A Traveler's Guide to Christmas Shopping in Dublin

It's really hard to get in the mood for Christmas when you live in Florida. A transplanted Yankee, I grew up hiking through the snowy woods with my dad and brother to cut down our tree and mistletoe. Christmas meant a crackling fire, and the intermingled scent of pine boughs and sugar cookies. In Florida, Christmas is 75 degrees and sunny, with the intermingled scents of saltwater and suntan oil. It just doesn't work for me.

Likewise, Christmas shopping has become a mind-numbing chore of visiting mall after mall searching for special and unique gifts for friends and family, only to end up with sore feet and sensory overload .

So a few years ago, I started a new holiday tradition of my own. Taking advantage of off-peak season travel packages, I decided to do my holiday shopping in a different country every year, and give myself the gift of a wonderful vacation at the same time.

CHRISTMAS IN DUBLIN

The lighted garlands crisscrossing over the street swayed in the wintery breeze, while a group of young school boys dressed in Santa costumes sang "We Wish You a Merry Christmas". Throngs of shoppers jockeyed for position to look at holiday window displays and the wares of the many sidewalk vendors. Christmas season was definitely in full swing on Dublin's Grafton Street, a pedestrian-only shopping paradise.

Feeling a bit like the transplanted Dorothy (not in Kansas anymore), I had left the U.S. only hours before and landed in a bustling, holiday wonderland. After a quick shower and a full Irish breakfast at the hotel, my friend and I bundled up in coat, hat and gloves, and walked from the Hilton down a lovely street of Georgian town homes, past St. Stephens Green and the luxurious, festively decorated Shelbourne Hotel built in 1867. Cutting through the Green, we exited at the head of Grafton Street and dived into the shopping-bag laden crowd.