My Irish Experience Series, Part 1

10/21/2014

In 2012, after our 9th wedding anniversary, I started thinking about year #10. Ten years. A decade. It's a milestone, something to be celebrated. I wanted to take a ten year anniversary trip. I'm not sure when I knew I wanted to go to Ireland. It didn't hit me one night to go there. It was more of an evolving longing that grew over time until it just seemed to be the right fit. I've always had a passion for that corner of the world, and when the hubs said he liked the idea it was settled. Thus started the year long romance between me and Ireland. A year of reading, planning, saving, and dreaming.

October just required a warm rain jacket.

Enjoying a pint at the pub.

Our ten day escapade, which I planned, included two days in Scotland, a driving route through southern Ireland with my sister and her husband, and nights spent in economy hotels, B&B's, and a castle. It. Was. Amazing. And somewhere between the rolling patchwork of green countryside and music of the fife and fiddle in the friendly pub, I left a piece of my heart in Ireland. So, I'm determined to go back, sometime, hopefully not too long away.

Are you thinking about Ireland? Maybe these next few posts will help you decide what your Irish adventure will look like.

Part 1: The travel
Figuring out the when, where, and how are the framework for planning your trip.

When: Do you want to travel on a budget and visit during off seasons, or do you have particular attractions in minds that will be closed during the off season times? How long can you afford to take off for your trip? Can you stand the peak season crowds?

We chose October for our trip for two specific reasons. First, we didn't want to go during peak season, which is June, July, and August. Second, my sister, who is a teacher, had her Fall Break during mid-October. This turned out to be a great time to visit! The months of October and April and May are considered the 'shoulder' season. During this time you get the best of both worlds; longer daylight hours, good weather, and most attractions are still open, but the prices and availability of peak season are not as high.

Where: This is the fun part. Deciding where to go and what to see builds the anticipation up to the time of the trip. Maybe you have always dreamed of standing on the Cliffs of Moher or bending backwards to kiss the Blarney Stone. This is the part of the planning when working out the logistics of how to make those star attractions work in to your trip.

Since four of us were traveling together, we each made a list of the things we'd like to see. We had to sit down and prioritize which attractions were most important and on what we could compromise. This stage of the planning was where we decided on renting a car and traveling around the country. We researched how long it would take to get from place to place, and this helped us agree that in the time that we had, we needed to stay in the southern part of Ireland. Although Ireland is a relatively small country, we only wanted to have to drive for a few hours each day in order to enjoy sightseeing the rest of the time.

Visiting the Waterford Crystal factory was a main attraction.

Newgrange was our last stop before Dublin and home.

I wanted to see the Glendalough monastery.

How: getting from point A to point B and back again takes some planning that can be easy to navigate. This consists of planes, trains, and automobiles (and maybe boats, horses, or campers if that's your thing).

If you live in the United States then you will have to cross the ocean somehow to get to Ireland, and most of us will do it by plane. I started tracking airfare prices to Ireland before the new year and bought our tickets in February to go in October. Now, I like to plan and know everything is in order, so booking ahead also gave me piece of mind that we had our flights, at a decent price, and would be able to sit together, etc. As the year progressed, prices of flights went up and down. If you can wait until three weeks before a trip to book, often flight prices can drop significantly.
It would be outrageously priced to fly out of Chattanooga just because we would have to connect to another major airport and connect again in a mega airport. It's much more cost affective to drive to Atlanta or Nashville, BUT we couldn't do that either. We needed to take our kiddos to grandma and grandpa's house in Orlando, FL while we went on our anniversary adventure (don't feel sorry for the two and five year old who got to go to the beach, Disney, and Dinosaur World while we were gone!). So we priced our flights to Orlando and back and we drove down to Florida a day early. Ireland has two major airports: Dublin and Shannon. I also checked the prices to fly in and out of both of these airports, and Dublin was the winner for the flights that worked for us.
Driving in Ireland has come a long way from what I have heard. In many books and from many folks I heard horror stories of the minuscule roads and sparse road signs, but we were pleasantly surprised how far they have come. The roads were not a problem to drive at all. I say that with the tiny exception of Dingle Peninsula. Those one way streets were slim and nail biting at times. But don't let that deter you! Slow and steady wins you the spectacular views and a return to your cozy B&B after the day's adventure. Road signs were everywhere and easy to follow. The one time we got turned around, all we had to do was roll down our window and ask a few gents standing there for directions, who were more than happy to oblige us. If you know how to drive a manual car instead of an automatic, you will save yourself some cash. My husband, brother-in-law, and I all know how, so we opted for the cheaper manual. Driving on the 'other' side of the road was definitely intimidating for me, but the hubs had driven a 15 passenger van through the chaos of Jamaican traffic, so we delegated him our driver.
Before we picked up our rental car in Dublin. We stayed a few days in the city and took advantage of the bus service. It was reliable, on time, and easy to use. We even took the bus out of town to visit Powerscourt estate and gardens just south of Dublin. Dublin itself is a fabulous walking city. You can stroll around and enjoy all the sights on foot, although catching the bus out to the Guinness Brewery will save you some time and energy.
Once you have your flights and rental car booked, you are on your way to part 2: accommodations! Where to stay and sleep is quite an experience in Ireland. Come back for part 2 of this series to find out about the good, the really good, and the not so good places to rest on your trip.

Happy roving,

Kyleen