Tag: Trip

Airports Used to Travel to Japan in 2022

ZooksLeave a comment

Tere!

The trip to Japan started from an airport!

This time I had two transits each way. The airports I used were Tallinn airport, Frankfurt airport, Tokyo Haneda airport as well as Kansai airport.

In this article, I will talk about those airports that I used.

Table of Contents

     1. Outward journey
          a. Tallinn airport
          b. Frankfurt airport
          c. Tokyo Haneda airport
     2. Homeoward airport
     ★Summary

1. Outward journey

a. Tallinn airport

At Tallinn airport, the flight checkin was 4.40 in the following morning, so I planned to go to Tallinn airport by the last bus and tram, bringing one 23kg suitcase and one empty suitcase. However, for multiple reasons, I changed this plan. After cleaning Collin’s cage and feeding him, I did the last check on the luggages, and headed to Tallinn airport by Bolt (Estonian Uber). It was 21.30 at that time.

Arriving at Tallinn airport, I found a space to charge my phone. To avoid a too sleepy situation the next day, I tried to close my eyes for 15 minutes, but there were escalators in front of me. It was too noisy to take a nap.

When my phone charged more than 90%, I changed the place. At Tallinn airport, there are two massage chairs. Though the level of comfort was not as good as it looked, it was still better than benches. (I didn’t turn on the massage function. I was just sitting there.)

“From this point it’s hell!”

I thought.

It was around 23.00, and the checkin was 4.40.

Too much time left.

However, I could sleep for around three hours in total. It was away from the escalators, and there were few people because of the middle night of a weekday (Thursday).

After I repeated sleeping for a few minutes and waking up a few times, it was 3.30 already. One more hour was left.

Since it was quite tiring, I was in a daze for a while, and then it turned to be the time to check in.

It seemed that many people would transit in Frankfurt. Though it slightly took time, it wasn’t as bad as the situation of post COVID in spring, 2022.

As I put most stuff in the suitcase, it was smoother to take out my stuff from the backpack at the security check unlike travelling to other European cities. It might be a little thing, and yet personally it made me satisfied. 😂

Nevertheless I was very hungry, since it was still too early to have breakfast, I just bought a cup of coffee. Then I got ready for myself, and was waiting for the flight.

Surprisingly time flew.

b. Frankfurt airport

I arrived at Frankfurt airport at 8 in the morning. I desperately wanted to go to the bathroom, and I was starving. 😂

It was a long path from the arrival gate to the next departure gate, but I didn’t get lost because the structure wasn’t complicated at Frankfurt airport.

There was a big bakery at Frankfurt airport, and I bought a breakfast there. Since I couldn’t find the price tags, I just bought a ham sandwich, which cost 7.50 EUR…😂

Later, 15 minutes before onboarding, one concern that I had became stronger…

I didn’t get a passport stamp…

I asked some airport staff members, but they said they didn’t know, and I felt like crying. However, another staff member told me that I didn’t need it for sure, so I went back to the boarding gate.

In fact, I didn’t have any problem when onboarding and entering Japan without a passport stamp.

This is completely irrelevant, but there were lots of Japanese Brazilians at Frankfurt airport.

c. Tokyo Haneda airport

From Frankfurt, I arrived at the third terminal of Tokyo Haneda airport.

Since it was the arrival of the international flight, there were some people who checked the passengers’ COVID information before going to the arrival gate after landing. I had to upload some documents beforehand on an app called MySOS. It said that if I had a blue screen, it’s all good. However, in real life, they asked me to show a QR code. At Tokyo Haneda airport, the Wifi connection sucked, so it unnecessarily took time.

After that, everything went smoothly as I’m Japanese.

Since I had to renew my driving licence in Japan, I got an entry stamp on my passport after passing the autogate.

Then, I had to move to the first terminal of Tokyo Haneda airport because the next flight to Kansai airport was run by Star Flyer.

At the third terminal, when going forward to the domestic flight connection, there was another sign, so I followed it. I took a free bus. I’m still not sure how often the bus comes, but after missing one bus, the next one came soon.

When arriving at the first terminal of Tokyo Haneda airport, I still had a couple of hours, and yet I checked in, and went to the security check.

In case you think you will get hungry or you are already hungry, I recommend buying something before the security check at the first teminial of Tokyo Haneda airport. Around the boarding gates, there were only souvenir stores and vending machines (including light meals, drinks and ice cream). Onirigis (rice balls) In the vending machine with light meals were only tuna and mayonnaise or salmon. I highly regretted not buying anything at 7-eleven before the security check… (However, it was still not a big problem because I wasn’t starving.)

Around the boarding gates in the first terminal of Tokyo Haneda airport, there are some seats for using laptops or with plugs, so you don’t need to worry about waiting time even if you have a long waiting time.

Again, this is completely irrelevant, but there were lots of family passengers who seemed to have been to Disney resort, and it was Saturday (so it made sense).

2. Homeward journey

Let’s talk about a story on a homeward journey. I used Kansai airport.

I stayed at an accommodation in Rinku town, and headed to Kansai airport by train, departing at 6.00 in the morning. It was a little tiring, but I wanted to save money because it would cost 4,000 JPY by taxi to Kansai airport from Rinku town.

My first flight for the homeward journey was by ANA, and I had to go to Tokyo Haneda airport. Although it looked like a domestic flight, the staff members at Kansai airport let me go to the international flight check-in counter. I had two luggages to check in: one 20 kg suitcase and one 17 kg suitcase. I didn’t buy more than I expected. I could have bought more facial toner. 😂

On the outward journey, I had to take my luggages at Tokyo Haneda airport, so I expected to recheck in there, but they told me I didn’t need to do anything until I arrived in Tallinn.

Due to my experience at the first terminal of Tokyo Haneda airport, I bought some onigiri before the security check at Kansai airport.

However, Kansai airport’s domestic flights terminal was much more developed, and there was a convenience store and a cafe near the boarding gate.

I felt like I was an idiot. 😂

After that, I boarded the flight, realising the earliest next visit would be in two years.

★Summary

I know that the story about the homeward is shorter than the other because I was busier with travelling on the homeward than on the outward journey. Though I had plenty of time at Tokyo Haneda airport, since Lufthansa is often delayed, the flight from Tokyo Haneda airport was also delayed, and I walked fast to arrive at the boring gate at the boring time in Frankfurt airport. (Eventually, the flight from Frankfurt to Tallinn was delayed, too, though.)

Compared to Tokyo Narita or Haneda airports, there are smaller numbers of flights, but I still like Kansai airport. This is because I don’t have to move a lot on the ground, and it’s closest to my parents’ place and the base of my stay.

I think I will choose flights to and from Kansai airport next time too.

Aitäh! 🙂

Preparation for Trip in Japan

ZooksLeave a comment

Tere!

The last visit to Japan was 2019. For three years since then, experiencing the COVID period, I was finally able to visit Japan again!

In this article, I will encapsulate what I prepared for going to Japan!

Table of Contents

     1. Online shopping
     2. Suitcases and bags
     3. Collin
          a. Pet sitters
          b. Keys for my flat
     4. Souvenirs for my friends and family in Japan
     5. Decluttering
     6. Travel insurance
     7. Mobile Wifi for the trip in Japan
     ★Summary

1. Online shopping

Since I was going to visit Japan, I was shopping online from time to time. Usually, I order something and it arrives at my parent’s place in Japan, and I ask my mum to send it to me with some other stuff approximately once every six months. However, since I was going to Japan this time, I anyway bought lots of things online, and my mum got deliveries and kept them at home.

What I bought was mainly cosmetics. Amazon Japan really has everything! I bought 100 face packs… (Eventually I brought only 70 packs to Estonia. I gave the rest to my mum.)

Beside makeup cosmetics, I purchased an eye mask, Fantastic Beasts’ DVD, and shoes online.

Ah and perfumes too…

I didn’t buy skin care products or stationeries because I wanted to buy them in Japan.

I spent 30,000 JPY (207 EUR) at this point.

By the way, I will write another article on how much I spent on this trip in Japan.

2. Suitcases and bags

The reason why I bought so many things online was because I had enough capacity in my suitcases.

Last time I used LOT Polish, and I could bring only one 23kg suitcase. Based on my experience, I selected an airline on which I was allowed to bring two 23kg suitcases for free. Also I was very lucky.

When I came to Estonia, I brought only one suitcase and one 8kg backpack, so I needed one more suitcase. Then, my friend told me that he unnecessarily had multiple suitcases, so I got one big one. It was shaped almost like a square, and looked different, but the size was fine as per the rule on the airline.

Additionally, I bought a haversack on Lindex and a backpack on Nordace. With these I was ready for hanging out and going out and carrying on the airplane.

Reference

As for the backpack, I had wanted to buy it for a long time. On the other hand, I found a nice one coincidentally on Lindex.

3. Collin

Plus, I have Collin who is my roomate chinchilla.

As a chinchilla can live without care for two nights, I looked for a pet sitter who can come to my place and take care of him once every three days.

a. Pet sitters

At first, I used a website called PetBacker, but when I asked my friends, they just said yes.

As I was going to stay in Japan for four weeks, I divided the period into two: the first two weeks and the latter two weeks, during each of which, I asked them to come five times.

It’s easy to take care of a chinchilla. One just needs to let him take a dust bath, feed him, and give him a treat since in Collin’s case, he is being patient during the cleaning time. I hadn’t started letting him take a walk in the room. This is because it had been only two months for him to move to my place, and he nibbled everything as he was only four months old (four years old in human). Therefore, I planned to let him take a walk once he is mature enough, and didn’t include this activity in the to-do list. In total, it took only half an hour.

b. Keys for my flat

In order for my friends to take care of Collin, they needed to come to my place, I decided to make spare keys. My flat owner told me there was one more set of spare keys when I moved in the current place, but I needed two sets, so I decided to make two more sets.

