thomas
Unregistered User
(2/23/04 11:48 am)

First trip

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Michele,
We have booked a self-drive B&B tour package. What do you think of our itinerary for a June trip? We don’t want to get the green blur effect that we read about on your forum. Next question concerns the car. We have booked what they call a group “B” car. It is an Opel Astra or (Toyota Corola). There are 3 people going on the trip. We will be spending a lot of time in the car for 13 days, and I have concerns the car won’t be big enough. My wife is small framed, but I am a fairly large man, over 6’ 1’’around 225 lb. My son will be Sixteen years old then and is growing so fast he might be bigger than me by the time we leave. The luggage we will need (One large roll-around type and probably a carry-on each, plus one camera bag) might really fill the car up. I haven’t checked to see if we can step up to a group “C” car. Which is an Opel Vectra or (Toyota Camry), and how much more it will cost. What are your thoughts, I know that fuel cost, and narrow roads might be an issue? You and others are very kind to offer your expertise to someone that hopes to make many trips, but wants to make the most of their first experience.

Itinerary

Day 1-Friday evening on the 4th depart Boston for Shannon. Arrive in Shannon on the morning of the 5th and drive to Tralee and spend the night.

Days 2 and 3- June 6th drive to Dingle. Spend nights of the 6th and 7th in Dingle.

Day 4- Take scenic route through the Gap of Dunloe and the MacGillycuddy's Reeks and spend the night in Kemare.

Days 5 and 6- Leave Kenmare take a scenic route through Bantry,Skibbereen,Clonakilty on way to Kinsale, Spend nights of the 9th and 10th

Days 7 and 8- Leave Kinsale and head up to Cashel area (My Great Grandfather was from the town of Golden outside Cashel. Spend nights of the 11th and 12th

Days 9, 10, 11- Leave Cashel area and drive up to Clifden in the Conamarra region. Spend nights of the 13th and 14th and 15th (Try to do an Aran Islands trip)

Days 12, 13- Drive down to County Clare, and see the Burren area. Stay the night in Lisdoonvarna. The last night June 17th stay some where close to Shannon Airport .
Day 14- Fly back to Boston afternoon of the 18th .

garyvol
Unregistered User
(2/23/04 2:35 pm)

thomas' first trip

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Hi,
First of all you will love Logans' new E terminal (awesome). My itinerary question is has this package tour locked you into B&B all these nites. If not, the Queens Court may have some suggestions.
Traleee?? Why???
Another question about the car. If you can upgrade to a BMW 530i from Hertz, you won't regret it. I didn't and a great driving car it is and also has a deep trunk. Just my opinion.
I'll stop for now
-gary

thomas
Unregistered User
(2/23/04 3:32 pm)
 
Itinerary

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Gary
First, Yes we're locked in to B&B's. As for Tralee, It looked like a good place to stop on the way to Dingle the first night because of the jet lag etc. If you have a better suggestion please let me know. I believe your right about the car and will see if we can budget for it.
Thanks

garyvol
Unregistered User
(2/24/04 6:50 am)

lets refine the plan

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Hi,
Planning trips should be made to have fun, but also requires patients.
Lets start at the end. You say you need to stay close to Shannon on the 17th. Bunratty is a typical town most folks use. I stayed at Bunratty Lodge on low road (located at the very end of it). Since it is June you better call Mary Browne for the B&B reservation.
If you get there early enough you might take in the castle banguet or barn. Then follow up at Durty Neli's.
The morning of travel, you can first shop at the Blarney woolen Mills place, then allow enough time to gas the car, next to the B&B and then at the airport do more shopping before checkin.
I cannot help you in Tralee, never been there. I assume on your first nite you have a B&B reserved in Tralee.
not sure if any of this is helpful, but June is a busy travel month.
-gary

Michele Erdvig
ezOP
Posts: 2179
(2/24/04 4:38 pm)

Re: First trip

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Hi Thomas,

I think that three people will be quite comfortable in a Vectra. My husband and I consider it to be one of the nicer cars we have rented in Ireland (never rented the BMW though). Tralee is okay for your first stop. Just a workaday town with no pizazz but fine for a jet-lag stop on your way to Dingle.

A couple of places high on my list for sightseeing and scenery are Killarney and Kenmare, yet you are not giving them much time. Perhaps you can cut a day elsewhere and add on to those. I will add my day-by-day comments below.

Day 1-Friday evening on the 4th depart Boston for Shannon. Arrive in Shannon on the morning of the 5th and drive to Tralee and spend the night.Michele's Answer:  Fine.

