Taking Grand Daughter to Ireland in October,

murphy · Guru

RE: Taking Grand Daughter to Ireland in October,

Itallian Chauffeur · Moderator

Google maps says: 59.7 mi, 1 hour 45 mins

St. Ann's Road/R617

(Blarney Castle)

	1. Head northwest on St. Ann's Road/R617 toward Monacnappa Estate Continue to follow R617
		1.8 mi
	2. Turn left to stay on R617
		0.7 mi
	3. Turn right onto R579
		0.9 mi
	4. Sharp left onto R622
		1.2 mi
	5. Turn right onto R618
		14.7 mi
	6. Slight right onto N22
		5.8 mi
	7. Turn left
		1.5 mi
	8. Turn left
		0.7 mi
	9. Turn left Destination will be on the left
		128 ft

27.3 mi about 47 mins (I WOULD SAY 1.5 HOURS!)

Toy Soldier Factory - Prince August

1 Kilnamartyra Village

Macroom, Co. Cork, Ireland

	10. Head west
		128 ft
	11. Take the 1st right
		0.7 mi
	12. Turn left toward L3402
		6.5 mi
	13. Continue straight onto L3402
		1.5 mi
	14. Turn right
		1.8 mi
	15. Turn left
		2.3 mi
	16. Turn left
		0.3 mi
	17. Turn right
		0.1 mi

13.2 mi about 26 mins ( I WOULD SAY 45 MINUTES!)

Gougane Barra

	18. Head east
		1.2 mi
	19. Turn right onto R584
		11.1 mi (ABOUT MID-WAY ON THIS STRETCH IS KEALKILL -- WITH A NICE CASTLE!)
	20. Turn right onto N71
		6.9 mi

19.2 mi about 32 mins ( I WOULD SAY 45 MINUTES -- PLUS TIME SPENT - IF ANY - AT KEALKILL! )

Garnish Island Ferry

My guesstimates work out to 3 - 31/4 hours of DRIVE time -- Nicely 'broken up' by stops. The Castle in Kealkill http://carriganasscastle.com/ is worth a photo stop (maybe more). For just a few Euro, GD can cast her own Lead Soldier, if you don't want to 'do' the workshop. If you were on the road by 9:30, you would probably be at the Garnish Ferry by 2 or 2:30. ALL IN. I would probably 'go for it', were it me. biggrin

murphy · Guru

Wow! That's a surprise. I have been using Michele's rule of thumb: 35mi in one hour. Your route figures more like 15mi/hr. Of course, the 35 might be for M & N roads. Looks like your route will be the narrow winding R roads?!?
Early breakfast at the B&B is 8 so hope to be packed beforehand and on the road by 9. If we run short of time, we wil skip Gougane Barra rather than miss Garnish island!

Dan

murphy · Guru

I have the itinerary and lodging sorted. Most of these are able to be cancelled within 48 hours and 3 bookings have a minimal booking fee (5-7 Euros) that would be lost if for some reason our plans change. I have 4 hotels, 2 B&B's, 1 guesthouse, 1 Castle, and even 1 Hostel! So I'll lay it out for you "experts" and if you see anything that needs tweaking, I am open to suggestions. I am listing the dates, towns, and accommodations booked. I will fill in the sights and stops along the way that will be on our list, in a later post.

10/1 Depart SeaTac at 6:45PM with 3 hour layover at London Heathrow then on to Shannon.

10/2 I have 2 bookings pending Bunratty Manor with out b-fast and Bunratty Castle Hotel with Bfast for the same price. B Manor has better reviews, B Castle hotel is more central for location. Since our plane gets into SNN at 4:45PM we just need a convenient (within walking distance) place to get a bite to eat and then crash after a transAtlantic flight and negotiating LHR! Will need to cancel one of these. If anyone has first hand experience with either of these, I would like to hear about it!

