I've written before that when my family travels we LOVE to meet all sorts of people, both locals and fellow travelers.  We call these folks our Five Minute Friends. Our most recent trip to Iceland and Ireland was definitely no exception and here are photos of some of the folks that made our experience memorable.

The highlight of our Dublin trip was Celtic Nights in the heart of the city at the Arlington Hotel by the river). Sure you could book tickets to see Riverdance, but would you get to see them within 2 feet of the stage and meet them afterwards?  And what about the musicians?  My eldest daughter has a friend who highly recommended booking this and we're so glad he did.  Celtic Nights includes a lovely 3-course dinner and it was delicious.  The event takes place in a basement-like area, downstairs to the side of the hotel.  We were seated right by the stage along with 9 other people from all around the world.  Our table included a family from Romania (see later photo), a couple from Victoria, Canada, and a group from Australia.  We had a great time talking and laughing with all of them.  The best part was when my daughter showed a doodle she made of two of the musicians to our 5-minute Canadian grandparents.  They were so funny and treated my girls like their grandkids.  They showed everyone the doodle and it made its way up the stage and thus we became instant friends with the musicians.  We even saw one of them perform again at a local pub.  GREAT FUN and made this experience unforgettable. (NOTE: The banjo player is sitting on a chair, he's really not short :))

Celtic Nights musicians made our dayOur new 5 minute friends from Celtic Nights

Next up (in no specific order) was our tour guide in Iceland.  Johannis was a quiet guy but when he talked we listened.  He had some very funny commentary while we toured all day around the Golden Circle.  Not pictured is Pablo, the tour-guide-in-training.  We lost a fellow guest on this tour and that comes next!

More 5 minute friendsMore 5 minute friends

Next we met Han from New York.  We traveled for hours before we even talked to him in our Iceland Golden Circle Tour, it wasn't until we ditched him at the Geysir that we started chatting with him.  It was pretty funny, we heard our tour operator (above) get a call after we left Geysir and exclaim, "What?" meaning they left someone behind.  But we weren't far and picked up this guy and had a very fun chat with him.  Johannis treated Han to a N(Iceland) cold beer, so Han was happy.  We learned that Han was in the midst of collecting more passport stamps on his way to his goal of getting as many as he can before it expires. Han came with us when we got dropped off at Ramen Momo which we discovered the day prior AFTER we had dinner.  So we knew we had to return the following day.  Johannis kindly dropped us all off at the restaurant rather than our apartment.  Score, our feet were tired from lots of walking.   It was the Fourth of July so we celebrated at a Japanese Restaurant with a fellow American!

Celebrating 4th of July with a fellow AmericanCelebrating 4th of July with a fellow American

At Ramen Momo we met these two wild and crazy guys,  Tsering Gyal and Kun Sung friends from Tibet.  These guys were so funny and had us laughing from the get go.  The tiny restaurant has about 15 stools total, so you're lucky if you get one of them as you step up to the counter.  The menu is simple and that makes it easy to figure out what you want to order. You can see your meal being prepared in the moment.  We ordered up some chicken ramen, gyoza and it was YUMMMYYYY.

More 5 minute friendsMore 5 minute friends

More 5 minute friendsMore 5 minute friends

And lastly, here again are our new Irish musician friends, who kept us smiling and laughing for 4 hours at Celtic Nights.  And by the way, it's pronounced "K"eltic Nights with a hard "C".  So now you learned something didn't you :)

More 5 minute friendsMore 5 minute friends

Below is more of our table of new found friends.  In the back our friends from Romania, who were celebrating their anniversary.  Their son, next to me, was very funny making comments and playing video games during dinner.  The couple in the front are originally from the UK and emigrated to Canada as teachers.  They are both retired now.  They were a TON of fun talking to and made our trip so much fun.

Our VERY fun table of friends at Celtic Nights in Dublin, IrelandOur VERY fun table of friends at Celtic Nights in Dublin, Ireland Our VERY fun table of friends at Celtic Nights in Dublin, IrelandOur VERY fun table of friends at Celtic Nights in Dublin, Ireland