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Gayle McBain goes shopping and sees what Dublin has to offer for a great day out.

A SHOPPING trip in our family usually means a visit to Bolton town centre or to The Trafford Centre.

So we decided to go a bit further afield on our latest expedition and opted for Dublin.

We had spotted a flight sale on the Ryanair website and managed to get return flights for £20 each, which we felt was a bargain.

So it was with a purse filled with euros and a list of must-haves that I, my sister and 18-year-old niece, Laura, set off for Manchester Airport.

We left early and decided to enjoy our day out in style by relaxing in one of the airport lounges before our flight.

It's a great way to start the day out - although alcoholic drinks were available, we didn't feel ready for them at 7am.

We did, however, consume cups of coffee and tea, rolls and crisps. It was a perfectly civilised way to start our day out.

The flight to Dublin takes just under an hour - and the fact the flight attendants manage to get round with the drinks' trolley and duty free in that time is an amazing feat.

After hailing a taxi, we were in Dublin town centre - perfect timing as we arrived as the shops were opening for the day.

Dublin has a wide variety of shops, ranging from cut price bargain stores to the more upmarket shops you would expect in a cosmopolitan city.

There are two main shopping areas.

One is centred around Henry Street on the north side of the Liffey. The other is centred on Grafton Street on the south side.

We spent several hours shopping and after buying green patent leather shoes (for me), trendy sneaker-like shoes (for Laura) and wellington boots (for Alison) we headed for our lunch venue. By now it had started to rain and as Dublin's stores and shops mainly use "green" paper bags rather than plastic carrier bags, we did have to run to Gallagher's Boxty House where we had booked lunch to avoid the bags turning to mush.

This is a traditional Irish restaurant and the menu is huge. Prices are reasonable and we were spoilt for choice with the amount of dishes on offer.

We started with a seafood platter which was delicious, followed by a vegetarian chilli and cheese boxty (me), Irish Stew (Alison) and a less traditional, but equally good, beef burger (Laura).

Boxty is a cross between a pancake and a potato cake and it's delicious.

The atmosphere at the restaurant is superb and it is located in the famous, and trendy, Temple Bar area of Dublin, and is simple enough to find.

After our meal we decided to see some of the sights on a guided bus tour of Dublin.

We opted for the bus tour as it seemed a great way to see a bit of the city and relax at the same time.

After our bus tour we had more time to shop before our flight back to Manchester.

By now though sore feet prevented any serious shopping so we just stocked up on lucky leprechauns.

Our flight was in the early evening so we had enjoyed a full day in Dublin.

Dublin is a fabulous city with so much to do you really can't do it justice in a day.

It's well worth visiting the Dublin Tourism Centre as it has so many ideas for trips and things to see.

Dubliners are friendly and the atmosphere is fantastic.

It's such a short journey it really is well worth taking a look at some of the cut price airlines to see what sort of offers they have on.

We're aiming for an overnight trip next time to give us even more shopping time!

10:25am Wednesday 12th March 2008

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