Ireland Bound: Our Travel Plans Unveiled

Ireland Trip Plan: Dublin to Wicklow, Teelin, Clifden, Dingle & Guinness (We Leave Tomorrow!)

Brittany and Josh preview their Ireland trip departing the next day, chosen by listener vote over Finland. They describe a slower, nature-focused itinerary with lots of free time for exploring and hiking, using AllTrails and new hiking boots fitted at REI. They share a flight-booking tip—stay flexible with dates and book flights before submitting PTO—highlighting a round-trip $800 total fare for two from Appleton and flying midweek. They fly into Dublin, rent a car immediately, and drive to the Wicklow Mountains for two nights at the Heather House in Laragh, prioritizing local B&Bs/inns with included full Irish breakfasts. Next is a long drive north to Teelin near Slieve League Cliffs to stay at the Rusty Mackerel, with plans for hikes, pub time, and a possible distillery tour in Northern Ireland; they expect February weather to be cloudy, rainy, and windy. They then plan a one-night stay at Lough Rynn Castle in Mohill (booked with a winter sale and dinner at its highly rated restaurant) as a mid-trip break, followed by Clifden at the Ben View Inn in the Connemara area for pubs, music, and the Sky Road, and then Dingle at Heaton’s Guesthouse, including an experience to hold baby farm animals. The trip ends back in Dublin at the Clayton Hotel near Trinity College for the Guinness Storehouse, a bar tour focused on local spots (not Temple Bar), and a food tour. They also plan to use new wireless mics to interview locals and Americans who moved to Ireland for future episodes and social videos. Throughout, they reflect on what they’re “researching” for the podcast—community vibe, connection to each other, and whether Ireland gives them the same feeling as Scotland and other favorite places—and mention that current events in the U.S. are accelerating conversations about potentially moving abroad. They close with pre-trip to-dos (packing, cleaning, cats) and tease next week’s episode about Laragh.

00:00 Welcome to the Podcast + Tomorrow We Fly to Ireland

00:48 Why Ireland Won the Vote (and the Trip Style This Time)

02:18 Gearing Up: Hiking Boots, REI Fitting & Getting Trail-Ready

03:05 Scoring Cheap Flights: Flex Dates, Google Flights & PTO Tips

06:01 Landing in Dublin: Rental Car, Jet Lag & Heading to Wicklow

07:18 Wicklow Mountains Basecamp: Local B&Bs, Cozy Pubs & Irish Breakfast

09:39 Hike Planning + Photo Goals (and Beers on the Trail?)

12:00 Road Trip North to Teelin: Slieve League Cliffs & Rusty Mackerel Stay

15:42 New Content Plan: Wireless Mics, Interviewing Locals & Podcast Growth

18:03 Castle Night Stop: Lough Rynn Castle Splurge + Dinner Included

20:25 Clifden & Connemara: Pub Hopping, Live Music + The Sky Road

23:17 Travel Awe: Leaving Pieces of Your Soul in Places

24:15 Next Stop Dingle: Foodie Town Plans & Off-Season Reality

25:46 Why Winter Ireland Fits the Podcast: Living Like Locals

27:24 Where We’re Staying: Heaton’s Guesthouse Breakfast + Dublin Hotel Pick

28:41 Dublin Experiences: Guinness Storehouse, Local Bar Crawl & Food Tour

31:13 Dingle Must-Do: Petting Baby Lambs & Goats

31:52 The Heart of the Trip: Nature, Hiking, and a Healing Reset

33:10 What We’re Researching: Community Vibes, Connection, and Comparisons

37:54 What We’re Most Excited For: Time Together, Pubs, Cliffs & Beer

39:32 Bigger Picture: US Politics, Leaving Conversations, and Finding “The Feeling”

44:04 Final Countdown: Pre-Trip Anxiety, Cat Chaos, and What’s Next

@WSMHtravels

Transcript

brit 0:11

Hello and welcome to the We Should Move Here. Travels podcast. My name is Brittany.

josh 0:17

I'm Josh

brit 0:18

and we are your hosts. You giggle every time I say that.

josh 0:23

It's just a surreal feeling for the few listeners that we have out there right now. We host a podcast is It's fun.

brit 0:32

It is fun. today we are gonna be talking about our upcoming trip, which we leave for tomorrow and we have a lot to do, but we're gonna go to Ireland.

josh 0:46

Yes, yes. This is back from the episode where we presented Ireland and Finland. We put'em up to be voted on and the people voted and they said we should go to Ireland, which is fantastic. we were both looking forward to going to either location. Ireland just happened to have won and now we're going.

brit 1:08

yeah, so we're both really excited to go to Ireland and we have quite a few really fun things planned, but also we have a lot of free time here that we don't have planned, so that we can just explore.

josh 1:23

Yeah, it is definitely a different style trip from. I guess any trip since the podcast had launched.

brit 1:35

Mm-hmm.

josh 1:35

It's different from our month in Western Europe where we went to all the different countries.

brit 1:41

Yeah.

josh 1:42

It's different from the New Zealand trip we just took.

brit 1:45

Mm-hmm.

josh 1:46

It's, I guess, closest to our East Coast trip.