Keys can be duplicated at a key-and-shoe shop in a shopping centre. (I don’t know what it is called.)

I went to a shop called Kingaprof.

Since the clerk told me there are duplicable keys and non-duplicable keys, I showed mine to him. He said mine were duplicable.

It took only about five minutes. He immediately duplicated two sets. One set cost 16 EUR so in total I paid 32 EUR.

I’m not sure if they were cheap. 😂

4. Souvenirs for my friends and family in Japan

Let’s talk about souvenirs to my friends and family in Japan. This time I bought soaps, a calendar, chocolates, a pouch as well as black bread.

I bought Kalev’s chocolate. They sell two different big bags with different flavours, so I bought one kg (two bags) of one type, and another kilo (two bags) of the other type, plus two different flavours of chocolate additionally.

As I did the similar thing in 2019, I feel like doing something different next time.

5. Decluttering

I did decluttering too. However, it does not literally mean that I threw away something. I brought already-read books, saved CDs and something I don’t use in Estonia but want to keep in JapanJapan. Most were books. Since then, I have wanted to read books on Kindle, but I like paper books better because I can know how far I am to the end.

6. Travel insurance

Whenever I travel, I have travel insurance. Like last time, I used an insurance company called Globe Partner. I don’t know any other insurance which I, as a Japanese individual living abroad, can have travel insurance to go to Japan. It cost 35 EUR. I have searched for some other insurances, and yet they cost around 100 EUR.

7. Mobile Wifi for the trip in Japan

While travelling in Japan, the must-have item is Wifi. Like last time as well, I rented a mobile Wifi on Rakuten’s Wifi rental shop for one month.

I received a mobile Wifi in Kansai airport, and I returned it by post. Last time I returned at Narita airport’s Wifi service desk, but this time I had to check in at 6.30 am at Kansai airport, so I wasn’t sure if the Wifi service desk was open. Therefore, just in case the desk wasn’t open, I returned the Wifi by post.

★Summary

I really bought lots of cosmetics… But it’s all good because the more I have, the longer I can use them. I am so glad that I got eyeshadows in different colours.

I am Japanese and my family lives in Japan, so I can do these things, but if I were a non-Japanese tourist, the preparation would be much harder. I wonder how they do with Wifi? I would be worried because I was when I travelled here and there in Europe in 2015, having a SIM-locked phone. Particularly when walking. Actually, sometimes I was worried because the Wifi connection was bad once in a while. ON the other hand, when the connection was smooth, it was very comfortable.

Perhaps the next visit is in autumn of 2024.

I’m gonna save money for that until then again!!

Aitäh! 🙂

Malicious Travel Agency – My trip

ZooksLeave a comment

Tere!

In March 2022, in order to go to Japan for the first time in two years, I booked flights. Since I wanted to bring two suitcases, I booked flights on Finnair, but they cancelled my flights owing to the Ukraine war and COVID. Due to the fact that they didn’t have any alternative flights, I decided to go to Japan by JAL.

However, after booking the flights, the flights by JAL were also cancelled. What was worse, there were troubles after that.

This time I am going to tell you a story about the troubles that I experienced.

Table of Contents

     1. Tickets bought on Mytrip
     2. JAL’s flight cancellation and booking alternative flights on Mytrip
     3. Mytrip’s “process”
     4. Help request to consumer information centres
          a. Consumer information centre in Sweden
          b. Consumer information centre in Estonia
     5. To get the refund
          a. 28 Sep
          b. 19 Oct
          c. 26 Oct
          d. 27 Oct
     ★Summary

1. Tickets bought on Mytrip

After Finnair cancelled my flights, and they refunded me, I booked JAL’s flights.

I always looked for reasonable flights on Skyscanner, and this time I found flights offered by Mytrip. I used Mytrip because I have used Mytrip when I went to Sweden in March 2022 too.

Without knowing that My trip is infamous.

2. JAL’s flight cancellation and booking alternative flights on Mytrip

Although I booked JAL’s flights for my September trip on Mytrip, they cancelled the flights in June.

Since I booked them via Mytrip, I proceeded for alternative flights via My trip as well. I bought the flight tickets specifically on Mytrip Sweden, and they offered only phone support for English speakers. I rang them, and explained. Then the male support agent proceeded rebooking the alternative flights . He told me to wait a few days as I would not get a confirmation email immediately.

3. Mytrip’s “process”

However, I still got nothing after waiting a couple of days. My spam box didn’t have anything either. I called Mytrip again, and this time a female support agent answered me. She told me it was still in its process, and to wait a few more days.

I waited another few days, and yet there was nothing. I called My trip again, and a different male support agent answered me, saying

“There is no flight ma’am.”






Excuse me?




I asked him

“What do you mean there is no flight?”

He said

“There is no available flight now, ma’am.”

His wording was making me furious.

“I’m not talking about now. I asked to rebook the alternative flights last Sunday, and I’m asking why it’s still not processed!”

“There are no available flights now, ma’am.”

Can I speak to a different support.”

“Unfortunately, there is no available flight now, ma’am.”

I wanted to say “Can you not understand English,”

I thought this would be endless, so I hung up the phone, and called them again. Then another male support agent answered me. I explained everything, and he said

“Just a moment, ma’am.”

On his telling me that, the phone was hung up.

Sometimes I’m too stupid to understand the situation, so I thought “Is there calling line unstable?” 😂 Then I rang them again, and this time a female support agent answered me. I explained the same, and she said

“Let me check, ma’am.”

And she hung up the phone.

This is obviously deliberate.

I tried once more, but another female support agent did the same.

Whereas I tried making it clear, nothing was successful, so I called them again, and then a different support agent answered me. This time I requested a refund.

After experiencing being hung up, I googled Mytrip, and found that it was an infamous travel agency. Because of that, I asked him how long it would take to get refunded when I requested the refund.

He said around five days.

Of course I got nothing even after five days.

4.Help request to consumer information centres

While I was googling reviews about Mytrip, I found one review in which a guy planned to take a lawful sanction, so I googled such a thing further in Japanese. Then one article was in the first page of the Google search result that in such a case we could ask a consumer information centre in Japan.

I checked the proper wording for a consumer information centre in English.

Since I booked flights on Mytrip Sweden, I looked for a consumer information centre in Sweden, and found it. What is better, I found a fact that they handle consumers’ complaints in the EU. (The consumer information centres in the EU corporate one another.)

a. Consumer information centre in Sweden

I contacted the consumer information centre Sweden on this webpage.

I explained the same things as written above, and attached screenshots of Mytrip Sweden’s phone number (and small translation as it was shown in Japanese) as well as copies of emails of purchase confirmation of tickets on Mytrip and of flight cancellation notice from Mytrip in PDF as proofs.

I did this one weekend, and unexpectedly they replied to me so fast.

However, since I lived in Estonia, they told me to contact the consumer information centre in Estonia. They gave me Estonia’s contact information, so I messaged the consumer information centre in Estonia in the form.

b. Consumer information centre in Estonia

The consumer information centre in Estonia responded to me fast too.

As an additional proof, the person-in-charge of my case asked me to send them a bank statement of the purchase of the flight tickets.

She gave me a few of Mytrip’s email addresses, and asked me to contact Mytrip and JAL as well.

I had already contacted JAL when I requested a refund to Mytrip immediately, but perhaps because of the summer time (when people travel a lot), JAL responded me quite late. However, they replied to me when I was about to contact them again.

As for My trip, one of the email addresses that the Estonian person-in-charge gave me didn’t work. The other one worked finely.

In the EU, the refund process has to be done within two weeks in principle, therefore she told me to contact her again if there was no answer in two weeks after emailing Mytrip.

As you can imagine, I didn’t get anything from Mytrip after two weeks.

On the 15th of August, 2022, the person-in-charge in the consumer information centre in Estonia notified me that my case was registered on their end, it would take time because the consumer information centre in Sweden is relevant, and she promised to contact me if there is anything from My trip.

Three days after that notice, Mytrip replied to me by using one of the email addresses that the person-in-charge in the consumer information centre in Estonia gave me. My trip also said it would take time.

5. To get the refund

Here is a timeline of messaging with the consumer information centre in Estonia.

a. 28 Sep

The person-in-charge in the consumer information centre in Estonia told me that Mytrip would send me an email about the refund. On the 29th of September, I received an email from Mytrip that their refund would be done with no fees as my rebooking request was not processed in fact.

The email also mentioned that it would take time, but no exact amount of time was not described.

b. 19 Oct

The person-in-charge in the consumer information centre in Estonia asked me about the situation, but there was nothing. Then she contacted the consumer information centre in Sweden, and told me to wait one more month.

The person-in-charge in the consumer information centre in Estonia also told me to let her know after one month or receiving the refund.

c. 26 Oct

Mytrip notified me that I would get the refund within five business days.

d. 27 Oct

This morning, I confirmed the refund from My trip, so I contacted The person-in-charge in the consumer information centre in Estonia to notify her.

Finally everything was completed.

Although it took four months, it was better than waiting more months or even years, and what was better, it was solved thanks to the consumer information centre in Estonia.

★Summary

When I looked back on my travel history, I also bought the flight tickets to Japan in 2019 on My trip.

On one hand, I think I could use My trip again as I could get the refund by asking in the consumer information centre, and tickets are cheap. On the other hand, the refund process took a long, so I won’t probably use Mytrip or even a travel agency in general again.

If you buy flight tickets on an airline’s website, I think it’s better overall, so I think I will buy flight tickets directly from the airline’s website in the future. Maybe I will uninstall the Skyscanner app too…. What is more, in fact, I use Google flights.

I would recommend you not use My trip.

Aitäh! 🙂

Zooks Goes to Countryside Town Called Puka in Estonia.

ZooksLeave a comment

Tere!

