Unregistered User
(6/24/05 4:23 am)

Ireland for the Teenager

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I am planning a trip to Ireland in August with my two teens aged 13 and 16. I've got an itinerary loaded with castles and cliffs, cathedrals and caves and all sorts of fabulous stuff. Whilst my children will love all this, I was wondering if they might find it a little too "heavy". I would like to know if there is anything I could do especially with them in mind. They're already resigning themselves to an overload of Irish jigs and reels . Anything you can recommend would be helpful. We will be visiting and stopping in Clare, Galway, Kildare, Dublin, Meath, Wexford, Waterford, Tipperary, Limerick, Kerry and Cork.

Michele Erdvig
Administrator
Posts: 3207
(6/24/05 5:10 pm)

Re: Ireland for the Teenager

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QueenBee,

Why don't you post your itinerary and I will be happy to comment on it? What sorts of things do your kids enjoy doing? Water parks, ATV quad riding, horseback riding, surfing, boat rides, dolphin & whale watching, etc.

Michele

queenbee
Unregistered User
(6/24/05 9:50 pm)

Ireland for the Teenager

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Michele: Here's what I am planning to do so far.
- My schedule for the last day is not final.
- I've also got three castles - we probably will not do all three.
- I am very keen to see stone circles but don't know which ones are the best to do.

I would love to know whether you think I'm being a little over ambitious.

5th Aug arr Shannon
5th B&B Bunratty
6th Aug Bunratty Castle
Bunratty Folk Park
Drive through:
Ennis
Quin
Kilkee - Cross-Kilbaha-Loophead-Moneen
Kilbaha
Loophead
Cross - Doonbeg - Quilty
Spanish Point - Lahinch
Liscanoor
The Burren
The Cliffs of Moher/Doolin The Aillwee Caves (in Ballyvaughan)


6th B&B Renvyle
7th Aug Galway Cathedral
Irish Crystal Heritage Centre Aughnanure Castle
Stone Circles

7th B+B Cherryville Kildare

8th Aug Dublin : Kilmainham Gaol
Dublin : National Museum
Dublin : Christchurch Cathedral

Dublin-Enniscorthy 115 km/1.45 hrs Arrive B&B for 5 pm
Daniel O'Donnel concert 7 pm

8th B+B Enniscorthy
9th Aug Waterford Crystal Visitor's centre Kilkenny Castle, Kilkenny Co. Dunmore Cave, Kilkenny Co.
The Magic Road, Comeragh Mts, Co.Tipperary
Another Magic Road?
St.Patrick's well, Clonmel,

9th B+B Cashel
10 Aug Rock of Cashel
The Hunt Museum, Limerick
Grange Stone Circles
Ardgroom Stone Circles, Kerry
Puck Fair - Kerry

10th B+B, Ballinskelligs
11 Aug Puck Fair - Kerry
Ring of Kerry
Dingle Peninsula drive

10th B+B, Ballinskelligs
12 Aug To Cork
Blarney Castle
English market
The Beara Peninsula
Stone Circle : Three Fingers

12 Aug Fly out from Cork Airport

Thank you so much for your advise.

QueenBee

queenbee
Unregistered User
(6/24/05 9:57 pm)

Ireland for the Teenager

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Oops! Michelle I did not answer the latter part of your message.....

On re-reading the itinerary myself I realize that my daughter is going to love the caves, castles and the beaches - all of them up her street. And she doesn't know yet - but the Ballinskellig b+b is especially for her. She adores horses and they have stables.

Now what can I find that might be of special interest for a 15 year old boy who lives for sport and music?

QueenBee

Michele Erdvig
Administrator
Posts: 3210
(6/26/05 1:09 am)

Re: Ireland for the Teenager

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QueenBee,

What sort of sports and music does your son like? Do you think he might enjoy soccer, hurling or horse racing? Would he enjoy seeing a performance of traditional Irish music?

As for stone circles, the largest one in Ireland is near Lough Gur in Co. Limerick. In Co. Cork is Drombeg and there is the Druid's Circle near Kenmare.

I'm going to take a stab at your itinerary but forgive me if I mis-interpret some of it. The way it is written it is hard to decipher where you are spending each night.

