When it comes to travel, I’ve filled passport pages across six continents. But the moments that stick with me? They’re not the ones spent dashing from photo op to photo op or racking up miles on a bus with a sunrise wake-up call and a 10-minute stop at a medieval ruin.
They’re the ones where I lingered. Where I sat with a pint in a pub, talking with locals about folklore and family. The ones where I had the freedom to skip a scheduled site because the fog rolling over the Irish hills told a better story than anything in a guidebook.
That’s the essence of slow travel, and it’s at the heart of IrelandUnseen.com, happening May 2026.
Slow travel is about choosing depth over speed — quality over quantity. It means multi-night stays in authentic towns instead of hotel hopping across the country. It means traveling in small groups that allow for spontaneous adventures (like a pop-up trad session with a fiddler in a stone-walled pub), and having Irish guides who bring their homeland to life in ways Google never could.
And there’s science to back this up: A study from NYU found that quality experiences — not the number of activities — are what create lasting, emotionally rich memories source. Slow travel fosters meaningful engagement with local communities, encourages personal reflection, and creates space to absorb the culture rather than just consume it.
That’s why Ireland Unseen isn’t just about what you see — it's about what you feel. Sure, there’s time for epic photos. But there’s also time to be a little creeped out by ghost stories, to laugh with a local storyteller, to wander a fairy path, or just sit still with your own thoughts.
Because the best travel stories aren’t just told. They’re lived.
Join me May 2026. Limited to 20 adventurers.