This story is so trivial, but since Puka, a small town in Estonia, is not so well-known, I decided to write about it for my website.

Puka is a town in Estonia, which one of my Estonian friends is from. One day we were just talking, and the topic was changed to our birthdays. Then I came to know that on one Sunday in August, 2022 there was her birthday. She said “I don’t have a plan to have a big party, and I will just go to Puka. You are also welcome.” Therefore I immediately decided to go to Puka.

From Tallinn to Puka which is almost Latvia, there are only four trains per day, and it takes three hours one way. Even though I took the earliest one from Tallinn, I arrived in Puka at 10.30 am. I wondered what to do for the return trip, and eventually I decided to go back to Tallinn on the same day because the next day was Monday, I had work, I had to train a newly hired employee, and I had an Estonian language class after work. However, my friend suggested me staying at her parents’ place in Puka.

By the way, I thought that I hadn’t mentioned how to buy tickets in Elron, the Estonian train, in any article, so I will explain that too.

Table of Contents

     1. How to buy tickets on Elron’s website
     2. What kind of town is Puka?
     ★Summary

1. How to buy tickets on Elron’s website

It’s very easy to buy train tickets on Elron’s website. Open the website first. It totally depends on you if you create an account there.

After logging in or opening the webpage, enter the origin and the destination, and set the date. You cannot set the date no more than one week ahead. This probably means it’s not crowded that much usually. 😂 Once you enter them, click “Go”.

Let’s find the most suitable time. After selecting the time, click “Choose”.

Select the number of tickets that you need, and click “Next”.

Check the origin, the destination, and the date and time. If you don’t have an Elron farecard, hit ”Buy ticket to e-mail”.

Enter your email address, and go next by clicking “Add cart”.

Given that you need a return ticket, click ”Add return ticket”.

Then you will see the payment option so select the most suitable one.

Have a tick in “I have read and agree with terms and conditions.”, and hit ”Confirm”.

After the payment, you will receive an email with a PDF file which is your ticket.

If you buy tickets for a round trip, both tickets are contained in one QR code, so you will see only one page in the PDF file.

That’s it!

Easy peasy, right?

2. What kind of town is Puka?

Puka is quite a countryside town as you may imagine.

Tallinn has nothing, and it gets me fed up with it after living in Tallinn for five years. However, probably because it is still the biggest city in Estonia, my body and mind seemed to be fatigued due to the noisy environment in the city. Arriving in Puka in summer, it was full of green, and the air was so fresh. Those simple things just relaxed me physically.

The station in Puka had no one, and on the platform, my friend and her friend welcomed me. From there we went to my friend’s parents’ place by her friend’s car.

My friend has a black cat at home in Tallinn, so she brought her to her parents’ place where two other cats lived as well. There was one more black cat and one grey kitten.

When I visited the friend’s place in Tallinn, when I went to a cat cafe in Tallinn, and when I stayed at my boss’s place with a cat, I didn’t have any allergic symptoms with cats like I had as a child. However, at my friend’s parents’ place, I had some allergic symptoms with a cat.

Later, we found that the grey kitten was only three years old in human age, and his short hair was soaring in the air. Then I took it as dust in my body, and that is why I had the allergic symptoms. Without the grey cat, and if I didn’t move, I barely had a runny nose and my eyes were not so itchy.

It seemed I was okay with cats without soaring hair in a clean place.

At my friend’s parents’ place, we had her mum’s Estonian potato salad, had some snacks while watching a film, and ate ice cream in the garden with her two other friends. We didn’t do anything touristic in Puka.

Estonian potato salad

If you ask me about any adventure that I had in Puka, then I would say exploring her parents’ garden. 😂

I was aware that there are lots of private apple trees in Estonia (or even in the whole Europe), and yet they had a pear tree too. They also had tomatoes as well as cucumbers in their small greenhouse, and there were pumpkins, carrots, potatoes and strawberries too. Moreover, my friend showed me raspberries, plums, red currants, black currants, and aronias in addition to cherries. Yeah, there were literally a lot. 😂

Aronia juice

As for the potato salad that her mum made, the potatoes were their own ones. Brilliant.

They have a small lake in front of the garden, and my friend told me they swim there once in a while in summer.

That’s so good, they don’t need to pay for water to have a pool.😂

Also, there is a pharmacy from the station in Puka to her parents’ place. Before going back to the station, I came to know that an Estonian film called ”Sügis” which means “Autumn” in English used that pharmacy in the film. The story is based on an Estonian novelist, Oskar Luts.

//www.instagram.com/embed.js

By the way, because I started watching “Talve” which is the continuation of ”Sügis” for learning Estonian, I watched the whole series including “Kevade” (spring) and “Suvi” (summer). 😂 I’m not a huge fan of Estonia, but still I watched all of them, so if you are a fan of Estonia, you should probably watch them. ✌️

★Summary

When I was about to go to the station in Puka with my friend and her friend, my friend’s dad told me to come there again, especially when I’m tired of Tallinn. Since it seemed that her mum was not able to speak English, I thought “I want to see them again with a better Estonian language skill next time.” Also, I reckoned that I would come there again when I have more time because it takes three hours by train from Tallinn…

Puka literally has nothing, but it was a good place to take a break.

A weekend trip might be good.

They also told me it would take 2.5 hours by car, so maybe you can drive a car there too.

Aitäh! 🙂

Total Expensese on the Trip to Ireland 2022!

ZooksLeave a comment

Tere!

You may wonder about expenses before moving to another country or studying abroad, but this should not mean that we can ignore how much it costs for one trip in a country that you want to visit. There may also be some people who want to go to a fascinating country that is expensive, but still care about their finances.

I always search budgets before deciding a destination or before going to travel there. Then decide how much I save for that trip per month from the point that I searched until the point I travel, depending on how many months are left. I always use a website called ”Budget Your Trip”. They show budgets not only in the destination country’s currency but also in the currency that I use (i.e. in my case euro). (If you use an ad-block add-on on your browser you always see some pop up like I see, so I use this website on the browser that I don’t have the ad-block- add-on.)

In the case of Ireland, the budget trip costs 44 EUR per day and 309 EUR per week, per person, and the mid-range trip costs 109 EUR per day and 766 EUR per week, per person. However, in my case, I decided to save 1300 EUR which was my budget.

Therefore, this article shows the result.

Table of Contents

     1. Flight tickets
     2. Transport in Dublin
     3. Car rental
     4. Accommodations
     5. Food expenses
     6. Travel insurance
     7. Others
     8. Total expenses
     ★Summary

1. Flight tickets

First of all, let’s talk about our flight tickets. We bought flight tickets on Ryanair. This expense is marked in the tab called ”Travel fees” in the spreadsheet that I share every month on Twitter. The flight tickets for two people cost 281.79 EUR. My boyfriend paid 140 EUR and I paid 141.79 as he was going to drive a car almost a whole week, and splitting 1.79 EUR seemed to be very stingy.

Perhaps because of the season, the flight tickets weren’t cheap.

2. Transport in Dublin

Next, here is about transport in Dublin. I bought a 24-hour Leap card which cost 8 EUR. My boyfriend didn’t bring sufficient coins, so I gave him one ride on a Dublin bus from the airport to the city centre, which cost 2.60 EUR. Also on the first day, a taxi drive to my friend A’s place cost 10.20 EUR. Moreover, we took another taxi from the accommodation on the last day to the airport and paid 24.60 EUR.

3. Car rental

In terms of car rental, renting a car cost 936.42 EUR, and charging the fuel (diesel) twice cost 144.65 EUR, in total of which it was 1,081.07 EUR. However, since my boyfriend paid for all of these, we decided that I would pay for accommodations. But still there were some differences of 350 EUR. He didn’t care, and yet I paid him back 174 EUR because I even couldn’t help him drive, I wanted to pay him back.

4. Accommodations

This is about the expenses on accommodations. I’m pretty sure that it wouldn’t have cost that much if I travel by myself or my Japanese friend S who has travelled with me before. Even if I had chosen private rooms, I’m sure we wouldn’t have had to pay that much. 😂 Since we booked the accommodations right before heading to the destinations, it cost a lot…

Two nights in Galway required 238.56 EUR, another two nights in Mayo was 180 EUR, and two nights in Dublin cost 314.64 EUR, so in total the expenses were 238.56 EUR. I paid for all of these.

In addition, it cost 248.35 EUR for the hostel in Dublin, where we were supposed to stay. This was also supposed to be two nights. If you read the article about the accommodations in Dublin, you will see the details…

Adding all of these, the expense is almost the same as the car rental fees and fuel fees, but I didn’t want to include the hostel cost for the first day in Dublin personally, I deal with it as my own expense.

I will triple check whatever it is from next time when travelling with whoever they will be. 😂

5. Food expenses

When it comes to food, we always paid for two of one by taking turns. This rule? culture? was created because I stopped him paying for both of us at restaurants twice in a row. 😂 By taking turns to pay for food, I paid 179.90 EUR in total. However, this includes a few cups of coffee for him while he was driving.

6. Travel insurance

When you travel abroad, you should have travel insurance. If we have a Japanese credit card, it often has travel insurance too whilst Estonian debit cards don’t. For this reason, I always purchase travel insurances on Swisscare. If a Japanese person who travels to Ireland from Estonia for eight days, it cost 14.70 EUR.

7. Others

Other than the above, I paid for Harry Styles’s concert which was 104.65 EUR as well as the goods which was 35 EUR, for parking and highways which were 10.30 EUR in total, and for souvenirs which totally cost 7.88 EUR.

//www.instagram.com/embed.js

Hence, the total expense for other stuff was 157.83 EUR.

8. Total expenses

Now, let’s add everything I explained above.

