That being said, the flights by Ryan Air both there and back were pretty painless. We needed no extra luggage other than the carry on allowance, despite emptying duty free of all the Irish whiskey miniatures on the return trip, and we were able to check in for both flights online making the getting through security relatively straight forward. It's a faff, but it's a faff regardless so I was content with it being as straight forward as possible.
Return flights with no additions cost us that grand sum of £38.74 each which I thought was damned reasonable. The Air BnB which was booked by my travelling partner as a last minute deal, and set us back £165.11 for 3 nights. Accommodation was basic, but by Dublin standards it seems this is very reasonable, and to be honest I'd rather have a self catering flat than a swanky hotel. Around 15/20 minutes walk away from the centre of Dublin it suited me down to the ground, with a convenience store and nice cafe situated near by, too.
The outbound flight was and early one, getting us to Dublin airport for somewhere between 9 and 10am. It was easy enough to hop straight into a taxi, leave our bags at the flat, and head into the town.
To start, we did some general exploring and had ourselves some breakfast in a traditional Irish...err...Starbucks... Nice enough, and got us exploring the town a little.
We wanted to see a comedy show we'd heard about called "The Survivors Guide To Ireland" at a pub called International Bar on Wicklow Street. The duo were really good for the hour long show, and whilst the audience was a bit sparse they got many laughs and indicted some participation, and were generally great, poking fun at the different regional Irish accents, the feud between the North and South and other Irish stereotypes.
The majority of the rest of the day was spent without a destination cemented in place, but we visited St Stephen's Green - a beautiful bit of parkland in Dublin with a lake, water features and many statues including one for Barnardo's children's charity and one celebrating the aid that Dublin gave to German children after WWII. Of course, we brought the sun from Birmingham, through customs and into Dublin so the weather was perfect for wandering the park.
We also visited Marsh's Library, an old academic library with some unusual claims to fame and history behind it. We were able to look at beautiful scholarly books and some of the artwork that had been displayed to represent some of the happenings in the library. Definitely worth a look for book lovers.
Our afternoon and evening was then spent perusing some of the bars, listening to some excellent live music including some typically folky music by an ace guitar, mandolin and fiddle trio. The bars are all lovely in Dublin, even when they're heaving as the vibe is just so relaxed. Had an ace night before returning to the flat.
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