Jaspers Abroad

Madrid Part IV: Flying Budget Airlines, Hostels, & Dublin

An exciting part of studying abroad in Europe for Americans is taking trips to other cities! Sites like skyscanner and easyjet allow you to search for super cheap flights all over the continent. Just be careful to pack light and, if possible, print out your boarding pass at home, budget airlines make money off of charging baggage fees if your carry on is too large or too heavy, and some will charge to print your pass. My cousin had to pay 5e to print her pass for a Ryanair flight and almost missed another flight with easyjet because, although she had her boarding pass, she hadn't gotten it stamped at the easyjet desk before going to her gate!

I stayed in Backpacker's Citi Hostel with my cousin and her friend during my weekend trip to Dublin. It has mixed reviews, but I had a really positive experience! My cousin and I had booked separately, and when I first got to the hostel they couldn't find my information in the book! I was worried for a while, but they honored my reservation and put me in a single sex dorm, which I think is actually more expensive, for the same price that my cousin and her friend paid for the mixed dorm. If you are a girl traveling alone or with other girls, I highly recommend staying in an all girls room! The room was right behind the reception desk, so it was really safe! All the girls, one from Croatia, one from Italy, and five others from South America, were super sweet! They were all staying there for weeks or months at a time and were all very trustworthy, I left my clothing and souvenirs that I bought in the room without any problem, but I did leave my nicer camera at the front desk when I didn't want to carry it. All in all, staying in the hostel was a really great experience, I was able to talk to a lot of European and South American people, Germans, French, Croatians, etc, as well as getting to experience Ireland!

My weekend in Dublin, my first trip outside of Spain this semester, was incredible! It was a relief to be in an English speaking country for a few days and the Irish are kind of crazy but unfailingly nice. Dublin is a pretty small city, but there are a lot of cool places to visit. We walked from our hostel on the North side of the big river that cuts Dublin in two to the Guinness store house and visited a few tourist attraction on the way! We started at Trinity College, a very old school that boasts many important alumni that houses the Book of Kells, an Illuminated Manuscript (book of Catholic scriptures that is more a piece of art than a bible painted by monks in the medieval period). Trinity is very pretty and worth a stroll around!

Our next stop was St. Patrick's Cathedral Cathedral. This church is spectacular, you should definitely visit, even if you're only spending a day in Dublin!

Crest on the gate leading into the church

Our next stop is, according to google, the number 1 attraction in Dublin! It was only about 16e online as a student to buy a ticket ahead of time, which I highly recommend to avoid the huge line that forms! If you only do one thing in Dublin this should be it, even if you don't like to drink or don't like beer (I'm not a huge fan), it was absolutely amazing!

You go on a self guided tour through the process of making guinness, with pictures, videos, and displays of grain and plants that they use! This is the coolest museum you'll ever walk through!

You are given a few samples as you pass through, and towards the end you get a free pint, which you can choose to pour yourself after a bar tender shows you how to pour the perfect pint. You even get a certificate at the end, haha! You can then go to their skylounge to drink your pint, which is why this is great even if you don't drink, since you get a panoramic view of Dublin!