5th Aug arr Shannon
5th B&B Bunratty

Michele's Answer  * You would be better off trying to fit in some sightseeing on your arrival day -- at least Bunratty Castle & Folk Park -- because you have way too much on the 6th.

6th Aug Bunratty Castle
Bunratty Folk Park
Drive through:
Ennis
Quin
Kilkee - Cross-Kilbaha-Loophead-Moneen
Kilbaha
Loophead
Cross - Doonbeg - Quilty
Spanish Point - Lahinch
Liscanoor
The Burren
The Cliffs of Moher/Doolin The Aillwee Caves (in Ballyvaughan)
6th B&B Renvyle

Michele's Answer * I assume you are spending the night in Renvyle? If so, you have way, way too much to do. You actually have about 3 days worth of sightseeing and driving on this one day. Time to start pruning.

7th Aug Galway Cathedral
Irish Crystal Heritage Centre
Aughnanure Castle
Stone Circles
7th B+B Cherryville Kildare

Michele's Answer  * Wow! I hope I'm totally confused and reading this whole thing wrong. Are you going from Renvyle to Kildare and fitting in all that sightseeing too? I don't mean to sound negative but even though Ireland is a small country you will average 35 mph. It will probably take 5-6 hours of just driving time on this day. When you consider the various distances you plan on traveling you will be in the car racing all over Ireland for most of the time you are there.

8th Aug Dublin : Kilmainham Gaol
Dublin : National Museum
Dublin : Christchurch Cathedral
Dublin-Enniscorthy 115 km/1.45 hrs Arrive B&B for 5 pm
Daniel O'Donnel concert 7 pm
8th B+B Enniscorthy

Michele's Answer  * The National Museum is closed on Mondays. This is probably your sanest day (other than arrival day). You will want to give yourselves more than 1.45 hours to get from Dublin to Enniscourthy because you must deal with Dublin traffic.

9th Aug Waterford Crystal Visitor's centre Kilkenny Castle, Kilkenny Co. Dunmore Cave, Kilkenny Co.
The Magic Road, Comeragh Mts, Co.Tipperary
Another Magic Road?
St.Patrick's well, Clonmel,
9th B+B Cashel

Michele's Answer * Sightseeing takes time. Concentrate on Waterford and Kilkenny only.

10 Aug Rock of Cashel
The Hunt Museum, Limerick
Grange Stone Circles
Ardgroom Stone Circles, Kerry
Puck Fair - Kerry
10th B+B, Ballinskelligs

Michele's Answer  * Much too much!

11 Aug Puck Fair - Kerry
Ring of Kerry
Dingle Peninsula drive
11th B+B, Ballinskelligs

Michele's Answer  * Forget Dingle and spend your time on the Ring of Kerry.

12 Aug To Cork
Blarney Castle
English market
The Beara Peninsula
Stone Circle : Three Fingers

Michele's Answer  * The Beara Peninsula is a day trip in itself. Best to skip it and go to Blarney & Cork.

12 Aug Fly out from Cork Airport Michele's Answer * I'm exhausted!

My opinion is that you are trying to cover too much territory, do too many things and will remember your trip as a green blur. You will need a vacation from your vacation. Please re-think your itinerary -- if not for your own sake -- then for your children.

Michele

yesiree100
Registered User
Posts: 39
(6/26/05 9:07 am)

Ireland and Teens

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While traveling in Ireland with my 12-year-old niece and 16-year-old nephew (not on the same trip), I learned a few things along the way. They both enjoyed the scenery, climbing around ruins, shopping, trying new foods (even just the candy aisle in the store).

But some things to be aware of...after a certain point they reach green hill, grey rock, diddle-dee-dee--diddle-dee-dee overload and just want to do something normal. One of the most fun things we did was take a break from touring to go to a department store. We're still wearing the shirts, looking through the photo album, listening to the CD and using the cool vegetable peeler we bought over there (we've gotten more mileage out of that stuff than our souveniers and stories of tourist destinations). It also gave us a chance to split up to our own departments and get some solo time after a few days of traveling as a pack.

We also tried to brief them on each stop as we got out of the car in hopes of helping them realize what made this stop unique. "This building is supposed to have strange carving of a dog on it…” "This is the oldest, tallest, biggest, most dangerous, etc, etc..." stuff like that.

