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Post Info TOPIC: going to ireland in 10 days...panicking
Anonymous

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going to ireland in 10 days...panicking


I've been kind of lurking around trying to get ideas from you all.  Our daughter is living in Ireland for seven months (she's been there since Nov.) and my hubby and I are going to see her.  We leave here on the 9th of Feb arriving in Dublin early afternoon of the 10th.  I've booked a hotel in Dublin for the 10 and 11. I'm just starting to panic trying to figure out how we can do all that we want to in the short time we have (our flight leaves feb. 21 in the morning).  Originally the plan was to leave dublin on the 12th and head down to waterford (our daughter lives there) stay the night in the waterford castle.  We were going to take the train down to waterford because hubby is willing to drive but we thought it would be easier to start from waterford rather than dublin.  So Feb 13 we would rent a car from waterford (maybe visit the crystal factory) and head to cork (not so much interested in the city) stopping for a visit at the blarney castle and probably stop for the night in the killarney area.  Next day head to the dingle peninsula and spend the day in the region and stay the night at the brook manor lodge in Tralee (110 euros for a triple room).  Feb 15 we were thinking of taking the ferry crossing from Tarbert to Killimer and spend the day touring around (Cliffs of Moher, burren, Aillwee cave) and then stay the night in Galway, I found a B&B called St Judes in Salthill for 105 euros, it looks very nice. 


This is a pretty fast trip I realize but our daughter is very determined that we have to get to Belfast and possibly into Scotland for a day or two also.  This is where the panic starts.  I had thought that we could drop off our rental car in Galway and take the train to Belfast (giving Dad a break from driving) however it looks like there is no direct train to belfast, they all seem to go through dublin.  It would basically be a full day of train travel from Galway whereas from dublin it's two hours to belfast.  I then began to think that maybe we should go north first and then tool around the southwest part of Ireland.


I'm just having a really hard time figuring out what to do and you all seem to have really good ideas and a lot of knowledge about Ireland so I thought i would throw this out there and see what you think.  I know that you will think that we shouldn't try to do all of this but we probably are going to so I welcome any and all input.  Thanks so much! 



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You are right, that is a VERY fast pace for Ireland.  Keep in mind that, as Michelle points out, the average driving time is 35 mph, even if you WANT to go faster, as there are small, windy roads, obstacles, weather, and towns to go through on any route.  There are very few roads that bypass the towns, you have to go through them -- usually at a snails pace, since the street is not wide enough for the rows of cars on either side, parking along the street.  You are also not, apparently, staying in any place for more than one night -- a backbreaking pace.  Remember that time is spent checking in, unpacking, familiarizing yourself with the B&B, the area, the parking, and then checking out, navigating, getting lost, etc.


In Ireland, the journey is the most delightful -- and the most harrowing -- part of the trip.  Try to skip some things if you can.  Are you wedded to going to Cork?  Or can you skip that and go straight to Killarney for a few days?  You can day trip it from Killarney to much of the southwest, and then base in Galway for a couple days as well.  Travel from Galway to Belfast I'm not sure on, as I've never been in the north, but my general advice is to take it easier.  You won't get much delight from the trip if you don't remember it



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Anonymous,


I think your daughter probably wants to see all of Ireland in less than two weeks. We generally refer to it here as "the green blur tour", since you will be staying in a new place every night and driving like mad all over the place. If that is your preferred way of travel, then great. You can do it and in February you can wing it and just stop when you want. However, it gets very tiring doing that day after day. You might consider a few 2-night stays so that you can actually enjoy your trip. You are just whizzing through some of Ireland's most scenic areas.


As I always tell those trying to do it all: In Ireland less is more. Seeing less, you will enjoy it more. Only you can determine if this is a vacation or a marathon.


As for training to Belfast, you are correct that Dublin is the hub for trains in Ireland. You would be better off taking the train from Dublin to Belfast. Perhaps your daughter can take the train from Waterford and meet you in Dublin and you can all proceed to Belfast together.


If you want to re-think things and post another itinerary, feel free and I will be happy to comment on it.


Michele



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Anonymous

Date:

Thanks for your comments.  Our daughter is coming up to Dublin from Waterford to meet us on the 10th.  Part of the reason we had planned to go north to Belfast and into Scotland is for her (not that we wouldn't also like to see it) because the plan all along was for her to wait for us to come over and take her with us.  Students always see a way to get a free trip .  My hubby shortened our trip by two days and two days actually makes quite a difference. 


Key things that we wanted to see are the Blarney Castle, Dingle Peninsula, Burren and maybe a cave (Aillwee).  The interests up north are basically Belfast, Giant's Causeway and Loch Ness.  A possible plan would be:


Feb 10:  Arrive Dublin.  I have travelled over to London before and know that you don't want to do much the first day. Stay dublin overnight


Feb 11:  Hop on Hop off tour of dublin.  Our daughter lived here for two months so she has some places she wants us to see.  Stay dublin again


Feb 12:  Original plan was to go to Waterford but if we are intent on going north this might be the time to do it.  Train up to Belfast and overnight there.  If we take an earlier train might be able to do a tour of belfast also.


Feb 13:  I'm not sure if we should rent a car or what to go to Giants Causeway.  If we do go across to Scotland is it more expensive to take a car or what is the procedure there?  I've tried to get approximate costs from the ferry website to no avail.  If we do manage to go across to scotland we would probably stay somewhere in the Glasgow area for the night.  One concern is do we rent a car in Belfast or in Scotland?


Feb 14:  Drive up to Inverness and take a day tour of Loch Ness and surrounding area.  Stay overnight there.


Feb 15:  Leave to return to Belfast (not sure how long that would take) Would we be doing good just to get back to Belfast or could we return to Dublin?


