July 5, 2026

The beginning of our Ireland adventure, a day of minor flight delays that cumulatively led to us arriving in Dublin on a cloudy morning at 10am local time. Our ultimate goal being to beat our travel exhaustion and stay up the majority of the day to adjust to the time change.

We hit the ground running as soon as we arrived at the city-center, visiting Trinity College to see the Book of Kells, The Long Room, Brian Boru’s Harp, and a giant extinct deer…

We were led around the main buildings and ground of Trinity College by a recent graduate. It was a charming history lesson on the 434 year old college, with the highlight being the Museum Building where the Giant Irish Deers reside.

The building inside and out features incredible carvings of hundreds of unique native Irish flowers, and utilizes many native stones for both outside accents and inside columns. Featuring the most Connemara marble of any building on Earth.

As we wind down to hopefully wake up adjusted and rested, we listen to the beating heart of Dublin outside our hotel. Dubliners appear to be out in great numbers, perhaps to watch and celebrate the Brazil v. Norway World Cup Match. Or this may be any other Sunday night in the city. By just the sounds of it, I think there could be a full marching band three floors beneath us.

Despite it all, we plan for an early morning escape, driving north into Northern Ireland and to the northeast coast.