We also made a habit of trading off who chose the restaurant...of course that meant eating at Super Mac's one night, but it also meant that my niece, who insisted on Chinese food, landed us in the best Chinese restaurant in Limerick (Jasmine Palace) and my nephew's, "There was a place we walked by earlier that looked cool..." had us going back in time and enjoying lunch in an indoor palm garden in Dublin (Cafe en Seine).

We tried to push them to go up and talk to Irish kids who were their age...they found our urgings annoying. In the end they both ended up having conversations with kids younger than them...I think they were more confident talking to a different age group. My nephew learned how to use a hurley and a sliothar from two 11-year-olds who were practicing in the street.

It's great that you are trying to plan something special specifically for each child. They will love that. Is your son a ghost fan...there are loads of ghosts stories in Ireland to look in to (St Michan’s Church in Dublin has mummies…just note their tour gets a little gory when they get in to punishment for treason, less gore than many TV shows, but wanted to note it in case he or you are sensitive to that kind of thing). Several towns have great music stores, but it depends on his interests for us to suggest them. Does your son have a period in history or Irish heroes of particular interest?

As for your itinerary, you’ve got the makings of The Amazing Race…unfortunately there isn’t the $$$ at the finish line to motivate your family. Your itinerary has you pushing to cover ground AND see sites, and you’ll find that isn’t the best way to see Ireland…especially with family. The first thing to do is accept the fact that you can’t see it all (you’ve got at least two weeks worth of sites on your list). With driving and site seeing, it’s usually best to only have about two major destinations per day. Once you include those invisible time-eaters like meals, packing the car, finding the entrance, admission, parking, etc you will find a half-day gone. However, if you have less on the itinerary, and you have more time, you will never be at a loss to find more to do.

Another thing to note is that the curves and hills of Irish roads not only make the going slow, but some routes can bring on car-sickness (for some people it's nausea, but for a lot of people it often means falling asleep - especially in the back seat). Just realize that after the third time you catch yourself saying, "There's all this beautiful scenery, and I can't believe you're sleeping through it."

Good luck, and I hope this info helps you out. None of us want you to get discouraged…we just want you to have the best trip possible.

Corey

Michele Erdvig
Administrator
Posts: 3211
(6/26/05 4:27 pm)

Re: Ireland for the Teenager

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QueenBee,

What excellent advice from Corey! I just want to add that you shouldn't become discouraged about your itinerary. Just go back to the drawing board and re-do. Rarely does anyone get it perfect right away. Usually many revisions are needed to work out your trip satisfactorily. So keep working on it. After all anything worth doing right takes time and practice. Plus you have everyone here to help out. We want you and your kids to have a great time!

Michele

QueenBee
Unregistered User
(7/5/05 1:06 am)

Ireland for the Teenager (and family!)

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Thank you so much Michele and Corey. (Haven't had a chance to get back to this site to check on your responses before today). You've offered some great advise. I agree that there's too much packed in it - actually I had no intention of doing all the castles and cathedrals in Ireland but had options of those available in the places we're passing thru so we can see at least one. And doing some sightseeing on the first day is great advise. And I'm going to look through it all again because just reading through it exhausts me too. I will prune, snip and clip at it, and make sure I enjoy the trip. Will definitely keep all your advise in mind.

Michele Erdvig
Administrator
Posts: 3239
(7/5/05 5:06 pm)

Re: Ireland for the Teenager (and family!)

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QueenBee,

If you need more advice or have additional questions, please ask. I'm glad to hear you are going to prune your itinerary. You will all have a better time that way.

Michele

mbarnes
Unregistered User
(7/13/05 2:42 pm)

traveling with teenagers

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When we took are kids, although younger than yours, I tried to find a kid friendly focal point per day. We went horseback riding/went to the indoor water park" the Aqua Dome in Tralee. They did like the Ailwee Caves. They would have driven us crazy had we driven along all day. We see less of Ireland, but it just saved something for nxt time. Another thought if you have readers perhaps stopping at a local library?

Good luck with your trip. My son has recently announced hes going to go to College in Ireland so he can have the accent. (He's only 9)LOL

Michele Erdvig
Administrator
Posts: 3260
(7/14/05 1:29 am)

Re: traveling with teenagers

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mbarnes,

Thanks for the good tips. So you son wants an Irish brogue? That made me laugh!

Michele