Dublin: Week 1

A week into living in our new city and I have to admit, I had Dublin all wrong. Or maybe, I just hadn’t thought much about it. Aside from the usual visual images conjured up by Ireland the country hasn’t really been on my travel radar. I didn’t know what to expect. As it turns out Dublin is chock-full of things I certainly didn’t expect.

Such as the weather, though I’m sure it will change, it has been wonderful. Warm, sunny, and for the most part, rain free. There’s a Laudree in the Brown Thomas department store. There is a Harvey Nichols. There is a fantastic craft coffee roaster (third floor espresso). Muji has a store here. The food scene, though in no competition with NYC or San Francisco has some serious merits. I found a boutique that carries one of my favorite designers: APC. Fallon and Byrne, a gourmet grocery store, stocks just about everything a pantry could need. And while Ireland’s non-location in the UK may necessitate a few trips up north to Belfast for a few of our favorite products it is in general, very well equipped. Which is mostly important to help keep homesickness at bay.

And homesickness? Something I rarely experienced in Asia hit me the first day. Unlike perpetual travel, where the practicalities of everyday are a relative minimum, moving abroad has proved a bit more difficult. Where does one get a desk? Or go grocery shopping? What if I get sick? Which phone plan should I get? Where should I live? And while all these questions could easily apply to moving to any city there are certain standards across the US, brands you know and trust; there’s no Target, Bed Bath and Beyond or Whole Foods here to get everything you need. And while that was true in Asia (and things I recognized were even more scarce) I never minded, I was never there more than a few days anyway. While I imagine my prior travel is certainly helping the adjustment, which in reality is very little adjustment at all, I have to admit I was surprised at my initial level of discomfort and unease.

But once those essentials are achieved and you know you won’t starve, you have a place to live, and a way to get around, and you begin to settle in it gets much easier to explore and enjoy a new city. And as it turns out, I absolutely love this city. It’s a quaint, picturesque, low lying city that oozes charm. And though I’ve only been here a week I’m already enamored with it.

Aside from figuring out the logistics of a life in Dublin we also managed to head to the countryside, which is definitely just as beautiful as you might imagine. Some photos from the week: