Dublin City – Where Robbery Comes With a Friendly Smile

I got back from a week in Dublin (Ireland) last night, and I feel compelled to write a little about my experience of Dublin City.

First of all, I must stress that I had a great time, and also, the people are the friendliest people I have ever met. It didn’t surprise me that Dublin is regularly voted as officially the friendliest place in Europe.

However, and here is where things get messy… being friendly doesn’t make the daylight robbery any easier to swallow.

For anyone who hasn’t been to Dublin in the past few years, I will explain…

Dublin is bloody expensive!!!

I am not referring to the 5-star hotel I was in, you expect to pay over the odds for that, but it was the day-to-day stuff that really hits the pocket.

Taxis, and food and drink were the main offenders.

On one night out we couldnt’t find a beer for less than 5 euros ($8+) (4 pounds), and often I was paying over 6 euros per drink.

Food wasn’t much better, often I was paying over 30 euros per meal (over $50) and I am not referring to fancy restaurants, this was basic pub-food, the sort of food you can get for less than a quarter of the price in England.

I had been warned in advance of the crazy prices, and for the first few days I just took it as part of the package, but there is only so much daylight robbery you can take before your pride comes into play.

I was once on a plane with a very rich and successful business man, and he quizzed me on the cost of taxis in Madrid for at least 20 mins. He said something that i am going to echo…  “Spending money is not an issue, I just don’t like being purposely ripped-off”.

I know exactly how he feels.

I have never had an issue spending money, infact, you could say the opposite is true… but anyone with any self-pride is going to have major issues in Dublin.

So here is to Dublin, a great place, great Guiness, amazing people, but tough on the wallet, and an attack on any self-respecting person’s pride.

Dean