We are back, and as promised, I will share our experiences with wheelchairs and walkers.  (My husband and I are in our 30's and my grandparents are in thier 80's.)

First ... Our itinerary: Saturday-arrive in Dublin, drive right away to Kilkenny.  Sunday-Drove to Rock of Cashel, Blarney Castle & Killarney.  (Stayed two nights in Killarney) Monday-Ring of Kerry. Tuesday-Drove to Glin then took the car ferry to Kilrush and up to Cliffs of Moher. Wednesday- Shopping in Ennis. Thursday-Drove to Limerick and onto Dublin.  Friday-Dublin City Tour by bus. Saturday- flight home.  We had 2 days of rainy/snowy weather, but the other days were so wonderful!

We couldn't find anyone who knew if our handicapped rear-view-mirror tag would do anything for us, so we decided to play it safe and not use it.  Most places have a drop off zone or "set down" area, so that's what we did.  (My husband did a lot of walking since parking in any town was hard to come by.)

We didn't see any wheelchairs -ever- the whole week we were there.  That explained the attitudes we came across.  We seemed to be a bother in most of the small towns.  We of course walked slowly and the drivers didn't like that. 

Most small towns do only have sidewalks wide enough for one, but that didn't bother us.  (Dublin has sidewalks that are 4 or 5 wide!) 

Most every shop has a step-up to get into it.  Some were quite snug for us to fit into, but we managed just fine.

Most restrooms in the local resturants are not big enough for the wheelchairs and some are not located on the main floor.

I was always taught to give up my seat for the elderly - expecially for those using walkers and wheelchairs.  This was not the case on some of our bus trips.  So be prepared for this.

Cliffs of Moher - Yeah, Grandpa stayed in the car.  The hill up was way to steep for us to even try it.

Kilkenny Castle was good for him.  Book of Kells in Dublin has a secret "lift" for those in wheelchairs so ask for it. The rest of Trinity College has very rough walking due to the stones in the streets and walking path. 

The Muckross House only charged my Grandfather half price since he could only see things on the main floor.  We had to get him to the main floor, but once there, he could see quite a bit.

I'd say the bigger the wheels on your wheelchair or walker the better off you'll be.  The walking paths and sidewalks are not all that smooth. (Keep this in mind for all of Ireland.)

Grandpa also was not charged at all for the Rock of Cashel since he could only get into the lobby area. 

Our mini-van was wonderful!  It was a 7 passenger Kia.  We had pleanty of room for the 4 of us and the wheelchair and our luggage!

All in all, we didn't let anything bother us.  Grandpa couldn't do everything we did, but he got in most of it. 

We got great rooms for Grandpa and Grandma even though they needed to stay close to the "lift" or on the main floor. 

The four of us had the trip of a lifetime! We got around just fine with this wheelchair and we had a great trip!  We would all agree that we'd do this trip all over again.

If you have any questions, just email me.

KrysJohn

jdaily1@mn.rr.com