Item

Expenses

Flight tickets

141.79

Transport

45.4

Car rental

174

Accommodations

981.55

Food

179.9

Travel insurance

14.70

Others

157.83

Sum

1,695.14

Yeah, it’s way over my budget. 😂

It’s for sure because of the accommodations. Plus, I wish we could have booked a car for rental. This is because we could customise later on.

★Summary

Although almost 400 EUR was over my budget, the trip was also over now. We can’t take anything back. What I learnt from this trip were;

  • Let me plan if you are not good at it.
  • I should triple check everything including facilities and locations for accommodations.
  • I need to be able to drive a car in Europe too.

There may be more, and yet it was a bit difficult as it was our first time travelling together abroad.

I swear, I will plan a trip with whoever I travel after understanding all the points that the travel companion and I cannot compromise. 😂

I cannot plan a detailed day schedule way beforehand though. 😂

In conclusion, it was a story that a trip to Ireland isn’t cheap.

Aitäh! 🙂

7 Souvenirs You Can Buy in Ireland.

ZooksLeave a comment

Tere!

Some people (particularly Japanese people) feel like buying and bringing souvenirs when travelling. Or, you might feel like giving something specific from your travel country that one of your friends or someone wants to go somewhere?

On the trip to Ireland in June, 2022, I didn’t buy a lot of souvenirs, and yet there are some recommendations of souvenirs even for yourself as a traveller when going to Ireland, so I made a list.

Table of contents

1. Barry’s tea
2. Rich tea biscuits
3. Cadbury’s chocolate
4. Tayto
5. Carol’s products
6. Pennys
7. Butler’s
★Summary

1. Barry’s tea

Barry’s tea is an Irish tea brand.

When I started living in DCU’s (Dublin City University) student accommodation in 2015, as a welcome gift, one small package of Barry’s tea was on the kitchen table, which was the first time I knew Barry’s tea.

Reference

At that time, Barry’s tea package in the accommodation was a green box, and it seemed to be a normal version of Barry’s tea. Later my Irish friend told me “Red Barry’s tea tastes richer,” since which I always buy red Barry’s tea. There is also a black version.

The sizes of packages are small (20 tea bags), medium (80 tea bags) as well as big (160 tea bags).

In 2019 when I travelled to Ireand, I bought the biggest one (160 tea bags). At that time, I flew to and from Dublin by Lufthansa, and they allowed a bag up to 8 kg for free. However, We flew by Ryanair to and from Dublin this time so we could bring only the small one (20*25*45 cm) for free, so I couldn’t buy the biggest one. (Strictly speaking, I could have bought it as my boyfriend had more space in his bag.) Therefore, I bought the medium size. Personally I was still satisfied. I got ready for a boring winter in Estonia!! 😂

Plus, while you are travelling in Ireland, and if you are not lactose intolerant, I recommend drinking tea with Irish full fat milk.







Super tasty!!





It’s a bit irrelevant, and yet even milk only is super tasty!!!!

2. Rich tea biscuits

Rich tea biscuits are not Irish, sorry, but British. Recently I came to know that in Nigeria which used to be the British colony, they can get rich tea biscuits. So envious!!! Therefore, if you go to an African shop in Estonia, it’s said that you can get rich tea biscuits. (I want to try it while I’m taking a break from the ketogenic diet.)

Reference

Unlike cookies, rich tea biscuits taste crispy (?). Given that you are interested, check out a scene in Dalkey island in the film called “Sing Street”, where two characters eat rich tea biscuits.

The thing is that the rich tea biscuits match tea. 🤭

What I bought was cheap Tesco’s (British supermarket chain) private brand rich tea biscuits, and yet it was still good.

I often ate rich tea biscuits while I was an exchange student in Ireland. (Usually I ate rich tea biscuits or digestive biscuits.)

3. Cadbury’s chocolate

Cadbury is also from the UK as a brand, and yet there is a company called Cadbury Ireland in Dublin. I was shooting an independent film when I lived there, and one of the actors was from Northern Ireland. He said

“Cadbury is tastier in the Republic!”

Really? 😂 Does it differ that much? 😂

Reference

Since I came to Estonia, I have eaten dark chocolate more often, so I felt it was super sweet, but it was really tasty.

I happened to encounter a new flavour of Cadbury’s chocolate in Dublin, which was orange, hence I chose that one as a souvenir for my coworkers. Since there are more products such as chocolate bars and other chocolate products from Cadbury, you may want to check them if you are interested. Ultimately, you can buy some small chocolate bars in Dublin airport.

4. Tayto





Tayto is something Irish!!

Tayto is an Irish crisps brand. It’s thinly sliced, and there are three flavours. Personally I love salt and vinegar. However, it seems many people prefer smoked bacon.

Reference

I didn’t buy this time, and yet in 2019 I bought one big bag, in which there were two small bags of three flavours. If you calculate, there should be six small bags in total, shouldn’t there?

Surprisingly, there were seven. 😂

I counted multiple times, but there were seven. 😂 I don’t remember which flavour had one more bag though. Then I told my Japanese friend A in Dublin by messaging, she said “I’ll buy and try too~”. 😂 So, if you are lucky, you may get one more?

Ireland is a super easygoing country. Estonia is rather more serious. 😂 Therefore, I think it’s less stressful to live in Ireland. Easygoing processes for immigration, repairs, etc are inconvenient though. 😂

They are easygoing, and that’s why they don’t care how many small bags are in one big bag. 😂

You can buy small bags of Tayto at Spar (kiosk) or convenience stores in Dublin airports.

Also, this is pretty common in Ireland that each kiosk has some meal deal consisting of sandwiches, a bottle of drink and a bag of snacks. You can get a small bag of Tayto in that way. It’s like a side “dish” of a sandwich.

There might be just big bags with one flavour like crisps you can see in Japan or in Estonia, and yet I don’t know as I ‘ve never seen or I’ve never paid attention to such a type of product in Ireland. Perhaps you can look for it in Tesco.

5. Carol’s products

When it comes to Ireland, some people think of Carol’s which is a souvenir chain shop. There are a lot around in Dublin.

If you want to buy some classic souvenirs like magnets, postcards, etc, go to Carol’s. They also sell garments and accessories.

In my case, before ending my exchange student life in Ireland, I bought a big Irish flag. I’ve still decorate it in my bedroom. 😂

If you have no idea what to buy for souvenirs, just go to Carol’s just because they have classic souvenirs. You can also ask for duty free there.

Except for the purchase when I lived there, I’ve never bought anything in Carol’s. I prefer something specific and local such as Barry’s tea. 😂

6. Pennys

Pennys is Irish Primark which is a fashion product chain shop that sells clothes, accessories, and housewares. I’m not sure about Primark in the UK, and yet Pennys in Ireland has products with “Irish designs”. The price is low, so maybe you can save more money than buying souvenirs in Carol’s? As an exchange student in Dublin, I bought T-shirts with the Irish flag or something like that for my brothers.

Reference

By the way, I still have a pair of socks from Pennys. 😂 (Purchased in 2016. 😂)

This time I didn’t buy anything in Pennys. Last time in 2019 I bought a knapsack, and I use it as a gym shoes bag even now (2022).

7. Butler’s

Reference

Butler’s is an Irish chocolate brand. When being the exchange student, I often saw many Japanese exchange students buying chocolate souvenirs there.

Me?

I didn’t buy any, of course.

This is because it was boring and too ordinary to choose chocolate as souvenirs, particularly from some brands, famous ones. I feel like giving local chocolate that we can get in supermarkets as the flavours are extraordinary. (I personally don’t choose anything ordinary for gifts because I want to see how the receivers react. 😂 Of course sometimes it’s ordinary. 😂) If you want to give basic souvenirs, Butler’s could be an option.

★Summary

From my point of view, Irish souvenirs are just for my self-satisfaction. However, hopefully this list could be some reference for those who want to travel to Irealnd. Perhaps my perspective is strange because I used to live there.

My personal strong recommendations are all of them except for number five and seven. If you are fond of something local or something that is probably not in normal souvenirs shops, get those products and/or go to Pennys!

Ah, I’m so glad to have bought Irish tea, and I’m so looking forward to enjoying a boring winter in Estonia with hBarry’s tea! 😂

Aitäh! 🙂

Use Public Transport in Ireland to Save Money

ZooksLeave a comment

Tere!

Here is a summary of public transport in Ireland. Besides the transporate I am going to mention here, there is a coach called Bus Eireann or long-distance trains in Ireland. However, the transport that I am going to mention here are only those I used in real life or I considered using, which are mainly transports in Dublin.

Table of Contents

     1. Dublin Leap card
     2. Apps you can use in Dublin
          a. Dublin bus app
          b. Journey Plan app
     3. Public transport in Dublin
          a. How to take a Dublin bus
          b. How to take Luas
          c. How to take DART
     4. Taxis
          a. Bolt
          b. FREE NOW
     5. GoCar
     ★Summary

1. Dublin Leap card

If you seem to use public transport in Dublin , you should probably count how many times you may use public transport, and how much you may need to pay during your stay in Dublin, beforehand.

Leap cards are used by the locals, and it’s available among the travellers too.

When I travelled to Dublin in 2019, I was visiting places where an Irish movie “Sing Street” was shot, and I had some other visits, so I bought a Leap card valid for 72 hours. It cost 16 EUR.

Reference

This time on the trip to Ireland in JUne, 2022, I bought a 24-hour Leap for 8 EUR. Only I bought, who knew that the frequency of using public transport is high enough. My boyfriend didn’t buy a Leap card.

2. App you can use in Dublin

When you move around by using public transport in Dublin, the following apps may be useful.

a. Dublin bus app

The UI is antique, and it looks the same as in 2016, and yet it does still work.

Reference

However, you shouldn’t trust any timetables basically. It’s always delayed. (Or maybe I should say it doesn’t follow the timetables. It looks like no one cares about the time as the Dublin buses’s speed is too fast.)

