mldmv
Unregistered User
(4/7/04 8:44 am)
 
Our dream trip- long post

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We just returned home from a once in a life time experience! Thank you Michele for all of your help-we are so thankful that we used your itinerary service.

Sunday, March 28th 4 hour drive to Chicago's O'Hare Airport. Boarded Aer Lingus around 7:00pm, the plane was very crowed and the seats closer together then I remembered. Of course it couldn't mean that I'm bigger than I used to be.

Monday, March 29th After a long flight we landed in Dublin at 10:10am (Ireland had just changed to daylights saving time). After arrival we upgraded our car to an automatic transmission. Smart move! My brother-in-law, Dan, agreed to drive and promptly got in on the passenger side of the car! After touring the parking lot-a little more difficult to drive on the left side, we finally exited the parking lot. I am sure the parking attendants were making bets if the car would return in one piece!

We made our way to Powerscourt-it is a beautiful setting, spring flowers were in bloom, The gardens must be absolutely gorgeous later in the season. We then toured Powerscourt waterfall-it was beautiful. It was wonderful to enjoy the area, especially after a long plane trip.

On a narrow road (a little lost-but the road we took got us there!)from Powerscourt to Glendalough a farmer was moving his cattle. The farmer was dressed in a suit jacket and tie! Dan is a farmer and we've never seen him in a tie and jacket to do chores!

Glenadlough was amazing! Enjoyed every minute being there. We all purchased Heritage cards-for us, a great investment! Living in an area that was not founded until 1847-the history of Glendalough is unbelievable.

Stayed at Derrybawn Lodge. Nice. Meet Teresa at breakfast, very friendly.

Tuesday, March 30th Vale of Avoca, beautiful drive. We stopped to see "Meeting of the Waters", an inspiration area for the poet Thomas Moore. Just beautiful, and very relaxing-yes, Michele the view from the stairs of the gift shop is wonderful!

On the way to Cashel, stopped and visited the Avoca Handweavers, and toured Waterford Crystal. Enjoyed both areas.

Driving into Cashel-oh my goodness! All of sudden you look up and see the Rock of Cashel!!!! Very impressive!

Stayed at Dualla House, Beautiful! Mrs. Power is a very warm and gracious hostess. A word to those of you planning to stay at Dualla House, Mrs. Power no longer accepts credit cards. Just so you know how to plan.

Wednesday, March 31st Since we arrived late on Tuesday, we toured the Rock of Cashel. I could go on and on-so I won't. The history is just something to savory and enjoy! We then toured Kilkenny and Kilkenny Castle. In Kilkenny, my husband meet another golfer who encouraged him to drive by Mount Juliet Golf Course. We did, however, we had "touring clothes" on vs. "Golf attire" and received a few dirty looks as we went into the pro shop. Oh well. We got lost heading back to Cashel, a long trip on very narrow roads, but a wonderful adventure!

We then encountered our only negative experience on our trip. We stopped to eat dinner at Hannigan's Pub. After a long drive on very narrow roads we sat at a corner booth, Dan, stretch and leaned back for a moment (no big deal), and the gentleman (?) at the table beside us turned to his wife and said "that's disgraceful!" Then, when the waitress came to their table the couple along with the waitress discussed how awful Americans were! Right where we could hear them! The 4 of us sat very quietly and eat our meal. During our meal, the man said to his wife,"I think they heard us". After the couple finished they came over and visited, wanted to be very helpful. We were polite. The waitress we had was not even polite to us. The owners were not apparent, and maybe very nice people, however, if we go back to Ireland that is the only place I would not visit again.

Thursday, April 1st-my birthday! Cashel to Kenmare. Visited Cahir Castle-one of my favorites! Anne, our guide, was just fascinating! She was gracious, warm, had a good since of humor, and very knowledgeable. I learned more from her in an hour then I did in 4 years of college! We also toured the swiss cottage and Blarney Castle. Blarney Castle is in a beautiful setting! As we headed farther south, more flowers were in bloom. Kenmare is a wonderful, charming town. We stayed at the Kenmare Lodge-probably our favorite. Is is a beautiful place to stay and within a short walking distance to town.

