A Christmas Getaway.

So, to say the least, the last half of this year has been quite unexpected. After having my confidence knocked and a period of being completely lost with who I was and what I wanted to do with my life, an old friend came back into my life. She told me it really isn't the end of the world to have change, and that I should embrace this change and use it to my advantage.

Which is why I jumped straight out of my comfort zone and took my first ever solo holiday without my parents. Just me, my best friend and the beautiful city of DUBLIN. At first I felt it would be a nice thing to do to get things off my mind, but by the end of the trip, I found myself feeling so free and independent and fully immersed in the Irish history and culture - I didn't want to go home.

Here are some highlights of the trip and some amazing places to check out if you ever find yourself exploring this beautiful, historic city.

Dublin Central Hostel, 5 Blessington Street

We decided rather than forking out on a hotel to try a hostel and it was one of the best parts of the trip! Such good value for money and we got to have a private room with an en suite - so if you’re a bit aprehensive about hostels because of sharing with strangers, there’s always an option to have a private room. 

Breakfast and WiFi was free every day and there was no curfew on when we had to call it a night, which worked out well with our boozy nights..

Dublin City Centre

The Hostel we stayed at was only a 5 minute walk from the city centre which was perfect for us wanting to be tourists and explore the heart of the city. Bustling with shops, restaurants, bars and hotels, the city centre could easily be mistaken as the Oxford Street of Ireland. With the festive decorations and historic millennium spire statue to impress, it was a fabulous hub to explore.

Temple Bar District, Grafton Street

If you want a memorable night out in Dublin, the Temple Bar district is the place to go. From quaint little pubs to nightclubs and modern bars, the bar crawl opportunities are endless! We tried the iconic Temple Bar, which I’m pretty certain is the place Ed Sheeran met his ‘Galway girl’ (I met her on Grafton Street right outside of the bar) .. so that was an added bonus. Also the fact that the live music singer in the pub played pretty much Ed’s whole album made the night even better! 

We also couldn’t leave without trying a Guinness and it’s fair to say, it’s disgusting. But when in Dublin, it had to be done!

Guinness Storehouse, St James’s Gate

Speaking of Guinness, it wasn’t a trip to Dublin without getting a picture infront of the giant storehouse gates that I see all over social media. Although we didn’t pay to take a tour inside the storehouse, you can still explore the outside of the premises (which is huge) and take plenty of pictures! Also as you can tell from the picture, the gates are absolutely huge.

Trinity College Dublin, College Green

One of the main reasons for taking this spontaneous trip was to visit a friend of which is currently studying at the beautiful Trinity College. If you’ve ever wanted to study at Hogwarts, this is the closest you’ll get with historic buildings which haven’t been touched for hundreds of years, along with some equally amazing new builds, but none the less, is a campus which puts most universities to shame. As the campus is in the city centre it is open for anyone to take a look, although if you want to immerse yourself in the outstanding long room, which houses the historic book of Kells, you’ll have to pay around €20. However if you know a student at the college, you get in for free!

Jameson’s Distillery, Bow Street

If you love whiskey and fancy going somewhere to get a little tipsy, then Jameson’s Distillery on Bow Street is the place to be. Having never tried whiskey, it was a fairly interesting experience and we even had a go at whiskey tasting (do not recommend if you are not a fan of the taste of whiskey). It was a laugh none the less, and we left extremely tipsy. The decor was also very pretty and there is a tour of the Distillery if you fancy paying a few euro, but we just wanted a drink.. 

Merrion Square Park

Here houses the statue of the great (and Irish) Oscar Wilde. His family home is opposite the park, and his statue was actually built in a way that he is looking over at his house from his spot in the park, which I thought was a really clever and sentimental idea. The park was gorgeous and Merrion Square in general is a very nice area if you’re looking for a quieter spot in Dublin to explore.

National Gallery of Ireland, Merrion Square West

The Gallery was something we thought we had to do as tourists, being as the building itself is amazing and there are many paintings from Irish artists in there that you won’t see anywhere else, as well as pieces from Picasso and other late and great artists. 

The Brazen Head, 20 Lower Bridge Street

This pub is the oldest pub in Ireland, dating back to 1198. The pub is adorably small and quirky, with tiny corridors and low beam ceilings, and extra freaky stairs. Although it was too busy to grab a drink in there, it was fun to explore and hopefully when I come back to Dublin I’ll be sure to have a drink there!

Some other honourable mentions include O’Neills pubs, the Natural History museum, the Little Museum of Dublin, the Do Dublin open top bus tours and the River Liffey. All of which made the journey so amazing - I can’t wait to explore more of the world, but also go back to Dublin one day and do it all again!