On the other hand, it’s still useful when the Journey Plan app below doesn’t suggest any good routes, or when you look for bus numbers.

b. Journey Plan app

The Journey Plan app is more recent. The UI is up-to-date, and yet the suggestion isn’t that good. However, basically it’s an OK level, so not problematic.

Reference

If you are a bit worried, compare the suggestions from the app and from Google maps.

3.Public transport in Dublin

Since Dublin’s public transport has some characteristics, I summarise in this section.

a. How to take a Dublin bus

On a Dublin bus, they accept only Leap or cash. If you don’t know this, you may need to use a five-euro note or even more than that for one drive.

This is because they don’t give changes.

If you want to take a Dublin bus, you need to show that you want to get on when the bus is approaching you. Otherwise they don’t stop in front of you. Also if there is no one to take on, the Dublin buses just keep going without stopping. (Plus the speed is very fast. 😂)

When riding on the Dublin bus, and tell the driver where you want to go, they tell you how much it costs. It cost 2.60 EUR from Dublin airport to the city centre of Dublin (as of June in 2022).

Reference

My boyfriend, who doesn’t like buses, doesn’t use buses even in Tallinn. Besides, since it was a different country, he had no idea how to get on the Dublin bus. (Of course.) Plus, since I brought a bunch of coins, I paid for him, and he got on the Dublin bus by using my Leap. Therefore, everything went smoothly.

Since buses require passengers a faster speed than any other public transport, it might be profound for beginners. However, since you can calculate fares in advance, if the environment is well enough, you can prepare cash, particularly coins. (I did before going to Ireland as an exchange student. Thanks to it, everything went smoothly.)

On the Dublin bus, you need to get on from the front door, and get off from the back door. Don’t mix this.

b. How to take Luas

Luas means “fast” in Irish. However the real speed is as “fast” as bicycles. 😂 It’s basically a tram, and yet it’s easy to take one.

There is a Leap card-reading machine at Luas stops, so Leap card holders just need to read the Leap cards there. If it makes a sound, it’s OK.

Reference

Given that you need to buy a ticket, you can buy one at a Luas stop. You can pay by card, so no cash is needed.

You can get on and off at any door.

In Dublin, you should buy a Luas ticket. It’s really random to get inspected. Unless you have any tickets, you will be kicked out from Luas. (I’m not sure if they really charge fines. This point is the same as Tallinn.)

c. How to take DART

DART is a Dublin train. You can use it when you go to Dún Laoghaire. Aviva Stadium’s nearest stop/station was DART. Given that you travel around only in the centre of Dublin, you may not need to use it.

Reference

With a Leap card, you can get on DART easily too.

Since my boyfriend didn’t need to go anywhere by DART, I don’t know how to buy tickets at a DART station…

By the way, some Dublin buses have USB charging ports, and yet DART doesn’t have any. (At that time, my phone charge was very low, and I wished there had been.)

4. Taxis

We used taxis in Dublin too. I usually don’t use taxis wherever I am. However, we had no choice but to use a taxi at some point in Dublin.

a. Bolt

Bolt is from Estonia, and yet we could use it in Ireland too. Therefore I didn’t need to download any other taxi app additionally ,which was a good point. (Eventually I did though.)

Reference

In Estonia, when taking Bolt, the fare is shown in the app, and when getting off, the price never goes high or lower than that. If it shows 5 EUR, the final price is 5 UER.

However, in Ireland, even if you used Bolt, they used a metre system, so the app showed the price range.

In fact, when we used the Bolt taxi, it was more expensive than the shown price range.

Because of that, I thought “I probably won’t want to use Bolt again even if I need to use a taxi again.”

b. FREE NOW

FREE NOW seems to be used in other countries including Ireland. However, it’s not available in Estonia, so even though you can download the app, you can’t use it in Estonia.

Reference

FREE NOW was like Bolt Ireland, and it showed the price range. FREE NOW’s price range was more trustable. I eventually paid the cost between the actual price range.

Therefore, from my experience, if you want to use a taxi in Ireland, perhaps FREE NOW is better than Bolt.

By the way, when I lived in Dublin in 2015 and 2016, Uber was the only option. Has Uber gone anymore? Anyways, in the first place, I deleted the Uber app from my phone… (a long time ago.)

5. GoCar

GoCar is an Irish car sharing service. There are different cars. Although it’s not that common in general in Ireland, AT is available there too.

Reference

Due to this fact, we planned to use GoCar to travel to Ireland, and yet I found that the driver’s verification might take 48 hours one week before the trip. Because of my occupation, Compliance verifies sometimes manually, so if there are lots of registrations, it would take a longer time than it’s written there, I thought. Therefore, I immediately shared that information with my boyfriend, but

he registered on the first day in Ireland…

I thought:







You didn’t check my message properly.


😂

Of course it took more than 48 hours to get verified.

(I thought like that because I was able to guess thanks to my occupation. However, from a pure customer’s perspective, taking more than 48 hours may be unexpectable. In the web page, they mention “We try to verify within 48 hours”. My friend A’s husband also said “They verify within 48 hours”, so they cannot guess. Of course people tend to take it as written because in any page it was written “it may take more than 48 hours”.)

Eventually the car rental was cheaper, and the trip style was that we decided where to go right before going, and this is why the car rental cost more cheaply. If you have a determined destination, and the route is determined too, then car sharing may be cheaper in my opinion.

★Summary

When going to Irelna, I wanted to take aDublin bus at least once, so I was happy to take one. As for Luas, it is easy for travellers, but boring for Dublin bus fans. 😂 This is just because the Dublin buses have two floors! (In the Continent, long buses are more common, but the two-floor buses are more fun to ride, and I think it needs less space.)

I would encourage you to try Dublin buses!

Aitäh! 🙂

Dublin Airport in 2022

ZooksLeave a comment

Tere!

In summer 2022 when my boyfriend and I were travelling, it was post COVID, and since the number of travellers increased (or got back to normal?), every airport in Europe was crazily crowded. (Tallinn airport wasn’t an exception, but it seemed to be better than Dublin airport or Manchester airport according to news.) Therefore I decided to write a post about how Dublin airport actually was.

Table of Contents

      1. Dublin airport at the end of June 2022
      2. From Dublin city centre to Dublin airport
      3. Ryanair’s visa check
      4. Security check at Dublin airport
      5. Security check isn’t the only one you would queue in Dublin airport
      ★Summary

1. Dublin airport at the end of June 2022

First of all, June is generally a vacation season in Europe. In Japan it’s the rainy season, so there may not be many tourists, but in Europe many people take longer vacation days from their annual leave between May and August to travel.

Ireland is one of the European countries where many people go, and of course people mainly go to Dublin, therefore Dublin airport gets very busy and crowded too. For this reason, the airport is more congested than any other season in general.

However, it was a post-COVID time.

According to my Dublin friend F, people forgot the rules for the cabin baggage, and some of them have actually brought big whole bottles of shampoo. Because of such passengers, it seemed to take time for security checks. But this is merely one of the assumptive reasons, and yet mine is:

People were not able to travel owing to COVID, as per which the security checkers were laid off, but then now it’s post COVID, and they need more employees at security checks.

I don’t think airlines and airports increase the number of flights all at once, so I believe we cannot say it is because of the increase of the flight numbers.

In our case, perhaps because our flight was in the morning, the situation was much better than I was worried. However, I thought if it had been a flight in the afternoon, the situation might have been chaotic.

2. From Dublin city centre to Dublin airport

Our plane was planned to depart at 9.30 in the morning Usually, personally I go to the airport 2 hours before the departure, and yet I received an email from Ryanair that the passengers should be at the airport 2.5 hours, and 3.5 hours before the departure if the passengers have check in luggages.

I talked about this to my Japanese friend A’s husband in Dublin, he said he would have been at the airport at 6 am, i.e. 3.5 hours beforehand.

I wondered, and decided to be there at around 6.30 am.

From the accommodation in Dublin to Dublin airport I personally wanted to take the Dublin bus, but we decided to take a taxi the previous night. (I didn’t think about anything, but my boyfriend thought the taxi fee would be cheaper in the morning than when we saw.)

Then, when I was about to call a taxi, he asked me the price, I said “It says maximum 27 EUR.” and he said “Let’s take a bus…”

Man, it’s too late. 😂

If I had known the situation in the airport, I might have been able to change the plan, but the situation was unknown until we arrived there. Since I need to get a visa check at Ryanair and it’s too late to depart by taking a bus, I called a taxi.

As for the taxi, there will be a different article.

It took approximately 10 to 15 minutes by taxi from the centre to Dublin airport.

3. Ryanair’s visa check

When going back from Ireland to Estonia, of course I needed a visa check.

At Ryanair’s check in counter in Dublin airport, there was only one counter for the visa check. Another five or six counters were used for those who have check-in luggages. Even at past 6.30 am, the queue was already organised, and therefore the visa check-in counter was also used for check-in luggages. However, it was meant to be for a visa check, the Ryanair staff let me though prioritised.

Probably because this time we went to the check in counter together, the Ryanair staff gave me two boarding passes.









He looked a bit happy.

I’m happy too.

By the way, the paper that I printed out just in case was not necessary at all as they don’t give us a stamp anymore. There is no point in bringing the printed stuff.

4. Security check at Dublin airport

We were waiting for the security check for quite a while but less than one hour. It took more time than Tallinn airport, and yet we didn’t need to worry about our flight.

However, it took around one hour in total for the visa check and security check eventually.

5. Security check isn’t the only one you would queue in Dublin airport

At Dublin airport, the security check is not the only one you may queue for.

On arriving at Dublin airport, the airport staff asked us if we came for the departure, and then guided us to the specific lane. (The route to the checkin counter was the same as before though. It was a bit irritating that we had to be guided.)

In addition to this, cafes in Dublin airport also had long queues.