10/3 and 10/4 booked in the White House B&B in Blarney

10/5 and 10/6 booked at Casey's Hotel Glengarriff

10/7 and 10/8 booked at (where else!) Murphy's in Killarney. Not really a hotel or B&B but more like a guesthouse with b-fast

10/9 Balleyseede Castle!!!! Includes b-fast

10/10 Doolin Hostel. (Ensuite triple with a dbl and twin...no, DW would not go for a dorm style room!) doolin was very busy that night and this Hostel had great revews and ticked my "want to stay at a Hostel" box! Also includes cont B-fast

10/11 and 10/12 Clifden at Al**** and Brown Hotel with B-fast

10/13 and 10/14 Ennis at Grey Gables B&B (great reviews and location)

10/15 Shannon at Radison Inn across the street from airport. (With a 8:45AM flight out, this will allow us to turn our rental car in the evening before). This is the only one that is pre paid and non refundable. No b-fast included.

10/16 depart SNN thru LHR 4 hr layover arr SeaTac 4:40PM.

Dan

Itallian Chauffeur · Moderator

Dan -- MY route includes R and L roads! biggrin

Mostly pretty good, though. It wouldn't do to knowingly give an 'IrelandYes Irregular' like yourself BAD advice -- As, I KNOW you'll come back and CALL me on it! biggrin aww biggrin

murphy · Guru

Bob
I know without a doubt that this is THEE BEST place to get good advice about Ireland. We are so lucky to be able to ask these types of questions and get informed answers from one who has so much experience driving over there.
Congratulations on your new title "moderator"!

Dan

Michele Erdvig · Host

I have inspected Bunratty Manor and Bunratty Castle Hotel. Both were nice. They are right next door to each other, with the manor being closer to the main road. Both are just across the street from the castle, folk park and some good restaurants. Why not contact the manor and tell them Bunratty Castle Hotel includes breakfast for the same price? Maybe they will throw it in? Bunratty Castle Hotel gets a lot of tour groups where Bunratty Manor is smaller so wouldn't have as much "tourist traffic".

I have stayed at the White House before but prefer Blarney Vale House. They are right next door to each other.

I see that the profanity filter caught you out: A l c o c k and Brown Hotel. If you leave spaces between the letters you can get away with it! biggrin

The Park Inn at Shannon Airport is convenient but that is about all. Just don't expect much.

A hostel? You will have to fill us in on that.

Itallian Chauffeur · Moderator

Be sure to check THIS out: http://ireland.activeboard.com/t57499061/great-site-for-off-the-beaten-path-locations/

murphy · Guru

Bob,
I did check the "off the beaten path" sight. Great tool! Will need to spend time there in the next 5 months!

Michele,
GD spent the last 3 evenings here and we spent about an hour each night on GM's big screen lap top PC I looking at pictures and you tube videos of towns, hotels, B&B's and attractions I thought she might like to see and she is really tuned in on this trip! She had already secured a diary, and proceeded to "take Notes" the first night!!! Advised her to wait till we had a chance to view all the possibilities, and then I would help her with headings on places we were going to stay and leave a few blank pages between each. Then we could list the stops we might make and then she could just fill in between all the details for her diary entries as we go along during the trip. She is really taking this "report assignment" seriously

Showed her the Bunratty manor and the Bunratty castle Hotel pictures from their web sight. She caught sight of the picture of the swimming pool at the Castle Hotel...and that decision was made! biggrin

I was aware of the situation at the hotel at SNN. The decision was based on a "convenience factor.". It just seemed like a better idea to turn the car back in around 5-6pm the night before rather than 5am the morning of the flight. Hope it is not too dreadful....

As for the Hostel...I promise to fill you in! smile

Dan

Michele Erdvig · Host

Dan,

Your GD sounds adorable. A future writer in progress? You may have to buy her another blank book to fill in as she goes.

I understand that some of the rooms at the SNN hotel have been upgraded. Hope for that. Better yet, ask for it!

murphy · Guru

Michele,

Good advice. I will email SNN hotel to request an updated room.

Taking a 10 year old on a trip like this sure puts a different slant on planning. My first thought was: "oh dear, we are going to have to go back and see a bunch of stuff that we have already been to in previous trips." However, I am finding that we are covering a much smaller area in 2 weeks and are now able to make stops at numerous places that we drove right on by before. AND now we are looking at possible activities and venues thru a child's eyes...places to visit and activities that we thought were too juvenile for mature adults to do before like (kissing the rock, wildlife park, cable car ride, pony trap ride, sleep in a castle, paint toy soldiers in a toy soldier factory, ghost tour/haunted castle etc etc)

I guess it is one of those opportunities in this day and age that doesn't happen very often for many families, and we feel fortunate to be able to do this.