brit 1:51

Yeah. I think it is a little bit because our East Coast trip, we had a lot of free time. We did some hikes. We got to explore a lot, and that's what we're gonna be doing in Ireland. I mean, while you're in Ireland, you have to go see the beauty. Mm-hmm. you're in this area where there's the cliffs of moher mm-hmm. Where there's these really beautiful places. Mm-hmm. You have to hike to'em.

josh 2:17

Yeah.

brit 2:17

And we're gonna do that.

josh 2:18

Yeah, we were talking about it when we were planning. We went ahead and got you some new hiking boots.

brit 2:25

Mm-hmm.

josh 2:25

Broke'em in. So you're all set, ready to rock and roll.

brit 2:29

Oh my god, they're so nice.

josh 2:30

Mm-hmm.

brit 2:31

Shout out to REI. They are so nice

josh 2:36

at just a really good place to shop. And if you're a member there, I mean, this isn't a sponsored plug or anything, but we went there. Got you fitted. The woman that helped you out, stayed with us for an hour, hour and a half. Getting you fitted for the right ones.

brit 2:54

Yeah, she was great.

josh 2:55

Mm-hmm.

brit 2:55

The whole experience was just really great. But needless to say, I got new hiking boots for this trip.

josh 3:00

Yeah. Um, and we're gonna jump right into it when we get there. We're flying into Dublin. Shannon would seem like the obvious choice because of where it is on the west coast, But we got such a good deal on the plane tickets.

brit 3:16

Mm-hmm.

josh 3:16

Round trip for the two of us was about$800

brit 3:21

from our local Appleton airport,

josh 3:23

which is from our local Appleton airport. Yeah,

brit 3:25

that's unheard of.

josh 3:26

Mm-hmm.

brit 3:27

So$400 a ticket. Yeah.

josh 3:29

That's

brit 3:30

insane.

josh 3:30

Yeah. For us. That's crazy. Maybe someone on the east coast or west coast at. A huge airport hub might say, oh, you know, I get'em for$200. Well, good for you.$400. I'm excited.

brit 3:48

Yeah, me too. Mm-hmm. We were also looking at flights to Portugal and They were under$500, so.

josh 3:55

Mm-hmm. And I think that's a tip that I don't know if we've brought up on previous episodes or we've set on our social media and it's said all the time with travel content creators or travel advisors.

brit 4:12

Mm-hmm.

josh 4:13

Be flexible with your dates.

brit 4:16

Yeah. That's much easier said than done, especially when you have to take time off of work and you have PTO and all of the logistical factors of it. Mm-hmm. But if you can be flexible. Choose, you know, the flexible option on Google flights.

josh 4:36

Mm-hmm.

brit 4:36

And it gives you some really good deals.

josh 4:40

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, we're flying out tomorrow, which is a Thursday afternoon and I believe we're flying back on a Tuesday afternoon. Mm-hmm. So, typical days that people usually don't travel, but I would assume the majority of people are, you know, taking two work weeks. So 10 days, 14 days total for a trip maybe of a similar size as this. And so, yeah, just doing what you said, hit flexible. Pick those two weeks and you can find some good deals. Don't, don't schedule your PTO and then go looking for flights.'cause that's,

brit 5:20

that's the wrong way to do

josh 5:21

it. That's usually when you're spending twice as much on flights.

brit 5:24

Mm-hmm.

josh 5:24

Look for flights. And then submit the PTO, get the tickets that way.

brit 5:30

Mm-hmm. Yeah. Because$800 for two tickets to Ireland from our local airport. That is such a good deal. Like I am mind blown that we got that.

josh 5:41

Yeah.

brit 5:41

So insane.

josh 5:43

I mean, if you look, if we tried to pick a weekend flight just to Chicago

brit 5:47

mm-hmm.

josh 5:48

We'd probably pay 300 bucks a person round trip.

brit 5:51

Yeah.

josh 5:52

If we tried to pick the dates for the weekend. Yeah. And that's an hour flight. Ah, any who? So we're flying into Dublin right away.'cause we got these great deals on tickets and we're immediately picking up a car.

brit 6:09

Mm-hmm.

josh 6:10

Grabbing our bags, get in the car and we're driving. As soon as we're there. So that's gonna be,

brit 6:17

well, I do remember in Scotland when we had landed and we had picked up the car.

josh 6:24

Mm-hmm.

brit 6:25

we just had to bum around in Edinborough when we first landed. Mm-hmm. And it was awful not having a place to go to right away. Mm-hmm. So I actually think this is gonna work out well. Mm-hmm. Because we'll have something to do right away. We don't have to just sit around and we'll have a place to go as soon as we get to the Wicklow Mountains.

josh 6:51

we will probably have, I think, roughly a two hour drive just because we're gonna be getting used to driving in Ireland, which. Is a experience that both of us will enjoy again

brit 7:06

and we're gonna be jet lagged

josh 7:07

and a jet lagged. Uh, that's why at least two hours. It might take us three, we'll probably stop along, cafe small place, get something to eat as well. But yeah, like you said, we're gonna go to the Wicklow Mountains. Uh, we're staying at the Heather House there in Laragh, and we're gonna be there for two days. Mm. Getting acclimated to. Ireland.