I craved coffee, and I was hungry, so I decided to buy something at a cafe near our flight’s gate. On Ryanair’s flight, you can get a cup of coffee (and maybe other non-alcoholic drinks) for 3 EUR, so the price was almost the same. It depends on you whether you buy at the airport or Ryanair’s plane.

★Summary

Eventually, when we arrived at the flight gate, we had enough time so we have no idea how crowded afterwards at the security check in Dublin airport it was. Maybe there was a longer queue. It could happen at that time. Therefore our decision to go to Dublin airport earlier was right.

We arrived in Tallinn at 3.30 pm, and we both were exhausted.

Before the trip, I had seen a post on Facebook thatTallinn airport was crazily crowded, but in real life it was not like that actually. However, I thought we should perhaps be more careful in other cities (especially popular cities in summer).

Being at the airport earlier is better than having a too tight schedule or being late.

Aitäh! 🙂

Restraurants and Cafes in Ireland (Version 2022)

ZooksLeave a comment

Tere!

Even when you have been on a diet, on a trip you want to eat something you want to try, don’t you. Of course we were not able to afford eating at restaurants and cafes for every meal, but still we enjoyed many restaurants and cafes in Ireland. In this article I include some restaurants where you can eat something Irish!

Table of Contents

     1. Dublin
          a. Boojum
          b. Wall & Keogh Superior Teas
          c. La Pausa Caffe
          d. Vice Coffee Inc
          e. White Rabbit
          f. Pho Kim
          g. Fibber Magees
     2. Galway
          a. Donnelly’s of Barna Restaurant & Bar
          b. Galway Cakery Café
     3. Mayo
          a. Maple Chinese Restaurant (Take away)
          b. Supermacs
     ★Summary

1. Dublin

First of all, let’s talk about Dublin! Dublin is a capital city in Ireland like Tallinn in Estonia, but Dublin is much more urban and you can have a lot of international cuisines.

When I travel from Estonia, I want to eat something not only local but also international which is scarcely available in Estonia and with better quality (because it is not tasty and/or it does not exist in Estonia)…

a. Boojum

Boojum is an Irish burrito chain restaurant. My first burrito in my life was Boojum in Dublin. I still don’t know what super authentic burrito is, and it seems real Mexican burrito seems to be different, but still I like Boojum’s burrito as it tastes good. In Estonia, it’s not easy to get a burrito. (The portion isn’t enough, or personally I’m not satisfied with the contents of a burrito in Estonia.)

We happened to find a Boojum restaurant in Smithfield where we were supposed to stay, so we went there. In Boojum, you can customise your burrito. However, it might be difficult if you don’t know how to do it. (My boyfriend seemed to be struggling a bit, and when I ordered a burrito at Boojum for the first time, I struggled too.) Since it is a chain restaurant, they handle orders really fast.

He had never eaten burrito before, and wanted to compare it with kebab. 😂

The result: kebab is better. 😂

I like both.

They also have a menu called burrito bowl, and yet be careful as the portion is bigger than burritos. (In Estonia the portion of a burrito bowl was better than a burrito at a Mexican restaurant…)

b. Wall & Keogh Superior Teas

Wall & Keogh Superior Teas is a cafe that we dropped by for breakfast when we headed west from Dublin.

They had light breakfast as well as sandwiches. The sandwiches were hot. The portion was big enough. It was tasty though.

They have teas and coffees but it seemed they didn’t have many kinds of juice. I don’t basically drink juice, but he drinks. It appeared to be only juice with some kinds of vitamins.

As for teas, they have both English and Irish breakfast teas! Of course I chose the Irish one. You don’t need to tell them to give you a jar (?) of milk as they for sure give you with tea. By the way, they serve you tea in a pot, so maybe you can ask for two cups to share? Although It is normal to get served in a pot even for one person in Ireland and Scotland…

c. La Pausa Caffe

La Pausa Caffe is also a cafe we used for breakfast.

I searched some cafes in advance, and on Tuesday morning in Dublin, we went to a nice-looking one (as he didn’t care, I chose there), it was full. The cafe seemed to be small and popular, so we took plan B.

But, it was full too?

What on earth are they doing on Tuesday morning?

I had only 2 plans for breakfast, so I was a bit disappointed, but I immediately searched again on site, and we went to La Pausa Caffe.

Four days in a row, we had Irish breakfast at B&Bs, and he liked it, so he was about to order one again there. However, eventually he chose sandwiches, saying

“I don’t think they have a home-made one.”

//www.instagram.com/embed.js

I understand that feeling. When it comes to something local, I want to eat the authentic one too.

By the way, later he asked my friend A’s husband and friend F if they have Irish breakfast every day. I felt like he had been asking Japanese people if we eat sushi every day, so I enjoyed that moment. (This is because he barely knew Ireland at that time.)

Unfortunately they have Irish breakfast only a few times a year.

I get it, we can’t eat that heavy stuff as a breakfast for 365 days. 😂

The breakfast at La Pausa Caffe was good, but since I have temporomandibular joint dysfunction, I had to close my mouth manually once. It happens regularly, so I know how to fix it and wasn’t surprised, but it bothered me, yes. My boyfriend was surprised. 😂

At La Pausa Caffe you can have bagels too. I chose a bagel. I didn’t have any energy to customise it, hence I selected simply the one with salmon, cream cheese and vegetables. When I came to Dublin in 2019, although it was a different place I had a bagel too.

This is because in Estonia bagels are not sold one by one, and it is not popular at all. LaterI found you can eat bagel sandwiches at a cafe called Ruby in Tallinn. However, I would say that is the only place you can get a bagel not in a dozen or anything. On the other hand Estonia’s neighbour – in Latvia bagels appear to be more frequently eaten. Perhaps due to such cultural differences (More Jewish are in Latvia), he had no idea what bagels were. That actually surprised me as Latvia is just over there for us.

The con in my opinion is that they served me a cup of coffee even before the meal. I wanted it after the meal. However, the overall was good.

d. Vice Coffee Inc

Vice Coffee Inc is a cafe where we met my friend F.

In 2016 when I lived in Dublin, I came here some times with my friends. Before going there, suddenly I asked my boyfriend “Do you know Irish coffee!?” and he was like what-the-heck-is-that.

For those who have no idea what Irish coffee is, it is

coffee with Irish whiskey.

It’s alcohol.

Therefore, at Vice Coffee Inc when we were about to order something, I asked him “Do you want to try Irish coffee?”, and he immediately said yes.

Irish coffee

I don’t know the price of Irish coffee at Vice Coffeeto Inc as it was on my friend F, but in general Irish coffee is often a bit less than twice as expensive as normal coffee.

Spiked hot chocolate

That day I tried an unfamiliar drink too: spiked hot chocolate. It’s not just hot chocolate but with Bailey’s (cream liquor)!

Both Irish coffee and spiked hot chocolate tasted good.

If you are not tolerant to strong alcohol or not a fan of coffee, the latter one might be better. Both are eventually alcohol though.

e. White Rabbit

A Korean restaurant that my friend F recommended to my boyfriend who wanted to eat something Korean is White Rabbit. It was also because White Rabbit is close to Vice Coffee Inc.

It was more like a canteen rather than a fancy restaurant, and it seemed partially the menu was a Japanese fusion.

We chose a bowl with sweet and spicy pork, vegetables, and egg, which were on rice. At White Rabbit you can choose a sauce, and we both chose gochujang.

We liked it!

It cost around 20 EUR for two.

f. Pho Kim

We went to Pho Kim with my friend A and her husband.

As per his request to have some Vietnamese cuisine, they selected a Vietnamese restaurant which was their favourite too. The only tasty Vietnamese restaurant that I know in Tallinn is Pho bar. I like pho, and Pho Bar’s pho is good, but they don’t have many varieties.

Since we had a late lunch, we ordered Vietnamese spring rolls and something like an omelette.

Summer rolls

We (friend A, her husband and I) thought it’s called spring rolls nevertheless it is deeply friend or raw, but technically speaking it’s officially called summer roll or Vietnamese spring roll. (This is said to be because the fried one is Chinese.)

In Germany where my boyfriend once lived they call it summer roll.

We found this fact because he said “Is this spring roll summer roll? In Germany they called it summer rolls.”

I personally want to go to Pho Kim again, and want to try other dishes. They have lots of menus, and the restaurant appeared to be run by a Vietnamese person.

g. Fibber Magees

The place we spent the last night on this trip was a bar called Fibber Magees. My friend told my boyfriend who loves metal, and since we promised to go for pints a the last night, we went there.

He ordered Guinness twice. He said he loved it.

I had long-hoped Swmithwick’s! It’s red ale. While travelling in west Ireland, I couldn’t buy it as one can… On the final night, I finally could enjoy it! I chose cider for the second pint, but I thought I should have chosen Smithwich’s again or Guinness.

Fibber Magees also had Asahi beer (Japanese beer)!!

If you love metal, you should probably try this bar.

2. Galway

In Galway we went to only two restaurant and cafe! Our accommodation served as breakfast, and I bought microwave meals for one of the two nights.

a. Donnelly’s of Barna Restaurant & Bar

Donnelly’s of Barna Restaurant & Bar is a gastro pub 2 minutes by car from our accommodation in Barna in Galway. (A gastro pub is like a restaurant and bar.)

Perhaps since Barna is a countryside town, there were lots of old people, but they were having fun.

Looking at the menu, we said

“This is expensive…”

However, I thought that in the first place the price range was normal for me, and wanted to pay for his meal as he drove a car a lot, so we stayed there.

I ordered fish and chips, and he ordered a burger with Irish beef. His burger was slightly more inexpensive. The price to dine out in Ireland was as expensive as to do in Sweden. (That is, it costs 1.5 times more expensive than Estonia.)

