Brandon O'Brien

Thursday, February 14, 2013 @ 10:28 PM in 2013 Europe

Well, no turning back now. I just purchased my one-way ticket to Dublin to depart the US on June 26, 2013. I'll be arriving in Dublin around 9:30 am local time which is great. One thing I learned from the trip to London a few years ago is by taking an overnight flight and arriving in Europe in the morning/afternoon you can basically pretend it's a normal day and trick your body out of jet lag. The hard part is trying to sleep on a plane filled with a cacophony of babies crying, people coughing, conversations, flight attendants and bathroom doors slamming.

Flight Details:
Flight: Aer Lingus 124
Depart: ORD @ 8:00 pm on June 26
Arrive: DUB @ 9:25 am on June 27

Next up I need to figure out where I'm going to stay once I get to Dublin. It looks like there's a €6 bus from the Dublin airport to pretty much anywhere in the city.

Posted from: United States

Thursday, February 14, 2013 @ 10:31 AM in 2013 Europe

Well, this is something I've wanted to do for a long time now and I'm finally making the decision that it's going to happen. Starting on June 26th I'll be heading to Dublin, Ireland where I'll start my journey of exploring the world. I'm not going to restrict myself by setting a return date either. I'm going to simply travel around until I feel like coming back home.

The plan is to get to Dublin and to spend a few days there exploring the city. After that, I'm not going to have a real itinerary but simply go where things take me. I'll be staying at hostels and talking to fellow travelers to get insight and ideas on where to go next.

I feel like my adventures from the last couple of years have helped me get ready for this endeavor. A 2 week European vacation through Switzerland, France, Germany and Italy was my first time overseas. After that, a friend Eric and I spent a week in London and the surrounding area. It was nice to spend a lot of time in one place and really get to see and explore the city. The last major trip I did was with my buddy Ryan which was a 17 day, 5,700+ mile motorcycle tour through the western US and Canada in July 2012. We only spent 2 nights in hotels while the rest of the nights were spent camping.

I've built this site in an effort to keep a journal of all my travels while on this trip. I'll be keeping it updated with all the countries I visit as well as links to photo galleries from all the cool places I'll see. You can check out my Preparation page to see a list of what all I'm planning on bringing. The Map page will also be updated whenever I visit a new country.

What's making this trip possible? Well, I'm fortunate enough to be able to work anywhere there's an internet connection. As long as I have a wifi signal every couple of days I'll be fine. Also, thanks to my parents for watching my dog, Canyon, while I'm gone!

What's my next step? Booking the actual ticket to Dublin is next. I'll be doing that over the next couple of days. I also need to buy a new backpack and a few other new items for the trip.

Stay tuned!

Teaser photos:

Tower Bridge, London (2011)

Dover, England (2011)

Road side re-fueling (2012)

Redwoods National Forest (2012)

Posted from: United States