[Traveling with Kids] Ireland 2019 - Last Stop, Dublin

We've finally come to the end of our Ireland/England trip.  It was a fantastic trip, we got to do so many of the the things we love and words cannot express how amazing it was to have all 3 of our kids with us!  We ended our trip with one last stay in Dublin before returning home and it was so great to check off those final things.

The flight over from London we fairly uneventful, Séamus nursed and the kids played with the kindles and loved that Nanny and Papa were with us.  I will say that it was so different taking up more than one side of a plane and being outnumbered is "fun" 😜

We arrived at our hotel just off of Stephen's Green called Staunton's on the Green and it was by far the best hotel we've ever stayed at!  The location was perfection, the Georgian decor was 👌, and the location was the best of all. Just across the street from the entrance to Stephen's Green and a quick walk to Grafton Street and Temple Bar.  We got the family suite and while we don't normally get such a large room it added to our experience: 2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms, window overlooking the Green. Y'all this is where you want to stay when in Dublin.

After we checked in and got things settled we walked over to The VAT House for lunch and once again some of the best food! I got the Dublin Coddle (only available in Dublin), Thomas got a Beef & Guinness Casserole, and Ellie got a Seafood Chowder.  After we ate we made sure to get as many photo's of the kids in the pub as we could because this place is just so special to us.

We did some more walking around the city and stopped in at the Disney Store to pick up some international souvenirs for our Mickey Fans and then we ordered some pizza takeout, got some snacks at a corner store, and walked back to our hotel to relax and rest up for our flight home the next day.

The garden space at our hotel

In the morning we walked a few blocks to a breakfast place and got ourselves our very last Irish Breakfast complete with mushrooms and beans.  Ellie had a crepe and Finnley and Séamus ate nibbles of our food.

We stopped in at a bookstore where I got to see my favorite Irish Author on the bookshelves, the kids played in the children's section, stopped in at a Starbucks for a look around, and finally back through Stephen's Green before back to our hotel to checkout at get to the airport.

We had some very tire girls in the taxi.  Once we arrived at the Airport we walked into the biggest mess of a line to check in and for Deanna and Rob to check their bags.  Only 3 attendants for a 3 hour line, a huge line for standby for all the people who were going to miss their flights due to the line, after 90 minutes of waiting, Deanna went up to the manager with her concern and they pushed us to the front of the line.  We rushed through to get to customs....which was equally long of a line.  Once again Deanna worked her magic and we skipped a good hour of waiting.  It was hot, chaotic, and frustrating.  Finnley had a meltdown and I was rolling Stress Away on all of us like it was going out of style.  Eventually we made it through, only for our flight to be delayed for an hour at a gate that had no seating 😑.  I'll admit that it was one of the most frustrating airport experiences we have ever had and my irritation was coupled with the fact that I had a very narrow connecting flight to Salt Lake City once we arrived stateside 😳.  We finally got on the plane and the flight went well enough, the kids slept, we napped, watched movies, our flight attendant wasn't in the greatest of moods, and then we finally landed and got to get off.

We walked right out to the arrivals where we met up with Thomas's little brother.  I grabbed my prepacked bag for SLC, kissed all my favorites, and walked back into the airport to go through security again and get on another plane to SLC.  My flight was delayed for 90 minutes and then the rest was uneventful (except I drank too much water and didn't make it to the bathroom in time 🙈)

Previous Posts:
Ireland post ONE
Ireland post TWO
Ireland post THREE
England post ONE
England post TWO
England post THREE
England post FOUR

See other vacations here

♥ Ashley