Dan

tony2phones · Guru

It is surprising what you see through the eyes of a child that you might take for granted or dismiss looking through your own.. A lesson I learned having the grandson living with us for the first 3 1/2 months this year.

murphy · Guru

Update: Murphy's law has kicked in regarding GD passport. Gave DIL a check for passport procurement back in early May. After much procrastination, application, photo, etc, finally got mailed around June 10. Then DIL and GD took a month trip to California, and upon retuning found that the picture had been damaged in the mail enroute to State Dept. Luckily the post office still had a image in their digital camera memory card. They reprinted a copy of the photo and sent it to DIL who supposedly re-mailed it and accompanying paperwork in mid July. Then, shortly after that we heard on the TV evening news that there were passport delays occurring at the processing end. So here we are 1 month later and no passport yet! Looked at the calendar and we are 7 weeks from today From leaving. If we have to start over, we are getting real close to that magical 6 weeks that you need to allow....

Any advice out there ?

Dan

-- Edited by murphy on Wednesday 13th of August 2014 10:58:48 PM

Michele Erdvig · Host

Murphy's Law indeed. hmm Do you live near a passport office? If so, is it possible to go there and try to expedite the passport? Any way to find out the status of it right now? There are companies that specialize in expediting passports...for a price.

Itallian Chauffeur · Moderator

Where is the Passport Office? My son and Grandson actually went to their nearest office (The live just outside of Denver) and were told that they could actually just wait a couple of hours, they could receive theirs that day.

I believe that my son paid for Expedited Service, however. He opted to have them mailed and they arrived in just a couple of days.

murphy · Guru

Thanks! Will check to see where our nearest passport office is.
Dan

murphy · Guru

Doesn't appear there is a passport office nearby. Think San Fran might be closest.

However DIL called the State Dept National passport info line and they SAY it is being processed. That phone number is: 877-487-2778 just in case anyone has passport issues!

Dan

Judy · Guru

Dan,

Have your GD's parents contact their US senator. Senators can help with questions relating to international travel. They will provide assistance dealing with federal agencies.

Judy

murphy · Guru

Thanks Judy. Hope we don't have to resort to that but you do have some good information to share! Dan

gsmith · Veteran Member

you could go here to check the status travel.state.gov/content/passports/english/passports/information/application-status.html

murphy · Guru

gsmith, That was a great help! Thank you! Typed in the last name, the birthdate, and last 4 of the SS and got the message that it was processing! It had been resubmitted about a month ago and they say they are on the normal 6 week delivery schedule so hopefully by the end of August it will arrive! Dan

murphy · Guru

Excitement is building!

I experienced (endured/survived) an all-day shopping trip with GD & DW on Tuesday to buy a complete set of travel clothes for a 10-year old who is growing like a weed! Been a while for Papa on a shopping spree like this! Was astounded at all the choices AND the bright colors available esp for kids! Psychedelic green and turquoise tennis/hiking shoes! 10 pairs of wild colored sox. 7 pairs of "Unmentionables" -she says: just say the "U" word Papa! each one with the day of the week printed on it!!! Guess that's a good way for a 10 yr old to remember to change...or to keep track of it anyway! A new red 21" carry-on-legal roller bag, purple back pack(personal item), a purple rain coat, (can you tell-purple is her new favorite color!) 4 tops, 4 bottoms, all the 3 oz containers of liquids for the Qt. Zip lock bag, and a journal to help prepare for her presentation to her classmates when she gets back. GM laundered everything, checked for shrinkage, and decided to alter one top.

Put one complete set of clothes and raincoat into the purple back pack (to have something to fall back on in case the overhead bins are full and our carry-on bags have to be checked & stowed in the underneath luggage hold....and then would happen to get lost by the airline in route!) We laid out one set of clothes to wear(she will have to change out of school clothes on the way to Seattle) and the remaining 2 sets fit easily into the new 4-unit packing cubes. The 4 packing cubes and hiking shoes only filled the roller bag about half full so looks like room for overflow if GM/Papas bags are too full and ample room for a quite a list of gifts she needs to bring back for family/friends!

