The man on a mission to visit every Irish pub in the world

Editor’s note: Sign up for Unlocking the World, CNN Travel’s weekly newsletter. “I did one trip, and I just loved it,” says Dalton of his first adventure seven years ago in Bilbao, Spain, “a beautiful, beautiful city.” In the tiny Wicklow Arms pub, he made new friends galore — including a man who knew Dalton’s father as his postman back in Kerry — and stayed the whole night for a lock-in.. From that point on, Dalton’s fate was sealed. “But I think, as well, when you live in Kerry, you live by the sea, so there is an element of wanting to travel and go out a little bit, because you’re facing across to America.” In countries where waves of Irish emigrants settled in the 19th and 20th centuries, such as Britain, North America and Australia, there are many pubs with authentic Irish history. In European countries such as Italy, France and Germany, “the Irish pub is seen as the alternative pub,” he says, where students and backpackers can “live out their James Joyce, the Pogues dream.” In southern Spain, where many British expats choose to spend their later years, it’s “retired people just enjoying a nice pint in the sun.” Further afield, as he found in Kazakhstan and Indonesia, Irish pubs are “a little bit high status” and a popular choice with business people, due to the expensive imported beers and Western appeal. He spoke to one reveler and she explained, “We love the Irish pub because it gives us an excuse to go mad.” The wild west In countries with a reputation for being reserved and rational, such as Germany or Japan, Dalton finds that the romantic illusion of the Irish as being “rebels” who “don’t care about things like taxes and, like, laws” is “very attractive for them.” Then there are places where there is a shared musical connection, such as in the States, where country music has links to Ireland’s folk traditions.