Thinking of moving abroad? Fergie’s Pub offers a preview in its second Ireland trip.

A conversation with Philly barman Fergus Carey is never linear, and a recent chat with the native Dubliner about his second Fergie’s Pub Tour of Ireland proved no different. Carey was hunting for a parking spot in Center City in between discussing the tour’s itinerary and his possibly buying a house in Ireland.

“So I talked to a mortgage guy from PNC today ... He says, ‘You’re the fifth [Philadelphia-area] person trying to buy in Ireland in the last month,‘” Carey recounted, adding that interest in moving abroad has motivated some of the attendees on this fall’s tour. “Somebody was saying, ‘Oh yeah, I want to go on this trip so I can check out Ireland.‘”

Carey, who co-owns The Jim and The Goat Rittenhouse as well as his namesake Sansom Street pub, said last year’s inaugural Ireland tour — itself a celebration of Fergie’s 30th anniversary — was so much fun, he pretty much knew a second was in order before the first one even wrapped. “I had the greatest time. Selfish, selfish, selfish,” Carey said. “Just music, music, music, music, and at night, beer, pubs, and music.” The trip was a showcase of the Irish countryside, with an emphasis on breathtaking sights, great pubs, and live music.

Basically, if you enjoy Carey, you’ll enjoy this, and that’s part of Carey’s recruitment strategy. “Some of [last year’s guests] had been into the pub and met me and said, ‘Oh, my God, that would be a lot of fun,‘” he said.

Carey knew about 20 of the 51 guests on last year’s trip, whose route hugged the island’s southern coast, with stays in Dingle (Carey’s favorite spot in Ireland), Sneem, and Kinsale, as well as a few nights in Dublin. By the end, Carey had befriended everyone.

“Like these three nurses and a waitress from Bensalem area. What did we call them? The girls at the back of the bus,” he said. Carey’s looking forward to co-piloting this year’s trip, which will be from Oct. 10-19 and capped at 51 travelers (plus Carey and a few guides).

“I have a little microphone for telling people stories, and I’m sitting up at the front of the bus, but I don’t have to drive,” he said.

(Carey is far from the only Philly restaurant-scene personality to lead trips abroad; it’s become a trend among some of the city’s top chefs, including Kalaya’s Nok Suntaranon, Cicala’s Angela and Joe Cicala, and Osteria’s Jeff Michaud.)

This year’s tour will be coordinated again by fellow Dublin transplant and Philly musician John Byrne. It will start in Lahinch, on Ireland’s west coast, before traveling north to Westport and Donegal, and ending with three nights in Dublin.

Tentative day trips are planned to Galway City, Killary Fjord, and the Walls of Derry. Carey’s especially excited for a visit to Giant’s Causeway in Northern Ireland, which will likely include a stop at the nearby Old Bushmills Distillery. It’s a part of the country he’s not terribly familiar with but describes as “phenomenal.”

Carey enjoys getting to know Ireland better himself, as he did last year. “I felt like a tourist, because I was a tourist, but I was just like, ‘Oh, my God, this is so beautiful.’ Just seeing more of the country, and also showing the country off,” he said before breaking out into made-up song: “This is where I’m from, this is what I love, I found a parking spot for a half an hour.”

Fergie’s Pub’s 2025 Tour of Ireland runs from Oct. 10-19. The trip costs $2,750 (double) and $3,476 (single) plus airfare and includes hotels, day excursions, taxes, transfer fees, portage, breakfast, and evening music sessions. A rough itinerary is available on the bar’s website, fergies.com.