Celebrate St. Patrick's Day in Dublin

Saint Patrick’s Day is bearing down on us in a few short weeks and you know what that means? Green beer and stupid hats? Maybe, but that’s really only if you’re an American and can turn any holiday, traditional or obscure, into a reason to get drunk and cause a ruckus. At least you’re fun and know how to party! In Ireland, you will likely find NO green beer, shamrock sunglasses or green felt leprechaun hats, unless it is marketed solely to tourists. In fact, in Ireland Saint Patrick’s Day is a religious holiday to commemorate the day that St. Patrick drove all the snakes out of Ireland (Supposedly. I 'm pretty sure there weren’t any there in the first place. Easy!)

With the holiday in Ireland becoming more secular and less celebrated came a brilliant idea from the government! Giant festivities to get people worldwide interested in traveling to Ireland to join the parties and soak up the culture! Meaning more tourism. Amazingly, the first festival to be held in Ireland didn't occur until 1996 and it was only one day. Since then, it has grown into a week-long celebration of all things Irish that draws hundreds of thousand of visitors every year who come to party, join parades, watch concerts, witness fireworks, attend sporting events, take in theater performances and, of course, to drink beer.

photo credit

Awesome Fact: Witness the shortest St. Patrick’s Day parade in the whole world in Dripsey, Ireland of County Cork. The parade lasts just 100 yards and travels between the village's two pubs.

photo credit

Get yourself a Dublin Pass. As always, I am recommending the city pass for those visiting Dublin. Not only is it a great deal if you plan to do a fair amount of sightseeing on the Emerald Isle, but it also it lets you skip the queues at the ticket booths. Your Dublin pass comes with an airport-city center transfer, entrance to over 30 top attractions, the Croke Park Experience (for those of you who are sports lovers), discounts on dining, shopping, etc. and even unlimited public transportation! Purchase online before you go to save 20% off. Your Dublin pass is valid for 12 months from purchase and “activates” upon your first use.

photo credit

My Goodness My Guinness! Do you love Guinness like I do? How would you like a FREE pint? If you’re in Ireland, take a walk through the Guinness Factory and see how it’s made, enjoy a free pint at the end of your tour and take in all of Dublin from the 360 degree view in the Gravity Bar on top of the factory. Before you leave, make sure to stop into the visitor centre and museum to view old adverts and pick up some souvenirs. Here’s a good tip: purchase your entry ticket(s) online to bypass long queues and get 10% off (the not-so-cheap admission price of 14 Euros) or use a Dublin Pass that includes admission.

photo credit

Do you prefer Jameson whiskey? You can take a distillery tour of their factory as well! Again, your tour ends with a good size “sample”. You can volunteer to do a taste-test, and if you are chosen it includes 3 Irish whiskeys, a Scotch whiskey and an American Whiskey and then a fancy diploma saying you took the taste test. Take a trip through the gift shop and buy a nice bottle for the rest of your trip or send some home for you, family or friends. The tour lasts about an hour and the distillery is open 7 days a week, but you can make reservations online and save 15% off the admission price of 13.5 Euros.

Both tours were highly recommended by those that took one or both of them.

photo credit

Obviously, no matter where you are, you are bound to be near some St. Patrick’s Day celebrations on March 17th. Almost every city has an Irish pub that throws a huge party where everyone gets rip-roaring drunk, pretends they're Irish, wears crazy stuff and takes a cab home (hopefully) in the wee hours of the morning to sleep it off. In Portland, that party can go on for many nights, depending what day St. Patrick’s Day falls on. Our popular restaurant called Kells takes up an entire city block with tents full of vendors and music and all things Irish and people have been known to take days off of work, just so they can start their weekend partying early. A great way to find such celebrations is your local paper’s entertainment or local section and online. What’s On When has listings for entertainment and goings on in most cities worldwide.

