I flew to Dublin for the day from Liverpool John Lennon Airport

When you think about the starting point for a day trip from Liverpool you might think Lime Street station. But what about Liverpool John Lennon Airport?

With a flight time of 30 minutes, it's actually quicker to fly to Dublin than it is to get the train to Southport, Chester or Manchester from Lime Street station. And with frequent and affordable flights - courtesy of Ryanair and Aer Lingus - it's much easier to get to Ireland for the day than you might expect.

On the hunt for a festive day out that included a little bit of booze, we thought Dublin - the home of Guinness and Jameson - would be the perfect choice. And after spotting that a return flight would set us back £31 each we decided to book.

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As someone who doesn’t particularly like early mornings the 6.05am Ryanair flight was slightly off-putting. But booking the 9pm return flight meant we would have around 11 hours to spend in the Irish capital before beginning the journey home.

The flight was straight-forward. It landed at 6.45am and the lack of luggage meant we were out of the airport not long after.

Various coach operators offer 24 hour travel into Dublin city centre from the airport for approximately €12 return. This was easy enough to sort when you land but online booking is available.

The coach itself was fairly busy but everyone waiting managed to get on. The Dublin Express service we used offers multiple stops across the city including Dublin Zoo and streets around Temple Bar.

Although the fastest journey time available is 14 minutes, it was more like half an hour given that we were travelling into the city centre as people were making