brit 7:32

Yeah. One of our goals I think for this trip was to find places that are local B&Bs or local inns that can support the local community in these cities that we're visiting. Yeah. So I'm really excited to go about it this way and uh, see how we like these local inns. Mm-hmm. I think it's gonna be really cozy and really comfortable and I just envision us, I don't know, on a cold night in Ireland, having like a Guinness in a local pub and walking back and cuddling up mm-hmm. In our little room. And I just envision such a cozy vibe.

josh 8:17

Yeah. I do as well. And another bonus of being in local ends and being B&Bs in Ireland. Most of the ones we picked have a full Irish breakfast included.

brit 8:31

Oh yeah. I am so looking forward to Beans on toast. You can, I think I've said this before, but you can have it here. It's just not the same. No, it is not the same as over in the uk, so, and maybe it's even better in Ireland.

josh 8:50

Mm-hmm.

brit 8:51

I don't know. We will see.

josh 8:53

We will see. Yeah. You mean? We just had the Scottish breakfast when went to Scotland two years ago now. Almost sad face, but now we're going to Ireland and so full Irish breakfast, maybe a little memory will come back or you'll be like, oh, this is better. Or

brit 9:11

Yeah, I just remember the beans on toast and absolutely loving that. I thought it was such a, like, inventive thing, but it's so common there. It's just, you know, not common here. So, uh, but what a like, healthy way to start your day with all of that fiber. Yeah. Holy shit. They are not struggling to get their fiber intake.

josh 9:34

No, not at all.

brit 9:37

Anyways.

josh 9:39

so staying in Laragh in Wicklow Mountains and those first two days that we're there, we're gonna get some hiking in. We started. Using and saving hikes with the All Trails app.

brit 9:52

Mm-hmm.

josh 9:53

That's one that you had found?

brit 9:55

Yeah, I've had it for a couple of years and we actually did a couple trails, uh, in Scotland. I brought it up and found a couple of trails when we were in that area. I dunno if you remember that or not, And I think we're gonna use it a little bit more here because we're gonna be doing many more hikes. Mm-hmm. And I am really looking forward to the photos. I'm really excited about the photos that we're gonna get. the professional camera has really changed the game with how we capture what we have experienced. And I think it's just gonna be a really beautiful, A couple weeks of us just hiking around Ireland and getting these beautiful photos that I envision and I hope we get some really good sunsets over the hills or over the cliffs.

josh 10:49

Mm-hmm.

brit 10:49

And I'm just really looking forward to it.

josh 10:53

You know what, I've been wondering, can we take beers on a hike and then once we get to a spot, have a beer?

brit 11:01

Oh my God. Yes.

josh 11:03

Well, I don't know if that's like, we'll have to google that, but I've, I've been thinking about for a week and I just haven't Googled it yet. So I gotta see if that's, if that's allowed.'cause I want us to go on a, on one of these hikes and like, can I get to the end point or the halfway mark sit on a rock or a hill and crack open a Guinness or whatever local brewery is nearby.'cause we're definitely gonna be having some Guinness while we're there, but we're also gonna. Be going around to some of the breweries, some of the distilleries, trying some different things.

brit 11:37

Yeah. Oh, it's gonna be so great.

josh 11:41

Yeah.

brit 11:41

I am not always a beer person, but sometimes I get a little kick in me that, you know, wants a couple beers and I, I feel like I'm gonna get that in Ireland.

josh 11:53

It's the environment.

brit 11:54

Yeah. It's just

josh 11:56

feels like stew and a beer. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. So, starting out there in Laragh, near the Wickler Mountains and then we are, driving all the way north. Long driving day, probably over five hours for sure. Gonna be the whole day going up to Teelin. this is near the Slieve League. Cliffs and we're gonna be staying in the rusty mackerel.

brit 12:22

Oh my gosh. I'm so excited for Teelin. I think this city and really just the entire environment around you is going to be absolutely stunning. I look at pictures of this and I'm like, this is insane. Are we actually going here? Yeah. And then with the addition, I'm just gonna keep adding this in with the addition of the professional camera. It's just gonna be the best, it's gonna be the best thing ever.

josh 12:53

I hope we get so many good pictures. And again, with all the hikes that we're gonna do here,'cause Teelin is so small.

brit 13:01

Mm-hmm.

josh 13:02

There's, you know, the Rusty mackerel is a. Bar pub like restaurant, and They have these three rooms built off of the restaurant for people to stay in when they come visit. And the rest of Teelin, there's not a ton there as far as Google Maps show. Maybe we'll get there and it'll be slightly bigger than I'm thinking, but,

brit 13:24

but this is the kind of vibe that we love.

josh 13:27

Mm-hmm.

brit 13:28

Right. This really small town.

josh 13:30

Yeah.

brit 13:31

That's gorgeous. In the middle of like, some sort of magical paradise of, you know, mountains or cliffs or mm-hmm. I imagine some fog in there. Mm-hmm. And a little mist and, uh, enchanted hidden rain.

josh 13:48

I mean, there's definitely gonna be rain and wind. We've been keeping an eye on a. The weather and 10 day forecast. If you pull up Ireland, maybe it's the whole year round. It looks like this, but right now, every time I update it's just cloudy, rainy, and wind. So

brit 14:07

yeah. And my hair won't like it, but I love the rain. I'm okay with that.

josh 14:14

Yeah. And again, we got lots of good trails safe for there. There is a distillery north of Teelin in Northern Ireland that we'll probably go and do a tour in.

