My wife was travelling to Dublin for work, and since I have more paid holidays than she has, I decided to tag along. She gets to travel to cool places all the time so Dublin was nothing new to her, but for me it was my first visit to Ireland – or Éire, as it is called in Gaelic. 

When I think of Ireland, I associate it with good music, dark beer, beautiful red-haired women and tax-evading multinational companies. I quickly learned that it is so much more, like unpredictable rainy weather, countless hordes of sheep, an unintelligible English accent and breakfasts that give you a heart attack and colon cancer in one go. 

We had a full weekend of time to travel together, and after that I continued alone for four days. The island of Ireland is quite small, roughly the size of Western Finland, so I figured that I have more than plenty of time to see all the essentials and do some hiking. My wife usually does the thinking and plans our travels (and she's great at it; I'm just the pack mule and chauffeur), but this time I had to try and use my brains myself. It is not easy if you're not used to it. There was so much more to see, and the back country roads were slow to drive, so I had to compromise and I ended up missing for instance Connemara National Park completely. 

Perhaps I had set my expectations too low (by comparing Ireland to Western Finland), but I was very positively surprised and enjoyed the trip wholeheartedly! The local people were a major reason why I liked Ireland so much. The Irish colleagues I've had the pleasure to work with over the years have all been really great guys, but turns out that pretty much everyone on that island are welcoming, friendly and helpful. As a Finn, I was culture shocked by the talkativeness of the Irish so I avoided direct eye contact and pretended I was having hearing trouble.

Another positive surprise were the places where we stayed in. Both my wife and I prefer to travel in economy class, so we stayed at Bed & Breakfasts instead of hotels. All the homes we had chosen were clean and tidy, some even luxurious, and the inclusive full Irish breakfasts were so heavy that I ended up skipping lunches. There really is no point of staying in a hotel in Ireland, unless you actually care about your cholesterol levels.

The rolling green hills of Irish countryside are charming and the little farmhouses and villages are just lovely. I followed the Wild Atlantic Way wherever I could, and enjoyed the scenic views along the drive. There is something calming about just being close to the big sea. The only thing I missed from home was my beautiful, dearest car with its proper automatic transmission. And again, as a Finn, I would like to point out that Finland may not be the only European country with a little bit bland and potato heavy food culture.

Can I please please go again?