Seems early to do all of this, but it is less than 2 weeks till school starts, and we didn't want to have to scramble the last minute to get her stuff ready to go. Now to get our stuff ready! The only missing link is the passport.....

Dan

Michele Erdvig · Host

Oh Dan, I can sense the excitement from here. I'm sure GD loved the shopping expedition. She will love Ireland even more. My sister's favorite color was purple so GD is in good company. wink Did you ever think that the empty part of the suitcase might just be filled with goodies from Ireland on the way home?

murphy · Guru

The passport saga continues cry

Our DIL got a letter from the Seattle Passport office that said they were short a document cry cry

They now say they need a front/back photocopy of some formal ID like Drivers License From our son (GD father). There was nothing in any of the instructions that indicated the need for that in the paperwork we first submitted in May. furious

So they submitted that information PLUS DIL copied her drivers license And included it. There was a contact number and she called it to see if this was indeed the final needed information and when exactly the passport would arrive. She got a snotty gentleman and his repeated answers to all her questions was: "I don't know" furious furious furious after she informed him that we were now within a month of the trip we kind of needed to know. His response was: "maybe you should do an expedited passport ($60 plus postage!). cry

Our County Court House no longer does passports...they told us to go to the post office (I had considered just going to the county with the GD and both parents and start the whole process all over expedited)

After much agonizing thought, I've come to the conclusion that they have figured out how to get an extra $70.00 out of us.

Bottom line: will wait till Monday, call Seattle passport office, and determine if we have any action (hopefully it will be in the mail.) But to play it safe, will probably just call the 800 expedite number, give them my credit card # along with the application docket number, instead of leaving it to chance. The Lady at the post office indicated that worse case scenario, the applicant (and prob parents) could walk into the passport office 2 weeks out and still get one in time furious

Dan

Michele Erdvig · Host

That is the pits! Maybe try Judy's suggestion of contacting your senator's office first?

Judy · Guru

Back in the 70's things were much different. In July 1973 I decided on a Monday to join my mother traveling to Ireland. On Tuesday I went to the passport office in Chicago to renew my passport and add my daughter to my new passport. You could do that back then, just add a child on your passport, no questions asked. I received a new passport within two hours.

I packed on Wednesday and left for Ireland on a Thursday flight. Barely any security at O'Hare, they just looked in my purse. That was the first time they even did that much for security. Also, back then the passport office employees were very kind and helpful. Oh, the good old days of air travel.

Good luck Dan. Hopefully, the rest of the trip will be less stressful.

murphy · Guru

Judy and Michele,

I took your advice and contacted Washington State Senator Patty Murray's office today. Had to start the process by having DS fill out the privacy release form, scan it and email it back to them. Upon receiving that, the case worker promised to call the passport office on our behalf on Friday. They further said that they could not guarantee results and to expedite the process would still be the safest bet. So will do so soon furious

Dan

Itallian Chauffeur · Moderator

Dan -- Sorry to hear that you are still having problems with the Passport. hmm hmm

Please keep in mind that you should also have a Temporary Guardianship document and/or a Medical Power of Attorney for your Grand-daughter, in the (Hopefully) unlikely event that she should require medical treatment or care while traveling.

Good luck.

murphy · Guru

Bob,

Thank you for the heads up on that one! Another item on my Sept to-do list.

Dan

murphy · Guru

Good news for a change! DIL was able to contact the passport information line at 1-877-487-2778(they would not talk to me-only Mom Or Dad due to privacy laws) and she found out that the passport HAS BEEN printed and ready to be sent. DIL should be getting a USPS tracking number yet today and they anticipate it will arrive sometime next week! DIL and I decided we need to have a party to celebrate its arrival biggrin There .... I got to use the smiley face for a change AND no more sleep deprived nights! seriously I would wake up at 2 or 3 in the morning with this on my mind ....it was causing insomnia.

Dan