For a quick trip to Ireland, this ended up being a long post, so I’ve split it into two. This first post is more of a photo blog. The second is more about my thoughts on food, lodging, and other things you might want to know if you visit Galway.

As always, click or tap photos to enlarge them.

On Easter morning I found myself headed to the airport for a last-minute work trip to Galway, Ireland. Not only was this my first time in Ireland, but my first time experiencing solo international travel! Being Easter, my wife dropped me off at the airport early so she could celebrate with the rest of the family. On arriving, I discovered that my flight was delayed an hour and 30 minutes, turning my 2-hour layover in Boston into a 20-something minute layover. If you know anything about the Boston Logan International Airport, 20 minutes is the time it takes to briskly (very briskly) walk from terminal B to terminal C, add on the time to disembark the plan, and, yeah, there was no way I’m making that connection. At this point, I remembered the advice from my wife, who grew up traveling, that the gate agent is your friend. So, I very politely went to the gate agent who then directed me to the Customer Service desk, and explained my situation and ask if there was anything they could do to assist me in making my connection. To make a long story short, the quick answer was, “No,” but I was given an alternate plan if I missed the connection. But then, 30 minutes later, the gate agent called me back to the desk and she handed me a new boarding pass which put me in the 1st row behind First Class, aisle seat, a change that reduced my disembark time by at least 10 minutes, and that made all the difference in the world! After the afore mentioned very brisk walk, I made it to my gate, walked directly on the plane, and the door was shut behind me, before I found my seat. The trip may have started off a little rocky but it ended well.

I spent most of my time in the office working. It was a business trip after all, but I tried to get out and explore and photography as much as possible. As far as gear goes, I packed my Nikon D780 and two lenses, a 50mm f/1.8 D, and an 85mm f/1.8 D. They are relatively small and light lenses that don’t draw attention like a 24-70mm would. The downside to those two lenses is that they are not weather sealed, and since it rains a good deal in Ireland, the weather also limited my ability to photograph.

For the rest of this blog post, you’ll find the following photos:

Experiments with reflections, composition, and color at DFW airport (I had plenty of time to kill).
A couple photos from my taxi of the Irish countryside between Shannon and Galway.
Galway Street photography
Street performers
A few of the many murals in Galway
Photos along the coast

At DFW Airport

The early morning light produced great reflections! As noon approached, all reflections disappeared.

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The Countryside

After waiting for an hour for a pre-arranged driver to pick me up from the Shannon airport in Ireland, I gave up and calling a taxi to transport me to my hotel in Galway, about a 45 minute drive. Peter, my driver, was a very nice guy and full of information. The route to Galway was the only time I saw the Irish countryside, and even then, only in glimpses. It was hard to compose photos from the backseat of taxi while traveling at 120 kph, but I ended up with a couple I liked. When asked, Peter didn’t mind me taking his photo in the rearview mirror.

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Street Photography

These next two photos are some of my favorites from the whole trip. Artistically, they appeal to me in very different ways.

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For the first photo in the next series, I really loved the colors of this Asian restaurant, so I stopped to get a photo and was using the light pole to block out unwanted noise and to better frame the store front. I didn’t even notice the girl in the window. When I finished photographing and continued walking down the street, I looked back and there were two girls looking at me through the window and giggling. After getting home and seeing the photo on my computer, I can only imagine they thought I was hiding behind the pole to get their picture.

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These next two photos are of a street artist in Galway whose name is Patrick Roberts Loewen. In the first photo he is having an intense conversation with a young lady, about what, I had no idea. The artist is quite an interesting person and you can follow him on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/peoplelovesdiamond/.