photo credit

And if you’d like to at least see a bit of Ireland even if you can’t visit, check out some of these movies to enjoy the rolling green countryside and Irish lilt:

Angela’s Ashes

Boy Eats Girl (kitchy rom-zom movie)

Braveheart

The Crying Game

Darby O’Gill and the Little People

Far and Away

The Informer

Laws of Attraction

Leap Day (best sightseeing in a movie, by far)

Michael Collins

P.S. I Love You (my pick for 2^nd best sightseeing movie)

The Secret of Roan Inish

Tristan & Isolde

Waking Ned Devine

This is by no means all of them, just ones that I know are probably available through Blockbuster, Netflix, Redbox or your own DVD collection. Find a more complete list HERE.

How will you be spending your St. Patrick's Day?

Get Two Vacations Out of One

It can be hard enough to make one vacation happen, but what if you can get two vacations instead? How do you do this without spending much more money? Use a stopover to hit up a second destination. Iceland Air is famous for allowing you to stop in Iceland for up to a week while on your way somewhere else, but that's just one place and it's not exactly the cheapest one to visit. Check out this great infographic QuestOrganizer put together to help you find awesome stopovers. 

Top 20 stopovers for cheap multi city flights [Infographic]

by QuestOrganizer at QuestOrganizer the Stopover Flight Deal Engine

If you were to add a stopover to your trip, what would be your ideal two-city vacation?

Super Useful (Romantic) Travel Posts

So, Valentine's Day is just a few days away. Maybe you have already planned a trip or gift, but if you haven't here are some fun ideas...which you can probably use next year. Sorry. Set yourself a reminder after you read this and then go hit up the grocery store for flowers, and fancy tablecloth and provisions to cook the greatest meal ever (lobster is always good, but think about what would make your significant other happy). 

photo credit

Snuggle with your Valentine while flying in or out or watching the planes arrive and depart one of these most beautiful landing strips.

photo credit

Don't have a big budget for the 14th? Check out my Staycation ideas posting tomorrow or check out Travel + Leisure's most scenic drives to take your sweetheart on. PureWow has also ranked the five best road trips, with tips on how to do them right. If you can't drive the whole thing, make a mini-vacay out of a portion of it.

photo credit

Whether you're at home or traveling to one of these cities, here are 14 ways to spend Valentine's Day in 14 cities.

Not sure what to gift to your better half (or mom or BFF) on the 14th? Airfare Watchdog curated a list of their favorites from their Twitter talk, and if those don't do it for you, my holiday gift list still applies.

photo credit

Give your sweetie the gift of travel or activities. Travelzoo has rounded up 500 deals around the U.S. that you can purchase to do, including B&B stays, Vegas shows, spa days and romantic dinners.

If you still think a trip is in the cards for you, then never fear. Yahoo has compiled 13 romantic trips you can book right now. Of course, if you find that your bank account doesn't support a real trip, even a budget-friendly one, then book a table at one of the 100 most romantic restaurants instead.

photo credit

Don't limit yourself to the plane or car. Pack a bag and take a mini vacation by rail instead. Amtrak goes all over and they have list handy dandy list of places to take the train this year, maybe even for Valentine's Day!

photo credit

Get international without leaving your house by telling your special someone you love them in different languages from around the world. Sure, you could woo them in French or Spanish, but why not something more unique, like Russian or Vietnamese?

photo credit

Lots of people like to complain about the airport and traveling by plane, but think about flight attendants who never really reach their final destination, because flying is their job. It's nice to treat them nice, but one flight attendant is going above and beyond by leaving sweet little notes for passengers. 

photo credit

Not part of a couple? That's okay. You can still get away from all those happy couples you know and go on a solo trip. If you don't know how to make them most by traveling with yourself, then check out these tips for going it alone. And here's a list of places to take yourself.

Here's to a great week. As always, if you have found a great link to something awesome in the travel world, link us up in the comment. Happy Love Day. What are your plans?