brit 14:27

Mm-hmm. I imagine us doing a long hike. Mm-hmm. Getting back to the pub and having a Guinness after, like stopping back in our room and uh, taking a shower and getting ready mm-hmm. For the night or whatever. Having a beer in the pub and eating dinner in there. And I just imagine us. Feeling so accomplished with the hike. Mm-hmm. With the beauty that we saw and then just reminiscing in a local pub in Ireland. Like this is, I, I am getting so excited the more we're talking about it. Mm-hmm. I really am like, this is gonna be really, really cool. A really special trip I think for us.

josh 15:15

It is. It is. I think after our last trip in New Zealand with her mom, fantastic trip. Definitely a different speed that we're used to that was a little faster paced, little more lots going on. This one we're kind of dialing it back a step and reconnecting with each other. And nature and, yeah. And beer. And

brit 15:39

beer.

josh 15:42

We also did get. Just recently wireless microphones for our phone. So we may try to talk to some locals or some people that we have talked to on social media and see how they like Ireland. There are some people that we've talked to that have moved there from somewhere else from the United States and you know, ask'em some questions. What's the biggest difference? Do you like it more? Is it not what you expected? Those kind of questions.

brit 16:14

Yeah.

josh 16:15

And then maybe we'll include it in an episode. Maybe we'll include it in some YouTube shorts or some reels, some tiktoks. And you'll get to see what people say about what they like about Ireland or how they like the move. If it was hard. Stuff like that.

brit 16:30

Yeah. I think that's gonna be a new addition that I, I think we're both gonna really enjoy it because one of our favorite things about traveling to these places is the people.

josh 16:42

Mm-hmm.

brit 16:43

And seeing how other people live mm-hmm. In the world, in other countries.

josh 16:48

Yeah.

brit 16:49

So I, yeah. That's exciting.

josh 16:52

Yeah. I mean, it really gets to the core of what we're trying to do with the podcast.

brit 16:57

Mm-hmm.

josh 16:58

cause we're trying to imagine ourselves in these places. So maybe we are a step behind by not interviewing people as much as we should have before. We've always talked to people, but it being a provided thing for the podcast or people that watch us on YouTube. To see someone else there, you know,

brit 17:19

I mean, we're we, were getting there, right?

josh 17:22

Yeah. Yeah.

brit 17:23

We're still babies.

josh 17:24

We're still babies.

brit 17:25

Yeah.

josh 17:26

28 episode babies.

brit 17:29

Oh my gosh. Mm-hmm. We're gonna have to do something for the 30th episode. Yeah. We'll be talking about Ireland. So maybe we, I don't know, chug a Guinness.

josh 17:42

We should. That's a great idea. I like that.

brit 17:45

Oh, what did I say that? I was just kidding.

josh 17:48

Maybe not chug a Guinness. We'll, we'll try to split the g,

brit 17:52

maybe like a Irish whiskey.

josh 17:54

Oh, there we go.

brit 17:54

Yeah,

josh 17:55

yeah.

brit 17:55

Take a shot of Iris. I, I Irish whiskey. Goodness. Okay.

josh 18:03

so yeah, so after the Rusty Mackerel and Teelin, we're gonna be there for, I think three full days. Then we are going to do a single night stay at lough rynn Castle in Mo Hill.

brit 18:19

We're staying in a castle. You guys,

josh 18:22

this was your thing that you had to do when we booked trips. There are a lot of times where you're like, I want one thing on this trip. Usually it's a pool, which there is a pool on this trip. But also you were like, I need a pool and I need to stay in a castle.

brit 18:42

I didn't say I need to stay in a castle. I was more so like if I have a request for something we could do. Mm-hmm. I would like to stay in a castle. Yeah. Hmm.

josh 18:56

Or else I don't wanna go.

brit 18:57

That's not what I said.

josh 19:01

No, you didnt. You didnt. No, I wanted to stay in a castle too. And this, you know, was pretty close to, on the way to the next stop and fairly affordable. And they had a great winter sale deal.'cause we booked this in December and so we're getting the nights stay plus dinner at their very well rated restaurant. So it's, it's an expensive ish dinner, but

brit 19:28

it's an expensive night.

josh 19:30

Yeah.

brit 19:31

That we will have. Whereas I think in the rest of the places that we're going, it's not like big cities or big tourist hotspots mm-hmm. Where things are priced up.

josh 19:44

Mm-hmm.

brit 19:44

So I think it'll even out.

josh 19:46

Yeah.

brit 19:47

In my opinion, Now Ireland might be a little bit more expensive than Wisconsin.

josh 19:52

Mm-hmm.

brit 19:53

So we'll see.

josh 19:55

Yeah, I think it'll be fine. And I think this is placed great in the trip because then we will have a couple days, almost a week under our belt already of Ireland. And then this is kind of our break night.

brit 20:09

Yeah.

josh 20:10

So, which we've talked about. It's important you take those on trips. And this is kind of it for us. It's slightly before halfway, got about that week in and then get to stay in a castle.

brit 20:21

Yeah.

josh 20:22

So we'll have to let you know how that goes. And then after that we're heading to the Ben View Inn in Clifden. This is a place where. We knew when we were looking it up. It has some great restaurants, like highly rated restaurants, pubs that people have commented. They have music all the time. And then when we've had a few posts on TikTok about where's your favorite pub in Ireland?

