The Story Behind Doorway to Ireland
Welcome to the Doorway to Ireland! My name is Ryan Hawkins. My wife, Corry, and I founded Doorway to Ireland in an attempt to help people who are interested in visiting Ireland plan better, travel smarter, and create memories to last a lifetime.
I visited Ireland for the first time in the spring of 2010 on a university sponsored study abroad program. The program was focused on the study of Ireland. We took classes in everything from Irish literature and history to Irish Dancing and Drumming (I’m glad smart phones were not as popular at that point in my life). We traveled to almost every county on the island and saw some of the best sites Ireland has to offer. From the sweeping sea views of Slea Head Drive in the South, to the geological marvel of The Giant’s Causeway in the north, we saw it all. Over the course of just under four months I fell in love with the island and its people.
Ryan at the Giant’s Causeway in 2010
Fast forward to 2014. Corry and I were planning our wedding and trying to come up with a place to go on our honeymoon. I immediately thought of Ireland because I wanted to show off the place I loved to my new wife. Thanks to a stash of my dad’s United miles and the generosity of friends, off we went on a two week adventure! Over the course of two weeks Corry either fell in love with Ireland as well or has been lovingly agreeing to go back year after year and not letting me know what a terrible time she is having.
Since 2014 we have visited Ireland every 18 months or so with the brief pause for COVID (though we were in Ireland when lockdown started). During this time, we have helped friends and family with tips and tricks for their own trips and they have sent people our way to help with travel planning. It was out of those conversations that we decided to put something up online to help more people than we possibly could through one off conversations with people in our network.
Corry and Ryan in the Titanic Dry Dock in Belfast in 2014.
Our goal is to share the things we have done right and the mistakes we have made so you do not make the same ones. Additionally, one of our goals is to go deeper than what you can find on Instagram, YouTube, or other social media platform. Like it or not, these are becoming the places people go for travel planning instead of the trusty guidebooks of old. I try to keep my thumb on what travel creators are putting out their for suggestions in Ireland. If you pay close enough attention to Ireland travel content, you will see people visiting and recommending the same places over and over again. I hope this site can act as a medium ground between the short form content you will see on other platforms and the thick guidebooks you find at a bookstore.
Our experience will hopefully provide you with some more out of the way things to see and do to put you in better touch with Ireland and her people.
Rock of Cashel, Co. TIpperary in 2023
We are hoping to pair posts and newsletters with a weekly podcast you can take with you on the go. We also have loose plans at this point to take our infant child with us to Ireland for the first time this fall. So if you choose to join us on this adventure you may have some family travel tips and tricks come this fall and winter. This is a very loose plan so far and there is much more to come later.
Thank you for taking the time to read this first brief post. I hope that the content we create moving forward will help you make the most of your next trip to Ireland and that you can share it with others planning their trips.