Feb 16:  If we manage to return to dublin, we could take the train down to Waterford, rent a car and head out from there.  I only wanted to save hubby from driving in the dublin area.  It's so hard for me to get a grasp on how long it takes to travel somewhere because the distances sound so short! (I drive 30km to get to work and it takes 15-20 min.).


Feb 17:  IF we go with this plan what would you recommend we do for these days?  I am going to speak to my daughter about the wisdom of trying to do all of this but...


Feb 18:


Feb 19:


Feb 20:  We have to arrive back in Dublin for the night as our flight leaves Feb 21 a.m.


I have even considered flights from Belfast to Glasgow but have not checked prices yet.  The ferry ride would be nice but seems like it might be quite expensive although I haven't found any definite rates yet.


I really appreciate you taking the time to answer my questions.  Thanks so much!


Melanie


 



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Melanie,


I don't know of any car rental companies that allow you to take a car on the ferry to Scotland, England or elsewhere. You should check on that immediately. Two days in Scotland hardly seems worth the time and trouble especially if you must deal with a ferry ride. Many times flying with a low-cost carrier costs a lot less than the ferry and takes less time. I have been to Scotland before and it is a big place. What you will see in that amount of time is not a lot. You may be better off sticking to one country or the other. 


There are tours that go to Belfast and the Giant's Causeway, but they may not be running in Feb since it is way off-season. However, check this site: www.railtours.ie


You don't have much time to plan so you need to check everything out ASAP!


Michele



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"Ireland Expert"  Michele Erdvig

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Okay we've now decided that there just isn't time to go to Scotland at all.  I'm a little disappointed but it kind of feels like a relief too.  The itinerary now looks like:


Feb 10:  arrive Dublin, stay there until the 12th.  Originally we were planning to take the train down to waterford and rent a car there.  This was only so my hubby wouldn't have to tackle dublin traffic right off the hop.  There are not very many places in waterford to rent a car however so choices are limited.  My question is how far out is dublin airport and would it be a difficult place to begin driving from?  It would be much easier if we could rent our car from dublin but I wouldn't want to freak my husband out with crazy traffic right away (it would be a sunday though, that might make a difference).  Anyway if you could let me know your thoughts on this.


We planned to stay the night at the waterford castle and then head out the next day (might do the crystal factory first) towards cork.  We wanted to visit Blarney castle and then head towards killarney.  We thought we would spend the night somewhere in the area(Feb 13).


The next day (feb 14)we planned to travel towards the dingle peninsula and maybe stay in Tralee for a night or two depending if we have enough that we want to see and do and also if we like the b&b that we're at.


We would probably take the ferry (at Tarbert?)and go to Co. Clare that way instead of going around by Limerick(from what I've read there is not too much to see there).  In this area we wanted to go to the cliffs of moher, the burren, aillwee cave and bunratty castle.


Our plan is to be back in dublin on the 18th.  I have looked at train travel to belfast and it's only a two hour trip and not overly expensive so I thought we could probably drop off the car and take the train to belfast.  There is a mini coach tour to the giants causeway and bushmills that leaves at 9:30 in the morning and returns to belfast at 5:45 so we could arrange to do that on sunday the 19th.  Then on the 20th we could go on a hop on hop off bus tour of belfast before taking the train back to dublin.  Our flight leaves the morning of the 21st.


It still kind of sounds busy but we are wanting to try to see as much as we can while there and not so much looking for a lot of leisure time.  I would like to hear any thoughts or suggestions that anyone might have for us.  Any recommendations for accommodation in belfast would be great too.  We don't plan to have a car while we're there so we would like to be pretty centrally located with restaurants and pubs not too far away.  Thanks!


Melanie



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Melanie,


Skipping Scotland makes much more sense.


Dublin Airport is several miles north of the city and it is pretty easy to just hop on the M50 toll motorway from there and totally avoid Dublin City traffic. The motorway is a bit easier because all the traffic will be flowing in one direction and you don't have to think so much about staying left. On a Sunday morning it should be easy.


Take a look at your map. Killarney is very centrally located for doing much of the southwest. Why move on to different places each night? Having a home base makes for an easier, less busy, more enjoyable trip.


Try the Holiday Inn in Belfast. I had some clients who loved it.


Michele



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"Ireland Expert"  Michele Erdvig

Click links for Michele's Book or Custom Ireland Itinerary

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Thanks for your comments Michele.  I'm glad to hear that getting our car at dublin airport should be easy enough.  It makes much more sense for starting and ending our loop tour.


The only reason I had planned to stay just one night in Killarney is that I didn't have enough that we wanted to do in that area.  All I think I had there was the dingle peninsula.  We were going to move to tralee because I found a b&b that sounds really nice and I haven't found a place in killarney that makes me really want to stay there.  I thought the rest of the places we wanted to see were in Co. Clare so I had planned that we'd spend a couple of nights there for sure.  Any opinions (or corrections) on this would be very welcome.  I could be overlooking some areas or attractions that we really should see.


I will check into the holiday inn in belfast.  I've been looking at some b&bs mainly because we seem to get better prices on triple rooms in b&bs.  I'm just not sure what area we should try to be in since we won't have a car there and don't want to have to take a taxi everywhere.


Thanks, melanie



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Melanie,


Since you will be in Ireland off-season you can certianly wing it. I much prefer Killarney to Tralee but that is an individual preference. If you like Killarney you can always decide to spend more time there. If you don't like it then move on.


What do you want to do and see in Belfast? That will determine where you want to stay. Also look into Jurys Hotel.


Michele



__________________

"Ireland Expert"  Michele Erdvig

Click links for Michele's Book or Custom Ireland Itinerary

Visit Michele's Irish Shop for unique Irish gifts and beautiful photos of Ireland.

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