It’s been almost a year since my wife and I eloped to Ireland and I figured it’s about time to make a blog post of our travels. We’re headed back over seas but our next adventure will be Northern Italy. I promise I’ll have those photos posted much sooner this time :) When traveling for pleasure I like to carry as minimal amount of photography equipment as I can. It forces me to look at the world around me in a much different way than with my big DSLR’s. All of the photos you see were taken either with my iPhone 6 of the Fuji X100.

But first… here’s a highlight video I put together from the trip. Beware, this may be a little mushy, kissy-kissy face. Don’t say I didn’t warn you :)

Whiskey, so much whiskey.

One thing that was really unique about all the homes in Dublin was that every main entry door was incredibly unique. You never saw two that were the same. There are also no doorhandles, only a deadbolt lock in a pull handle that was typically in the center of the door.

This was an awesome little pub and Dublin. It was quite common to see people outside having a pint, smoking a cigarette, and joining the daylight. Yes, you were actually trusted with a glass of beer outside!

 

Below are the original copper stills used to make Jamison Irish Whiskey. If you didn’t like Jamison you were pretty much out of luck in Ireland!

This is Meaerscourt House. One of the locations we stayed at using Airbnb. Since we didn’t have a plan on exactly where we were going to get married, as soon as we saw this place we knew this was it. That and George and Sarah who care for the farm became instant friends. We made so many beautiful memories here.

The farm was absolutely beautiful and we went on multiple hikes on the property just exploring. There were even a couple of friendly deer that kept us company!! I, personally, would like to think of myself as the deer whisperer :)

Huge thank you to Bruno Rosa for driving across the country to capture some amazing photographs of our Ceremony!

Ever needed a place you can catch up on the news, fill your gas tank, stock up on groceries, have a beer, and die all in the same place? You’ll find it all at McCrawleys! Seriously, this is a real place. We eventually went in and had a pint or two, or ten.

This is Benjamin & Ineke. Perhaps our two most favorite people we met in Ireland.

Benjamin and Ineke own and operate The Ox Bindery, a book binding company. Benjamin is a book conservationist and he’s the best in Ireland, perhaps the world. He was commissioned by the Republic of Ireland to create a hand pressed book for President Obama in commemoration of St. Patrick’s Day. He was working on the book at the time we are staying there and we got a sneak peek into his process. Here’s a link to a YouTube video about the making of the Yeats book or the President. It’s worth it just to hear him speak. Click HERE!

Cooking on a wood burning stove. It doesn’t get much better than that!

The initial reason we booked the trip to Ireland was to attend the St Patricks Day festival. Here’s Stephanie having her St. Patty’s pre-game brew. Mmmmmmmm :)

This dude is an obvious professional and brought his ladder so he could see the parade over the crowd of people. I thought it was ridiculous until we finally made out way to where the parade was taking place.

This is the crowd to watch the St. Patricks Day parade from the street. On the far right is where the parade was taking place and the crowd of onlookers lookers stretches all the way across the frame to the buildings on the left. Now I’m wishing I would’ve brought my own ladder!

Homemade bread everywhere. Delicious.

Full kegs of Guinness on the sidewalk. If you’re planning to make a trip to Ireland I hope you like Guinness because that’s about all they have as soon as you get out of the big cities. Luckily for me I find it quite delicious!

Everywhere you look there’s a beautiful landscape. This was take in Kilarney National Park.

I feel like this is becoming a commercial for Airbnb but it really offers you a unique experience when traveling. We opted to stay out of any hotels and tourist areas and stayed in the quirkiest, most remote locations that we could. Preferably in smaller towns so we could get a feel of what the people were like and avoid the tourist traps that every other person sees when in Ireland. We met a bunch of really great people and even got to stay in this also killer retro camper!

That’s it folks. The last sunrise before heading home. Cheers!

And for goodness sake, if you go on an adventure/road trip and you do take photos, even if just with your phone… PRINT THEM!!! A lot of the photos above are directly from my iPhone. Don’t let them sit on a hard drive or in your phone forever never be seen again or even worse, lost. I personally love albums/books so I made an 80 page coffee table book from all of our favorite images from the trip that sits on our coffee table for friends and family to enjoy.  Now get out there and explore!