Friday, April 2nd My husband decided he did want to visit Bantry. His great Grandfather was from that area. We left Kemare and drove to Bantry, the scenery was unbelievable. For an "N" road it was exciting! We walked around the cemetery, and visited the Church. It was an enjoyable day. Spent the night at Killarney Lodge. A wonderful place to stay- Catherine Teacy a very gracious hostess. Location is excellent!!!! Town Centre is within a few minutes walk! Listened to music at the Killarney tower Hotel pub. It was a very enjoyable evening.

Saturday, April 3rd We started the day with a Jaunting Car ride-an experience we will never forget!! Our cheeks are still hurting from the laughter on that trip!!! Also toured Ross Castle and Muckross house. Due to heavy rain we skipped the farms (we'll visit on our next trip,hopefully) late afternoon the rain slowed, and we went to see the Torc waterfall-again what a great area!!! It was so green! On the way back to town we spotted 2 "large" red deer. My husband and I attended Mass at St. Mary's Cathedral. I believe they said the "Our Father" in Irish-it wasn't english. Again a wonderful experience. We went to see the sunset at Aghadoe-a little rainy, but wonderful.

Sunday, April 4th. Killarney to Dingle. Two words "MOTOR RALLY"! In Castlemane, on route to Dingle, a big sign "ROAD CLOSED DUE TO MOTOR RALLY, TAKE DETOUR TO DINGLE THROUGH TRALEE". It was a beautiful drive to Dingle-and yes, we kept meeting the cars participating in the Motor Rally! Yikes. Arrived in Dingle along with 100 motor rally cars. Really happy to reach Heaton's! The Heaton's are a wonderful family and we enjoyed our time there. We were unable to tour any of the Dingle Peninsula-due to the rally. So we had a Dingle Pub crawl Not intentional, however, with every heavy shower we ducked into the nearest pub. Dingle has many of pubs!!

Monday, April 5th A long day. We toured Slea Head and Inch Strand, the scenery was just beautiful, despite the showers. I just can't imagine what it would look like on a clear day! Because of the rainy weather we skipped the ferry, and headed to Bunratty via Adare. We arrived in Bunratty around 1:30 and decided to make a quick trip up to the Cliffs (the weather had cleared somewhat) before the Medieval Banquet at 5:30. I'm so glad we made that quick trip, I would have regretted not seeing the Cliffs. The wind and view were unbelievable! Why do people get on their tummy's and look over the edge? They must have a death wish!! The Medieval Banquet was the perfect way to end a perfect trip!!!!

Mary Browne is a wonderful, warm, gracious hostess. The Lodge was full of quests and Mary served us in her own eloquent dinning room-we felt like royalty!

Tuesday, April 6th A long flight, 10 hours on the plane, and then a 4 hour drive home from Chicago. I hope that someday I can do it all again.

This and That

Favorite Signs

"Mind your Head"
"Mind your Step"
"Traffic calming"
"Overtaking"
"Take Away"

Sayings

"half eight"
"straight away"

We had a wonderful Trip!!! Thanks again Michele for helping us turn our dream into reality!!!

Marcia

Ande
Unregistered User
(4/7/04 2:10 pm)

AerLingus

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Hi Marcia,
Did you have any trouble on Aer Lingus with your seat assignments? I'm flying them next month. Last year, they got both my mom's and my seating wrong. It seems to be something I keep hearing about them. I wonder what the deal is?!
I enjoyed reading your fun report.
Ande

mldmv
Posts: 15
(4/7/04 3:58 pm)

dream trip

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Hi Ande,

No, we didn't have any trouble with our seat assignments. I booked the flights last September, and the 4 of us sat together in the middle section of the plane on both flights. I know on the return trip there were several family members that were not together. The plane was very full, I really didn't see an empty seat.

