Dublin – Philly ☘️🇺🇸

5th Feb 2025

So the Eagles were off to the Super Bowl! and I was off to Philly, for our ceremonial ‘watch party’ with my Buddies in Barnaby’s Havertown. This time, flying from Dublin (doing US immigration this end so as to spare us the faff of it all after a long haul flight!) So much easier, and more economical to do it this way, avoiding uk air passenger duty.

American Airlines flight AA0723

It was a smooth flight, slept some of the way, and read a bit of my Neil Young book. Touched down in Philly just after 4.30pm, straight through… no border control/ customs to deal with, it was all super fast getting through arrivals. Walked across the lot over to Avis (few mins walk) and straight onto I95 to Broomall. 

Twenty minutes and we were at our hotel. The Fairfield Broomall/Newtown Sq always feels like home from home, always such a warm welcome (special thanks to Victor and Shakina for a super quick check-in!) straight up into our room to get changed before heading out to Barnaby’s for drinks and food.

Barnabys Havertown is my happy place, and I’ll let you decide for yourself why you think that is when you see these photos…. the cheesesteak nachos are the just the best!! and what better to wash them down with than a Levante NEIPA, brewed in West Chester, PA. This was hands down my favourite beer of the holiday! (although I didn’t know it yet at this point, so of course must sample many more over the next 7 days….)

We managed to get our usual spot at the bar on the corner as you first walk in, and I was complimented on my sweatshirt by Erin, and got chatting for a while with Mikes relatives (bartender). This place feels more ‘local’ to me, than bars back home, somewhere I feel free to relax away from all the usual pressures and free of any kind of conformity. The chance to cut loose, and vibe with friends/strangers over a beer or two and talk about the Eagles for 3 hours straight. Bliss!

✩* 🎀 𝐼’𝓋𝑒 𝑔💞𝓉 𝓂𝓎 𝒻𝓇𝒾𝑒𝓃𝒹𝓈 𝒾𝓃 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓌❁𝓇𝓁𝒹, 𝐼 𝒽𝒶𝒹 𝓂𝓎 𝒻𝓇𝒾𝑒𝓃𝒹𝓈…
𝒲𝒽𝑒𝓃 𝓌𝑒 𝓌𝑒𝓇𝑒 𝒷🍪𝓎𝓈 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝑔𝒾𝓇𝓁𝓈, 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓈𝑒𝒸𝓇𝑒𝓉𝓈 𝒸𝒶𝓂𝑒 𝓊𝓃𝒻𝓊𝓇𝓁𝑒𝒹… 🎀 *✩

– Neil Young, Philadelphia.