When we travel, I always make charts for how many days we'll be gone and what we'll do on each of those days. Then I start filling in boxes, cutting and pasting and deciding how to get the most out of each day of travel time. Vacation and travel time and money are precious commodities for us, so I work hard to get the most out of every 24 hours.
On our Ireland trip we want to see and experience as much of the real rhythm, ambiance, culture and community of the country as we can. So, we've decided NOT to try and see the whole country in our two weeks. We don't have the time to walk or bike the country as many non-tourist travellers do, but we will do what we can to have more quality than quantity in our Ireland sight-seeing.
Again doing Google research of travel blogs and Ireland sites, the recommendations seems to be to not try and do the what the average American does in Ireland - a whirlwind guided tour through the whole country in 10 days. Rather, if you want to actually SEE Ireland and not just stop at the commercialized tourist points, these travelers advise choosing a few key locations and spending a few days in each. Take time to walk around. Take time to hang out at the local pub with the locals. This is the kind of Ireland we're more interested in seeing.
Our trip will focus on Dublin, the South and the West of Ireland. Doug would like to get some kind of feel for the political mess that has been Belfast for the last 50 years, so we'll spend one day driving up there and looking around.
Here's our plan:
Here's our plan:
| Day & Date | Sat May 7th Day 1 | Sun May 8th Day 2 | Mon May 9th Day 3 | Tues May 10th Day 4 | Wed May 11th Day 5 | Thurs May 12th Day 6 | Fri May 13th Day 7 | Sat May 14th Day 8 | |
| Place | NYC | Mother’s Day | NYC to Ireland | Belfast | Dublin | Dublin | Dublin | Kilkenny | |
| Travel Time | All day flight | Local only | All night flight | Local public transport | Train 2 hrs | No travel | Day Tour | 3 ½ hrs. drive sightseeing to Kilkenny | |
| Accommodation | Airbnb House | Airbnb House | Airplane | Priceline Belfast | |||||
| Goals to See | Fly to NYC 7:55am-10:57pm | Breakfast *Brooklyn Tabernacle *Greenwood Cemetery Brooklyn waterfront *Grimaldi’s *Battery Park | *Central Park *Serendipity * Tenement Museum McSorley’s Pub Email B&B’s to confirm, esp Dingle Leave for airport 6pm Fly to Belfast 9:25pm | Arrive 9:00am *Black Taxi Tour Milltown Cemetery Stormont | Train to Dublin – 2 hrs. *Trinity College *Historical Walking Tour 3pm Ha’Penney Bridge Grafton St. Shopping Temple Bar in the evening? | *1916 Walking Tour 11:30am *Killmainham *Guinness *Literary Pub Crawl in the evening (7pm) | Personalized *Boyne Valley Tour *Re-pack Find picnic lunch for next day | *Powerscourt *Glendalough | |
| Sun May 15th Day 9 | Mon May 16th Day 10 | Tues May 17th Day 11 | Wed May 18th Day 12 | Thurs May 19th Day 13 | Fri May 20th Day 14 | Sat May 21st Day 15 | Sun May 22nd Day 16 | Mon May 23rd Day 17 | Tues May 24th Day 18 |
| Kilkenny | Kilkenny | Waterford | Kenmare | Dingle | Ashley Estate | Ashley Estate | Dromoland Castle | NYC | Flying Home |
| Local driving only | 2 ½ hrs. sightseeing | Local only | 4 hrs driving to Kenmare | 1 hr to Dingle Incl. Muckross | 3 hrs. from Dingle | No travel | 2 ½ hrs. hrs/roundtrip | Flying to NYC (JFK) | |
| | | | | Airport Hotel | Home | ||||
| *Kilkenny *Kells Priory Jerpoint Abbey | *Rock of Cashel *Cahir Castle | *Waterford Glass *Castle Grounds | 2hrs drive *Cobh *Blarney Castle 2 hrs to Kenmare | See piece of *ROK when driving through Moll’s Gap to Killarney *Muckross House Ross Castle? | *Dingle Peninsula Dinner at Ashley Estate | *Fishing Relax | *Galway Day Trip | *Fly out of Shannon to NYC 1pm Be at airport by 10:30am | Fly from NYC to Oregon 7:00am-2:15pm |
