no need to go through Passport Control!

Ireland was wonderful. The people were friendly, the weather was cooperative, and the vibe was chill. So grateful for our positive space passes for making this trip stress-free and CONFIRMED! After a quick 5 hour flight, we arrived in Boston! I will recap both our long layover and our last day next!