Dublin

Trek-wise, I think aside from actually packing my bag I'm as organized as I'm ever going to be. I've also read a couple of blogs of people who are doing their treks at the moment. There's just So Much to see... but that's not all I'm dwelling on at the moment.

Last December, during the snow England didn't know what to do with, I flew away to Ireland for four days with two friends. At the end of October we just wanted to get away and Do something, so we booked a flight to Dublin and a hotel a few minutes walk from St. Stephens green.

Flying out of Southampton with ice on the runway was more than a little worrying and landing somewhere with an even whiter landscape then the one we'd left was worse. But we survived. In just over an hour we found ourselves in a wonderland that felt a million miles away from the troubles of home.

It was beautiful everywhere, even when the snow turned to slush as we hit the hum of Grafton Street. We went at the ideal time of year. There was snow, Christmas lights, festive songs floating out of shops and even though it was freezing, weather like this was a novelty my snow boots were yet to know! They only let me down in the rain when it soaked through the top, but for crunching, fluffy or falling snow they were perfect. And unfortunately for the other girls, I couldn't sympathise with not being able to feel my toes.

Somehow this city was a home from home after a while and four days felt like four months and we didn't want to leave and face reality.

Unlike most holidays, we had absolutley no plan. We knew we wanted to see the Guinness Factory but we hadn't looked into anything else. So we grabbed a map at the airport and jumped in a cab to the hotel. After signing in, we wrapped up and went out, ready to slip our way through the next few days.

Food-wise we just ate whatever we wanted. We were drawn into Bewleys twice by the cakes in the windows, had a classic greasy breakfast just around the corner from the Guinness factory and indulged ourselves in Elephant and Castle. And one afternoon we simply sat in Costa next to Trinity College and watched the world go by.

I wasn't until our second night that we discovered the Temple Bar pub. It was a huge relief from the cold outside and instantly a cosy place to pull up a bar stool and listen to the live music. Once inside we didn't leave for hours. The crowd was made up of people from all over the world, all friendly and all willing to sing along, which we did, very loudly... and cried for an encore. After that we laughed and ran home in the snow to our cosy beds. The next day was more wandering, more food and more singing and dancing before a big sleep.

The night we flew home the most beautiful sunset I've ever seen took place above the clouds, but all too soon we were back on English soil and all the snow had melted.

 I would love to go back, but I don't think we'd ever get the same experience twice.

Josie x