Hello to all!  I've been back from our first Ireland holiday for a week now, and I still can't say enough great things about it.  Of course, thank you to Michele and everyone for their excellent advice... this trip would NOT have gone as well, without the pre-planning experience at this site.  So here goes my first trip report (hopefully not my last) and I hope someone can take away some useful information from my wonderful time in Ireland.

My husband (age 44) and I (age 36) travelled to Ireland via Continental through Newark.  The flights ran on time and overall I will recommend them, but our planes were all small with 3 seats, an aisle, and 3 seats.  Cramped quarters with no room to stretch with all the flights being full.  We arrived in Shannon at 6:55 a.m. to rainy, cold, and windy weather that stayed with us through the entire week.  Of course, we were constantly reminded everywhere we went how it had just been unseasonably hot and sunny for a solid 5 weeks prior.  Oh well... that's Ireland weather.  We had a some moments of sun show up, but rarely.

We picked up our rental car at the Shannon airport with Irish Car Rentals.  We rented their GPS system and I have to say, this was a GREAT thing to have along.  I was the co-pilot with a road map on my lap just to help, but the little English lady in our GPS had it all under control.  She told us every turn to make, distance to drive, and what number exit to take in the roundabouts.  I believe it was $10 per day extra, but get this GPS if it's your first time driving their crazy little one and two lane roads.

We left Shannon and headed up to Doolin for our first night.  Here we stayed at Daly's House with the host Susan Daly.  This truly is a wonderful woman with hospitality oozing out of her and the Irish gift of the gab.  She welcomed us in early with a pot of tea and cookies.  Her dog George gave us a warm welcome as well.  Susan suggested an itinerary for us to go out and see the Burren and the Cliffs.  In the end, we ended up napping for 2 hours and passing on the Burren.  We did have lunch at Gus O'Connor's pub (and dinner again there later) with our first pint of beer.  Kevin decided early on he preferred Murphy's to Guiness and I found a liking in Jameson and 7UP (hope I spelled those right).  We pretty much stayed with those drinks for the rest of the week.  Oh, and Susan's family had owned that pub for 7 generations prior to her selling.

Our first outing was to the Cliffs of Moher.  Now, I have never travelled just for pleasure in our own country, much less outside of our country, so nothing could have prepared me for the AMAZING scenery we were about to experience over the next 6 days.  The Clifffs left us in awe and a bit sweaty in the palms.  We then drove around the countryside to Liscannor, coming face to face with our car and a herd of cattle being moved up the road to a different field.  Be prepared for that quite a bit.  The roads are extremely narrow, some being just one lane, and you never know what is around the next bend or hill.

Ok, I see this is already very lengthy, so I'll shorten it and give our highpoints and if you have any questions about any place, feel free to ask.

Wednesday:
We drove South to Dingle taking the Killimer Tarbert Ferry.  This took about 3 hours.  Our stay at the Bambury's Guesthouse was excellent.  We had dinner at The Smokehouse and then crossed the street to The Small Bridge Pub.

I'll have to finish this later.  So sorry I couldn't accomplish it all in one post.