brit 20:55

Mm-hmm.

josh 20:55

more than a few have repeated Clifden and some of the bars and pubs in Clifden.

brit 21:02

Yeah. I think this is going to be one of the bar hopping spots that we do.

josh 21:08

Mm-hmm.

brit 21:09

Um, we don't necessarily do much of that, at home or really on a lot of trips. We don't do bar hopping or pub hopping. Mm-hmm. But I do think when you're in a spot like this. Kind of have to. Yeah, I think it's gonna be fun.

josh 21:30

Yeah, I think it's gonna be a great time. I can't remember if it's here or in Dingle. We've talked to a young gentleman who is a musician and his parents own a pub.

brit 21:41

Yeah.

josh 21:42

And so we're gonna go see him play once we're there. I think that's here in Clifden. If not, it's in our next stop. But, so that's really fun. Regardless of which stop, and this is the Connemara area. So it's dramatic beauty is what it says when you Google it, because it is home to the Sky Road, which if you just Google Sky Road, you're gonna be like. Oh my gosh.'cause you see the coast, you see Rolling Hills. It's stunning. It's beautiful.

brit 22:14

I haven't Googled this yet.

josh 22:16

The Sky Road Ireland,

brit 22:17

oh my gosh, this looks stunning.

josh 22:22

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

brit 22:24

This road looks unpaved and very small, but it does look stunning.

josh 22:31

Mm-hmm.

brit 22:32

Oh, I'm scared. I'm a little scared.

josh 22:36

Well, there are some hikes I have saved where we just hike the sky road.

brit 22:42

Ah.

josh 22:43

So people drive it. It is a road, but. There are lots of hikes that take you out to the water, the ocean along the cliffs.

brit 22:54

This one picture, there's a cow in it, and it's overlooking these cliffs. It, it looks stunning.

josh 23:02

Mm-hmm.

brit 23:03

Oh my gosh. Yeah. Okay,

josh 23:05

so hopefully it's, it's everything that we have heard about everything that we're seeing, and hopefully none of it does it justice. Hopefully we get there and our jaws drop.

brit 23:16

Yeah.

josh 23:17

Yeah.

brit 23:17

I love places like that where it's like, holy cow. Mm-hmm. Is this real? Am I real?

josh 23:28

Is this real life?

brit 23:30

Honestly, Scotland did that for me. Parts of New Zealand did that for me as well.

josh 23:36

Yeah.

brit 23:38

Yeah.

josh 23:39

It's awesome when you have those moments, and I think that's when your soul expands. You leave little pieces of it in places.

brit 23:45

Yeah.

josh 23:46

I think that's when it happens.

brit 23:48

It's also kind of heartbreaking to leave those places because if a piece of your soul is there.

josh 23:53

yeah. And we've heard that from a lot of people about Ireland on our social media accounts too.

brit 23:58

Yeah.

josh 23:58

And they say, oh, I left part of my soul in, in Dingle where we go the next stop in Cork in Galway. People have said that for all over Ireland, so hopefully that happens to us as well.

brit 24:13

I'm so excited.

josh 24:15

So we do go to Dingle next, and we're staying in Heaton's guest house. And this is similar, A lot of people said this is a big foodie spot. Good music, good pubs. I tried hard on this trip to find food tours, to find beer tours, and we're going in February and it's just outta season.

brit 24:39

Mm-hmm.

josh 24:40

Everyone that I contacted, I emailed them, even if it said they didn't have anything open, and they said, oh no, we're not in season yet. I'm like, golly, so, which is fine. I'm excited for there to be less people. Yeah. I think that's gonna be really cool. But I, I'm, I'm missing, I'm missing some extra food tours. We're, we have one in Dublin, don't worry, we got one in Dublin, but we're just gonna, you know, we're just gonna have to go and eat some food. Hike a bunch and eat a bunch of food. We'll have to look back on this after the trip and see if it was as cool as we thought being out of season, or if it was like, oh,

brit 25:24

mm-hmm.

josh 25:24

There's not a lot going on because some people have said their kitchen will be closed during this time of year.

brit 25:31

Oh. Because

josh 25:32

it's,

brit 25:32

oh, that's gonna be kind of a bummer.

josh 25:34

'cause it's outta season. But also we're going in places where people live.

brit 25:41

Mm-hmm.

josh 25:41

And people operate, so there will be restaurants open.

brit 25:46

I mean, it really is fitting for what we're doing for this podcast.

josh 25:51

Yeah.

brit 25:51

Because if you go during just tour season, usually the weather is a bit nicer. usually it's more geared towards tourists. Mm-hmm. Or people having fun. Mm-hmm. versus if you go outside of tourist season, I think you and I have experienced a couple of times doing this where you really get to experience life there as a local. Mm-hmm. Because most of the year is not tourist season for many of these places. Right. So I think, hiking in the rain, that's gonna be a part of us trying to live like locals for these two weeks. Yeah. Because that's what we would do if we lived there. We would do so many, so many hikes.

josh 26:38

Yeah.

brit 26:38

I think it's very fitting for the pod.

josh 26:41

It will be, it'll be. Truth telling. No, that's not right. Eye-opening.

