The architecture firm I work for has mandatory PTO for the week from Christmas to New Year’s, so we decided to take advantage and plan a cheap trip to Europe.

This was a great family experience because I got to meet up with my father, who lives in Europe, for his birthday over the holidays in Dublin. Then my family of 3 rented a car and drove out to the Southwest of Ireland, spending 5 nights and 6 days in the area.

Ireland in the winter is cold and rainy, but we knew that going into it so our spirits weren’t dampened. We slept in, did a lot of shopping in Killarney, and ate a lot of great food while waiting for the rains to clear, and took advantage of the few good weather days to explore the peninsula and grab some amazing shots.

It’s a beautiful country with a great mix of nature and farmland. Everywhere we went there were sheep, even in what felt like very remote or open areas. Because we were there in the off-season, we had a lot of sites and features completely to ourselves or with minimal other tourists.

Family Activites: A AirBnB in a refurbished bus, lots of ice cream, Blarney and Kilkenny Castles, A Dublin Walking Tour, a stop at an artist’s house, playing in the sand on the beach.