Days 2 and 3- June 6th drive to Dingle. Spend nights of the 6th and 7th in Dingle. Michele's Answer: Good. Be sure to do Slea Head Drive and see the Blasket Island Center. This is a Bank Holiday weekend. Be sure to have firm reservations here.

Day 4- Take scenic route through the Gap of Dunloe and the MacGillycuddy's Reeks and spend the night in Kemare. Michele's Answer: The Gap of Dunloe is an all day long trip. To see a bit of it go out to Kate Kearny's Cottage and maybe walk a mile or so and then back. I don't think that you are giving yourselves a lot of time in Killarney to see the various sites. As suggested above, perhaps you can steal a day from elsewhere and spend at least one night in the Killarney area.

Days 5 and 6- Leave Kenmare take a scenic route through Bantry,Skibbereen,Clonakilty on way to Kinsale, Spend nights of the 9th and 10th. Michele's Answer: Day 5 will be a very long day with lots of scenic driving.

Days 7 and 8- Leave Kinsale and head up to Cashel area (My Great Grandfather was from the town of Golden outside Cashel. Spend nights of the 11th and 12th. Michele's Answer: Fine.

Days 9, 10, 11- Leave Cashel area and drive up to Clifden in the Conamarra region. Spend nights of the 13th and 14th and 15th (Try to do an Aran Islands trip). Michele's Answer: Clifden is a bit far from the ferry at Rossaveal. Most people do the Aran Islands from Galway. An early morning drive will be required to do the Aran Islands from Clifden.

Days 12, 13- Drive down to County Clare, and see the Burren area. Stay the night in Lisdoonvarna. The last night June 17th stay some where close to Shannon Airport. Michele's Answer: I would steal a day here to add on to Killarney. Instead of stopping in Lisdoonvarna, push on to Bunratty for your last night.

On the whole it looks pretty good with lots of multiple night stays. Also in June the daylight lasts till late and you can do lots of sightseeing.

Enjoy your trip!

Michele

Allison
Unregistered User
(2/24/04 7:30 pm)

car size

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Hi Thomas,

We toured Ireland for 10 days a few years ago with 2 teenage boys, 13 and 16. Our car was similar to a Vectra, and we ended up with a small bag between the boys in the back seat. We were traveling with two huge duffels and a few small carry-on sized bags, camera and camcorder. You will be fine with one teenager. The difference in the car size as far as the roads are concerned should not be a problem.

I can't add anything regarding your itinerary since I always try to do too much when in Ireland.

Gary, we flew to Paris two weeks ago from Terminal E at Logan. We spent easily 45 minutes on line to get through security. We flew from Logan last April and didn't have any lines. Methinks I may not like the new terminal!

Allison

thomas
Unregistered User
(2/25/04 9:56 am)

Good advice

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Allison
Thanks for the input. I feel very lucky that I found this forum before we go to get all this great advice.
Thanks!
thomas
p.s. Any new thoughts are more than welcomed

wojazz3
Registered User
Posts: 373
(2/25/04 2:02 pm)

Re: First trip

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Hi Thomas:

On staying in Tralee, I agree that there are better places. About 30 minutes further west along the coast is Castlegregory. The Shores Country House is there and is my favorite place to stay in Ireland. Beautiful home with a view out over the beach. Most of the rooms look out on the water and one has a beautiful balcony. The food is wonderful and Annette is a delight. Tell Annette that Bill and Felicity say hi!

I agree with Michele on adding another day in the Kenmare area. It sounds like your intention was to drive the road through the Gap of Dunloe which is not allowed in the summer. In the off season you can get away with it. Also, if you are staying at one of the few B&Bs within the park you can drive the road. It's pretty rough by the way and much more enjoyable to see on foot.

Bill

edhodge
Unregistered User
(3/8/04 8:17 pm)

aran islands

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For our trip from Rossaveal to the Aran Islands, we stayed in Spiddal at Vera Feeney's Ardmor Country House. The grounds were beautiful and the rooms were very nice. Mrs. Feeney has won the Galtee Breakfast Award three times and man, I could certainly see why. It was delicious plus she and Mr. Feeney were such kind people. We had a lot of fun in Spiddal, one of the few pubs where a lot of locals talked to us.

The trip from Spiddal to Rossaveal is about 15 mins max. We drove from Clifden to Spiddal and it is poorly signposted and way too much to attempt to catch a morning ferry.

When you get to Inishmor, be picky about your pony cart driver- we wish we had someone a little more verbose. The island is breathtaking.

Have fun!

Diane