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Melissa5


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Leave Luggage in the car while hiking at Glenariff Park?
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Does anybody have opinions/experience about whether it's wise to leave our luggage in the car while hiking at such places as the Glenariff forest park on the Antrim coast? Obviously anyone will guess that folks parked in their parking lot have gone off on a hike.

Unfortunately we had a rental car broken into at a national park in Northern California many years ago. They smashed the window and found my purse which I was foolish enough to leave in the car. Obviously I wouldn't ever leave my purse in the car again!

But what about when you are moving from one town to the next, and you have your luggage in the car with you, because you are changing hotels? We could try to hide the luggage but with 4 people, sometimes the luggage doesn't all fit in the trunk. Also if we happen to rent a minivan, the luggage is often entirely visible in many minivans.

In Costa Rica we solved the problem by always staying within sight of our car when our luggage was inside the car. But this is limiting, especially in Ireland, where we are driving down from Bushmills to Belfast along the beautiful Antrim coast, and I was hoping we could stop for a nice hike at Glenariff.

What do you all do when in Ireland? Michelle, what do you think?

We won't be in Dublin. (I know that in most big cities you really can't leave visible valuables in any car.) I am mostly concerned about stops in the scenic countryside such as Glenariff.

We also have a long drive between Westport in County Mayo and Bushmills in County Antrim. There must be more tempting stops and walks along that route.

Of course I wouldn't leave my prescription meds, or passports, or plane tickets, or cash in the car. But it would be really frustrating to lose our luggage with all our clothes!

I apologize if I have already asked this question previously, but I don't believe I have.

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Irisheyes


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Melissa,
I have NO IDEA of the answer, but it's a great question. I'll be reading here for some answers. Checking flight times just yesterday and noting that there are a lot of early arrival times in Dublin. Made me wonder what we'd do w/ our bags too.

IE

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Melissa5


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irisheyes, are you staying in Dublin? If your flight arrives early and you are staying in Dublin your hotel/b&b will hold your luggage for you until your room is ready.

If you're driving on, with luggage in car, then you have the same decisions to make that I do... Ideally I know it would be best to have all luggage completely hidden from view in the car. But this isn't always possible with 4 people in one car.



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Michele Erdvig


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Melissa,


I have traveled around Ireland for over 30 years with luggage in my car with no problems whatsoever. When you decide on the type of vehicle you will rent, find out from the car company whether luggage would be visable. Many will have screens that pull over the luggage compartment.


When I park somewhere we try to stow touristy things like maps, brochures, etc. out of sight. But often there is a jacket or sweater left in the back (they work well as cover-ups) although I wouldn't leave an expensive one on display. (I guess my ratty old jacket does the trick!) You can also stow things underneath the front seats and they will not be visable. In a pinch you could always pack a couple of those big black garbage bags to cover things up. Helpful for laundry too.


In NI they will know from your license plate that you are not locals. But again, I have not had a problem. In fact I have not heard of anyone (clients or readers) who have ever had a car broken into and some have left a car in a parking lot for an overnight stay in the Aran Islands.


So use common sense and don't sweat it.


Michele



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Melissa5


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Michelle, oh, good, I like your lack of reports about stolen luggage. Very reassuring. I definitely will try to rent a vehicle which has someplace covered to stow most of the luggage. Good idea about packing some garbage bags to disguise what we can't hide. I think I will just relax. (Remember this is a major over-planner talking. This means I will only take normal pre-cautions, several steps down from a full red alert!
Anybody who has more thoughts on how to keep your car from being broken into when it is full of luggage, let's hear it!

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Michele Erdvig


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Melissa,


As they say...don't sweat the small stuff!


Michele



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"Ireland Expert"  Michele Erdvig

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Irisheyes


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Melissa - Yes, the plan is to stay in Dublin for 2-3 nights depending on when me land. Thanks for the tip.

IE

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