The Time of my Life: Turning my wanderlust into a full-time job

The Time of My Life is a weekly column about a moment that changed someone’s life – for the better or the worse

Five years ago, I returned to Ireland after two years travelling. It started with three friends and a one-way flight; it ended with one backpack full of tattered clothes and more memories than I could count.

When you first decide to go travelling, book that flight, buy that guide book, the ‘return to reality’ is the low point in your excited daydreams. It’s the dreaded moment when ‘it’s all over’, as if life itself somehow ends when your foot first touches the cool cement of Dublin Airport.

In line with the backpacker stereotype, I came up with many ideas about my future while travelling – many didn’t come to fruition (unsurprisingly!) but one did. I was not going to let my return to Ireland dampen my gusto for discovery. I was determined that I would try to enjoy my own city with the same eagerness that brought me to every little nook and city I’d been to thus-far. This eagerness to continue exploring was the main reason I started blogging about Dublin culture and food.

John Mulcahy obituary: Fearless journalist and publisher

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Pioneer of nicotine patches and founder of first Irish company to list on NYSE

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Hugh Coyle: a gracious and caring host

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My return to Dublin saw me working shift work as a detox nurse for Dublin’s homeless community, a role I absolutely relished. Aside from a very disrupted sleep pattern, shift work offered me days off mid-week; days I’d plan with military precision to include as many Dublin events and experiences as possible. I documented these food experiences and Dublin events on my blog, which evolved at the same pace as my knowledge of the city.

The more passionate I became about this amazing little city, the more excited my readers were to keep up with my food experiences and favourite upcoming events around Dublin as I documented them every day through social media and every week on my blog.

I’m so grateful to say that, what started as a hobby five years ago became my full-time job in 2016. Two year later, as I sit here writing this I realise that, unlike my presumptions about how life would be after returning from a grand adventure, it is in fact right now in my hometown of Dublin that I’m having the time of my life.

Sarah Hanrahan blogs at icomeundone.com

Do you want to share your Time of My Life story? Email magazine@irishtimes.com with “Time of My Life” in the subject line.