brit 26:46

Yeah. I could see truth telling, like it'll be very truthful and honest.

josh 26:51

Honest.

brit 26:51

Yeah.

josh 26:52

That's good. It'll be a very honest trip.

brit 26:54

Yeah.

josh 26:54

Because you don't, you don't get the fluff of the tourist season. Yeah. Like this is, this is what it is. Ireland in the winter.

brit 27:02

Mm-hmm.

josh 27:02

When it's a little cooler, rainy, windy.

brit 27:06

Although here it's like negative 10 out and Fahrenheit there, it's 40 degrees Fahrenheit. So

josh 27:14

Yeah. I

brit 27:15

think we'll be good.

josh 27:16

Yeah.

brit 27:17

We're not gonna be cold.

josh 27:19

We will understand. Not everyone lives that life.

brit 27:22

Yeah.

josh 27:24

but yeah, so Dingle really excited Heaton's Guest House. When I booked it, it said they have some of the. Best breakfast available in Ireland for a, b and b or a guest house. So that's exciting.

brit 27:37

That is exciting. And it comes with the booking, right?

josh 27:41

Yeah, I think so. Regardless, we're gonna have, we're gonna have their breakfast.

brit 27:45

Yeah. Obviously

josh 27:46

another three full days there. Four nights I believe. I think that's consistent. Minus, uh, the Heather House, lough rynn, and then our final stop, which is back in Dublin and we're staying at Clayton Hotel. So not a b and b. Couldn't find many where it was centrally located in kind of our price range, but also it does have a pool.

brit 28:12

Yeah. One of us really wanted a pool, couldn't tell you which one.

josh 28:16

So we do also, I mean, I take a pool. I'm, I have nothing against pools. I like pools. I like swimming with you.

brit 28:27

It's an indoor pool, right. Yeah. Okay. Because it might not be open if it's an outdoor pool.

josh 28:34

I just looked at before we started recording and it was an indoor picture, so

brit 28:38

Okay.

josh 28:38

Yeah.

brit 28:39

Good.

josh 28:41

So, uh, Clayton Hotel, it's near Trinity College, kind of near that bar area of Dublin. So we'll be there. We are gonna go and do the Guinness Storehouse tour. Just,

brit 28:54

I'm so excited for this. I envision it to be a really cool experience. You've already done it, whatever, but this will be my first time doing it and I'm just excited to learn about Guinness.

josh 29:10

Yeah.

brit 29:10

It's a very famous beer, so I'm looking forward to it.

josh 29:16

Yeah, it's gonna be fun. You know, it's, I think we're might just do the self-guided where we walk through and, you know, read the plaques. It tells us what's going on with the beer. Get to take some pictures, pour a pint of Guinness, and then we get to go up to their, I think, their observation deck and closed observation deck and have a pint of Guinness up there.

brit 29:39

Did you do the self-guided last time?

josh 29:41

Yeah. The, I think the only part that I did differently was we were led into this kind of area where we tasted a couple different stages of the Guinness.

brit 29:55

I wanna do that.

josh 29:56

Okay. I don't know if that's in the self-guided, but it's in, we've looked, there's plenty of openings throughout the days we're there, so we'll have to find a time to go do that.

brit 30:07

Yeah. I wanna taste the stages. I, and I wanna do the whole, I, I kind of want it to be guided, to be honest, but we'll see. We'll see what we do.

josh 30:16

Yeah, there's plenty of options and. Yeah, we're gonna do that. We have a bar tour, so it specifically says that this is not your Temple Bar tour, even though there are plenty of people in the comments on our tiktoks and other social media, we said Temple bars, good place, good music, good drinks, so that's fine. But this thing says it's not Temple Bar, it's the more local places. Mm-hmm. So we're gonna do that. We're also gonna go to some places that people have left in the comments. And then we also do have a food tour here, so we're not,

brit 30:53

yeah, we do,

josh 30:53

we're not left with a trip without a food tour. Even though we did that for Scotland. We didn't have a food tour in Scotland.

brit 31:00

We had the smoked salmon tour.

josh 31:03

But you're right. We did have the smoked salmon experience, which was, which was fun. And maybe we'll run into something like that.'cause they have different experiences throughout Ireland. One that I forgot to mention that we're gonna do, is it pet or hold? Baby lambs. Baby goats. Ah,

brit 31:21

that's in dingle.

josh 31:22

Yeah.

brit 31:22

Yeah. That's gonna be so fun. I just really love farm animals. I love all animals, to be completely honest. But farm animals just really do something for me. And when they're babies it's, it just hits a different level, you know? Yeah. It's. They're cute.

josh 31:43

They're definitely cute. It's something that I've seen on social media that looks adorable and fun.

brit 31:48

Mm-hmm. Yeah, it's gonna be a really fun experience to go do that.

josh 31:52

Yeah, and I think, you know, this trip in total, we're gonna do so much hiking. We are gonna drink different beers. We're going to find some different distilleries to do tours on. I have them listed right here on my laptop, and get in touch with nature and drink some beer.

