When I found out about the New York-Dublin portal, I thought it was pretty cool. One, to see and communicate with people in Dublin from New York in real time. Two, I actually had a trip booked for Dublin and it was happening soon. So I thought, why not experience it on both sides?

NYC side

The New York portal was located at the Flatiron South Public Plaza in the Flatiron District. I visited the New York portal one day before my trip to Dublin. I got there around 10:30am (Eastern time) and there were a bunch of other people there as well. There was a box in front of the portal filled with boards with different greetings on them. Like “Hello,” “Hello From New York,” “We ❤️ Dublin,” one with a American flag 🇺🇸, another with an Irish flag 🇮🇪, and some with emojis. People on both sides were active by waving hello and using the boards to greet each other. I didn’t expect to enjoy myself as much as I did.

Dublin side

The portal in Dublin was located on O’connell street facing Dublin’s main square. When I arrived at the portal, it was around 3pm (Irish Standard Time), which is 10am (Eastern time). There were a bunch of people there; more people than when I was at the New York portal. There were a couple of people on the New York side at that time and again both sides were active. The Dublin side also had boards with greetings, like “Hello,” “Hello From Dublin,” and “Welcome to Dublin.” One guy on the Dublin side was actually trying to have a conversation with the people in New York. It was funny but super cute.

When the New York-Dublin portal first opened, unfortunately, there were people using it to be rude and disrespectful. Thankfully, I didn’t experience any of that on either side.

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