//www.instagram.com/embed.js

I like both fish and chips, but I’m not a fan of fish in fish and chips. I ordered it to enjoy malt vinegar. It’s very tasty to add malt vinegar on chips with salt.

In Estonia you can also get fish and chips, and bars have them as part of their menus, but they never have malt vinegar. That’s why I want to have it, and therefore I was satisfied.

b. Galway Cakery Café

Galway Cakery Café is a cafe when we were about to leave Moycullen.

I planned somewhere else, but since it seemed they offeufrred only takeaways, we went to Galway Cakery Café in the shopping centre.

At Galway Cakery Café we had an Italian menu. My boyfriend chose calzone, and I ordered panini with goat cheese and vegetables. It didn’t taste like goat cheese… It was good enough though.

In my case I had possibilities to choose cheese. The other option was perhaps feta cheese. (I don’t remember that much…)

3. Mayo

In Mayo we went to only two restaurant and cafe too. This is because on the first day we had sandwiches that the owner of the accommodation in Barna, Galway, for lunch, our B&B in Mayo served us breakfast, and we got food at a supermarket in Castlebar (Mayo’s county town) for one of the two evenings.

a. Maple Chinese Restaurant (Take away)

In Ballinrobe where we stayed in Mayo, there was nothing. We planned to get food at a supermarket, but the kitchen in our accommodation was not for guests, so we were not allowed to use it. In the dining room, there was no microwave either, so I chose Maple Chinese Restaurant where we still didn’t have to pay a lot.

I still don’t know why he selected Chinese, and he found one, but it offered only takeaway. Later we found another Chinese restaurant which was Maple Chinese Restaurant, and we went to the town of Ballinrobe.

However, they closed the restaurant, and they accepted only takeaway orders, so we eventually brought food to the accommodation.

They had lots of dishes though. He chose Chow Mein. I chose the one which I could select the main and the side for, hence I chose the stir fried beef and vegetables in a spicy way, and rice as a side dish. (Of course they offered chips as a side dish! It didn’t cost extra if the order was rice or chips, but it seemed to cost extra if you choose friend rice, etc.)

The price was the same as what he chose, but

“Yours looks tastier than mine…”

😂

The portion was quite big. I was satisfied with two thirds. He ate the rest. I’m glad he enjoyed it.

Personally it was okay, but since we didn’t have many options to get food itself, I don’t make any complaints. 😂

b. Supermacs

Supermacs is Irish McDonald’s. (Of course there are original McDonald’s in Ireland.) This is not in the west or County Mayo but on O’Connell street in Dublin, too.

I have known Supermacs since I lived in Dublin, but I’m not a huge fan of burgers or fast foods in the first place, so I had never been there, whilst my boyfriend loves burgers and sometimes goes to Estonian (or Blatic) McDonald’s – Hesburger. (However he’s not fat at all. How envious it is that he doesn’t have to care about it.) Therefore, as he had wanted to go to Supermac since I talked about Supermacs, we went to Supermacs in Castlebar for lunch.

Beides, he loves bacon. As I expected, he chose a burger with bacon. (Once he was told that the cholesterol level was high, and since then he less frequently had bacon.) I didn’t have anything specifically I wanted to try, so I ordered the cheese burger meal.

If it’s McDonald’s in Japan, we can choose vegetable-fruit mix juice, 100% fruit juice, coffee or tea, and yet in Supermacs they offer only sparkling soft drinks and water.

Me? I chose a bottle of water.

Although you may think “You should have chosen something else cos water costs nothing!”, I don’t like the afterwards of fullness in my stomach with fizzy drinks, so water was fine for me. (Plus, it was helpful for us to hydrate ourselves with that water. Everything was alright.)

The burgers were, even though he chose a big one, small unlike the images, so you don’t need to worry about the size and portions. Therefore, the cheese burger that looked normal size in the image was smaller than I thought so I wasn’t full at all.

In terms of chips, I do prefer McDonald’s. especially the saltiness. For some reason, Supermacs served a tiny bag of salt for chips separately. (They will give you even if you don’t ask.)

Overall I like McDonald’s better in my opinion.

★Summary

When I lived in my hometown, as a family trip, I went to Cairns in Australia and Guam in the US. Although we stayed in the hotels, we always had bread, cheese and fruits that we bought for breakfast beforehand at a local supermarket to enjoy local foods and get them like a local, instead of hotel meals, which was my mum’s idea. I was a teenager at that time, and I was interested in different cultures and felt different and special when it comes to non-Japanese foods which are different from Japanese products even though they were normal in local and normally available in local supermarkets. Therefore I liked this style of travelling.

Because of this, on this trip to Ireland, though I wondered if we would keep going to cafes and restaurants all the time or if we could get food in supermarkets as this was the first time to travel abroad with him, it was something middle of those styles, so I was comfortable. (I was like “Oh you are also okay with supermarkets’ ham and cheese only.”) Since I felt comfortable, I was rather glad that there was no impression that the “Random foods from a supermarket are fine” mentality was not frugal. (My main reason is surely financial. It’s too much in everything if I eat out every meal.)

Even on a trip with friends, the way of thinking about how to spend money is important, so it was good that ours are similar. I thought my solo trip was too frugal though.

In this article Included Irish foods and drinks, and yet those are just part of Irish culinary culture. There are more Irish dishes. Since I love Ireland too much, I want to cook Irish (or Guiness) stew or coddle now. 😂😂 It’s such a pity that I can’t get Irish sausages in Estonia though…

Aitäh! 🙂

Zooks Welcomes Herself Back to Dublin, Ireland!

ZooksLeave a comment

Tere!

After enjoying Galway and Mayo in Ireland, my boyfriend and I came back to Dublin. We randomly or accidentally set the date and time of the 27th of June, 2022 to return the rented car in Dublin, hence we had this kind of schedule, but honestly I agreed with him and actually wanted to stay in those counties more…

However, I was still personally satisfied in Dublin because I could see my friends as well as sightseeing. By the way, in addition, it seemed to be noisier in Dublin than before. In this article I summarised what we did in Dublin.

Table of Contents

     1. Harry Styles’s Love on Tour 2022 at Aviva Stadium
     2. If you drive a car in Dublin…
     3. Exhaustion and irritability
     4. Dunnes Store
     5. First-time meet up in six years
     6. Churches in Dublin
          a. St. George’s Church
          b. St. Michan’s Church
          c. Christ Church Cathedral
     7. Need to print out something?
     8. Hello again in a more proper way
     9. Metal bar in Dublin recommended by a local
     ★Summary

1. Harry Styles’s Love on Tour 2022 at Aviva Stadium

The original reason why I decided to go to Ireland was because of Harry Styles’s concert.

Further originally, Harry Styles’s concert that I was supposed to go to was planned to be held in 2020, and it was 2019 when I bought a ticket. It was planned in Oslo, Norway in May, 2020. However, owing to COVID, his tour in Europe had been postponed without any new dates determined, and eventually everything was cancelled. Instead, they expanded the tour itself, and made a new list of the tour dates.

Then I found one in Dublin.

“If I go to Harry’s concert, Dublin is the only option!” I thought. In addition, I wanted to go to Northern Ireland, and I invited my boyfriend as I thought it would be more fun if there was any travel companion. Since in Ireland the traffic side is opposite (to Estonia or the US), he wanted to try (to drive there) and agreed to my suggestion. (Of course, I told him “There will be a moment that we will need to do something separately as I will go to the concert” at that time!)

The concert was held on our first day on our trip in Ireland.

When I was an exchange student in Dublin, I went to lots of concerts and gigs in Dublin, and I have watched Gaelic sports live, so including that, I know Croke Park, 3 Arena, The Academy as well as The Olympia Theatre.

This time I went to Aviva Stadium. Aviva Stadium is located a bit far from the centre, and it’s not too simple to access there. Aviva Stadium is gigantic. As a Japanese person, I can tell you Aviva Stadium is as huge as Kyocera Dome.

Unlike Japanese artists’ concerts, non-Japanese artists’ concerts always have opening acts, so if you are not interested in them, (and if you have a selected seat not General Admission) then you can go there later, which shouldn’t be a problem. (The merchandising might be sold out though.)

Until the time I should be at Aviva Stadium, I spent time with my boyfriend, and eventually I didn’t stay at the concert til the end. We were going to sleep at my Japanese friend who I met in Dublin in 2016 (called friend A)’s place, and I felt bad, leaving him alone in an unfamiliar city, so I left Aviva Stadium earlier, but I perfectly enjoyed Harry’s music even at the DART (train) station while waiting for it.

By the way, as for the transport to and from Aviva Stadium, I used Luas (tram) and DART (train). I knew how often I would need to use transport in Dublin before hand, I bought a 24-hour Leap (8 EUR) at Dublin airport beforehand.

While it seems Aviva Stadium is one of the top 10 sightseeing places in Dublin, personally I wouldn’t go there unless there is a concert again. If interested, then maybe you should go there.

2. If you drive a car in Dublin…

On the trip to Ireland in June 2022, we used a car as a main transport, and yet since the flights were to and from Dublin, the beginning and the ending of the trip was in Dublin.

Therefore, the origin of the main trip was Dublin. Dublin is a capital city in Ireland, and though it is not as congested as London, it’s still crowded enough and noisy, and there are lots of cars and buses. Bedies, there is Luas the Dublin tram which is an unfamiliar transport for the Japanese when it comes to driving.

Furthermore, there are a number of traffic lights, and for drivers for sure it’s time-taking.

What is worse, if you encounter drivers who don’t really follow the traffic rules or who are not really good at driving, it’s irritating.

In Dublin the driving progress wasn’t smooth so my boyfriend seemed to have a tendency to get stressed out.

3. Exhaustion and irritability

When we went to Galway from Dublin, the final destination was Barna which was located beside the country roads along the sea, so there was not so much traffic, and it was comfortable, and even if we got tired, we still had some more mental capacity.