brit 32:14

for this trip, being in nature. I think is really important. Mm-hmm. And we don't necessarily do that in every trip we go on because it's not easily accessible everywhere. But here it is going to be so accessible to have the most insane views you could possibly imagine. I think it's really important that we get out there. Mm-hmm. And we go do that. And I also think about myself as a child being in the woods and like, I have always been a girly girl. Right. But in the winter, building a fort with my brother outside in the woods, it does something to you. I think nature is a part of us. Mm-hmm. And we need to be involved in it. Yeah. I think this is gonna be a really healing trip too, for both of us. Absolutely. Because we're gonna be able to do that.

josh 33:09

Totally agree. what are you going to be looking for in our in-person research on this trip? are you gonna be looking for that connection to a place like you felt in Scotland? Like you and I both felt in Scotland?

brit 33:23

I think I, I'm trying really hard that I'm going into it without comparing it to Scotland. Mm. Because Scotland is so fricking high for me. So if I, if I push Scotland to the side just for this trip, because I think it's really unfair for Ireland to be completely honest.

josh 33:46

Sure.

brit 33:47

But, and then I come back and really reflect, I think there could be a, a spot in Ireland that does take over number one for me. So I think what I'm looking for is community vibes.

josh 34:04

Mm-hmm.

brit 34:05

Like, is the community kind, do they take care of each other? Are they inclusive and open-minded? I might look out for some yoga.

josh 34:16

Hmm.

brit 34:17

Maybe some hot yoga. See if there's any in any of these places and maybe we will go to one.

josh 34:22

Yeah.

brit 34:23

I think the beauty will say a lot to me. Tell me a lot. And I think how you and I connect while we're there mm-hmm. Is also something that I look for. Now, the coffee and the food that's always gonna be there regardless of where we're going. But I also will look for those things. Mm-hmm. But I think you and I, connecting in a place tells me first and foremost, like if we could live there.

josh 34:51

Yeah.

brit 34:51

If we don't connect while we're in a place I don't see ourselves there.

josh 34:56

Yeah.

brit 34:56

If that makes sense.

josh 34:58

No, it totally does. Yeah. And it's definitely harder to see ourselves in a place if you and me are having, if we're off, if we're not connecting like we usually do.

brit 35:08

Yeah. It is. It's much harder. And that's why I think it's really important to have at least. Two, three days, full days.

josh 35:15

Mm-hmm.

brit 35:16

In a place, because then, you know, you might have an off day.

josh 35:20

Yeah.

brit 35:20

Which is totally fine. We both have them.

josh 35:23

Mm-hmm.

brit 35:23

But then we have two more days where we can connect.

josh 35:29

Yeah.

brit 35:30

So what about you? What are you gonna be looking for in the in-person research in Ireland?

josh 35:37

I'm comparing this to Scotland. I am. I'm, I mean, that's the whole point of this podcast is to find the place where we feel most connected and that we could see ourselves living. And you know, I won't compare it in the way of say like, oh, this looks like this and this looks like that. You know, that sort of way. But how it makes me feel. Mm. Is what I'll be looking for. And I'll be comparing that to Scotland.'cause Scotland was got there, got out in the Highlands and just was, uh, just ripped my heart out. It felt like.

brit 36:16

Yeah, me too.

josh 36:17

And you know, few other places have done that just have made me feel that Connected to you and to the area.

brit 36:25

Mm-hmm.

josh 36:26

You know, Belgium, I was like that too. I was like, man, this place is, this is cool. And for completely different reasons, people listen to that and be like, Scotland, Highlands, and then Ghent Belgium.

brit 36:40

That's so, that's drastically different.

josh 36:43

Yeah. But for different reasons. They, they grabbed hold of me and I, I don't stop thinking about them when people ask me. And like the comments or like in person, what was my favorite place to go? Number one is Scotland. Number two is get Belgium.

brit 37:05

Hmm.

josh 37:06

But the place that I could see that us living more is getting Belgium. So

brit 37:14

See that's so wild to me.'cause I can see us living more in Scotland. And who knows, maybe Ireland will take number one for both of us and then we would just have to narrow down where in Ireland to be. Uh, you know,

josh 37:31

well, we got some, we got already some other trips in the, in the crockpot or in the cooker. Ready to go. We do. So.

brit 37:40

In the crack.

josh 37:41

Mm-hmm. In, in the slow cooker. It's, it's off to the side. It's, it's bubbling. We're, we're ready to, ready to go somewhere else as well.

brit 37:51

I love you

josh 37:52

people say that.

brit 37:53

Yeah. Okay.

josh 37:54

What, what are you most looking forward to on the trip

brit 37:57

is gonna sound cliche or mushy, but just really spending time with you. I think the last trip was really great in New Zealand, getting to spend time with both you and my mom. Mm-hmm. But it also shifted the dynamic where you and I didn't connect like we usually do on a trip. So this is going to be more typical for us, uh, to be able to, to just really connect with each other.

josh 38:24

Right.

brit 38:25

And I'm looking forward to that. But aside from that, like the actual trip itself, I think. I'm most looking forward to the beer, uh, and the cliffs. Mm-hmm. Just the nature and the hikes. Yeah. And then the pubs. Yep. Like, that's gonna be our daily routine. While we're there. We're gonna go on a hike, go to a pub.

josh 38:53

Mm-hmm.

brit 38:54

Go on a hike, go to a pub.