I'm sorry to hear you had trouble with your seat assignments, that would make a very long trip even longer!!!

Marcia

Ande
Unregistered User
(4/7/04 4:07 pm)

Seats

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All I can say is that if they don't give me the aisle seat I need, I will be making the aisle seat occupant quite miserable because I need to get up often. I've got long legs and I get aches if I don't get up and move around often! I survived last year's wrong assignment because it was a short flight from London to Dublin, but this year is transatlantic!!

A co-worker of mine ended up hospitalized last month for 6 days with a dangerous blood clot that had formed and traveled up her leg as the result of being on a cramped long flight! Another good reason to get up often and move around!

Ande

Michele Erdvig
ezOP
Posts: 2419
(4/8/04 12:05 am)
 
Welcome Home

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Hi Marcia,

Welcome back from Ireland! I'm so glad that you had a good time and enjoyed most of your experiences there. I had to laugh about the driver getting in on the wrong side of the car. I think tourists are at their most dangerous in the car rental parking lots. I certainly watch out for them myself there.

What an unfortunate experience at Hannigan's Pub in Cashel. People in the hospitality business should know better than to be rude to customers. I am going to be in touch with the owners myself about this incident. It is impossible to know what your patrons might do but your staff should trained properly. I hope you didn't leave a tip? Mark D. recently posted about being thrown out of a pub in Sligo for being an American. I hope this is not a disturbing new trend. I intend to be especially observant about this on my next trip to Ireland.

It was a pleasure helping with your trip. I hope that you get to return to the Emerald Isle again soon.

Michele

mldmv
Posts: 16
(4/8/04 8:19 am)

trip

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Hi Michele,

I had extremely high expectations for our trip to Ireland, and those expectations were meet and even surpassed! What happened in the pub was unfortunate, however, one negative experience vs. 100's of positive experiences isn't bad.

We will always remember this trip as the greatest vacation ever. Maybe someday I can convince my husband to fly again and return to Ireland. He enjoys having is feet on the ground.

Ande, I hope you get your aisle seat. I have short legs and felt cramped. As a nurse, I was thinking about blood clots on the long trip home- keep those legs moving! I especially enjoyed when the staff announced for the premier class to please fold up their foot rest! It must be heaven in the premier class. Enjoy your trip.

Marcia

mikey
Unregistered User
(4/8/04 9:05 am)
 
seating

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Aer Lingus usually doesn't book seats until the day of departure except for frequent flyers. This makes it even more important to show up early to check-in. If you do not get the seat you want at check-in then ask at the gate since some people do not show up.

Ande
Unregistered User
(4/8/04 9:52 am)

Seats

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Hi,
I'm first flying Continental to Baltimore before catching the Aer Lingus flight to Shannon. Hopefully my flight will be on time so I can get to the Aer Lingus desk early and get my seats. Of course, last year that didn't matter. We were told we had aisle seats at checkin and were surprised to find we didn't when we got on the plane (didn't know what the airplane layout was to know what letter corresponded with what seat type).
I'm shocked at how much negative feedback is out there on Aer Lingus. Every airline has its horror stories, but Aer Lingus seems to be indifferent to improving. Oh well, as long as I get to Ireland in one piece, that's what matters!

Ande

Mark D
Unregistered User
(4/8/04 2:49 pm)

I agree

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I totally agree with mldmv. Our trip was sooooooo wonderful, I did not let the barkeep at the "Shoot The Crows" bother us. On the other extreme, Ed Gaughan of Gaughan's Pub spent 20 minutes talking with us...I will not soon forget the wonderful Irish Hospitality !
Mark

Michele Erdvig
ezOP
Posts: 2425
(4/10/04 10:33 pm)

Kindness of Strangers

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Marcia & Mark,

I'm glad that the kindness of the majority of the Irish offset the rudeness of the few!

Michele