Looks like we'll miss most of you. Slainte anyway!

For those still in Dingle on the evening of Friday May 25, we'll be staying at Emlagh House and would love to meet up. I'll check the forum again as the date approaches.

mark and colleen

Liam, hope you can make it. For all your help, I owe you at least a pint! (Of course, you'll have to have Corey's too!)

Looking forward to see everyone. Only eight excruciating days until lift off! Not that I'm excited or anything.......


Chris

-- Edited by Auld Sod at 10:20, 2007-05-11

Hello all:

We leave tomorrow.  We will see all of you at Murphy's 7-8PM on the 24th.  I sure hope the weather improves again.  :)

Marie

Hi Marie,

Have a safe flight, and we shall see you at Murphy"s! 

Helen

Marie,

Bon voyage! Have a fantastic time. We will look forward to hearing all the details when you return.

Michele

Between actually getting my itinerary together, making reservations, work problems, home problems, (you know, normal life), I haven't checked in here lately.  Alas, I won't be able to make the meet up in Dingle.  Here's our itinerary (finally!)

May 20th Arrive in Shannon - one night in Adare
May 21st & 22nd - two nights in Dingle
May 23rd & 24th - two nights in Doolin (Cliffs of Moher, the Burren)
May 25th - one night in Bunratty
May 26th - leave Shannon

I have some more specifics about what we want to see, etc but am not bound to them.  We're going to take it as it comes; just planning on enjoying ourselves at a leisurely pace and not spending all our time on the road.

I will definitely post all about our trip when we get back.

Sandy

Helen,

Thanks for the note. My wife Colleen and I will be travel with my parents. I'll be the tall one with the lovely young wife. :) We'll look for you that evening....

God speed!
Mark

Hello everyone:

 We are back from our 2 week trip to Ireland.  It was wonderful and I will write about it soon.  Unfortunately, we were not able to meet the crew at Murphy's.
Helen and I (and my daughters) were there, but the place was crowded and no one seemed to know anything about a group of Americans meeting there.  The waitress had not been approached by anyone else but me.  We waited outside and looked around inside for a sign of who was there from the forum, but to no avail.  There was no available table for dinner, so I went to eat elsewhere and checked back after, but Helen was gone then.  Did anyone else manage to connect?  If so, I sure am sorry I missed it. 

Marie

Michele, Marie et al,

Although we originally planned to not arrive in Dingle until the 26th we were there on the 25th... and at Murphy's. But we arrived late, around 10:30 pm. We were listening to a small group at Paudie's (sp?). When we arrived at Murphy's, the two singers were in full form and marvelous! He called out, "Who's here from America?" and only 2 or 3 people raised their hands. We stayed until 11:30 but didn't see any of the IY group. Maybe next year!

(I hope to post our trip summary soon. Much work waiting for me today...)

mark

Hi Michele, et al:

A word of warning...I am in process of writing my trip report and it is going to be a long one.   

Marie

Hi ALL!! Jeff and I were at Murphys at 8 as planned- the waitress knew nothing..
I kept walking about.. we finally got a table and stayed until prob. about 10:30 or so.. we had the PASS to go back over in the dark to get back to Castlegregory.. we were bummed we missed you all. I did meet Helen at the SHores and we talked and talked !! I will be posting a trip report ...just got back into L.A. about 1:30 am.. More to come.. wish we had met up w.more of you!!!

Oh, no fair! I want to meet the IrelandYes gang in Dingle too! Well, in May I'll be plugged into my Ipod listening to "An Poc Ar Buile (The Dingle Set, Live)" by The Chieftains...and that is as close as I can get to Dingle in May!

How I have missed chatting with you all! I have been busy and dropped off of the travel forums for a couple months. But every time I play Irish music, especially The Chieftains, I feel a great longing for Ireland settle over me. For me, sitting in an Irish Pub with a bitter mug of Guiness, grinning at my husband because I was listening to real live Irish trad music, after a day of traipsing through sheep poo to gaze at another beautiful wild coastline, green hill, or castle ruin, well, it just doesn't get better than that... And meeting so many friendly, down-to-earth Irish people with a fine sense of humor...they are just some of the nicest people I have ever met.

So I am back here on the forum, gushing again... Have fun for those of us who aren't going to Ireland this year!

-- Edited by Melissa5 at 04:26, 2007-06-04

-- Edited by Melissa5 at 04:27, 2007-06-04

Michele, ah yes, that's what it is, the Irish longing is upon me! 

New Zealand was wonderful and romantic...it was our 25th wedding anniversary. And I have to say I was delighted to find an Irish pub at the bottom of the world...in Invercargill, New Zealand, on the South Island! There we had a great big bowl of potato soup, big enough to drown a starving Irish family in during the potato famine...and that was just the beginning of dinner! Thanks for asking about our New Zealand trip. What a great memory you have. Some of the Irish and Scottish immigrants settled in New Zealand generations ago.

A highlight in New Zealand was our overnight boat trip on Doubtful Sound, a remote fijord in Fiordland on the South Island of New Zealand.  Cost? Don't look, just book. Very atmospheric place, perfect for a special celebration like a special anniversary.

Plans to return to Ireland? Always! I don't have a date yet.  My husband wants to explore the entire planet first.  But do you remember my plot to get him to return to Ireland, the land where all the trees have been cut down (not a biologist's dream trip)?! The misty Irish rain...the peat fire...a pint of Guiness...whatever is there to do in your room on such a romantic Irish day...  Truly, Michele, you helped me to plan a trip which everyone in the family enjoyed, including my biologist husband...he loved the Burren, and when we had to whip right through Connemara on our way to somewhere else...ah, Connemara caught his eye..."Why didn't we stay here?" he asked..."I want to explore here..." (The annoying man! I tried to entice him to be interested in Connemara when I was planning the trip but he kept looking at the photos and saying it looked boring!) Connemara just can't be captured in photos I'm afraid. I vow to capture Connemara in poetry...and when I do I'll share it with you all as you won't laugh.

So I will lure my husband back to Ireland, with reminders of Connemara and how it captured his fancy...also I think we would both love Donegal, which we didn't see on our first trip. Everyone loved the Cliffs of Moher.

I don't know when it will happen, but I'd like to get back to Ireland within the next 2 years. I'm telling you Michele, if my husband won't go, I'll find someone else to go with me! My sister might oblige. But really I might be able to get my husband to agree to Ireland again.

Plus we take turns now, every other year...So I can always choose Ireland for my turn. Our plan is to travel as much as we can before we get too old...We already told the kids we are spending their inheritance. (What inheritance?!) Hey but it's fair as they often get to come with us even now as young adults. But New Zealand was just for us. 

So nice to be back here, Michele and Ireland enthusiasts.

Hi Everyone,
Ed and i are in Droheda, after Tara and the Hill of Slane. On to Four Knocks Passage tomb, if we can find it!! These Irish roads, ah, they leave something to be desired.

Sorry we all didn't meet up at Murphy's, but at least we met Marie and the Girls and April and Jeff. The Shores was great!!.

Stayed at Highfield |House in Trim last night. Everything was fine, the omelette was even okk, and so was our bed!

Enough for now, on to London, Tuesday!!

Heeln