josh 38:58

I mean, that's, it's what I'm looking forward to, you know, you said connecting with me. That's totally it. It's connecting with you and connecting with nature and connecting with the place around us. I think, you know, that's what I'm excited for. I'm excited for that in every place we go. Because we are looking for a place to potentially live in the future. And you know, if we find that and we're both like, oh, this is, this is it, then, you know, timelines could change. Things could happen.

brit 39:31

Yeah. Well, and I think with everything happening in the US right now, it's forcing us to have those conversations maybe sooner than what we would've wanted to.

josh 39:44

yeah, we, we definitely are. If it wasn't clear and obvious by this podcast as a whole or by us on anything on social media, we are against current administration, everything that's going on.

brit 40:00

Yeah.

josh 40:02

With, you know, Supreme Court decisions, ice. the federal government, some local governments, it's, there's a bunch going on that we don't agree with, and

brit 40:13

we're having a hard time.

josh 40:14

Yeah.

brit 40:14

We're having a hard time here and I, I know we're not alone in that. Mm-hmm.

josh 40:19

Mm-hmm.

brit 40:21

So I, I think it's important to na name that and people can spew their hate at us.

josh 40:27

Yeah. I think we'll have a lot of people who choose to listen to this for the reason of maybe they're looking for a new place that completely agree with us, so.

brit 40:36

Mm-hmm.

josh 40:37

Yeah.

brit 40:38

Yeah. And to know that we're not alone in this kind of situation I think is really important too. And to see. All of the people that might be having these conversations as well, makes it feel less lonely.

josh 40:53

Yeah. We're definitely not alone in the United States, and we're for sure not alone in the world. And I think we're gonna, that's gonna be something interesting is

brit 41:02

what people say.

josh 41:03

If people say something to us about it, like, what the fuck's going on? And we like, man, we came the fuck over here. All right. We, yeah, we left

brit 41:13

first.

josh 41:15

We are looking, do you guys spare bedroom? Like,

brit 41:21

can you get me citizenship?

josh 41:22

Yeah. Right.

brit 41:24

Do you think that you're gonna get the feeling here? And if so, where?

josh 41:28

I think it's the answer's yes.

brit 41:30

Yeah,

josh 41:31

that's it. The answer's yes. I have no idea where it's gonna be.

brit 41:34

If you had to say,

josh 41:36

I have to say,

brit 41:38

yeah. I don't wanna force you, but I, I wanna know your answer.

josh 41:42

People have been going off about Clifden.

brit 41:45

Mm.

josh 41:46

Clifden and Dingle people have been going off about those two places on our YouTube as well as our TikTok. So I think one of those two places are gonna be like undeniable as far as a connection

brit 42:03

and getting the feeling.

josh 42:04

Mm-hmm. Yeah. Mm-hmm. I mean, don't get me wrong, I think we're gonna get out there, we're gonna be, we're gonna be connected. Mm-hmm. There's, there's gonna be stuff going on. You know, even if it's bad weather, like say it's two and a half weeks of bad weather, which would be. It would not be fun.

brit 42:21

Yeah.

josh 42:22

I still think it would be fun.

brit 42:26

I agree.

josh 42:27

Yeah.

brit 42:28

Yeah. I'm really not concerned about the weather at all because no matter what we're gonna be in Ireland, like it's gonna be great.

josh 42:35

Yeah. Unless it was torrential downpour the whole time and we can't leave our room or something. But

brit 42:42

I don't think that's the vibe of Ireland from what I remember researching. It's kind of similar to Scotland where it's a general mist all the time. Mm-hmm. A mist on and off. It's not like a downpour.

josh 42:56

Right.

brit 42:57

But we'll see.

josh 42:58

We'll see. What about you? What do you think you're gonna get the feeling and where?

brit 43:03

I for sure think I'm gonna get the feeling. Mm-hmm. Think I get the feeling like everywhere

josh 43:11

that's how this all happened, or no, no, no. And that's how I met your mother.

brit 43:21

Um, but I think Teelin is going to be really beautiful and I think I could see it there.

josh 43:29

Mm-hmm.

brit 43:30

I also think Clifden and Dingle are gonna be just a slap in the face of beauty and culture. And I, I could see it there too.

josh 43:42

See, that's why I initially said the answer is yes, that's, it could be anywhere. And I mean, Dublin's gonna be great as well. I didn't get to spend enough time there the first time I was in Ireland, so we got, you know, two and a half days there. So a little more time.

brit 44:01

Yeah.

josh 44:02

So we'll see.

brit 44:03

We'll see.

josh 44:04

It's gonna be great. You're getting real day before trip. Anxious feelings going on. We got the trip, we got a dinner with my parents, got packing, cleaning, taking care of the cats. We got all the things.

brit 44:19

Yeah. Oreo sat inside of my suitcase earlier and he started chewing on one of my bags and now it, it no longer works. It's like a compression bag that you pump all the air out and it obviously doesn't work'cause he chewed a hole in it. But seeing him inside my suitcase, I was like, oh my God, I don't wanna go.

josh 44:42

What a stinker.

brit 44:46

He's such a boy, baby.

josh 44:48

He is.

brit 44:50

next week we are gonna be talking about Laragh our first stop in Ireland. That'll be so exciting. don't forget to like, subscribe and follow on all of our social media accounts on TikTok, Instagram and YouTube. on YouTube you can also get the full podcast with videos and pictures included of our trips. Thank you so much for listening. Until next time,