Dublin Recap

At the beginning of June I hopped on a plane and met my husband in Dublin, Ireland while he was on a work trip. This country has been near the top of my list of places to visit so I was super excited for the opportunity to go.  The weather was pretty fair, which allowed us to explore the city by foot without worrying about lugging around rain gear.

Here's a little recap of my trip:
Day 1 - After my flight from Houston to Dublin was delayed, I finally landed in Dublin via Heathrow on Tuesday afternoon. I immediately went to the hotel (the Intercontinental Hotel in the embassy district), unpacked and freshened up. My husband Cory got off work shortly after and we walked down the street for dinner at the Waterloo.

Day 2 - We had breakfast at the hotel and then I relaxed in the morning. Cory got off work around lunchtime and we grabbed tickets for the hop-on-hop-off tour bus (City Sightseeing). I had such a good experience doing this in Milan earlier this year and figured it would be just as entertaining to do it again in Dublin. It is such a great way to take in the city when time there is short. We stopped at the Guinness Storehouse for a tour and pints in the 360 degree viewing room at the top, with stunning views of Dublin! We boarded the bus again for a few more sights before stopping at another pub (Nancy Hands) for small pints and walked back across the city to our hotel.

Day 3: I bought tour pass to the Wicklow Mountains through Viator, figuring it would be a great way to kill some time while Cory was at work. I boarded the bus that morning at one of its pick-up locations a few blocks from my hotel. Our tour guide was a hilarious Irishman, full of stories ranging from pop-culture (i.e. U2, Enya, movie stars) to historical (kings and queens, castles, etc.) I fully enjoyed and appreciated the sense of humor he injected into these tales and he kept the whole bus entertained all day long! We made our way south from Dublin along the coast and headed for Wicklow Mountains, about an hour or so away.

We stopped at the "P.S. I Love You" bridge, a filming location for the movie, and got to wander around some other gorgeous places such as a 6th century monastery, a lake surrounded by mountains, and a quaint village where we enjoyed lunch. Overall, I couldn't recommend this tour enough! While I had originally hoped to take a tour to the Cliffs of Moher on the western side of the island, the tour was completely booked and I opted for Wicklow, not knowing much about it. I was pleasantly surprised by the beauty and history of the area. I was pretty wiped out by the time I got back to the hotel that evening, but it was definitely worth the $30!

Day 4: We woke up early and made our way to the airport to head back to the States for the next part of our summer vacation adventure.  Stay tuned for details about our cross-country road trip to St. Helena, California!

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The Columbus Coffee Trail

This past week, I had the chance to play tour guide and show my sister around Columbus. It was her first time to visit and I think it's safe to say she had a blast! We always make time for coffee dates when I visit her so we of course had to explore as many coffee shops as possible while she was up here. She noticed the Columbus Coffee Experience stamp cards at one of the shops and we immediately made it our mission to visit enough to score free t-shirts to commemorate our achievement!

In typical fashion, I took photos of the latte art at each because I'm a huge sucker for beautiful things + coffee.

From top-left going clockwise: Stauf's // Fox in the Snow // Brioso // Mission Coffee Co

My thoughts on each:

Stauf's - After a less than stellar first impression, I've since changed my mind about this German Village mainstay. I love the atmosphere and natural light but the patio is probably my favorite spot in this place. There's plenty of seating, free wi-fi and great lattes -- I tried the Milky Way flavor (SO good) and sister had the Buckeye, which definitely lived up to its name. The breakfast muffins aren't bad, either.

Fox in the Snow - This has been a frequent haunt for my husband and I and we come here weekly just for the massive cinnamon rolls. The lattes aren't my favorite of the others I've tried (I wish they offered specialty flavors!), but they are potent and the latte art is always on point.

Brioso - One of the best lattes I've had in Columbus so far has to be from Brioso. My sister and I tried out the Ohio Honey Lattes at the new location on Long Street and I was in love with the layout and overall vibes. They have plenty of large tables for those that are blessed with the ability to work remotely. There's tons of gorgeous natural light and the baristas are friendly. This place gets an A+ from me!

Mission Coffee Co. - Mission is a hip little shop tucked away just off High St. I had never been before but after this week I'm certain I'll be going back. It was open yet cozy and had a good amount of work surfaces. The lattes were both delicious and beautiful. We tried the Mocha and Vanilla flavors.

One Line Coffee - Not pictured, as my sister just got an iced honey latte and I refrained due to my limit of one coffee per day. I took a few sips though and it was good, though very potent! This place was a little on the small side but had a nice atmosphere and we were surprised that patrons can bring their dogs along with them! The baristas were super friendly, which is enough to get me to return and try one of their other coffee beverages for myself sometime.

We would have loved to hit up the rest of the coffee shops on the Experience Columbus Coffee Trail. However, since my sister was only here for the week we went ahead and redeemed our stamp cards for some super cute and soft t-shirts! Here we are modeling them:

If you live in Columbus and love coffee as much as we do, you should definitely take on the Columbus Coffee Trail challenge! It's a good way to break out of a routine (I'm guilty of going to the same place) and branch out to try new things!

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