However, when we went back to Dublin from Mayo, the situation was the opposite. It takes around three hours on one way both between Dublin – Galway and Mayo – Dublin.

We left our accommodation in Mayo in the morning, heading to Dublin, and we were all good until we entered County Dublin. After driving for a couple of hours, my boyfriend exploded.

What was worse, we wanted to change the route in Waze, but since he was driving, his Waze accepted only voice. However since my English isn’t American English, Waze didn’t recognise my English. Then I was guiding him based on Google maps on my phone, but perhaps because he was not able to check the map with his eyes, he got much more stressed out.

When arriving in Dublin, we still had some more time to check in the accommodation, so we returned the car, and I took him to a cafe, and I told him:

Can you please stop using swear words to me. I don’t care when you use to others, but not to me.

😅

After this, we checked in the accommodation, and I had him take a nap. I knew if he took a nap, he was able to recharge himself physically so he gets better mentally.

However, in general, you should be careful with going to Dublin from somewhere in Ireland. It was daytime during a weekday, and yet there was a lot of traffic, and I repeatedly wished I had been able to take a turn with him if I had been able to drive…

4. Dunnes Store

Dunes Store is a retail chain in Ireland, and you can buy fashion goods, groceries, houseware, and so on. I bought a green turtle neck sweater in 2016 when I lived in Dublin, and it lasted for 4 or 5 years. If it’s a capital town in a county even like Castlebar in Mayo, there appeared to be Dunnes Store even in the countryside. (Not very sure, but there was, in Castlebar.)

I knew there was Tesco (British supermarket chain) in Jervis shopping centre in Dublin, but it was a bit far for us at that time to walk there, so we grabbed something to eat in Dunnes Store. So the purpose of the use of Dunnes Store for us was just to get food. 😂

On the contrary, I personally think Dunnes Store isn’t satisfactory as a supermarket.

If I needed to use a supermarket in Dublin, I would go to Tesco, Lidl, or Aldi. (And when I lived in Dublin, I literally always went to those supermarkets.)

5. First-time meet up in six years

In Dublin, I met my Dublin friend for the first time in six years. I pinged him before travelling but there was no reply, and no answer when I called him on the first day. It seemed he was sick, and after his recovery, he met us.

We talked a lot. In Europe, even if you don’t really have degrees, you can still get some proper jobs, but Ireland seems quite similar to the UK, so he said it was difficult to get a job in a company if a person does not graduate from a university. Also in his case, there was a company which responded to him after he had been waiting for six months. Overall even for the Irish, it’s very difficult to get a job in Ireland (or maybe in Dublin).

In my personal experience, I have had a first interview with a HR person from a company in Manchester, and she indeed asked me what I had done and what I learnt in the university. This is real.

Besides, Ireland is getting more and more expensive. Of course the rent has been increased, and if you live in a shared flat near the centre of Dublin, around 1000 EUR would be gone every month. (I searched.) In addition there are utilities. Even if the salary looks good, depending on an occupation and a company, the whole salary can be gone for only the cost of living.

Since salaries in general don’t give us an opportunity to save money, I thought Dublin might no longer be a place to live in my life. (But maybe it’s okay to live in the suburbs. As repeatedly said, if I have a car.)

It was great to see my friend again. We also asked him one question as my boyfriend was spoken to by homeless people who thought he was Irish multiple times while he was wandering around Dublin on his own. Though I didn’t agree, my friend said

“You don’t look from Dublin but Galway.”

😂

He appeared to be Galwayan.

😂

We were talking in one cafe in Dublin, and yet as for the cafe, there will be a separate article.

6. Churches in Dublin

I’m more like a castle lover than churches whilst there are multiple churches in Dublin. (Based on my bias, Irish castles seem to be located in the middle or the west in Ireland like Glaweay.) We visited three churches, so here is a list of those churches that we attempted to visit.

a. St. George’s Church

St. George’s Church is a church that we coincidentally found while we were looking for a cafe for breakfast in Dublin. My boyfriend constantly said “This is not a church”, and indeed it didn’t look like a church. However, when we looked at the map, it was marked as a “church”, and he said “This is pagan. (Because there are something like Greek letters) this is not Catholic.”

As I googled, St. George’s Church appeared to be a hybrid of Gothic and Greek Revive.

His mum is Cathoilc, but he himself doesn’t like Catholicism as it’s mentally not good (according to him). Also he has rich knowledge about religions. That’s why he was commenting like that.

You can visit St. George’s Church by walking if you stay in the centre of Dublin as this church is located in the Northern part of the city centre.

b. St. Michan’s Church

St. Michan’s Church was a church that I wanted to go to if we had time. There are mummies, and I wanted to see them.

However, when we visited St. Michan’s Church, it was too late to see mummies. We were 30 minutes late. So given that you wish to see mummies at St. Michan’s Church, you should go there earlier maybe.

You can go there by walk in Abbey street to Smithfield (to the west side of Dublin).

c. Christ Church Cathedral

Friend F recommended us to go to Christ Church Cathedral. I’m not sure if I’m just not interested in remembering names or not good at remembering names, but I was like “where the heck is that”, and yet when we arrived at Christ Church Cathedral, I thought

I have come here before.

😂

However, we couldn’t enter again and only the choir members were allowed.

Christ Church Cathedral is located in the south of the city centre of Dublin after crossing the River Liffey, and just beside the main road.

7. Need to print out something?

I wondered if I needed a printed visa check paper for Ryanair’s visa check, so we went to a stationery shop (Kings Stationery) just in case. This shop is also located in the city centre. You can walk there.

However, in order to print a stuff out, I needed to use an incredibly super old computer (with Windows 7) in the shop, and it cost 1 EUR for 10 minutes. We both didn’t have a 1 EUR coin, and the machine didn’t accept smaller coins, so my boyfriend asked the shop owner to exchange, and she did. (We exchange a 2 EUR coin or two 0.50 EUR coins, but if you have only 5 EUR note, then it might be difficult.)

In addition to the old computer, the mouse didn’t work properly either. (It froze frequently.)

Since there was a 10 minute time limit, I rushed myself, and mistakenly printed out an unnecessary part too. However, it cost only 0.10 EUR for two one-side papers in black and white. 😂

I tend to get stressed out when a machine is super slow, so I peson;ally don’t recommend this shop. (Besides, you probably don’t need to have paper stuff for Ryanair’s visa check.)

In this shop, they accepted a card payment only when the total sum is over 5 EUR. This is a different point than Estonia. In Estonia, even if you print something out in a small stationery shop, and the payment is only 0.10 EUR, you can use a card. I was lucky that I had coins (as I knew I would need for Dublin buses).

I googled several places in Dublin, where I might have been able to print out beforehand, and coincidentally King Stationery was located in a walkable distance, so I chose there, but there are more options if you need to print out.

However, there are still lots of machines that accept only coins, hence I would recommend bringing coins anyway.

8. Hello again in a more proper way

We also met friend A and her husband who helped us on the first day again.

My boyfriend said he wanted to have Korean or Vietnamese cuisine, so we went to a Korean restaurant for lunch, and a Vietnamese restaurant when we met them again. (There’ll be a different article about this too.)

Friend A is around five years older than me, and my boyfriend asked me “Isn’t she your ‘Senpai’?”

“Senpai” means students or colleagues usually who are older than you. Sometimes they can be “senpai” even if they are younger than you but if they join your company or enrol in a university earlier, or if you failed yearly admission exams, decided to study more for your ideal school and enrol in in one year or more. Or if you study further like for a master’s degree, and then join a company.

Friend A is none of them, so she’s not “senpai”.

When I was an exchange student in Ireland in 2016, I joined an independent film shooting team as a crew, and we met there. When I visited Dublin in 2019, we went to a cafe with another post crew who is friend K and lives in Dublin now with her husband and son. However, she got COVID after her business trip, so we couldn’t meet. She’s as old as friend A. Since they are not my “senpai” in a company or school, I use the word “friend”. (And I don’t think it’s wrong.)

My boyfriend was always withdrawn in Tallinn, but perhaps because it was a different place, he met my friends without any disgust. (I often want to meet people who I hung out with a lot in the past when I travel to a place where they live now.) I’ve never been a person who wants to meet new people a lot, and yet I rather want to avoid such occasions, so I understood him, but I’m a person who wants to meet old friends a lot.)

9. Metal bar in Dublin recommended by a local

I was wondering if I should have written about this place in an article where I talked about restaurants and cafes in Ireland, but since this place was the only place for both of us just to have pints, I decided to list it here. I included this place in the other article.

As we met my Irish friend F, due to the fact that my boyfriend likes metal, he was asking the demand of metal in Ireland to friend F. Then friend F recommended us Fibber Magees. It was located just across the Vietnamese restaurant that we and friend A and her husband went to.

The prices of alcohol were normal I guess. They had Asahi beer (Japanese beer). We had Guinness, Asashi, Smithwick’s and Bulmer’s (Irish apple cider).

I asked my boyfriend if he liked Fibber Magees, and he said “Normal”, but his face looked happy. 😂

It seems they had many songs that he knew too. (I don’t really know metal. If we talk about music genres, then I prefer (Japanese) rock.) Therefore, if you are a metal fan, maybe you should go there.

★Summary

In this article at some points the stories weren’t really about sightseeing, but I included them as this article’s topic was most suitable for those stories.

Maybe because I lived in Dublin before, I feel Dublin is no longer a bucket list country to travel to, and on the other hand, I still want to visit Dublin because I want to see my friends. I thought maybe it’s a good idea to go to Ireland for a year when I don’t go to Japan (as both countries are pricey).

Although the duration of staying in Estonia is much longer than in Ireland, Irealnd is still my second hometown. Estonia can never be.

😂

Aitäh! 🙂